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History

Introduction

Many peoples have crossed the territory of Austria over recorded history. The Gauls, the Romans and the Franks were among the earliest peoples who inhabited the area during the period of the late Roman Empire. The Republic of Austria as it is known today is a relatively new political entity, having been formed after the breakup of the Habsburg Empire following World War I.

Aided by the river system, the area located in the heart of Europe has been a crossroad from east to west and north to south for centuries. Although the dominant culture has been German since the Middle Ages, the influx of many Slavs, Hungarians and Italians over time has left important cultural traces.

Austria’s history is not only a long one but also complex. It was the center of a rich and extensive empire, identified with the Habsburg dynasty from the late Middle Ages onward. Habsburg power, political strife and the Catholic religion shaped the policies of the country over the centuries as it changed and grew.

Following are a few of the major events that marked the political life of the empire:

1273 - In an effort to bring peace to the areas along the Danube, the warring princes agreed to the election of Count Rudolf I of the Habsburg family as king and Holy Roman Emperor.

1526 - The Habsburg’s winning of the crowns of Bohemia and Hungary and in 1527 Croatia, brought about radical changes through the extension of Habsburg power. A chain of territories was linked together legally, politically and culturally in a dynastic union.

1556 - Charles V abdicated the Habsburg throne. The empire he left was described as one on which “the sun never sets.” The Spanish portion of the empire he gave to his son Phillip II, and his brother Ferdinand I succeeded him as ruler of the Austrian lands.

1648 - The Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years’ War and allowed the Habsburg emperors to begin consolidating absolutist control over their own Central European domains.

1699 - The Treaty of Karlowitz between Emperor Leopold I and the Ottoman Empire ended the Turkish occupation of most of Hungary and the longstanding Turkish threat to the security of the core Habsburg territories.

1713 - Treaty of Utrecht ended the War of the Spanish Succession (1701 -14). This conflict over the succession to the throne of Spain upon the death of Charles II, the last Spanish Habsburg ruler, resulted in a grandson of French King Louis XIV gaining the throne of Spain. The Austrian Habsburgs acquired the former Spanish Netherlands and portions of Italy.

1713 - The Pragmatic Sanction issued by Charles VI (1711-1740) as a declaration to bind all the Habsburg lands to acceptance of his eldest daughter Maria Theresa as his successor.

1867 - The Austro-Hungarian Compromise approved by Emperor Francis Joseph I (1848-1916) created a constitutional government with a cabinet of ministers and parliament for the Austrian lands and a separate cabinet and parliament for Hungary.

1918 - The end of World War I brought the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the end of Habsburg rule.

History is not only the story of politics, wars, and alliances, but the life of the people, which includes countless social, economic, and cultural considerations, just as in our lives today. As you read through the following sections, the objective is that you ask yourself the “whys and hows” of events.

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