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Wikipedia: Maria Theresa was one of the great reforming monarchs of the 18th century. Upon her father's death, she acquired many titles including Archduchess of Austria (1740-80) and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia (1740-80). No woman before Maria Theresa had ruled the Austrian Duchy. As the last male of the Habsburg line, Charles wanted to ensure a peaceful transition to whichever child was available for the job. As early as 1713, four years before Maria Theresa was born, Charles was pressuring other royal families in Europe to support his Pragmatic Sanction, a treaty which set aside the Salic Law and allowed a female child of his to inherit his lands should he die without a male child but with a female child. Although many of the great powers of Europe, including Great Britain, France, Prussia, Russia, and the Netherlands agreed to support Maria Theresa's claim to the throne while Charles was alive, when Charles died, she had to fight to keep her lands and her crowns. Three other claimants to the throne came forward and King Frederick II of Prussia precipitated The War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748) by invading and occupying Silesia, then part of the Grand Duchy of Austria. The war pitted Bavaria, France, Spain, Sardinia, Prussia, and Saxony against Austria, the Netherlands, and Great Britain. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the peace treaty of 1748 which ended the war, provided that all conquests made during the war revert to their original possessors, with some exceptions: Silesia was granted to Prussia and Austria ceded the duchies of Parma and Piacenza and other of its Italian holdings to the heir of the Spanish throne, one of the claimants for Maria Theresa's throne. Maria Theresa's right to rule was accepted by other European great powers and she gained her crowns with her lands essentially intact. With her right to rule recognized by the great powers in Europe, Maria Theresa turned to ruling and reforming her own country. |
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