Destined from her cradle for a seat on the throne, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had to fight both the prejudices of her age and some of the greatest warriors of the time to secure her empire. Her life was so large, it’s going to require two episodes! In this one, we begin with a little background on her family, you may have heard of them? The Habsburgs? They of a 700-year dynasty? There were a lot of wars, fluid country lines, alliances, and lands that extended across modern-day Europe that helped shape the world that Maria Theresa was born into, and we give you an outline of that history.
Maria Theresa Walburga Amelia Christina was born on May 13, 1717, at her family home, Hofburg Palace, in Vienna, Austria. Her father was Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, and her mother was Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. Maria Theresa was the oldest of two surviving children, both daughters, which sent the lives of her parents, her mother especially, into turmoil.
A teenage Maria Theresa, painting by Andreas Moeller, via wikicommons
An heir! They need an heir! And, oooof, they tried and the cockamamie methods to get that male child were extreme. Also extreme was her father’s methods to extend the line of succession to his daughters on the chance that a son never survived. When it looked like that son wasn’t going to come, he made sure that his eldest daughter was as prepared as possible to lead the family and control their lands. This meant an education (not exactly that of a lad, but pretty close) and lining up a strategic betrothal in the form of Duke Francis Steven of Lorraine.
Dashing Francis/Franz Steven, Martin van Meytens circa 1745
Maria Theresa was only 23 when Papa Karl (that’s what we call him, there are a lot of people with the same name in this story) passed away. At that point, not only was she married to a man who understood his place, but she was ready for the responsibilities ahead of her. She, not her husband as some believed would happen, stepped into the ruling role which was pretty unusual for both the family and the times. But, as prepared as she was, she was in for some pretty rough times at the beginning.
The large, happy, healthy family, you too can have one… (inside joke.) circa 1764
Maria Theresa’s natural intelligence helped her learn skills of diplomacy, military strategy, and how to juggle the many varied challenges of her enormous territory and responsibilities…all while being pregnant and giving birth to 16 children, 10 of which survived to adulthood. She streamlined and centralized her government, wheeled and dealed with allies, and built a standing army to protect her borders (usually from a nearby ruler who history remembers as Frederick the Great, King of Prussia.) Heck, she even got the vampire scare under control. Yes, vampires.
Frederick, King of Prussia a ruthless man with a horrific upbringing. Johann Georg Ziesenis Circa 1763
We cover her life up through the first 20 years of her rule but there’s so much more ahead in Part Two.
TIME TRAVEL WITH THE HISTORY CHICKS
Media recommendations will be on the shownotes for Part Two, but to tide you over we talked a bit about two contemporaries of Maria Theresa: Madam de Pompadour (from 2011 when we were just baby podcasters) and Catherine the Great, Part One and Two. Maybe go give their episodes a listen to learn their incredible stories!
Also, we have a Pinterest board for every episode, here is Maria Theresa’s!
Gertrude Bell, a daughter of privilege took her enormous intelligence, unfathomable bravery, and an entire set of Wedgwood china into the uncharted parts of the Middle East, making maps, discoveries, and friends along the way. Her work helped pave the way for the establishment of the modern country of Iraq.
Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell was born on July 14, 1868, in County Durham, England. She was the first child and only daughter of Sir Hugh Bell and Mary Shields Bell, and, after her mother passed away, was raised since childhood by her stepmother, Florence Olliffe Bell. Gertrude grew-up in a wealthy family of fairly progressive thinkers and was educated at Queens College and Oxford University (where they had only recently begun enrolling women and still didn’t give them actual degrees.)
She did follow some convention and, after being denied marrying the man she loved for the conventional reason of him not making enough money, she did her conventional debutant time doing traditional debutant activities. But, once she had aged out of “marriageable” and became “chaperone” age, her life really got going.
Gertrude traveled extensively for most of the rest of her life. And not all posh, typical travel (although she did travel with an entourage and glamping supplies) we’re talking about activities like mountain climbing and desert wandering in the Middle East. This was her favorite area to explore and live, made easier by being fluent in Arabic and not holding back from speaking her mind.
Her adventures were numerous, at times her numerous friendships were lifesaving, and her documentation of the people she met and the lands she loved aided in the establishment of modern-day Iraq and divvying up the freshly fallen Ottoman Empire, and guiding Great Britain through WW1.
Gertrude Bell, CBE: author, adventurer, archaeologist, museum creator, unofficial but effective diplomat, political advisor, and a woman who put (parts) of convention aside to live her life by her own rules died on July 12, 1926, at her home in Baghdad. She was 57 years old.
TIME TRAVEL WITH THE HISTORY CHICKS
Books!
By Janet Wallachby Liora LukitzBy H.V.F. WinstonBy Pat Yale
When we left Althea in part one, she was 24 and after years of training, practice, competition, and a village of supporters working with her and behind the scenes, she was finally invited to the American Lawn Tennis Association Championship at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in New York in 1950! Getting to this national tournament wasn’t easy, but few things in Althea’s life are.
It wasn’t easy to get to Forest Hills, or through college, or onto a short-lived career as a college physical education teacher…it wasn’t even easy to get her application through to become a WAC, a member of the military Women’s Army Corps, a position that never fully panned out for Althea. She was floundering in her life and ready to give up tennis when she was tapped by the US State Department for a Goodwill Tour to Asia, along with three other tennis players.
