Jacques Antoine Dassier; Maria Theresa (1717-1780); Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia 1740-1780; Treaty of Fuessen; 1745; bronze; traces of black patina; 3 15/16 in. (10 cm.); Empress Maria Theresa of the Austrian Habsburg line ascended to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire in 1740. An alliance of European powers immediately challenged her sovereignty; citing her ineligibility as a woman and prompting the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748). This medal commemorates the 1745 Treaty of Fuessen; which ended Bavaria's participation in the war; a decisive moment leading to Maria Theresa's victory. The depiction of the Roman goddess of wisdom and war Minerva on the reverse is an acknowledgment of Maria Theresa's brilliance in war and diplomacy in eighteenth-century European politics.