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Austrian Culture: Austrian History

Robert Easton

The area now known as Austria has been inhabited for at least 25,000 years. One piece of evidence for this assertion was the discovery in 1908 of one of the oldest piece of art known to man - the 5cm tall statue 'Venus of Willendorf'.

The statue is of an extremely fat woman with plaits but no face and no feet. Archaeologists are not sure of the exact significance of the statue, but if you want to have a look yourself it is displayed in the Natural History Museum in Vienna.

Austrian History Timeline

~3500BC A man with dark hair and blue eyes dies in a bloody fight. (See 1991AD)

500BC Celts settle in the area. This is the beginning of 'civilisation' in Austria. The Celts set up trade routes and mine salt.

15BC The Romans arrive (to the bloody detriment of the Celts). Their largest settlement in the region is Carnuntum, the population of which reaches 50,000.

500AD The Roman Empire has collapsed and the Romans are on the retreat. The Danube Valley is an important crossing point, so various tribes all fight for control, including Huns, Avars, Goths, Teutons, Franks, Slavs and Bavarians. The Slavs end up in control of what is now Carinthia and Styria, and the Bavarians take the rest.

800AD Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor, and by 803 has set up a territory called Ostmark in the Danube Valley. The area is overrun by Magyars after his death.

955AD Otto The Great gains control of Ostmark. By brute force and clever politcal manoeuvring, Otto is able to reestablish much of the Holy Roman Empire of Charlemagne.

976AD Otto gives Ostmark to Liutpold of Babenburg (Leopold I of Austria) as a reward for loyalty during a rebellion.

996AD The territory is referred to in Imperial documents for the first time, as Ostarrichi, a precursor of modern Austria's name Österreich. Over the following two centuries the Babenburgs rule fairly successfully, and manage to unite territory which would constitute a large part of modern Austria.

1246AD The Babenburg Dynasty ends when Frederick II (Frederick the Quarrelsome) dies in battle without any heirs. Ottakar II of Bohemia (known as the 'Iron and Gold King') steps in, takes control of Frederick II's lands, and marries the dead man's wife for good measure.

1278AD Ottakar II forgets the number one rule of history and politics (big army = rightful king) and makes the rather silly mistake of refusing to swear allegiance to the prime contender for Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf of Habsburg. Rudolf makes short work of Ottakar in battle, and over the next century the Habsburgs take most of the rest of the territory which constitutes modern Austria.

1356-1365AD Rudolf IV founds the University of Vienna and St Stephen's Cathedral, and cunningly has a document faked tracing the Habsburg lineage back to Roman Emperors. It takes 500 years for it to be identified as a forgery.

1453AD Fredrick III declared that 'Alles Erdreich ist Österreich Untertan' (~All soil is Austria) and tried to invade Hungary to prove it. Mattias Corvinas of Hungary replied that the Holy Roman Empire was 'neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire', and fought him back, occupying Vienna for five years.

1477-1521AD Strategic marriages briefly unite Burgundy, the Netherlands, Spain (and its South American territories), Bohemia and Hungry under Habsburg rule. They decide it's too much land for one person to rule, and split the Empire up.

1500s-1700sAD Austrian rulers spend most of their time fighting off Turkish Armies or forcing Catholicism on their subjects.

1740AD Maria Theresia ascends the throne and spends the next eight years fighting to keep it. Maria put through many reforms in the fields of education and civil rights, and gave birth to 16 children, one of whom was Marie Antoinette. She insisted that Jews be kept behind a screen when in her presence, but is seen as one of Austria's greatest rulers.

1750-1800AD Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Gluck and Schubert compose music in Vienna.

1803-1809AD Napoleon inflicted several military defeats on Austria, twice occupying Vienna. Austria lost Tyrol, Vorarlberg, Croatia, and their Italian lands.

1814AD Napoleon was defeated, and the European powers carved up his lands at the Conference of Vienna. Austria got back what they had lost, and also gained Salzburg.

1848AD Following the conference Austria's government became steadily more autocratic. Revolution broke out, the war minister was hung in the street, and the Emperor abdicated.

1867AD Austria is forced to give Hungary its own parliament, which has control over many crucial issues.

1896AD Working in Vienna, Sigmund Freud coined the term psychoanalysis.

1906AD Universal suffrage introduced.

1914AD The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, leads Austria to declare war on Serbia, triggering World War I.

1918AD After defeat in World War I Karl I abdicates, bringing to and end the Habsburg dynasty's incredible 640 year reign over Austria, much of Europe, and parts of South and Central America. In defeat most Austrians want some kind of political union with Germany, but the victorious allies decree that Austria should remain independent. She is also forced to recognise the sovereignty of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Yugoslavia.

1933AD Since the end of World War I Vienna had been ruled by socialists whilst the rest of the country was under the control of the conservative Social Democrats. Tensions steadily grew until in 1933 the conservative federal chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss takes the opportunity of dissolving parliament.

1934AD The rival factions fall into civil war, and the socialists get a drubbing. The leader of the conservatives is assassinated by the Nazis later in the same year.

1938AD Anschluss! German troops march into Austria, and Hitler is welcomed by a crowd of 200,000 Viennese.

1938-1945AD The Nazis were not made entirely welcome - over the next seven years they imprisoned around 100,000 Austrians for political reasons and executed 2,700 resistance fighters. Of the 180,000 Jews in Vienna before 1938, 100,000 fled, and of the remaining 80,000 only 6000 survived.

1945-1955AD Austria is occupied by the Allies. In 1955 it regains is independence and declares perpetual neutrality.

1986AD President Kurt Waldheim is revealed to have fought for a Nazi German unit involved in World War II war-crimes.

1991AD The man who died in a fight around 3500BC is found perfectly preserved in ice. Tests show that he was suffering from frostbite and arthritis. He has arrow and knife wounds, but some of the blood on his weapons and clothes is other people's. Nicknamed Ötzi after the Ötzaler Alps he was found in, he has a last chance to continue his line when several Austrian and Italian women write to the laboratory asking to be impregnated with his frozen sperm. Unfortunately the necessary part of his body was missing. Ötzi is now to be founded in a museum in Italian town of Bolzano.

1995AD Austria joins the EU

1999AD Austria attracts diplomatic sanctions from EU member states for allowing far right xenophobe politician Joerg Haider into government by means of a free, fair and democratic election. Haider leaves government almost immediately and his poll ratings plummet, but he remains a part of the political scene and is currently governor of Carinthia.

2008AD In one of the biggest foreign invasions in Austria's history, thousands upon thousands of football fans descend upon Vienna, Salzburg, Klagenfurt and Innsbruck as Austria hosts the 2008 European Championships.

Related Links

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