Embassy of Austria - Washington D.C. - Dawn of History to Border Province

Dawn of History to Border Province

The Rise of an Empire

The Danube area was colonized as early as the Paleolithic Age, between 80.000 and 10.000 BC. The Tänzerin, a small figure symbolizing a female dancer, found in the environs of Krems, and the Venus of Willendorf provide the first significant evidence of early cultures. In 1991 the sensational discovery of a mummified male body (Ötzi) dating from the Stone Age was made in the glacial ice of the Ötztal Alps. In the Early Iron Age, from around 800 to 400 BC, Celtic tribes inhabited the territory of what is now Austria, trading throughout Europe in salt and ores.

Around the time of Christ's birth the Roman Empire conquered the greater part of present-day Austria. The provinces of Raetia, Noricum and Pannonia were established as border regions. The Romans founded numerous settlements of which Carnuntum in Pannonia, lying to the east of Vienna, was the largest Roman town on Austrian territory. In the 2nd century AD Christianity began to spread in Austria as well.

First Roman settlers in Carnunthum

The migration of different tribes led to the decline of Roman power. With the collapse of the Roman Empire the Roman way of life and culture also disappeared from this area. In the 6th century AD the Bavarians started continuous settlement of the region, encountering the Slavs and Avars advancing from the East. The ecclesiastical organization of the country dates from the 4th century.

The Frankish ruler Charlemagne (747-814) established the Carolingian March, or border province, on the territory of present-day Austria between the rivers Enns, Raab and Drava. In 907 the province collapsed after a defeat inflicted by the Magyars. It was not until 955 that Otto the Great succeeded in vanquishing the Magyars and reconquering the region. In 976 Leopold von Babenberg, a descendant of a noble Bavarian family, was invested with the area between the rivers Enns and Traisen.

Rule of the Babenbergs

The new rulers of the margravate initially resided in Melk. In 1156 Duke Heinrich II (Jasomirgott) made Vienna his permanent residence. The Babenbergs extended their empire to the north of the Danube and further to the east and the south. Before the turn of the millennium (996) a document referred to the region of the Alpine foothills under its present name Österreich (Ostarrîchi = Austria).

In 1156 the Babenbergs secured the transformation of the margravate into a duchy by Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa, which induced greater independence from imperial power. In 1192 the Babenberg Leopold V acquired the Duchy of Styria through a contract of inheritance. After the chiildless Duke Friedrich II was killed in the 1246 Battle of the Leitha against the Magyars his lands became the object of his neighbors' power politics. The Austrian nobility then sided with the Bohemian king Ottokar II Premysl who secured the heritage for himself by marrying the last Babenberg's sister.

He quickly succeeded in restoring order, reconquering Styria and subjugating Carinthia through a contract of inheritance. However, the Holy Roman Empire's newly-elected king, Rudolf von Habsburg, was not willing to recognize the Bohemian king's power without his swearing an oath of allegiance. When both sides took up arms Ottokar was killed in the Battle of Dürnkrut in 1278. In 1282 Rudolf invested his two sons with the Duchies of Austria and Styria, thus laying the foundation for Habsburg's dynastic power.

600 Years of Habsburg Rule

From the end of the 13th century to the middle of the 15th century the Habsburgs expanded their territory by gaining the Duchy of Carinthia (1335), the Earldom of Tyrol and the "Windische Mark" (1365). Losses of territory in Switzerland were compensated by the acquisition of parts of today's province of Vorarlberg. The gifted Rudolf IV, referred to as "The Founder", not only founded the University of Vienna but succeeded in strengthening the position of this family for future generations by forging a document known as the "Privilegium maius."

His capable successor, Duke Albrecht V, was married to Emperor Sigismund's daughter, thus becoming King of Bohemia and Hungary. After the death of his father-in-law he became the first Habsburg to again be German king of the Holy Roman Empire. Following Albrecht's untimely death during a battle against the Turks in 1439 Friedrich V from the Tyrolean line of the Habsburgs ruled Austria and the Holy Roman Empire.

Through his prudent policy of alliances he laid the foundations for the Habsburg Empire. He married his son Maximilian to the Burgundian heiress Maria. Maximilian used a shrewd marital policy to secure the hereditary succession in Bohemia, Hungary and Spain for his grandsons Ferdinand and Karl. The Habsburg dynasty subsequently divided into the Austro-German and the Spanish-Dutch lines. In 1526, after the death of the last Jagellonian king Ludwig II in the Battle of Mohács, Bohemia and Hungary were united with Austria.

