History History

This is the civilization of the mammoth hunters. The famous statuette of the Obese Venus of Willendorf, carved in limestone and preserved in the Natural History Museum in Vienna, discovered in Lower Austria in 1908, is one of the oldest remains of this civilization in the world.

First Iron Age and the arrival of the Celts. The necropolis in the village of Hallstatt (Salzkammergut) dates from the period of the so-called Hallstatt civilization. The Hallstatt cemetery is the largest Western source of information about the Iron Age.

It was already the age of bartering and salt exploitation in the mountains. We now have proof of this. In 1991, near the border between Italy and Austria, a body was discovered in the ice of the Ötztal Alps that had been trapped for 5,000 years. The incredible discovery of a man preserved in the eternal snows of an Ötztal glacier, dressed and still holding his tools, turned modern paleontology on its head. Between 8000 and 4000 BC, the Illyrians, an Indo-European people, engaged in trade based on the exchange of salt and minerals. The Hallstatt civilization gave way to that of the Celts, who were known for their trade relations with all of Europe. Austria was the main centre for the distribution of iron in Europe.

On the eve of the Christian era, due to its central position, this crossroads region saw Celts, Latins and Germans rubbing shoulders. The Romans moved up the valleys of the Inn and Drava rivers and gradually occupied the territory of present-day Austria from 100 BC. By 15 BC, most of the territory was occupied. As part of the Empire, it was home to several provinces around Vindobona (Vienna), Iuvavum (Salzburg), Lienta (Linz), Brigantium (Bregenz) and Claudia (Klagenfurt). It was a frontier march, with important fortified camps along the Danube. Emperor Marcus Aurelius consolidated the territory to protect it from Germanic invasions and developed the communication routes. During a battle from the Rhine to the Danube and to the shores of the Black Sea, Marcus Aurelius managed to defeat the barbarian hordes in 175. But the next campaign was fatal and the emperor died in Vindobona in 180.

The borders of Austria romana, which follow the course of the Danube, are gradually crossed by various Germanic peoples and by peoples from the east: Huns, Avars, Slavs and Magyars.

The Bajuvares - Germans from present-day Bavaria - drive out the Romans, colonize and evangelize Rhetia and Noricum.

Later, at the end of the 9th century, the Magyars (Hungarians) routed the Germans and dismantled the march. When Otto the Great reconquered the country in 955, the March was re-established within the Holy Roman Empire. In 976, the Marcha Orientalis, a small part of present-day Upper Austria, became autonomous under the rule of Leopold of Babenberg, a Bavarian nobleman.

The Babenbergs transformed the small margraviate into a recognised and respected duchy. They expanded their territory and established powerful monasteries. In 1156, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa granted the House of Babenberg the title of duke and the family settled in Vienna. In 1192, Leopold V of Babenberg annexed the Duchy of Styria, then succeeded in capturing Richard the Lionhearted, King of England, on his return from the Crusades. After five years of captivity, King Richard was released for a colossal ransom, which was used to fortify Vienna.

When Duke Frederick II died in 1246, without descendants, the family died out and the border princes tried to seize the land of Austria, but the local nobility made allegiance to the Bohemian king, Ottokar II Przemysl, who, by marrying the sister of the last Babenberg, became master of Austria to which he added Carinthia in 1269.

But the cards were to be reshuffled. Rudolf I of Habsburg, Count of Alsace, who became Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1273, allied with Ladislaus IV of Hungary, won the famous battle of Marchfeld against Ottakar II. The Habsburgs acceded to the Austrian throne, which they retained until 1918. Rudolf IV reigned for 7 years (1358-1365), founded the University of Vienna and began the remodeling of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Gothic style. His fief includes Austria, Styria and Carinthia. In the following decades, the family's power was weakened by the division of estates. During the 14th and 15th centuries, the Habsburgs, defeated by the Swiss, lost their Helvetic possessions, but obtained the Tyrol, Trieste, Vorarlberg and part of Alsace. Duke Frederick V, elected Germanic king, became emperor under the name of Frederick III. In 1453, he established the Duchy of Austria as an archduchy and initiated a policy of effective matrimonial alliances, which was continued by his successors and was a real springboard for the rise of the dynasty. The monarchy remained in the hands of the House of Habsburg until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.

