Vienna: Maria Theresia Blog Post



We have learned a lot about Maria Theresia during our time in Austria.  Maria Theresia became queen at 25 years old however her whole empire was unstable.  She had no money and was fighting many wars at once because of other countries challenging Austria because they saw it as weak.  She only lost one of these wars and that was against Prussia. In doing this she ended up proving herself to her subjects and was able to trust her subjects because of how smart and powerful she can be.  She created the iconic Maria Theresia yellow that is now seen throughout Austria.  I really like Maria Theresia and how she was able to build something out of a kingdom that was seen as weaker.  

Maria Theresia made many contributions to her country and throughout the rest of the world.  One of these was her interest in vaccines and how it can help her children to survive to adulthood as well as help the rest of the country to learn and take vaccines.  She was also very good at making sure her subjects were happy.  According to our professors she made sure her subjects were alive and well.  She rebuilt and created the Austrian Hungary Empire.  This helped to continually contribute to the rest of Austria until now the present.  She was also a reformer of education and wanted to make it so education was very accessible to all.  

I think Maria Theresia has been commemorated well.  Her palace that she lived in is still a place that people can come visit.  The paintings and portraits inside the palace show her importance and all of the things that she contributed too.  I was impressed by the audio guides and how much they taught me about Maria Theresia.  Other ways she has been commemorated includes simply by the yellow they have used in Austria "Maria Theresia Yellow".  This shows that the people of Vienna know how much Maria made a difference to Austria and contributed to Austria.  Maria Theresia is a great woman who contributed so much to Austria.  

Comments

  1. Betsy JonesJune 2, 2024 at 4:38 AM

    I love your post Elease! Learning about Maria Theresia has definitely deepened my understanding of Vienna as a cultural capital because many of the reforms made were by a woman! It was very uncommon for there to be a woman ruling over a country, so I think that really shows the type of country Austria is. Also the way Vienna commemorates her shows how much they appreciate and want to remember her legacy!

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  2. Hannah BryanJune 18, 2024 at 10:48 PM

    Great post Elease! I think that the question of obstacles that Maria Theresa confronted are best considered in terms of why other female monarchs were not as common in her era and after her era. Authority was generally inherited from father to son in strict patriarchal conditions. Situations with an only daughter were very uncommon. Maria Theresa's positioning and advisors allowed her to overcome the financial, political, and authoritative obstacles that she confronted as she came to power.

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