In this book Karl Chupik he didn't just write a colorful story about Maria Theresa as the Austrian Archduchess, i.e. the Queen of Austria-Hungary and Croatia, he already brilliantly presented significant information about her as the first and only woman who ruled the Habsburg Monarchy. In this context, let's remember that Maria Theresa was the last member of the Habsburg dynasty. That she was not only the archduchess of Slavonia, the queen of Hungary and Croatia, but also of Bohemia, Galicia, and Lodomeria, then the duchess of Mantua, Milan, Parma, Pjaćenza and Gvastala, the ruler of the Austrian Netherlands and numerous counties. By marriage, she became Empress of the Holy Roman Empire of the German People, then German Queen, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, and for a short time she was also Duchess of Lorraine. The forty-year period of her reign as a truly great empress is known as the Teresian period and represents an important and in many ways interesting era, especially for historians, because in that period she started fierce wars immediately after she ascended the throne. In fact, after ascending to the throne, Maria Theresa became embroiled in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48), for which the Prussian King Frederick II the Great led the first and second Silesian wars. The result of those wars was the loss of Silesia in favor of Frederick II the Great, but Maria Theresa still managed to stay on the throne, and the Habsburg-Lothringen dynasty, i.e. Austria, was recognized as an heir by the Peace of Aachen in 1748 concluded between Austria, England, the Netherlands and Sardinia on the one hand, and France and Spain on the other. Some historians have persistently engaged in a comprehensive study of the era, in which Maria Theresa was forced to fight four bloody wars in the period from 1740, when after the death of her father, Emperor Charles VI came to the throne of the Habsburg Empire, until 1763, during which it lost a significant part of the territory of the Habsburg Monarchy, primarily Silesia, which was the largest in terms of area.
In this book, Čupik presents himself as a master in deciphering archival documents, among which there were also secret ones, but as a philosopher and writer he knew how to emphasize in a literary way, spontaneously and unobtrusively, sometimes, where it was needed, and to to boldly, unequivocally emphasize the persuasiveness of his allegations, to skilfully interweave his narration with archival data and at the same time to reveal the souls of the characters of his story in a discreet manner. With the skill of a good psychologist, Čupik exposes even the most intimate events from the life of Maria Theresa, but does not limit herself to portraying this monarch as a successful ruler and skilled politician, but also openly presents before our eyes those hours of her life in which she is almost real without any class mask . In this way, the author evokes the impression of her occasional frivolity and real benevolence.
According to the information in this book, it can be understood that Queen Maria Theresa loved children very much, that she was a real mother to them and that she devoted a lot of time to their upbringing. She was happy to share her experiences with them, and gave them useful advice even during marital intimacy. She had sixteen children, 5 sons and 11 daughters. Sons Joseph II i Leopold II were her heirs on the imperial throne, and her daughter Marie Antoinette she married the French king Louis XVI. Thus, by marrying daughters, they even became queens (Queen of France, Queen of Naples), then Duchess of Parma. It is said that Maria Theresa was not endowed with an excessively high intellect, as were her sons, for example, but she was graced with an unusual kind-heartedness, reasonableness, determination and willingness to admit her mistakes and the intellectual superiority of her advisers. These qualities of hers were known to be appreciated not only by her courtiers, advisers and collaborators, but also by the monarchs of neighboring countries.
Maria Theresa married the Duke of Lorraine and the Archduke of Tuscany in 1736 Francis I Stephen, and since then the Habsburg dynasty in that line is called Habsburg-Lothringen. Since Francis I was crowned Roman-German Emperor in 1745, she also bore that title. The death of her husband Franjo I in 1756 deeply saddened Maria Theresa, so after that event she stopped wearing all kinds of jewelry, even cut her hair and dressed in black. She declared her eldest son Josip II as Francis's successor in the place of her overlord, who was already crowned Roman-German emperor in 1764. And when her advisor died in 1765 Hogwitz, and then the Austrian field marshal Von Daun, Josip II was entrusted not only with finances, but also assumed absolute control over the army.
In this book, Čupik says that Maria Theresa was soft-hearted, that she was also kind to the employees at her court and that she did not know how to punish her courtiers, even when some of them made very serious mistakes. Hatred was not close to her being. She is said to have hated no one but King Frederick II of Prussia who was said to be the antithesis of Maria Theresa. However, her son Josip II had a completely different opinion about him. This Prussian ruler, in order to mitigate his non-royal origin (his great-grandmother was an adventurer), advocated the thesis that bastards are more capable than children from normal marriages, that children of pure princely blood are degenerate. Čupik refutes the claim that Frederick II is the forerunner of the idea of creating a great unified German Reich. Frederick II possessed great strategic talent and laid the foundations for a new way of warfare. Maria Theresa was a different personality from her son Josip II. Their misunderstandings about many decisions became more frequent every day, so in order to avoid conflicts with her son, Maria Theresa threatened to abdicate, which her son Josip also opposed. From the beginning, Maria was against the division of Poland because it would cause injustice to her people, but in the end, she realized that she had to agree to it because an agreement about it already existed between the Prussian king Frederick II the Great and the Russian empress. Catherine II the Great, regardless of whether Maria Theresa agreed to it or not. It should also be noted that Joseph II and his ministers had already planned the division of Poland, regardless of his mother's opposition. In the first partition of Poland, Maria Theresa received Galicia (1772) and consolidated her power in the former Ottoman Bukovina (1775). Along with foreign policy consolidation, it implemented significant internal reforms. When the joint Croatian-Hungarian parliament in Požun (Bratislava) denied her the requested tax increase in 1764, in order to remedy the financial difficulties in the economy, she no longer convened class assemblies, but ruled absolutist.
Maria Theresa was pregnant with her fourth child when her father, Emperor Charles VI, died in 1740, so she was not allowed to approach the dying man's bed. That night, the courtiers whispered to each other that they had seen the white lady, that ghostly great-grandmother of the House of Habsburg, who in such situations at night announced imminent dangers.
Emperor Charles VI died unexpectedly early, at the beginning of his fifty-sixth year. Since he had no male heir, the throne was inherited by his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, and she ruled over a truly spacious empire. It stretched from the upper Rhine to the Olta, a border river in Wallachia. Austria was never so powerful so great as in the time of Emperor Charles VI. His successor, Maria Theresa, had a great responsibility and the need to, among other things, preserve the integrity of such a large area, which was not at all easy at that time.
With the help of her ministers, Maria Theresa encouraged and implemented various reforms, especially in the field of education and financing. It encouraged the development of agriculture and trade in its products, which significantly contributed to the strengthening of the economy. She launched another series of reforms, one of the goals of which was to build a stronger central government with the official German language. However, she did not allow religious tolerance, so many travel writers saw her regime as intolerant and backward. Her reign was characterized by absolutist rules associated with Germanization processes. She was especially intolerant towards the Jesuits. However, she brought torture and lawsuits against witchcraft and witches under her control, which soon led to the final liquidation of that bloody medieval heritage. She introduced compulsory schooling for children aged 6 to 14. She encouraged the development of art and industry, so in order to stabilize the country's finances, she imposed some taxes on the nobility and the Church.
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