Maria Theresa

Empress: The Making of the Austrian Enlightenment

By: Richard Bassett

Narrated by: Kitty Hendrix

A major new biography of Maria Theresa, the formidable Habsburg Empress

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 Drawing on hitherto unpublished sources, Bassett reveals her keen sense of moderation and tolerance, innovative ideas on free trade and finance, and studied reluctance to resort to policies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 modernization 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.

©2025 Richard Bassett (P)2025 Tantor Media

Interesting Personality

Expanded my intellectual horizons. . Guided the Hapsburg Monarchy for 40 years but isn't highlighted in many Hapsburg Monarchy histories. My opinion under rated and unappreciated personality

Well researched. Well written. Well presented.

And she was a female ruler in a male oriented society.