•Austrian ruler
•Government reforms
•streamlined many aspects of government and the military.
•The serfs
•in the later years of her rule she strove to improve the lives of serfs by reducing the power nobles had over them.
•Son—Joseph II
mariatheresa
Austrian ruler Maria Theresa started many reforms, but it was really her son, Joseph II, who is better characterized as an “enlightened” monarch.

Maria Theresa centralized and streamlined many aspects of government and the military. In addition, in the later years of her rule she strove to improve the lives of serfs by reducing the power nobles had over them.