Query: Maria Theresa's father died in 1744.

Relevant passages:
Maria Theresa <=SEP=> Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina ( Maria Theresia -LSB- maˈʁiːa teˈʁeːzi̯a -RSB- 13 May 1717 -- 29 November 1780 ) was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg . She was the sovereign of Austria , Hungary , Croatia , Bohemia , Transylvania , Mantua , Milan , Lodomeria and Galicia , the Austrian Netherlands and Parma . By marriage , she was Duchess of Lorraine , Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Holy Roman Empress .   She started her 40-year reign when her father , Emperor Charles VI , died in October 1740 . Charles VI paved the way for her accession with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 and spent his entire reign securing it . Upon the death of her father , Saxony , Prussia , Bavaria , and France all repudiated the sanction they had recognised during his lifetime . Frederick II of Prussia ( who became Maria Theresa 's greatest enemy for most of her reign ) promptly invaded and took the affluent Habsburg province of Silesia in the nine-year conflict known as the War of the Austrian Succession . Over the course of the war , despite the loss of Silesia and a few minor territories in Italy , Maria Theresa successfully defended her rule over most of the Habsburg empire . Maria Theresa later unsuccessfully tried to reconquer Silesia during the Seven Years ' War .   Maria Theresa and her husband , Francis I , Holy Roman Emperor , had eleven daughters , including the Queen of France and Navarre , the Queen of Naples and Sicily , the Duchess of Parma , and five sons , including two Holy Roman Emperors , Joseph II and Leopold II . Of the sixteen children ten survived to adulthood . Though she was expected to cede power to Francis and Joseph , both of whom were officially her co-rulers in Austria and Bohemia , Maria Theresa was the absolute sovereign who ruled with the counsel of her advisers . She criticised and disapproved of many of Joseph 's actions . Maria Theresa understood the importance of her public persona and was able to simultaneously evoke both esteem and affection from her subjects .   Maria Theresa promulgated financial and educational reforms , with the assistance of Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitz and Gerard van Swieten , promoted commerce and the development of agriculture , and reorganised Austria 's ramshackle military , all of which strengthened Austria 's international standing . However , she refused to allow religious pluralism and advocated for the state church and contemporary adversary travelers criticized her regime as bigoted and superstitious . As a young monarch who fought two dynastic wars , she believed that her cause should be the cause of her subjects , but in her later years she would believe that their cause must be hers .

Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor <=SEP=> Charles VI ( 1 October 1685 -- 20 October 1740 ; Karl VI . ) succeeded his elder brother , Joseph I , as Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia ( as Charles II ) , King of Hungary and Croatia ( as Charles III ) , and King of Serbia , Archduke of Austria , etc. , in 1711 . He unsuccessfully claimed the throne of Spain as Charles III following the death of its ruler , and Charles 's relative , Charles II of Spain , in 1700 . He married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , by whom he had his two children : Maria Theresa , born 1717 , the last Habsburg sovereign , and Maria Anna , born 1718 , Governess of the Austrian Netherlands .   Four years before the birth of Maria Theresa , faced with his lack of male heirs , Charles provided for a male-line succession failure with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 . The Emperor favoured his own daughters over those of his elder brother and predecessor , Joseph I , in the succession , ignoring the decree he had signed during the reign of his father , Leopold I. Charles sought the other European powers ' approval . They exacted harsh terms : Britain demanded that Austria abolish its overseas trading company . In total , Great Britain , France , Saxony-Poland , the Dutch Republic , Spain , Venice , States of the Church , Prussia , Russia , Denmark , Savoy-Sardinia , Bavaria , and the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire recognised the sanction . France , Spain , Saxony-Poland , Bavaria and Prussia later reneged . Charles died in 1740 , sparking the War of the Austrian Succession , which plagued his successor , Maria Theresa , for eight years .