Austria, continuing its role as unifier of the region and defender of Catholicism in the area, consolidated its power in Europe. To do this, the country had to fight against both the Ottoman Empire and the rising tide of Protestantism. The Turks, since the capture of Constantinople in 1453, were increasingly pressing. They laid siege to Vienna in 1529. The last Turkish assault on Vienna (1683) took place during the reign of Leopold I (1657-1705).

In addition, Emperor Charles V, absorbed by the multiple military campaigns aimed at freeing Hungary from Ottoman rule, was too busy with the war against France and could not stop the Protestant push in Germany. Charles V welcomed the Jesuits to Vienna in 1552. But France started a new war, forcing Charles V to sign the "Perpetual Peace of Augsburg" (1555), which established the religious division of Germany. From then on, the princes were free to impose their religion on their subjects. In 1564, Austria was divided between the children of Ferdinand I. Reunification did not take place until a century later. The Danube monarchy emerged stronger from a long period of conflict and turned its attention eastward.

The reigns of Charles VI (1711-1740), Maria Theresa (1740-1780) and Joseph I (1780-1790) saw the apogee of Austrian civilisation, the blossoming of Baroque art and classical music, which reached its peak with the compositions of Haydn and Mozart for the Viennese court. With the death of Emperor Charles VI, the male line died out. His daughter Maria Theresa succeeded him. At the age of 23, she had to defend an empire. For 27 years, Maria Theresa fought against a front of enemies seeking to strip her of her lands, managing to retain all of her territory, with the exception of Silesia, which she ceded to the King of Prussia. This exceptional sovereign, who gave birth to 16 children including Marie-Antoinette, established an organized central state, intensified Germanization, a vector for unification, reformed the economy and public education and set up a powerful army. His son Joseph II abolished serfdom and promulgated the Patent of Tolerance, which granted freedom of worship to non-Catholics.

This idyllic absolutism, the Austrian model, was however threatened by the spread of the ideas of the French Revolution. Emperor Francis II, grandson of Maria Theresa and above all nephew of the French queen, Marie Antoinette the Austrian, took part in the counter-revolutionary coalition. A succession of military defeats followed, including Jemmapes in 1792 and Marengo in 1800, which contributed to Napoleon's military prestige. After a 24-hour bombardment, imperial Vienna fell.

It is the redrawing of European borders.

One of the emblematic figures of imperial Austria. Elisabeth Amélie Eugénie de Wittelsbach, Duchess of Bavaria, became Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, Bohemia and Lombardy-Venetia at the age of 16, and is Austria's most famous and celebrated romantic character. Provincial and highly sensitive, the nostalgic Sissi found it difficult to conform to Viennese etiquette. What's more, she never found happiness with her husband. However, they did have 4 children. Deeming Sissi unfit, her mother-in-law took over the education of the 3 eldest. The beautiful and sad empress often escaped from Vienna to undergo cures. Her health was fragile. Unloved in Vienna, she was nonetheless adored in the rest of the Empire, especially in Hungary, a region she was particularly fond of. An influential figure, especially on her husband, the Empress played a political role in the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867.

Deeply affected by the death of her only son at Mayerling in 1889, found lifeless in the company of his very young mistress, Baroness Marie Vetsera, the Empress mourned and never left his side. After the Mayerling tragedy, she traveled relentlessly until the day when, while staying at the Hotel Beau-Rivage in Geneva under the name of Countess de Hohenems, she was stabbed in the heart by the Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni, who had planned to assassinate the Duc d'Orléans but had changed his schedule. On the arm of her lady-in-waiting, the Empress thought she'd just been punched, but boarded the boat as planned. Taken back to the hotel, she died an hour later.