Emperor Leopold I

The Ottoman Empire, which had been encroaching on Europe ever since the 14th century, posed an growing threat to the continent. Following the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 the Turks advanced even further west-wards and formed a permanent danger for the Habsburg empire. Twice the Ottoman armies reached for the gates of Vienna before they were driven back (in 1529 and 1683 - First and Second Turkish Sieges).It took several campaigns with heavy losses to banish the Turks and to reconquer Hungary.

Austria's emergence as a major power was mainly due to the brilliant military leader Prince Eugene of Savoy, who served under three emperors (Leopold I, Josef I and Karl VI) and proved to be not only an outstanding military commander but also a fine statesman.

In 1700 the Spanish line of the Habsburgs died out. In the "War of the Spanish Succession", fought throughout Europe, the House of Austria (casa d´Austria) did not succeed in winning back the Spanish possessions but managed to maintain its rule over Italy and the Netherlands.

Empress Maria Theresia

After the death of Emperor Karl VI in 1740 the male line of the Habsburgs came to an end. Karl's daughter Maria Theresa succeeded her father as empress of the patrimonial lands, since the "Pragmatic Sanction" of 1713 ensured the indivisibility of the lands and allowed for female succession.

The empress, who married Franz Stephan of Lorraine, found herself faced with a host of enemies seeking to seize the Habsburg empire. The Prussian king Friedrich II was particularly eager to gain possession of this heritage. Maria Theresa had to fight two arduous wars (the Silesian War 1740-1748 and the Seven Years War 1756-1763) in order to keep her lands intact, with the exception of the rich province of Silesia, which she lost to Prussia.

Maria Theresa's husband, who was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1745 as Franz I, was over-shadowed by his wife throughout his lifetime. The great empress implemented a program of important reforms in her lands. Her son Joseph II abolished serfdom, issued the Toleration Edict and secularized monasteries and church property, thus paving the way for consistent centralism.

The French Revolution

The system of Austrian absolutism was severely threatened by the ideas emerging from the French Revolution, which cautiously spread to Austria. Emperor Franz II, grandson of Maria Theresa and nephew of the executed French queen Marie Antoinette, joined the coalition against revolutionary France. As a result, Austria suffered severe defeats in the
campaigns led by Napoleon Bonaparte.

After Napoleon had crowned himself Emperor of France in 1804, Emperor Franz responded by installing the Empire of Austria. The establishment of the Confederation of the Rhine under the auspices of France led to the disintegration of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Accordingly, Franz II renounced the imperial crown. In his subsequent campaigns Napoleon inflicted devastating defeats upon Austria and even conquered Vienna twice. However, Archduke Carl's victory over the powerful Corsican at the Battle of Aspern demonstrated that Napoleon was not invincible.

The Congress of Vienna which was presided over by Austrian State Chancellor Prince Clemens Wenzel Lothar Metternich (the "Coachman of Europe") restored the old order in Europe in 1815.

A New Empire

In spring 1848 the ideas of the middle-class revolution originating in France also spread to Austria. The liberals demanded a constitution and freedom of the press. Metternich's hated police-based system was swept away. However, in October of that same year the uprising was suppressed, with the conservatives gaining on all fronts.

The young emperor Franz Joseph I established a neo-absolutist system. His dubious policy of neutrality in the Crimean War (1854-1856) led Austria into a dangerous isolation. It was thus left to face Sardinia, which was allied to France and supported the Italian independence movement, alone. Following its defeats at the Battles of Magenta and Solferino in 1859 Austria was forced to give up Lombardy and, at the same time, to yield to internal pressure for a parliamentary institution by issuing the October Diploma and the February Edict.

At the same time Kaiser Franz and his beloved Elisabeth ("Sissi") provided the material for one of the greatest Austrian love stories.

Political developments in the Austrian part of the monarchy (Cisleithania) were marked by the emergence of the mass parties (Social Democratic Party and Christian Social Party) and the demand for basic civil rights. The first general elections by direct suffrage to the Imperial Council (Reichsrat) were held in 1907.

The First World War

The long period of peace which prevailed until the First World War was safeguarded by a complicated system of European alliances, with Austria-Hungary joining up with the German Empire and Italy to form a Triple Alliance. However, growing nationalism within the multiracial state caused severe tension. The justified demands of the working classes for better pay and conditions fit for human beings also clamored for solution.

The assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo was the provocation for the outbreak of the First World War. In four years of futile slaughter the European powers opposed one another, until the entry of the United States intop the war finally brought it to an end. After the defeat of the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, the German Empire and allied Turkey) the European order crumbled. The dual monarchy disintegrated into national states. The remnants were to form the new Republic of Austria.