This travel led Althea to travel on her own throughout Europe to play in tournaments, improve her game, and play with the best competition in the world! Soon she became that competition for others, winning her first major tournament in France then on to the oldest in the world: Wimbledon. She cracked through racial barriers, gender barriers, and economic barriers to win scores of tournaments including 11 “Grand Slam” tournaments: five singles titles, five doubles titles, and one mixed doubles title.
Althea’s first Wimbledon singles victory, Queen Elizabeth’s first Wimbledon 1957With Darlene Hard, singles runner-up Wimbledon 1957After Wimbledon in 1957, the first person of color to win the oldest tennis tournament in the world, NYC welcomed back their own daughter with a ticker tape parade.
Althea made two appearances on the Ed Sullivan show, this is after her historic Wimbledon win
But competitive tennis in the 1950s was for amateurs only, and Althea couldn’t support herself playing the game she loved by competition, so she retired in 1958 and crafted an interesting life recording an album, appearing twice on the Ed Sullivan Show, writing an autobiography, acting, and modeling for ads until she landed a five-year run touring with the Harlem Globetrotters to play exhibition games. When that ended, she began to hit a different type of ball when she toured with the Ladies Pro Golfer Association (LPGA.)
Her second Ed Sullivan appearance and she sings!
Althea gave tennis clinics and talks about being a Black, female athlete for the rest of her life.
The remainder of her life was full of struggles and successes…just like the years that came before. Althea Gibson died on September 28, 2003, she was 76 years old.
By Sally Jacobsby Ashley BrownBy Frances Clayton Gray and Yanick Rice LambAbout Althea and Angela Buxton by Bruce SchoenfeldFirst autobiographySecond autobiography
Kid books we liked:
By Sue Stauffacher and Greg CouchBy Lesa Cline-Ransome
Web!
We have a Pinterest board for every subject, it’s a glorious place to dive into some rabbit Holes! Here is Althea’s!
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture online exhibit about Althea, and she’s represented at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island (to access the museum’s Metaverse, go to the VISIT page and scroll down.)
Resilient Grace is an online retailer with a mission of telling the stories of historic, African American women (Susan has a few of her shirts including the Shirley Chisholm one that she wears when she votes!)
This is the kind of sports jersey we can get behind!
Our 2024 Field Trips to Austria and Paris are both sold out, and there are just a few spaces for our New York trip in September. There, we will also have a Locals’ Meet-up Dinner Cruise that’s open for reservations now. If you’re interested in any of these, please see Like Minds Travel for information and to sign up!
Break Music: Slow Cookin’ by Joe Smith and the Spicy Pickles; End Song: Play the Game by Lilly Wolf used by permission from iLicense Music.
There are quite a few lines on a tennis court; sideline, baseline, service line – all of which have their functions. But beginning in 1950, a powerful and charismatic African American athlete named Althea Gibson began to smash tennis’ color lines, one after another. Althea Gibson broke new ground and changed the world’s perception of what was possible in the world of sports.
All media recommendations will be on the shownotes for Part Two.
Mrs. L in 1953 at nearly 70, via Library of Congress
On paper, Alice Roosevelt’s life reads like a typical young society woman: Debut at 17, travel, friends, parties, marriage to a wealthy and important man, and eventually, motherhood. But Alice’s life was far from typical. For starters, her travel was for official United States goodwill missions, her friends were some of the wealthiest in the world, and the parties were expensive balls where “Be Naughty” seemed to be her rule of the day. She smoked, she bet on horses, she flirted and rode around in cars with men…and America, and soon the world, LOVED her!
Alice circa 1902, Library of Congress
When it came to marriage, Alice chose Representative Nicholas Longworth from Ohio, a wealthy respected, and charming man who loved his drink and women–including ones that were not his wife. They did have a very public, Power Couple life hobbing and nobbing with influential politicians, and Alice- with her quick wit and intelligence became so important to the government- without ever holding an office- that she earned the nickname, Washington’s Other Monument.
The uuuuh happy couple and Papa? Library of Congress
In this episode, we continue with the story not only of the life of Alice, or Mrs. L as she came to be called, but also continue to take a good look at the most influential man in her life, her father, President Theodore Roosevelt. It’s really a two-fer!
Alice and baby Paulina, 1925, Library of Congress
Alice Roosevelt Longsworth died after a very long, very influential, and very unconventional life at her home in Washington, DC on February 20, 1980. She is buried with her daughter, Paulina Sturm, at Rock Creek Cemetary in Washington, D.C.
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Books!
Deepest dive, by Stacy A. CorderyBook Beckett read first, by Carol FelsenthalThe newest biography, by Shelley Fraser MickleCharming with lots of photos by Michael TeagueFor your Eleanor Roosevelt fix by Marc Peyser and Timothy DwyerA picture book for kids, we were charmed! By Barbara Kerley and Edwin Fotheringham
Web!
If you find yourself near Long Island, NY, head on over to the Roosevelt summer estate, Sagamore Hill (the one that should have been named Leeholm until Alice’s mother died.) Tours are limited and by reservation, so plan ahead.
The scripted, historical drama, Crowded Hours, is an Amazon Original starring Emma Roberts as Alice! Does HBO Max still have the television series based on Alice’s life in production? We don’t know, but we are hoping really hard that it’s true!
Join us on our Field Trip to Paris in October of 2024! For information and to register, visit Like Minds Travel. We hope to see you there!
