The story of the life of the great queen is briefly told in these pages. It is the story of the life of a proud, ambitious queen; a wise, judicious ruler, who had the best interests of her subjects at heart, and for whom they were always ready to die; a woman of spotless personal character and true to all her domestic duties at a time when immorality and corruption were rife in high places. The story covers some of the same episodes of history which occur in the narrative of Frederick, in this series, but is none the less interesting, as the reader will find both sides presented. G. P. U. Chicago, 1905 Contents I The Young Queen 13 II Campaigns against Prussia, France, and Bohemia 33 III The Second Silesian War 56 IV Plots and Counterplots 72 V Battles of the Seven Years’ War 85 VI Close of the Long Struggle 104 VII The Last Days of Maria Theresa 122 Appendix 141 List of Illustrations Page Portrait of Maria Theresa _Frontispiece_ Maria Theresa in the Council Chamber 18 “We are ready to die for our Empress” 40 “Be comforted, my good woman, for I have come to see you” 132 Maria Theresa Chapter I The Young Queen It would almost seem that the Emperor Charles VI, the father of Maria Theresa, had a presentiment of what was to come, when, directly after his marriage, he obtained from the various states united under his dominion an order of succession called “The Pragmatic Sanction,”[1] which decreed that in case his house should become extinct in the male line, succession to the throne should pass to his female descendants. To make this law binding and legal was such an important matter to him that it may be said to have been the chief aim of his life. In the year 1716, to the great joy of the Emperor, a son was born to him. Vienna and the whole country shared in the rejoicings of the royal parents; but unfortunately their happiness was of short duration, for, before the Autumn of that year had strewn the earth with withered leaves, the heir to the throne had drooped and died. The Emperor’s grief was intense, and was made harder to bear by reason of the many other cares and troubles which beset him on all sides at that time.