The Habsburg Empire became a dual monarchy under the name of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Since 1848, Franz Josef was Emperor of Austria and remained so until 1916.

On June 28, 1914, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie were assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, thus provoking the First World War.

The proclamation of the First Republic of Austria marked the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Civil war broke out between the Social Democrats and the Christian Socialists, who were allied with the rather extreme right-wing Heimwehr. The National Socialists, supported by Berlin, gained importance in the political landscape.

On March 12, 1938, Germany invaded Austria, the Anschluss, before incorporating it into the Reich, a move supported by a large part of the population. In April 1945, the Allies took over the country, which remained under international control for ten years. In 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established national sovereignty and adopted neutrality, which would eventually make Vienna a world-class political capital and the seat of several UN agencies.

In 1989, Austria, which had been striving since the war to ensure a link between East and West, applied for membership of the EEC. This application was accepted in 1995, the year in which Austria joined the European Union. In 2001, Austria adopted the euro. In 2006, the country holds the presidency of the European Union.

When Wolfgang Schüssel became Chancellor, the European Union decided to break off diplomatic relations with Austria because of the participation of the extreme right (Jörg Haider's FPÖ) in the government. The European Union decided, against the advice of France and Belgium, to resume diplomatic relations with the Austrian government.

The ÖVP, a Christian Democratic and Liberal-Conservative coalition government and people's party, won a historic victory in the parliamentary elections with 42.27% of the vote. Jörg Haider's party suffered an unprecedented defeat, winning only a third of the votes it had won in 1999.

In the early parliamentary elections of 28 September 2008, the Socialist-Conservative grand coalition was renewed and the far right was once again excluded from the government, despite the 29% score of the two parties FPÖ and BZÖ. The socialist Werner Faymann became the new chancellor and Josef Pröll, a Christian Democrat, the number two in the government.

The Socialists remained in control of Vienna's mayor's office, but the far right gained 27% of the vote.

The Social Democrats win the parliamentary elections. Werner Faymann remained Chancellor, at the head of a grand coalition that included the right-wing conservative ÖVP party.

Government crisis in the left-right grand coalition.

Austria narrowly avoids a nationalist president. The FPÖ candidate, Norbert Hofer, came out on top in the first round with more than 35% of the vote, but lost in the second round to the independent Alexander van der Bellen, supported by the Greens, who obtained almost 54% of the vote. A broad coalition was formed against the far-right candidate.

Early parliamentary elections, normally scheduled for 2018, see the right-wing People's Party ÖVP and Sebastian Kurz come out on top. Kurz becomes chancellor.

The government announces the closure of 7 mosques, officially to combat radical Islam.

First LGBTQ wedding since legalization.

Austria, which is close to Italy, was affected by the epidemic at a very early stage and immediately chose to impose particularly restrictive distancing measures on its population and to close its borders. This great rigour is also the result of the presence at the beginning of March 2020 of one of the main sources of spread of the epidemic in Austria and in Europe, in the ski resort of Ischgl. The effectiveness of the measures taken, the self-discipline of the citizens and the quality of the health system enabled the country to quickly contain the epidemic and reverse the curve of contaminations, and to initiate a plan to exit the crisis on April 6.

In order to "avoid chaos", Chancellor Sebastian Kurz resigned following accusations of corruption. He is replaced by Alexander Schallenberg, his Foreign Minister.

The rise of the far right in Austria is confirmed. Since June 2021, with the arrival of 54-year-old Herbert Kickl at its helm, the FPÖ (Austrian Liberal Party) has made a spectacular comeback. Polls put it well ahead of the conservatives and socialists, with 28-30% of the vote.

- november 15, 2022: Gustav Klimt's famous painting Death and Life is sprayed with a black liquid by climate activists in Vienna's Leopold Museum.

- in June 2023, an Islamist attack on the Pride March in Vienna was foiled by the police.