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Empress Of The Habsburg Dynasty: Maria Theresa

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Maria Theresa was the Empress of the Habsburg Dynasty from 1740 to 1780. One of her main concerns was for serfs not to be bound to their landlord, so she limited the authority landlords had over serfs. Maria Theresa made a lot of notable decisions during her rule, but one of the impactful was surrendering lower Silesia to Prussia in 1742. Just a year later she ended up surrendering the rest of Silesia in 1742. She fought Prussia for three years at war. The war allowed her to increase taxes by lessening the power of the provincial nobility and local estates. This allowed her to create a poll tax. Another notable Theresa did while in power was abolish cruel and unusual punishments, such as torture, and gave the judiciary autonomy. Maria

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