MARGARET THATCHER: The Iron Lady

Margaret Thatcher is the only female and the longest serving British Prime Minister in history.  By the time she was elected Prime Minister in 1979, the Queen of England had little power, and most of that power was funneled through the Prime Minister.  Thus, Margaret Thatcher held much of the power in the United Kingdom.  She was an extraordinary woman who held a lot of power, and this post will look at her life, work, and legacy.

Margaret Thatcher grew up relatively normally.  She had liberal leaning independent parents.  She got a good education that eventually led to her becoming a chemist.  She worked for BX Plastics, and upon getting a base in Conservative politics from reading material at Oxford, joined the local Conservative Association.  She eventually rised through the ranks until she became the chair of the Dartford Conservative Association.  She ran for office in 1950 and 1951, but she lost.  She was supported in this by her parents and her husband.  Her husband, who was wealthy, also funded her studies to pass the bar.  In 1953, she qualified as a barrister.

She won a Conservative seat in Parliament.  From there, she just went up and up in Parliament.  Eventually she became the Education Secretary from 1970-1974.  She then went on to become the leader of the opposition to the Labour Party.  SHe finally beat the Labour Party when she was elected as Prime Minister in 1979.

As Prime Minister, Thatcher pursued Conservative policies.  She lowered direct taxes while increasing indirect taxes.  She also cut government spending in many key areas.  She lowered unemployment.  While all this was true, the recession of the early 1980's caused Thatcher to raise taxes.  Under her, the UK's economy became revitalized.  She curbed trade unions and re-established the UK as a world power.  She was not afraid of argument, and a Russian called her "The Iron Lady" because she always stuck to her resolve.

She was a successful Prime Minister, and she was one of the most popular.  Critics claim that she was divisive, and they claim that she was responsible for ending many programs that people claim were necessary for the UK.  Thatcher has since said that she has no regrets, and these programs were all unnecessary drains on the economy.  Overall, the UK was in an improved position after her time as Prime Minister.

Her Wikipedia Page

Her Foundation's Website

Her Biography on Biography.com

This ends our look at European History with 20 Posts.  All these women are vitally important to history.  They should not be forgotten simply because of their sex.

ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE: Queen With Power

Eleanor of Aquitaine would become one of the wealthiest and most powerful women of the high middle ages.  In addition to her birth titles as Duchess of Aquitaine and Countess of Poitiers, Eleanor would also be Queen Consort of both France and England in her lifetime.  She was a remarkable woman, and this post will look at her life.

Eleanor's birthplace and date are pretty much unknown.  From the knowledge that she was 13 in the Spring of 1137 (though it was also stated that she was 14 in 1136) makes her birthdate somewhere around 1122.  Her parents likely married shortly before her birth (in around 1121) because she was the eldest of three children.  Her mother died when she was 6.  Her father died by the time she was fifteen.  This left Eleanor with two titles and a lot of money.  This made her one fo the most eligible women in Europe.

She married the King of France, Louis VII, three months after gaining her titles and money.  Their rule was marked significantly by France's participation (at Eleanor's urging) in the failed Second Crusade.  Soon after the crusade ended, she sought an annulment to her marriage with Louis.  The Pope rejected her request.  She gave birth to a daughter, Alix, and Louis agreed to an annulment to the marriage.  Their marriage was annulled on the grounds of consanguinity, or the belief that they had a common ancestor.  Their daughters were declared legitimate heirs, and Louis was awarded full custody.  Eleanor was given back her lands and her original two titles.

Shortly after her annulment, she got engaged to Henry Plantagenet, Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy.  They were married less than eight weeks after her annulment.  In 1154, Henry ascended to the throne of England, and Eleanor became Queen of the English.  Thus, she was Queen again.  She bore Henry eight children.  The marriage was strained, and the two became estranged.  In fact, when their son Henry tried to revolt against his father, Eleanor was imprisoned for supporting him.

