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bebootsMaria Theresa
She was pretty darn cool, I have got to say. A more Austrian predecessor of Queen Victoria. Also the mother of Marie Antoinette. Her correspondance in French to her daughter is a pretty interesting eye-opener, though - it's all about sex. Have you tried this? Or this? That will excite your husband... (Maria Theresa got on Marie Antoinette's case for not having enough children with her husband. The former had sixteen. D: )
Interesting anecdtote from the book "Queen, Empress, Concubine: Fifty Women Rulers from the Queen of Sheba to Catherine the Great": "In October 1762 a six-year-old child prodigy from Salzburg, named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91), played the harpsichord for Maria Theresa, Francis Stephen and their children. The royal family were thrilled by his precocious skill, and one story recounts that he was so exhilarated by his performance that he threw himself into the empress' lap and pledged to marry the young archduchess Marie Antoinette."
Say it with me, everyone: awww... :3
The Way to Bruges by ~Beboots on deviantART
Speaking of ambitious Europeans... in 1668, Lous XIV (yes, the Sun King we've all heard so much about, L'etat c'est moi and all that) was very ambitious, but had just lost a humilating war with Holland. All he got out of like two years of war were a few puny bits of Flanders (incidentally, the region where I studied French this past summer!). He was pissed, and wanted revenge.
But the Dutch had really won the last time because of timely English intervention. So this time, Louis bribed the English to keep their noses out of the whole thing. Then, he invaded the Netherlands in 1672, embarking on a war of revenge. The Dutch, alarmed by all of this, initially offer a very generous peace treaty that would relinquish some of the lands that Louis wanted, but Louis wants the whole pie, so he refuses.
Okay, you know how most of the land in Holland is "reclaimed"? Like, is actually under sea level, and has been reclaimed from the sea by the clever use of dykes? Yeah, so essentially the dutch break the dykes, and flood most of their country. Amsterdam is like, an island. And the French troops can do pretty much nothing - they're infantry, they have no ships...
So, yeah, the Dutch are awesome. Also, because France being all pushy and stuff alarms the rest of Europe ("noooo! Our balance of power!" D: ), pretty much anybody sympathetic to the French allies against them. Including the English. Apparently the French didn't bribe them enough. ;) And they bring the Swedes with them. Oh those crazy Swedes.
... I've been studying diligently for my History 310: history of the Holy Roman Empire midterm, can you tell? :D
Oh, and for the crack-worthiness, check this comic out: http://community.livejournal.com/hetalia/220943.html Can you say... the history of Europe as portrayed by anthropomorphized countries, as written by a Japanese manga artist?
She was pretty darn cool, I have got to say. A more Austrian predecessor of Queen Victoria. Also the mother of Marie Antoinette. Her correspondance in French to her daughter is a pretty interesting eye-opener, though - it's all about sex. Have you tried this? Or this? That will excite your husband... (Maria Theresa got on Marie Antoinette's case for not having enough children with her husband. The former had sixteen. D: )
Interesting anecdtote from the book "Queen, Empress, Concubine: Fifty Women Rulers from the Queen of Sheba to Catherine the Great": "In October 1762 a six-year-old child prodigy from Salzburg, named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91), played the harpsichord for Maria Theresa, Francis Stephen and their children. The royal family were thrilled by his precocious skill, and one story recounts that he was so exhilarated by his performance that he threw himself into the empress' lap and pledged to marry the young archduchess Marie Antoinette."
Say it with me, everyone: awww... :3
The Way to Bruges by ~Beboots on deviantART
Speaking of ambitious Europeans... in 1668, Lous XIV (yes, the Sun King we've all heard so much about, L'etat c'est moi and all that) was very ambitious, but had just lost a humilating war with Holland. All he got out of like two years of war were a few puny bits of Flanders (incidentally, the region where I studied French this past summer!). He was pissed, and wanted revenge.
But the Dutch had really won the last time because of timely English intervention. So this time, Louis bribed the English to keep their noses out of the whole thing. Then, he invaded the Netherlands in 1672, embarking on a war of revenge. The Dutch, alarmed by all of this, initially offer a very generous peace treaty that would relinquish some of the lands that Louis wanted, but Louis wants the whole pie, so he refuses.
Okay, you know how most of the land in Holland is "reclaimed"? Like, is actually under sea level, and has been reclaimed from the sea by the clever use of dykes? Yeah, so essentially the dutch break the dykes, and flood most of their country. Amsterdam is like, an island. And the French troops can do pretty much nothing - they're infantry, they have no ships...
So, yeah, the Dutch are awesome. Also, because France being all pushy and stuff alarms the rest of Europe ("noooo! Our balance of power!" D: ), pretty much anybody sympathetic to the French allies against them. Including the English. Apparently the French didn't bribe them enough. ;) And they bring the Swedes with them. Oh those crazy Swedes.
... I've been studying diligently for my History 310: history of the Holy Roman Empire midterm, can you tell? :D
Oh, and for the crack-worthiness, check this comic out: http://community.livejournal.com/hetalia/220943.html Can you say... the history of Europe as portrayed by anthropomorphized countries, as written by a Japanese manga artist?
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Date: 2009-02-11 07:59 pm (UTC)THANKS FOR POSTING IT!!! <3<3