Maria Theresa: Empress :The Making of the Austrian Enlightenment
Maria Theresa: Empress :The Making of the Austrian Enlightenment
hardback
Published:
25 February, 2025
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Description
Maria Theresa was the single most powerful woman in eighteenth-century Europe. At the age of just twenty-three she succeeded to the Habsburg domains only to find them contested by almost every power in Europe. Over the next forty years, she became a fierce leader and opponent, as well as a devoted wife and mother to sixteen children.
In this engrossing biography, Richard Bassett traces Maria Theresa’s life and complex legacy. Drawing on hitherto unpublished sources, Bassett reveals her keen sense of moderation and tolerance, innovative ideas on free trade and finance, and studied reluctance to resort to policies of territorial expansion. Yet Maria Theresa’s modernisation policies were not entirely progressive. Antisemitism and an enduring suspicion of Protestantism greatly affected the lives of her subjects.
This is a gripping study of one of the world’s most influential leaders, revealing how Maria Theresa confounded gendered expectations and left a lasting mark on Europe.
More Details
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| ISBN13 | 9780300243987 |
| ISBN10 | 0300243987 |
| Number Of Pages | 520 |
| Item Weight | 1000 g |
| Publisher / Reseller | Yale University Press |
| Format | hardback |
Media Reviews
“Assured [and] impressively researched.”—Alice Hunt, Times (UK)
“A robust overview of the imperial conflicts that shook Europe in the mid-18th century.”—Daniel Brooks, The Telegraph
“Bassett is an energetic, appealing chronicler.”—Gavin Plumley, Literary Review
“Superb.”—Philip Mansel, The Spectator
“From the empress’s taste for marzipan to her collections of porcelain, and from her administrative reforms to her diplomatic triumphs, Richard Bassett gives a comprehensive biography of the Habsburg monarch Maria Theresa, which reaches in its scope from Transylvania and the Tyrol to Trieste and the Low Countries. Eighteenth-century Europe has three ruling ‘greats’—Peter and Catherine of Russia, and Frederick the Great of Prussia. There is a compelling case for a Maria Theresa the Great, and Richard Bassett makes it with assurance, zest, and scholarly rigour.”—Martyn Rady, author of The Middle Kingdoms
“Richard Bassett deftly brings to life the world of the eighteenth-century Habsburg Monarchy in this sweeping biography of Empress Maria Theresa. Deeply researched, beautifully written, and rich in detail, it is an absolute tour de force. A must-read for anyone interested in this part of the world.”—Nancy M. Wingfield, author of The World of Prostitution in Late Imperial Austria
GoodReads Reviews
Author's Bio
Richard Bassett is the author of several books, most notably For God and Kaiser, the first history of the Habsburg army to be published in English. An authority on Central Europe where he has worked for 45 years, he is a Bye-Fellow of Christ’s College Cambridge and a visiting professor at the Central Europe University of Budapest.