She became a widow when Henry died in 1189.  Her son, Richard I, immediately released her from her imprisonment.  She was then Queen Dowager.  After being Queen Dowager, she ruled as regent while Richard I was off fighting the third crusade.

She died in 1204 after outliving all but two of her children.  She was 82 years old at the time.  Her effigy, depicted above, was decorated with jewels and splendor.  In the end, Eleanor was a noble queen and a good ruler.  She was steady in her decisions, and showed herself to be a capable monarch.  Not only that, she was one of the richest and most powerful women of the high middle ages.  That alone makes her significant enough for this post.

Her Wikipedia Page

Her Women's History Page

Next Time We Will Discuss...

THEODORA: The Equal Wife and Ruler

Theodora was the wife of the Roman Emperor Justinian I.  She was likely the most powerful woman in the history of the Roman Empire, and she exerted her influence and power over many people (some even say over her husband).  It is generally believed that she was the acting ruler, and her husband did little more than look like he was ruling.  To figure this out, let's look at her reign on the throne of the Byzantine (Roman) Empire a little more closely.

Theodora was of Greek descent.  No place has ever been nailed down as her definitive birthplace, so her early life is largely confusing.  What is known is that she was born in 500.  She traveled much as a child and spent time in North Africa.  However, she renounced her life of leisure and fun in order to become a wool spinner in a house near the palace.  It was here that her beauty and wit enticed the Emperor, Justinian, to ask for her hand in marriage.  At the time, his mother objected because Theodora had been an actress, and an old law forbade the marriage of royalty to actresses.  Thus, he was forced to wait until his mother died.  He then repealed the law and married Theodora.

During their reign, Theodora and Justinian outwardly shared the power of the throne.  They were a true ruling couple.  The Nika riots broke out between two rival political factions.  Everyone was scared of the implications of this, but Theodora calmed them all.  Justinian, who was contemplating running, listened to her speech with enthusiasm.  Theodora declared, "purple makes a fine shroud."  This was meant to imply that an Emperor is better fighting for his title and staying in the palace before dying than if he runs away.  This convinced Justinian to send his loyal troops out to crush the Nika riots.  Thus, Theodora proved herself a worthy and capable leader.

After the Nika riots, the couple gained a huge boost in their popularity.  They had shown resolve and proved that they were the true leaders.  In the wake of the turmoil, Theodora and Justinian went on a campaign of modernization and reformation in the capital, Constantinople.  It became the most splendid city the world had or would see for centuries with fantastic buildings such as the Hagia Sophia.  The couple were hands on managers and led the country as if they were the masters to the slaves.  This didn't effect the common man too much, but it greatly decreased the scope on the power of magistrates and other officials who did whatever they wanted in other places in the world.

In the end, Theodora saved the reign of Justinian.  She was a reformer that made the capital of the Byzantine (Roman) Empire one of the grandest cities in the world.  Not only did she do all this, but she managed to rule the Empire at the side of her husband rather than beneath him.  This led her to become the most powerful woman in Roman History!  That is her significance.

Her Wikipedia Page

Her Women's History Page

Next Time We Will Discuss...

ALEXANDRA FEODOROVNA ROMANOVA: Another Tragic Tale

Czarina Alexandra was the last monarch of Russia.  She had virtually no power, but she is important to history, so this post is about her.  After her death, she was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.  Why did the death of a monarch create such a reaction?  Let us examine the Czarina a little further.

The Czarina was the wife of Czar Nicholas II of Russia.  She was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and she carried the hemophiliac disease.  She was married to the Czar late in life considering her status as the granddaughter of the Queen of Britain.  It is said that she was supposed to marry a member of the family, but she did not want to because she was so smitten with Nicholas, the Grand Duke of Russia.  Most people did not support the marriage between Alexandra and Nicholas because there was strong anti-German sentiment (including the present Czar Alexander III).  Another hurdle to the match was that she would need to renounce Lutheranism and become an Eastern Orthodox Catholic.  She was eventually persuaded to do this, and the two were engaged in 1894.  They married later that year after Nicholas became the Czar.

