Maria Theresa was a very successful empress who strengthened her royal power several ways. She has many children and married them off to other European nobility to forge alliances. She standardized the German language in her realm as the official language, she limited the power of other nobility taking it for herself, she standardized weights and measures used in trade, and she developed a strong army that let her maintain power even with multiple threats and conflicts. All of these strengthened her as a ruler.