$Unique_ID{COW00236} $Pretitle{376} $Title{Austria History in Brief} $Subtitle{} $Author{Federal Press Service} $Affiliation{Embassy of Austria, Washington DC} $Subject{austria austrian state vienna first government empire new political war} $Date{1988} $Log{} Country: Austria Book: Austria Facts and Figures Author: Federal Press Service Affiliation: Embassy of Austria, Washington DC Date: 1988 History in Brief From a Border Province to a Major Power The Austrian of today tends to take a very sober view of his country's history. He stands with his feet planted firmly in the 20th century and refuses to mourn a long lost empire. The story of the multinational Austro-Hungarian empire and of the ruling house of Habsburg, whose influence spread far beyond the monarchy itself, is not regarded as a reason to cultivate national traditions. On the contrary, they are seen as a step on the way towards a truly international outlook. The close proximity in the past of so many different nationalities within a single state has left its mark in the personal background of many Austrians. But in forming the course of history there are stronger forces at work than the mentality of a single nation. As a state at the heart of Europe, Austria has had its full share of all that history has brought to the continent, including the suffering. Its story is as varied as that of the continent as a whole: a Roman province, a border area in the south-east of the Holy Roman Empire, its gradual rise to becoming a major power, sudden collaps after the first world war, the struggle for survival as a republic, ending when German troops marched in, and finally the restoration of the republic after the second world war. Three Cultures Austrian history has been determined primarily by the country's geographical position, which is at the meeting point of three cultures - Romanic, Germanic and Slav. As a long ago as the early Iron Age, between about 1000 and 400 BC, the Indo-European Illyrians established a high level of civilisation, as is shown by the so-called Hallstatt civilisation. The Illyrians were followed in turn by the Celts. The Romans made the Alpine und Danube regions a part of their empire around the time of Christ. The Roman province of Noricum, previously a Celtic kingdom, incorporated much of what today is Austria. Vorarlberg and parts of Tirol belonged to the province of Rhaetia while the eastern part of modern Austria, in particular the Vienna Basin, which was of strategic importance to the Romans, was in Pannonia. During the time of the Romans, the Alpine and Danube regions underwent rapid economic and cultural development. Around 300 AD, Christianity began to spread throughout the area. About a hundred years later, these regions were overrun by Germanic tribes, and during the era of mass migration the territory covered by the Austria of today was subject to repeated devastation as Teuton supremacy gave way to that of the Huns, the Avars, the Slavs and then the Magyars. Between 500 and 700 AD, the region was taken over by the Bavarian tribes, who eventually succeeded in establishing themselves firmly. Towards the end of the 8th century, Charlemagne succeeded in driving out the Avars and established a Markgrafschaft, or border province, to defend his empire in the east. This was taken by the Magyars in 880 AD but regained after Otto the Great defeated the invaders at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955 AD. The Babenbergs For almost a thousand years following this, the course of Austrian history was determined by two dynasties, the Babenbergs, who ruled for 270 years, and the Habsburgs, who held power for the next 640. In 976 AD, Leopold von Babenberg was made Margrave of Austria and his successors gradually moved their capital further eastwards until in the 12th century Heinrich II built his Hofburg, the imperial palace, in Vienna. Along with Styria, Austria, which corresponded then to the present province of Lower Austria, was proclaimed a hereditary duchy within the Holy Roman Empire. Under Babenberg rule Austria experienced a long period of peaceful development. Gold, silver and salt were mined; religious orders established their monasteries further and further towards the east and these soon became centres of cultural life. The year 996 AD brought the first documentary mention of Ostarrichi, the name under which the region was already known to its inhabitants and which gave way to the present German name for Austria, Osterreich. The last of the Babenbergs, Friedrich the Quarrelsome, was killed in a battle against the Magyars in 1246, after which Austria went to King Przemysl Ottokar II of Bohemia and Styria to King Bela of Hungary. Later however Styria was taken over by Ottokar, along with Carinthia and Carniola. The Habsburgs The year 1273 brought the end of the interregnum in the Holy Roman Empire with the appointment by the Electors of Count Rudolf von Habsburg as King of the Germans. Ottokar of Bohemia was called on to deliver an oath of allegiance in return for his rights in Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, but he refused; a compromise was reached but lasted only a short time and eventually the two sides resorted to arms. In 1278, Rudolf emerged victorious from the Battle of Marchfeld, in which Ottokar was killed, and the rise of the House of Habsburg began. During the 640 years of rule