Unlike Marie Antoinette, Alexandra was disliked by her people from the very beginning.  The Czarina seemed cold and unemotionally whenever she appeared in public, and this made her hard to relate to.  She also didn't appear to really embrace any part of Russian culture (from food to dancing).  According to those close to her, she was actually just very shy, and she feared Russian reactions to her statements.  Another thing that fed general dislike of her was the fact that she supported divine right to rule regardless of whether popular support was behind the monarch (or Czar).  The final thing that made her disliked by her people was the fact that she could not bear the Czar a son.  THey had many daughters, but a son was finally born.  Unfortunately, this was not the blessing people hoped for because the young Czarevich, Alexei, was a hemophiliac, and he was sick much of the time.

After a particularly bad bout of disease, a holy man named Rasputin claimed that he could cure the young Czarevich.  He proved unsuccessful at curing Alexei, but he did cure the symptoms of the disease. This was after doctors had already failed.  Alexandra latched onto Rasputin and held him in the highest regard for this.  Rasputin, however, was a known drunk who it was said would expose himself at restaurants.  This led the people to have a serious distrust of Alexandra and the monarchy as a whole.  Rasputin was eventually killed, but Alexandra continued to refer to him as a saint.  This led people to dislike Alexandra even more.

During World War I, the monarchy was blamed for the immense expense in capital and life that Russia lost.  This led the people to hate the monarchy for getting and keeping them in the war.  The economic conditions were correct, and the Bolshevik Revolution came around.  Nicholas II was forced to abdicate his throne.  The royal family was imprisoned in 1917.

During imprisonment, the Czar and his family pleaded with many other nations to help them by giving them asylum.  Not wanting to anger the new Soviet Union, the nations refused.  Thus, the Romanovs were stuck in Russia despite the fact that death could be around any corner.  The new leader, Lenin had already personally ordered the execution of the Royal family.

The Royal family offered an alternative to the Bolshevik government, so they were a threat to the Soviet Union.  Also, they were a rallying point to international discontent with the Soviet Union.  If they wanted to tear down the Soviet Union, it would be easy with people that had a legitimate claim to the throne.  On July 17, 1918, the Romanovs were taken into the basement of their prison palace, and they were all shot and killed.  Their bodies were then mutilated, buried, and dissolved in acid.  Their bodies were found later, but Anastasia and Alexei's corpses would remain missing for quite some time.

In the end, the Czarina was powerless, but she was still killed.  She was really unpopular with the people for her various indiscretions, and she was pretty much unimportant.  However, she was canonized because she died such a terrible, useless death.  It is that reason that she is important.  She is now Saint Alexandra the Passion Bearer.  In all honesty, she just loved her husband and her family more than her country.

Her Wikipedia Page

Her Page on Spartacus

Next Time we Will Discuss

MARIE ANTOINETTE: The Headless Queen

Perhaps the saddest downfall in history.  Marie Antoinette was the last Queen of France and the wife of Louis XVI.  She was born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna and was the fifteenth child of Empress Maria Theresa.  In 1770, at the age of 14, she married Louis-Auguste, Dauphin of France.  This made her the Dauphine (female term) of France.  SHe would later become queen, and then be forced from her throne.

She grew up in an imperial family and was never lonely.  Her childhood was relatively carefree, and she was groomed to live a privileged lifestyle of comfort and elegance.  She learned how to play many instruments, and was very good at dancing.  Her education, however, was very poor outside of that.  She was taught rudimentary skills, but they were no where near the extent that she needed once she became queen.  She was, however, being groomed to be a pawn.  Her mother saw her children as alliance making machines that could help her own empire.  Thus, Marie, because of her beauty, would be married off in order to gain an alliance.

In 1767, a smallpox outbreak happened within Marie's home family.  Though her older sister had been promised as a bride for Louis-Auguste, her sister died.  Successive deaths in the family from the disease left only Marie as a viable bride for the French Dauphin.  Thus, it was set that she would marry him.

