ESI-D "Guardian" Ω Omega

Maria Theresa

Empress · Austrian · 18th c.

Empress of the Habsburg Empire (1717–1780). She defended her vast empire against foreign aggression and drove administrative, fiscal, educational, and military reforms. She bore 16 children and raised children including Marie Antoinette — ruling for 40 years as a towering symbol of maternal authority and the paradigmatic Enlightened absolute monarch.