Veronica Buckley: The Hapsburgs and the French Revolution (1790)

The late eighteenth century history was a time in Europe when a brilliant old world collapsed and raucous new one rose to replace it. In this episode the biographer Veronica Buckley explains how the Hapsburgs, one of the great European families, responded to this revolutionary change.

It was a stern challenge but inspired by one of the great matriarchs in European history, Empress Maria Theresia, her son Emperor Joseph II, his successor Leopold and their sister, Marie Antoinette, reacted as best they could in that perilous year, 1790.

Veronica Buckley is the author of Seven Sisters: Captives and Rebels in Revolutionary Europe's First Family

Read an in-depth article about this story on Unseen Histories.

Show notes

Scene One: 20 February 1790, Emperor Joseph II dies in Vienna

Scene Two: October 1790, The French revolutionary Comte de Mirabeau meets with Emperor Leopold II in Frankfurt to discuss a possible intervention in France.

Scene Three: November 1790, The Habsburg imperial family arrives in Pressburg for Leopold’s coronation as King of Hungary.

Memento: A piece of elegant jewellery belonging to Marie Christine.

People/Social

Presenter: Peter Moore

Guest: Veronica Buckley

Production: Maria Nolan

Theme music: Firelight by Minka / Mozart - Piano Sonata in B-flat major, III. Allegretto Grazioso performed by Brendan Kinsella