In 1770, she met and married the Dauphin.  The new Dauphine was popular with the people because of her beauty and personality, but older members of the court disliked and/or distrusted her.  This was because Austria and France had been long-standing enemies before the Seven Years' War, and some older members of the court remembered this.  Even the Dauphin had been influenced by anti-Austrian sentiments at court and had distrust of his wife.

In 1775, Louis was crowned as Louis XVI and became King of France.  Marie, contrary to popular belief, had little influence over her husband because she was Austrian.  Thus, the argument that all his decisions were her decisions were false.  The marriage between the two wasn't consummated for quite some time because the king had an odd condition, but they managed to have children together: 4 to be exact.

All of the scandals that surrounded the royal family caused Marie to go into a deep depression.  Much like some women today, Marie fell into bad habits when she was depressed.  This included the buying of many gowns, and that gambling of funds.  This, along with costly renovations (she was said to plaster the walls of rooms with gold and diamonds), caused her popularity to decline.  Most of the debt that France had accrued both in the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution went unpaid.  Marie, however, still managed to find money to buy things.

During the French Revolution, the people tired of Marie and her husband's expensive reign, so they led an armed revolt against the monarchy.  After a long battle, the French people won.  The monarchy was toppled, and Marie's reputation was in the toilet.  The royal family attempted to escape to the royalist stronghold, but they were caught in Varennes.  The fact that they cowardly tried to abandon their post and move made their popularity fall further.  Louis was executed in January of 1793 for trying to undermine the first French Republic.

Marie was distraught at the death of her husband.  She refused to eat or do much of anything, but it was unclear what her fate would be.  Some called for her death, but others called for her to be exiled with her children.  In the end, a trial was held.  While Marie never flinched at the accusations of treason, the orchestration of orgies at Versailles, sending millions of livres to Austria, orchestrating the massacre of the Swiss Guards, or declaring her son the new king of France after her husband's execution.  The one time that she did respond was when she was accused of incest with her son.  She spoke out harshly against this, and proclaimed innocence.  Because her trial was really a sham, most women who had called for the queen's head actually began to support her after this.  Her emotional outburst caused the women to rally to her defense (for this accusation).

Marie was found guilty of treason.  Below is a picture of her being led to the guillotine.  Her plain white dress and badly cut hair are quite different from the elegant image that she carried throughout most of her life.  Her final words were, "Pardon me sir, I meant not to do it." (She had accidentally stepped on the executioners foot)  This brought an end to a very sad reign.

Marie Antoinette was not a particularly powerful or influential figure in European history.  However, her image and character echo through popular culture right down to the present day.  Some people blame her for all of France's problems at the time because of her lavish lifestyle.  Others feel that she may have been a catalyst to the revolution, but she was not the sole cause of it.  This debate is why she is significant.  People really don't know much about her, but there is so much literature on her.  In the end, she is significant because she was the last queen of France.  The fact that she was the last led other monarchies to reform rather than be disposed of (perhaps this is why the English monarchy still exists).

Her Wikipedia Page

A Website Made in her Name

Next Time we Will Discuss

MARIA THERESA: The Formidable Empress

Maria Theresa is, perhaps, one of the most formidable and forgotten women who ruled in Europe.  However, her place in female history is cemented by certain facts.  Maria Theresa was the only female ruler of the Hapsburg dominions (today parts of Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and Ukraine).  As you can, the dominions were far reaching, but let us take a closer look at the reign of this remarkable woman.

Maria Theresa ascended to the throne when her father, Emperor Charles VI died in 1740.  He had originally planned for Maria to take over the throne upon his death, and he created the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 to secure her ascension.  When he died, France, Poland, Saxony, and Bavaria repudiated the sanction, and caused the War of Austrian Succession.  This conflict allowed Prussia to invade and take Silesia (an affluent state).  Maria Theresa would later seek Silesia unsuccessfully during the Seven Years' War.  She would hate the Prussian leader for the rest of her reign.  Either way, her reign was established and lasted around 40 years.