by the "Casa d'Austria" or the House of Austria, there were 20 emperors and kings. The Habsburgs ruled over the Holy Roman Empire in almost unbroken succession until its abolition in 1806. There was a time, at the height of the Habsburg influence, when the sun never set on their empire; the accession in the 16th century of Karl V, from the family's Spanish line, had meant the acquisition of territories in the New World in addition to those in Europe. This process of political consolidation brought with it considerable cultural progress. The University of Vienna, today the oldest in the German-speaking world, was established in 1365 during the reign of Rudolf IV, known as the Founder. Towards the end of the 15th century, especially during the reign of Maximilian I, the new spirit of humanism began to spread through Austria. The Austrian rulers were able to extend their possessions elsewhere, not merely by war but also by peaceful means, in particular by carefully chosen marriages. Maximilian I, "the last of the knights", married Mary of Burgundy, his son Philipp Juana of Spain and thus Burgundy and Flanders went to Austria. A line of the Habsburg family came to power in Spain with the succession in 1516 of Maximilian's grandson Karl. The union of Bohemia and Hungary with Austria in 1526 was also the result of treaties and marriages between the ruling houses. From the 1520s onwards, there were two distinct Habsburg lines, one ruling over the Austrian lands, the other over Spain and the Netherlands. The Turkish Wars When the Ottoman rulers began their drive westwards in the 16th and 17th centuries, Austria once again assumed the role of European defence. In 1529 and again in 1683, vast Turkish armies laid siege to Vienna, but without success. The Turks were gradually pushed back and Austria began to emerge as a major power. One of the leading figures in Austrian history at this time was Prince Eugene of Savoy, a grandnephew of France's Cardinal Mazarin. Eugene first acquired prominence with his services to Austria during the Turkish campaign and continued to play a major military and also a diplomatic role. This was the Baroque era and the specific note with which the style was invested by Austrian architects is to be seen in any number of magnificent castles, monasteries and churches, especially in Vienna and Salzburg. Maria Theresa's State Reforms After the end of the Habsburgs' Spanish line in 1700 and the ensuing War of the Spanish Succession, the Austrian line succeeded in keeping the Spanish possessions in Italy and the Netherlands. There were wars to be fought elsewhere in Europe, however, in particular against Prussia, which at this time was expanding under Frederick the Great. In the meantime the male line of the Habsburgs had died out and the task of leading Austria through these trying times fell to a woman. Empress Maria Theresa ruled from 1740 to 1780 and must count as one of the outstanding women of world history. She married Franz Stephan of Lorraine in 1736, thus founding the house of Habsburg-Lorraine. Despite the destruction of the wars with Prussia Maria Theresa pressed ahead with a programme of major reforms at home. A feudal agglomeration of states was transformed into a single, centrally administered unit; the financial system was brought up to date and industry and trade were promoted, in keeping with the new spirit of mercantilism. The legal system was separated from the administration, while torture and other severe punishments were abolished. There were also sweeping reforms in the field of education. Elementary schooling was introduced while the universities were removed from ecclesiastical control and made state institutions. Maria Theresa's reforms were moderate, shrewdly calculated and therefore durable. The empress's work was continued in the same spirit of enlightenment by her son, Joseph II. He met with less success because of his more radical approach, but among his most significant and most lasting changes were the abolition of serfdom and the introduction of complete freedom of religion. Among the major cultural developments of this period was the advent of the great age of Austrial classical music with such composers as Gluck, Haydn and Mozart. The New Europe At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, the principal aim of Austrian policy was to counter Nepoleon's expanionism. Since a number of German princes had allied themselves with Napoleon and the empire had long since creased to be a political reality, Franz II adopted the title of hereditary emperor of Austria in 1804. Two years later, after the establishment of the Confederation of the Rhine at Napoleon's instigation, he renounced the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, which thus came to an end. In 1809, an Austrian army, led by Archduke Karl, succeeded in defeating Napoleon for the first time at the Battle of Aspern, but this was soon followed by an Austrian defeat at Wagram and Napoleon was able to dictate the terms of the Peace of Schonbrunn at Maria Theresa's former residence. In Tirol there was a popular uprising led by Andreas Hofer against the foreign overlords, but this was suppressed. After Napoleon's disastrous Russian campaign his opponents closed ranks once again and his fate was sealed at the Battle of Leopzig in 1813, where the allied armies were led by the Austrian general Prince Karl Schwarzenberg. 