Maria Theresa: Difference between revisions

Maria Theresa was asvery conservativetolerant inwith matters of state asothers in thoseterms of religion, butreligion and she implemented significant reforms to strengthen Austria's military and bureaucratic efficiency.{{sfn|Byrne|1997|p=38}} She employed [[Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitz]], who modernised the empire by creating a standing army of 108,000 men, paid for with 14 million [[Austro-Hungarian florin|florins]] extracted from crown lands. The central government was responsible for funding the army, although Haugwitz instituted taxation of the nobility, who had never before had to pay taxes.{{sfn|Crankshaw|1970|p=192}} Moreover, after Haugwitz was appointed the head of the new central administrative agency, dubbed the Directory, (''Directorium in publicis et cameralibus'') in 1749, he initiated a radical centralization of state institutions down to the level of the District Office (''Kreisamt'').{{sfn|Beller|2006|p=88}} Thanks to this effort, by 1760 there was a class of government officials numbering around 10,000. However, Lombardy, the Austrian Netherlands and Hungary were almost completely untouched by this reform.{{sfn|Beller|2006|p=88}} In the case of Hungary, Maria Theresa was particularly mindful of her promise that she would respect the privileges in the kingdom, including the immunity of nobles from taxation.{{sfn|Berenger|2014|p=86}}