She married Francis Stephen of Lorraine.  This meant that in addition to her hereditary Hapsburg titles, she was also Duchess of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, and Holy Roman Empress.  Together, they would have sixteen children that would include Marie Antoinette of France, Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, and two Roman Emperors.  Though she was expected to give much of her power over to her husband, she was an absolute sovereign and disapproved/criticized many actions taken by her significant others.  While doing this, she was also able to inspire confidence and even affection from her subjects because of her vast understanding of the public persona.

During her reign, Maria Theresa supported educational reforms. She also promoted commerce and the development of agriculture.  All of this strengthened Austria's position on the international stage.  By the time of the Seven Years' War, Austria was a formidable foe.  However, when its allies France and Russia pulled out of the war, it was left defenseless against the Prussians and British.  Fortunately, the peace talks soon began, and an invasion of Austria proper was avoided.  The peace following the war extracted harsh penalties from the French, but Austria was given a status quo ante bellum (or it was given the same status as it had before the war).

One criticism of Maria Theresa was that she did not support religious toleration.  Contemporary visitors of her lands often described her reign as being very bigoted and superstitious.  While some may call this criticism an exaggeration, almost all sources agree that she was a bigoted individual.

In the end, Maria Theresa was a successful monarch who inspired the love of her people.  She promoted reforms that kept Austria an active player on the world stage.  She also kept a lot of her power, and she did not yield to any man.  In her early years, she often thought that the way of the world was that her subjects should embrace any cause that she deemed important.  However, towards the end of her reign, she felt that the people's cause should be the causes of the monarch.  Also, her impressive lineage of children are almost all important figures throughout the history of Europe.

Maria Theresa likely never fully recovered from a smallpox illness that she got in 1767, but she did recover enough to resume her reign.  Regardless, she got sick of a chill in 1780, and she died shortly after.  Her son, Joseph (who was already her co-ruler at that time) succeeded her.  She left a revitalized empire that became an example for much of 19th Century Europe.

Her Wikipedia Page

Her King's College Page

Next Time We Will Discuss...

CATHERINE II: The Great Empress of Russia

Catherine II or Catherine the Great is a very intriguing figure when looking at European history.  Most of European history, as stated previously is very male-dominated and sometimes misogynistic.  This is especially true of Russia, so a woman rising the throne of Russia seems very unlikely, and it was not easy for Catherine to gain the power that she eventually had.


Catherine was born Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg in 1879 and in Prussia.  She was the daughter of a noble, but she was not a princess.  By any event, her husband started Russia's involvement in the Seven Years War, and that proved to be his political downfall.  He was immensely unpopular after this decision, and Catherine took advantage.  Knowing that she could rule better, she organized a coup of Peter's government and took the throne to herself.


Catherine was a strong-willed leader.  She was diplomatic, but she often got her way.  She was also convinced (rightly so) that Russia needed a warm-water port.  Thus, she waged a campaign to expand Russia south to the Black Sea.  This gave them a port that could be used year round (most other ports were in the north where frozen waters often delayed if not stalled commerce).  She pulled Russia into becoming one of the Great Powers at the time, and Russia has been a major part of world diplomacy since then.  Thus, she was one of the most important figures in European history.


Opinions on Catherine differ greatly.  Some say she was a power-hungry tyrant, and others say she did what was necessary to guide Russia into being a world power.  Either way, it is generally agreed that she presided over a Russian golden age.  The Russian aristocracy, military, and people were pretty much on par with others around the world for the first time in history really.  She was an effective, if a little tyrannical ruler.


Because she presided over such a golden age, she is very important to history.  She is also one of the few Russian rulers to which the epitaph "The Great" was added to their name.  That is an elite pantheon, and Catherine is firmly planted in it.


Her Wikipedia Page


Alexander Palace Time Machine Page: Catherine II

Next Time We Will Discuss...