1814 saw the start of the Congress of Vienna, presided over by the Austrian state chancellor Prince Klemens Metternich. Attended by most of Europe's crowned heads and leading diplomats, the meeting paved the way for a relatively long period of peace and introduced a completely new European order. During the first half of the 19th century, there was immense industrial progress in Austria and a corresponding increase in technical and economic development. The Vienna Polytechnic was founded in 1815 and the Austrian National Bank a year later. 1837 saw the opening of the first railway in Austria and this was followed seventeen years later by the world's first mountain railway over the Semmering pass to the south-west of Vienna. Austria did not escape the wave of middle-class revolution in 1848 and the original issues were complicated by the empire's multinational structure. Metternich's police-based system of order at home collapsed and he was forced to flee to London. The Hungarians sought independence from the Habsburgs and Emperor Ferdinand was persuaded to abdicate in favour of his 18 year old nephew Franz Joseph. Franz Joseph died 68 years later in November 1916, in the middle of the first world war when there were already signs of the ultimate collapse of the monarchy. One of the principal results of the 1848 revolution had been the drawing up of an Austrian constitution, but this still had distinctly absolutist elements. In 1866, Austria was defeated by Prussia at the Battle of Sadowa east of Prague. One of the main effects of this at home was the establishment in 1867 of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy, with separate parliaments. Political developments in the Austrian part of the monarchy led from the granting of basic civil rights to selective suffrage and ultimately to universal suffrage in 1907. In the relatively peaceful years before the first world war, Austro-Hungary, which was economically virtually self-sufficient, underwent rapid development, but the emergence of nationalism led to major tensions within the multinational empire. A series of governments was unable to solve these tensions, which were further complicated by social problems as the working classes began to demand better pay and working conditions. It was about this time, as Vienna began to develop into a modern metropolis under the guidance of the Christian Socialist mayor Karl Lueger, that the Austrian Social Democratic Party was founded by Victor Adler and his followers. The Republic On June 28th 1914, the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo by Serbian conspirators. This was the immediate cause of the first world war, which was to end with the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Emperor Franz Joseph's successor, Karl, issued a statement on November 11th, 1918, in which he renounced all part in conducting the business of the state and a day later the provisional national assembly declared the republic of Austria. The treaties of Saint Germain and Trianon (with Hungary) led to the establishment of the successor states: Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia; the kingdom of Serbia made considerable territorial gains and later became the kingdom of Yugoslavia; Romania and Poland were also granted large areas which had previously been parts of the dual monarchy. The collapse of the empire also meant the breakdown of a major economic bloc. The new republic of Austria found itself confronted with virtually insurmountable problems. For the time being the new boundaries with Hungary, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia remained closed. Customs tariffs complicated the import of raw materials and the export of Austrian industrial products. The establishment of authoritarian regimes in Italy and Germany did not help the economic and political consolidation of the new republic, which was still far from steady on its feet. There were serious political disagreements between the Social Democrats and the middle-class bloc, consisting of the Christian Socialists and other right-wing groups. Paramilitary organisations emerged - the Schutzbund and the Heimwehr. On March 4th 1933, the Nationalrat, the lower house of the Austrian parliament, stripped itself of all power, which was now taken over by Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss with all the swiftness of a coup d'etat. Dollfuss proceeded to rule by decree on the strength of a war economy enabling act passed in 1917. This marked the end of democracy in Austria. On February 12th 1934, civil war broke out. The Social Democratic Party was broken up, summary courts passed death sentences and many people were imprisoned. Dollfuss established Austria as an authoritarian corporative state. But at the same time there was increased activity on the part of the National Socialists, who were given active support by the Hitler regime in Germany and on July 25th 1934, Dollfuss was murdered in the course of an abortive National Socialist coup. His successor, Kurt Schuschnigg, sought to maintain Austrian independence, still on the basis of an authoritarian corporative state. There was a meeting on February 12th 1938 between Schuschnigg and Hitler at the latter's residence on the Obersalzberg in Bavaria, dramatic but fruitless as far as Austria was concerned. As the realisation dawned in Austria just how nearly hopeless the situation had become, there were repeated attempts by the regime to reach an agreement with the illegal organisation of the Social Democrats in the hope of establishing a common front against the threat from outside. Schuschnigg announced a plebiscite for the 13th March 1938 in which the people were to decide whether they wanted an independent Austria, but on the 12th March, German troops crossed the border. By the 13th, the Anschluss was complete in every way and occupied Austria was incorporated into the German Reich. Eighteen months later the second world war began. Any resistance to the political and military dictatorship of Nazi Germany seemed doomed to failure, but resistance movements did emerge and they were to be particularly active towards the end of the war. Restoration The liberation of Austria began in the last days of March 1945, with Soviet troops entering the country from the east and American and British forces approaching from the west. Much of Vienna was in flames and there was hunger and chaos throughout the country. A provisional government under Karl Renner was formed as early as April 27th, while fighting continued in some parts of Austria. Renner was the man who had led the Austrian delegation to the peace negotiations following the first world war and as chancellor he had played a major role in the setting up of the First Republic. The foundations of the Second Republic were laid in 1945 under completely new circumstances. The provisional government was confirmed in September by a conference attended by delegates from all the federal provinces. Representatives of the western and southern provinces were admitted to the government, whose authority was now extended to cover the whole of the country. Austria's democratic constitution had been in force again since May 1st 1945. A New Spirit Compared with the First Republic, the political reconstruction of Austria following the second world war was carried out in a completely new, different spirit. "In 1945, the Austrians went to work with a completely new attitude towards their country, with a totally changed political awareness. The realisation that Austria now had no choice but to be self-sufficient instilled in many people a national consciousness which they had never previously known. Although these were dark days, the conviction that Austrian independence would provide a vital and lasting guideline for the political future spread a long-absent belief in the Austrian state's ability to survive. But the end of the Anschluss ideology was only one aspect of the change for the better that was now under way. No less important for the nation's recovery was the readiness of the political parties to settle their major differences. In the prisons and concentration camps of the Third Reich, but to an even greater extent in Austrian resistance circles, the men who had been such bitter opponents in the past came to know and respect each other. But the most important realisation made by those who had worked with the resistance was that once revived, the Austrian state would have to be governed in a spirit of democratic tolerance. Past ideological differences were also overshadowed in these early days by material hardship." (Rudolf Neck in "Osterreich. - Die Zweite Republik" ed. Weinzierl/Skalnik) The First Elections In October 1945, the four occupying powers - Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States - recognised the provisional government on condition that general elections were to be held the same year. The first election to the National Assembly was held, free of all outside influence, on November 25th 1945. The Austrian People's Party (OVP - Christian Democrats) led the poll with a total of 85 of the 165 seats. They were followed closely by the Austrian Socialist Party (SPO - Social Democrats), who took 76 seats, while the Austrian Communist Party (KPO) won four. Parliament, consisting of the Nationalrat, or lower house, and the Bundesrat, the upper house, unanimously elected Karl Renner President. Coalition negotiations between the OVP and the SPO ended in December with the formation of a definitive government headed by Leopold Renner President. Coalition negotiations between the OVP and the SPO ended in December with the formation of a definitive government headed by Leopold Figl (OVP). Adolf Scharf (SPO) was Deputy Chancellor. The Communist Party was represented in the cabinet by one minister. The four occupying powers accorded this coalition government official recognition. Austria at this time was divided into four zones of occupation and Vienna into four sectors, although the first district or inner city remained international. The extent of the authority of the new Austrian government and parliament was set out in a control agreement signed in 1946. Although the political situation in Austria had been stabilised rapidly, the economic position continued to present problems. Improvement came however after thorough monetary reforms and the United States' generous Marshall Aid made capital investments possible in all branches of the economy. The aid given in this European Recovery Program (ERP) was supplied directly in the form of the free deliveries of goods which were paid for by the USA or delivered by third countries on US payment. These goods were then passed on to Austria's commercial and