Maria Theresa's Reforms: Austria's Modernizing Empress

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how Maria Theresa transformed the Habsburg monarchy after inheriting a bankrupt, divided empire in 1740. Facing Frederick the Great's invasion of Silesia, she implemented sweeping reforms: centralizing administration with the Directorium in publicis et cameralibus, modernizing the army through the Wiener Neustadt Military Academy, and introducing compulsory education with the Allgemeine Schulordnung of 1774. They discuss her pragmatic sanctions, the role of Chancellor Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz in forging the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, and the limits of enlightened absolutism—including her expulsion of Jews from Prague in 1745 and brutal suppression of the Hungarian Hajdúk rebellion. The conversation covers her personal life, her sixteen children (including Joseph II), and how she earned the grudging respect of contemporaries like Frederick the Great. A rich portrait of a ruler who saved Austria not through conquest but through state-building. #MariaTheresa #Habsburg #EnlightenedAbsolutism #Directorium #Kaunitz #DiplomaticRevolution #WienerNeustadt #AllgemeineSchulordnung #SilesianWars #FrederickTheGreat #JosephII #PragmaticSanction #Hajdúk #SevenYearsWar #AustrianHistory #18thCentury #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo