Chapter 01 · 976 – 1246
Ostarrîchi: The Babenberg March and Duchy
A frontier march on the Danube, granted to the Babenbergs, acquired the name of Austria, grew into a duchy and chose Vienna as its seat.
In 976 the Emperor entrusted the marchia orientalis, the Eastern March of the Holy Roman Empire on the middle Danube, to Count Liutpold of the Bavarian house of Babenberg. The march was a frontier zone facing Hungary and the Slavic east, and it is in connection with these lands that the name of Austria first appears: a charter of Emperor Otto III dated 1 November 996 uses the word 'Ostarrîchi', the 'eastern realm', the earliest known ancestor of the German Österreich.
Over the following century and a half the Babenbergs turned a fragile border command into a settled principality. Margrave Leopold III, later canonised and made patron saint of Austria, anchored the dynasty with monastic foundations such as Klosterneuburg. The decisive constitutional step came in 1156, when the Privilegium Minus issued by Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa raised Austria from a march to a duchy and separated it from Bavaria, granting the Babenbergs unusually wide hereditary rights. Duke Henry II 'Jasomirgott' moved his court to Vienna, which from then on remained the centre of power.
The Babenberg duchy expanded down the Danube and, by purchase and inheritance, acquired Styria in 1192. But the line was running out. In 1246 Duke Frederick II 'the Quarrelsome' was killed in battle against the Hungarians, leaving no male heir and ending some 270 years of Babenberg rule. The vacant duchy became a prize fought over by neighbouring princes, setting the stage for the rise of a new dynasty.
“The name 'Ostarrîchi', the eastern realm, first appears in a charter of 996, and would in time become Österreich, the German name of Austria.”
— On the origin of the name of Austria
Turning points
- 976Formation
The Eastern March granted to the Babenbergs
The marchia orientalis, a frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire on the Danube, was entrusted to Count Liutpold of the Bavarian house of Babenberg, beginning their long rule over the future Austria.
- 1 Nov 996Formation
First mention of 'Ostarrîchi'
A charter of Emperor Otto III used the word 'Ostarrîchi', the 'eastern realm', the earliest recorded form of the name Österreich (Austria), referring to the Babenberg march.
- 1156Politics & Power
The Privilegium Minus raises Austria to a duchy
Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa's Privilegium Minus elevated Austria from a march to a duchy and detached it from Bavaria, granting the Babenbergs wide hereditary rights; Vienna became their seat.
- 1246Politics & Power
End of the Babenberg line
Duke Frederick II 'the Quarrelsome' was killed fighting the Hungarians, leaving no male heir; the extinction of the Babenbergs left the duchy of Austria contested among neighbouring powers.
Figures of the era
Leopold III1073 – 1136
Margrave of Austria, patron saint
The most revered of the Babenberg margraves, Leopold III consolidated the dynasty and founded religious houses such as Klosterneuburg. He was later canonised and became the patron saint of Austria.
Henry II 'Jasomirgott'c. 1107 – 1177
First Duke of Austria
Under the Privilegium Minus of 1156 Henry II became the first duke of an Austria raised above the rank of a march. He moved his residence to Vienna, fixing the city as the centre of Austrian power.
Chapter sources: Ostarrîchi: Austria under the Babenbergs
Chapter 02 · 1278 – 1740
The Rise of the Habsburgs and the Ottoman Wars
A new dynasty seized the duchy at the Marchfeld, made Vienna an imperial capital, and held the line against two great Ottoman sieges.
The contest for the leaderless duchy was decided by force. Rudolf of Habsburg, elected Roman-German king in 1273, defeated the powerful Bohemian king Ottokar II Přemysl at the Battle of the Marchfeld near Dürnkrut on 26 August 1278, where Ottokar was killed. Rudolf occupied the Austrian lands and in 1282 enfeoffed his sons with the duchies of Austria and Styria. This is conventionally regarded as the birth of Habsburg rule in Austria, a dominion that would last until 1918, though contemporaries could hardly have guessed at the dynasty's future greatness.
Over the following centuries the Habsburgs accumulated crowns and titles, repeatedly holding the office of Holy Roman Emperor and making Vienna one of the chief residences of Christian Europe. Their lands lay directly in the path of Ottoman expansion. In the autumn of 1529 the army of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent besieged Vienna for three weeks before withdrawing as winter approached, the first of the great Turkish assaults on the city. It was a foretaste of more than a century and a half of frontier war.
The second and most famous siege came in 1683, when the Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa led an enormous Ottoman army to the walls of Vienna; the Emperor Leopold I fled the city. On 12 September 1683 a relief army under Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, and King Jan III Sobieski of Poland routed the besiegers in one of the decisive battles of European history. The victory proved the turning point in the Habsburg-Ottoman struggle: a Holy League was formed in 1684, and commanders such as Prince Eugene of Savoy drove the Ottomans out of Hungary, vastly enlarging Habsburg power in the southeast.
“The relief of Vienna on 12 September 1683 proved the turning point in the long struggle between the Habsburgs and the Ottoman Empire.”
— On the second siege of Vienna
Turning points
- 26 Aug 1278War & Rupture
Battle of the Marchfeld
Rudolf I of Habsburg defeated and killed the Bohemian king Ottokar II near Dürnkrut on the Marchfeld, seizing the Austrian lands; in 1282 he enfeoffed his sons with them, founding Habsburg rule in Austria.
See the data - 1529War & Rupture
First Ottoman siege of Vienna
The army of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent besieged Vienna for three weeks in the autumn of 1529 before withdrawing, the first great Ottoman assault on the Habsburg capital.
See the data - 12 Sep 1683War & Rupture
Second Ottoman siege and the relief of Vienna
An Ottoman army under Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa besieged Vienna until a relief force led by Charles V of Lorraine and King Jan III Sobieski of Poland routed it on 12 September 1683, a turning point against Ottoman expansion.
See the data - 1697–1718War & Rupture
Prince Eugene and the conquest of Hungary
After Vienna's deliverance, Prince Eugene of Savoy won victories such as Zenta (1697) and the capture of Belgrade (1717); the Peace of Karlowitz (1699) secured Habsburg control of Hungary and Transylvania.
See the data
Figures of the era
Rudolf I of Habsburg1218 – 1291
Roman-German king, founder of Habsburg Austria
Elected king in 1273, Rudolf defeated Ottokar II at the Marchfeld in 1278 and granted the Austrian lands to his sons, beginning more than six centuries of Habsburg rule over Austria.
Prince Eugene of Savoy1663 – 1736
Habsburg general
The foremost commander of the Habsburg armies, Eugene crushed the Ottomans at Zenta in 1697 and took Belgrade in 1717, driving the Turks from Hungary and earning a place at the heart of Austrian national memory.
Chapter sources: The Habsburgs take over Austria, The first Turkish siege of Vienna, 1529, The second Turkish siege of Vienna, 1683, Prince Eugene, the 'noble knight'
Chapter 03 · 1740 – 1848
Maria Theresa, the Empire of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire
A reforming empress held the dynasty together, and her descendants exchanged the Holy Roman crown for a new imperial title of their own.
In 1740 the Habsburg inheritance passed, under the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, to the twenty-three-year-old Maria Theresa, the only woman to rule the Habsburg dominions in her own right. Several powers refused to recognise her, triggering the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748), in which she lost the wealthy province of Silesia to Prussia. To strengthen the state she launched a sweeping reform of administration, taxation, the army and schooling, work continued by her son Joseph II. Her marriage to Francis Stephen of Lorraine, who became Holy Roman Emperor in 1745, founded the house of Habsburg-Lorraine; her many children included Joseph II and Marie Antoinette.
The Napoleonic era recast the dynasty's titles. When Napoleon proclaimed himself Emperor of the French in 1804, the Habsburg ruler Franz II, fearing the loss of imperial rank, issued a patent on 11 August 1804 assuming the new hereditary title of Emperor of Austria as Franz I. Two years later, on 6 August 1806, he laid down the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, which was then dissolved after roughly a thousand years. The Habsburg lands were now formally a single Austrian Empire.
After Napoleon's defeat, Vienna became the stage for the great reordering of Europe at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815, presided over in spirit by the Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich. The decades that followed, the 'Vormärz', were an age of conservative restoration and tightening control, until the revolutionary wave of 1848 swept across the empire, forced Metternich from office and brought the young Franz Joseph to the throne.
“On 11 August 1804 the Habsburg ruler took the title Emperor of Austria; two years later the thousand-year-old Holy Roman Empire was dissolved.”
— On the founding of the Austrian Empire
Turning points
- 1740–1780Politics & Power
Reign of Maria Theresa
Inheriting the Habsburg lands under the Pragmatic Sanction, Maria Theresa survived the War of the Austrian Succession and reformed the administration, army and education across her dominions.
- 11 Aug 1804Formation
The Empire of Austria proclaimed
In response to Napoleon's imperial coronation, Franz II issued a patent assuming the hereditary title of Emperor of Austria as Franz I, formally constituting the Habsburg lands as an empire.
- 6 Aug 1806Politics & Power
Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire
Franz II laid down the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, which was dissolved after some thousand years, leaving the Habsburg ruler as Emperor of Austria alone.
- 1848Politics & Power
Revolution and the accession of Franz Joseph
The revolutions of 1848 shook the Austrian Empire, drove the chancellor Metternich into exile and brought the eighteen-year-old Franz Joseph to the throne, where he would remain until 1916.
Figures of the era
Maria Theresa1717 – 1780
Ruler of the Habsburg dominions
The only female sovereign of the Habsburg lands, Maria Theresa ruled from 1740 to 1780 as archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia, modernising the state and founding the house of Habsburg-Lorraine.
Franz II/I1768 – 1835
Last Holy Roman Emperor, first Emperor of Austria
Franz proclaimed the Empire of Austria in 1804 and in 1806 dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, ending a millennial institution and transforming the Habsburg realm into a single hereditary empire.
Chapter sources: Maria Theresa: Empress and mother of her peoples, The foundation of the Empire of Austria in 1804, Franz Joseph I
Chapter 04 · 1848 – 1918
The Dual Monarchy and the Catastrophe of 1918
A multi-ethnic empire reorganised itself as Austria-Hungary, until a shot at Sarajevo helped unleash a war that destroyed it.
Franz Joseph reigned for sixty-eight years, from 1848 to 1916, the longest of any Habsburg, over an empire of many nations: Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Poles, Croats, Slovenes, Romanians, Italians and more. After defeat by Prussia in 1866, pressure from the Hungarian elite forced a fundamental reform. The Compromise (Ausgleich) of 1867 split the realm into two halves, the Austrian lands (Cisleithania) and the Kingdom of Hungary (Transleithania), each with its own parliament and government but united in the person of the Emperor-King and through common ministries of foreign affairs, finance and defence. On 8 June 1867 Franz Joseph was crowned king of Hungary, and the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary was born.
Vienna in these decades was one of the great capitals of the world, its Ringstrasse, music, science and intellectual life giving the empire a brilliant late flowering even as nationalist tensions strained the multi-ethnic state from within. The historic centre of the city, with its medieval, Baroque and nineteenth-century 'Gründerzeit' layers, would later be recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage site for its role as the political and cultural centre of this multinational empire.
The end came suddenly. On 28 June 1914 the heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie were shot dead in Sarajevo by the young Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip. After the July Crisis, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914, drawing the great powers into the First World War. Four years of war exhausted and fractured the empire. Franz Joseph died in 1916; his successor Karl I could not hold the realm together. As the war was lost, the subject nations broke away, Karl renounced participation in government on 11 November 1918, and on 12 November the Republic of German-Austria was proclaimed, ending some 640 years of Habsburg rule.
“The assassination at Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 served as the pretext for the war that within four years destroyed Austria-Hungary altogether.”
— On the end of the Dual Monarchy
Turning points
- 1867Politics & Power
- 28 Jun 1914War & Rupture
Assassination at Sarajevo
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne, and his wife Sophie were assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, the spark that led Austria-Hungary to war.
See the data - 28 Jul 1914War & Rupture
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
After the July Crisis, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, triggering a chain of alliances that plunged Europe into the First World War.
See the data - 12 Nov 1918Independence
Collapse of Austria-Hungary and the First Republic
As the war was lost the empire disintegrated; Emperor Karl I renounced participation in government on 11 November and the Republic of German-Austria was proclaimed on 12 November 1918, ending Habsburg rule.
See the data
Figures of the era
Franz Joseph I1830 – 1916
Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary
Ruling from 1848 to 1916, Franz Joseph presided over the creation of Austria-Hungary in 1867 and over a multi-ethnic empire whose tensions and the war that began in 1914 he did not live to see resolved.
Franz Ferdinand1863 – 1914
Archduke and heir to the throne
Heir to Franz Joseph, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated with his wife Sophie at Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 by Gavrilo Princip, the event that precipitated the outbreak of the First World War.
Chapter sources: The Compromise with Hungary, 1867, Franz Joseph I, Sarajevo and the July Crisis, The End of Monarchy, the Birth of New States, Historic Centre of Vienna
Chapter 05 · 1918 – 1945
The First Republic, Saint-Germain and the Anschluss
A small republic, its borders dictated and union with Germany forbidden, was nonetheless annexed by Hitler and dragged into the Second World War.
The republic that emerged from the ruins of empire was a small, German-speaking state that many of its own citizens regarded as too small to survive. Its borders and status were fixed by the victors in the Treaty of Saint-Germain, signed for Austria by Chancellor Karl Renner on 10 September 1919. The treaty confirmed the dissolution of the Habsburg empire, assigned Austria 'sole war guilt', limited its army and, crucially, forbade union (Anschluss) with Germany without the consent of the League of Nations, even barring the name 'German-Austria'.
Among the treaty's most contested provisions was the cession of South Tyrol, the German-speaking southern part of the historic crown land of Tyrol, to the Kingdom of Italy. The transfer placed a large German-speaking population under Italian rule and created a grievance that would shape Austrian and Italian politics for decades. The First Republic itself was unstable, riven between Social Democrats and Christian Socials, and slid in 1933-1934 into an authoritarian 'corporate state' under Engelbert Dollfuss, who was murdered by Austrian Nazis in 1934.
On 12 March 1938 German troops crossed the border, and on 13 March the Nazi chancellor Arthur Seyss-Inquart signed a law declaring the reunification of Austria with the German Reich; the Anschluss extinguished Austrian independence. A plebiscite in April was manipulated to record near-unanimous approval. As part of the Reich, Austria was drawn into the Second World War and into the persecution and murder of its Jews; Vienna's large Jewish community was devastated. Liberation came only with Germany's defeat in 1945.
“The Treaty of Saint-Germain forbade Austria's union with Germany and handed German-speaking South Tyrol to Italy, fixing grievances that long outlasted the First Republic.”
— On the peace settlement of 1919
Turning points
- 10 Sep 1919Politics & Power
Treaty of Saint-Germain
Signed for Austria by Karl Renner, the treaty confirmed the breakup of Austria-Hungary, forbade union with Germany without League of Nations approval, limited Austria's army and ceded South Tyrol to Italy.
- 1919Politics & Power
- 1934Politics & Power
Dollfuss and the corporate state
Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss suspended parliament and established an authoritarian 'corporate state'; he was assassinated by Austrian Nazis in July 1934, deepening the First Republic's crisis.
- 12–13 Mar 1938War & Rupture
The Anschluss
German troops entered Austria on 12 March 1938 and on 13 March a law proclaimed reunification with the Reich; Austrian independence ended and a manipulated April plebiscite recorded near-total approval.
See the data
Figures of the era
Karl Renner1870 – 1950
First Chancellor of the Republic
A Social Democratic statesman, Renner headed the first government of the republic and signed the Treaty of Saint-Germain in 1919; he returned to lead Austria's provisional government in 1945 and became its first post-war president.
Engelbert Dollfuss1892 – 1934
Chancellor of Austria
Dollfuss dismantled parliamentary democracy and built an authoritarian Catholic 'corporate state' in 1933-1934, banning rival parties. He was assassinated by Austrian Nazis in a failed coup in July 1934.
Chapter sources: 1919: Treaty of Saint-Germain, De Gasperi-Gruber Agreement and the First Statute of Autonomy, German Annexation of Austria
Chapter 06 · 1945 – present
The Second Republic: Neutrality, South Tyrol and Europe
Occupied by four powers for a decade, Austria regained sovereignty in 1955, declared permanent neutrality, settled the South Tyrol question and joined the European Union.
After 1945 Austria, like Germany, was divided into four occupation zones administered by the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union, with Vienna under joint control. A re-established republic governed under Allied supervision while the powers negotiated its future. The breakthrough came in 1955: in exchange for a declaration of neutrality, the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw. The Austrian State Treaty was signed at the Belvedere Palace in Vienna on 15 May 1955 by the four occupying powers and the Austrian foreign minister Leopold Figl, restoring full sovereignty; it came into force on 27 July, the last occupation troops departed in October, and on 26 October 1955 parliament enacted a constitutional law declaring Austria's permanent neutrality. Austria joined the United Nations in December 1955.
The fate of South Tyrol remained unresolved. The Gruber-De Gasperi Agreement of 5 September 1946, signed by the Austrian foreign minister Karl Gruber and the Italian prime minister Alcide De Gasperi, committed Italy to grant the German-speaking population autonomy and equality of language and education. The first autonomy statute of 1948, however, diluted these guarantees within a wider region, and discontent grew. Austria brought the dispute before the United Nations, whose General Assembly adopted Resolution 1497 (XV) on 31 October 1960 and Resolution 1661 (XVI) on 28 November 1961, calling on the two states to negotiate.
Years of talks produced the 'Package' of 137 measures, approved in 1969, and a Second Autonomy Statute that entered into force on 20 January 1972, transferring real powers to the province of Bolzano and protecting its German-speaking and Ladin communities; Austria and Italy formally closed the dispute in 1992. At home, Austria built a prosperous social-market democracy, long associated with the chancellorship of Bruno Kreisky. After the end of the Cold War, Austrians voted in a referendum on 12 June 1994 to join the European Union, and the country became a member on 1 January 1995, while retaining its neutrality.
“On 26 October 1955 Austria declared its permanent neutrality of its own free will, the condition on which it had recovered full sovereignty months earlier.”
— On the State Treaty and neutrality
Turning points
- 5 Sep 1946Politics & Power
Gruber-De Gasperi Agreement on South Tyrol
Austrian foreign minister Karl Gruber and Italian premier Alcide De Gasperi signed an accord committing Italy to grant autonomy and language and education rights to South Tyrol's German-speaking population.
- 15 May 1955Independence
The Austrian State Treaty
Signed at the Belvedere in Vienna by the four occupying powers and foreign minister Leopold Figl, the treaty restored Austria's full sovereignty and ended the four-power occupation; it came into force on 27 July 1955.
See the data - 26 Oct 1955Politics & Power
Declaration of permanent neutrality
After the last occupation troops left, the Austrian parliament passed a constitutional law declaring the republic's permanent neutrality, the condition on which the Soviet Union had agreed to withdraw.
- 20 Jan 1972Politics & Power
South Tyrol's Second Autonomy Statute
After the dispute reached the UN (Resolutions 1497 of 1960 and 1661 of 1961) and the 'Package' of 1969, the Second Autonomy Statute took effect in 1972, granting real autonomy to the province of Bolzano.
- 1 Jan 1995Politics & Power
Accession to the European Union
Following a referendum on 12 June 1994 in which about two-thirds voted in favour, Austria joined the European Union on 1 January 1995, integrating the neutral republic into the European mainstream.
Figures of the era
Leopold Figl1902 – 1965
Foreign Minister and Chancellor
A survivor of Nazi concentration camps and a leading figure of the Second Republic, Figl signed the Austrian State Treaty for Austria in 1955 and is remembered for proclaiming 'Austria is free!' on its conclusion.
Karl Gruber1909 – 1995
Foreign Minister of Austria
As foreign minister of the new republic, Gruber negotiated the 1946 agreement with the Italian premier De Gasperi that committed Italy to autonomy for German-speaking South Tyrol, the basis of the later settlement.
Chapter sources: Austria Regains Its Independence (Austrian State Treaty, 1955), De Gasperi-Gruber Agreement and the First Statute of Autonomy, Package and Second Autonomy Statute, Austria in the EU, 30 years UNESCO World Heritage: Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn