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History
 Founded around 500 BC Vienna was originally a Celtic settlement. In 15 BC Vienna became a Roman frontier city (Vindobona) guarding the Roman Empire against Germanic tribes to the north. During the Middle Ages Vienna was home of the Babenberg Dynasty and in 1440 became residence city of the Habsburg dynasties from where Vienna eventually grew to become the capital of the Holy Roman Empire and a cultural centre for arts and science, music and fine cuisine. The Ottoman conquers of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries were stopped twice just outside Vienna (see Siege of Vienna in 1529 and Battle of Vienna in 1683).
In 1804 Vienna became capital of the Austrian Empire and played a major role in European and World politics, including hosting the 1815 Congress of Vienna. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 Vienna remained the capital of what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the latter half of the 19th century the city developed what had previously been the bastions and glacis into the Ringstraße, a major prestige project.
In 1918, after World War I, Vienna became capital of the First Austrian Republic. During the 1920s and 1930s it was a bastion of socialism in Austria and is therefore still known as "Red Vienna." The city was stage to the Austrian Civil War of 1934, when Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss sent the Army to shell civilian housing occupied by the socialist militia. In 1938, after a triumphant entry into Austria, Adolf Hitler held a famous speech to the Austrian people from the balcony of the Neue Burg, a part of the Hofburg, the historical imperiall residence. Between 1938 and the end of the Second World War Vienna lost its status as the capital to Berlin.
 In 1945 the Red Army of the UdSSR launched its Vienna Offensive against the Nazis holding Vienna. After a two-week-siege the Soviets eventually conquered the city. Thereupon the old and new capital of Austria was divided into four zones by the four allied powers and was governed by the Allied Commission for Austria. During the ten years of foreign occupation Vienna became a hot-bed for international espionage between the Western and Eastern blocs.
In the 1970s Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky inaugurated the creation of the Vienna International Centre, a new area of the city created to host international institutions. Subsequently Vienna has regained a part of its former international relevance by hosting such international organizations as the United Nations (UNIDO, UNOV, CTBTO and UNODC), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEO), the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
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