industrial concerns against payment in schillings. The counterpart means which thus accrued formed a special ERP fund which still today provides loans for the extension of Austria's economy and for development aid programmes. A Sovereign State Again For ten years the Austrian government did everything within its power to bring about the signing of an agreement restoring the country's complete sovereignty. The foreign ministers of the four powers, or their representatives, met more than 300 times to discuss the form of a state treaty, but they failed constantly to reach agreement. It was not until February 1955 that the Soviet Union's Foreign Minister, W. Molotov, intimated at a meeting of the Supreme Soviet that his country was now willing to sign a state treaty. In April, an Austrian government delegation, led by Chancellor Julius Raab and including Vice-chancellor Adolf Scharf, Foreign Minister Leopold Figl and State Secretary Bruno Kreisky, went to the Soviet capital, where, in what is known as the Moscow Memorandum, they were assured of the Soviet Union's agreement in principle to the drawing up of a State Treaty of Vienna. In May 1955 the ambassadors of the four powers met in Vienna for a conference which was also attended by an Austrian delegation. The final text of the agreement was drawn up and on Sunday, May 15th 1955, the State Treaty of Vienna was signed at a ceremony in Vienna's Belvedere Palace. Gathered in the park below were thousands of Austrians who greeted the leading members of the Austrian government and the foreign ministers of the four powers with enthusiasm. Documents of ratification were exchanged and the State Treaty of Vienna came into effect on July 27th 1955. Well before the ninety day deadline stipulated in the treaty, the last foreign soldier had left Austrian soil and the country was free once again. On October 26th 1955, the Nationalrat passed the Federal Constitutional Law on the Neutrality of Austria; since 1965, October 26th has been celebrated as Austrian National Day. The Austrian State Treaty and the Constitutional Law on Neutrality In the State Treaty of Vienna the four powers recognise the restoration of Austria as a sovereign, independent and democratic state and declare that they will respect its independence and territorial integrity. Austrian neutrality is not mentioned in the State Treaty. The preamble to the State Treaty says that on March 13th 1938 Hitler's Germany annexed Austria by force and incorporated its territory in the German Reich. The preamble also takes into account the importance of the efforts which the Austrian people themselves made for the restoration and democratic reconstruction of their country. Among the most important terms of the treaty are the prohibition of political or economic union with Germany, the guarantee of human rights, the rights of the Slovene and Croat minorities and of democratic institutions, the dissolution of all national socialist and fascist organisations and the maintenance of the law of 1919 concerning the house of Habsburg-Lorraine. According to this, all the Habsburgs' property was confiscated and only those members of the family permitted to stay in Austria who were willing to renounce all their rights and whose declaration of renunciation was accepted by the government and the main committee of the Nationalrat. No reparation was exacted from Austria, which now got back the property seized as German assets ten years before in accordance with the Potsdam agreement and administered in the meantime by the Soviet Union. This included major industrial plants, oil fields and installations and the assets of the Danube Steamship Company. Austria for its part had to undertake to pay the Soviet Union considerable sums of money and to deliver large quantities of industrial goods and oil. Payments were however complete by the end of 1963. The Constitutional Law on Austrian Neutrality states: "Article I 1) For the purpose of the permanent maintenance of her external independence and for the purpose of the inviolability of her territory. Austria of her own free will declares herewith her permanent neutrality, which she is resolved to maintain and defend with all the means at her disposal. 2) In order to secure these purposes, Austria will never in the future accede to any military alliances nor permit the establishment of military bases by foreign states on her territory. Article II The federal government is authorised to enact appropriate legislation." Since the complete restoration of its sovereignty, Austria has sought, as an independent and neutral state, to fulfill the role incumbent upon it in the community of nations. It has been and is still intent on establishing and maintaining good relations with other states, on pursuing policies designed to maintain peace and on participating in any humanitarian action, particularly within the framework of the United Nations. The concept of active neutrality evolved by the Austrian government has been invested with real meaning by the country's commitment to the policy of detente which led to the Helsinki conference on security and cooperation in Europe. The construction of the Vienna International Centre, known locally as the United Nations City, has established the Austrian capital as one of the United Nations permanent seats and as a focal point of international political developments.