Kühtai is a winter sports village in the Stubai Alps on the Kühtai Saddle between the Nedertal valley in the west and the Sellrain valley in the east. It is part of the municipality of Silz, in the district of Imst , in the Austrian state of Tyrol.
94-565: The village is located at a height of around 2,020 metres and is one of the highest ski resorts in Austria . Originally there was a schwaighof here, the Chutay ("cow alp"). This was first mentioned around 1280 in an urbarium of the counts of Tyrol . In 1497 the later Emperor Maximilian I was give the right to hunt in the area of the Kühtai. In 1622, Archduke Leopold V had
188-604: A duchy in 1156, and was made an Archduchy in 1453. Being the heartland of the Habsburg monarchy since the late 13th century, Austria was a major imperial power in Central Europe for centuries and from the 16th century, Vienna was also serving as the Holy Roman Empire's administrative capital. Before the dissolution of the empire two years later, in 1804, Austria established its own empire , which became
282-534: A duchy in its own right. After the ruling dukes of the House of Babenberg became extinct in male line, there was as much as three decades of rivalry on inheritance and rulership, until the German king Rudolf I took over the dominion as the first monarch of the Habsburg dynasty in 1276. Thereafter, Austria became the patrimony and ancestral homeland of the dynasty and the nucleus of the Habsburg monarchy . In 1453,
376-459: A great power and one of the largest states in Europe. The empire's defeat in wars and the loss of territories in the 1860s paved the way for the establishment of Austria-Hungary in 1867. After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, Emperor Franz Joseph declared war on Serbia , which ultimately escalated into World War I . The empire's defeat and subsequent collapse led to
470-423: A decade of Allied occupation , the country regained its sovereignty and declared its perpetual neutrality in 1955. Austria is a federal parliamentary republic and representative democracy with a popularly elected president as head of state and a chancellor as head of government and chief executive. Austria has the 13th highest nominal GDP per capita with high standards of living. The country has been
564-570: A duchy, and unified with Austria in 1192. The territory originally inhabited by Celts was conquered by the Roman Empire at the end of the 1st century BC . Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the late 5th century, the area was invaded by several Germanic tribes and from the 6th century onward settled by Avars as well as by Slavic tribes, who about 600 founded the independent principality of Carantania in
658-654: A frontier march in the region between the Enns and Raab rivers, called the Avar March , part of the marcha orientalis . The East Frankish margraviate was again lost to the invading Magyars at the 907 Battle of Pressburg , and re-established as the Bavarian March of Austria after King Otto I of Germany 's victory at the 955 Battle of Lechfeld . In 976 Emperor Otto II enfeoffed the Babenberg count Leopold
752-800: A member of the United Nations since 1955 and of the European Union since 1995. It hosts the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and is a founding member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Interpol . It also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted
846-581: A problem with their national identity and prompted the Social Democratic Leader Otto Bauer to state that it was "the conflict between our Austrian and German character". The Austro-Hungarian Empire caused ethnic tension between the German Austrians and the other ethnic groups. Many Austrians, especially those involved with the pan-German movements, desired a reinforcement of an ethnic German identity and hoped that
940-720: A referendum which confirmed the union with Germany in April 1938. Parliamentary elections were held in Germany (including recently annexed Austria) on 10 April 1938. They were the final elections to the Reichstag during Nazi rule, and they took the form of a single-question referendum asking whether voters approved of a single Nazi-party list for the 813-member Reichstag, as well as the recent annexation of Austria (the Anschluss ). Jews, Roma and Sinti were not allowed to vote. Turnout in
1034-521: A result, ruling Austria-Hungary became increasingly difficult in an age of emerging nationalist movements, requiring considerable reliance on an expanded secret police. Yet, the government of Austria tried its best to be accommodating in some respects: for example, the Reichsgesetzblatt , publishing the laws and ordinances of Cisleithania , was issued in eight languages; and all national groups were entitled to schools in their own language and to
SECTION 10
#17328007647141128-798: A settlement with the Welfs. At the 1156 Imperial Diet in Regensburg , Henry Jasomirgott had to renounce the Bavarian duchy in favor of Henry the Lion . In compensation, the Babenberg margraviate was elevated to an equal duchy, confirmed by numerous privileges granted by the Privilegium Minus on 17 September. The new Austrian duke took his residence at Vienna at the site of the later Hofburg Palace . He also founded Schottenstift Abbey as
1222-676: A vehement opponent of the Nazis, the last Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, an honorary citizen of hundreds of places in Austria and partly envisaged by Schuschnigg as a monarchical option, was in Belgium at the time. He spoke out against the Anschluss and was then wanted by the Nazi regime and his property would have been expropriated and he would have been shot immediately if he were caught. In 1938,
1316-510: A year, henceforth every emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was a Habsburg, with only one exception. The Habsburgs began also to accumulate territory far from the hereditary lands. In 1477, Archduke Maximilian , only son of Emperor Frederick III , married the heiress Maria of Burgundy , thus acquiring most of the Netherlands for the family. In 1496, his son Philip the Fair married Joanna
1410-540: Is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. At the time, the Danube basin of Austria ( Upper and Lower Austria ) was the easternmost extent of Bavaria. The area that is now Austria was settled in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, having been the core of the Hallstatt culture by the 6th century BC . The city of Hallstatt , in fact, has the oldest archaeological evidence of
1504-484: Is an integral part of the German reich" (Article 2). The Treaty of Saint Germain and the Treaty of Versailles explicitly forbade union between Austria and Germany. The treaties also forced German-Austria to rename itself as "Republic of Austria" which consequently led to the first Austrian Republic . Over three million German-speaking Austrians found themselves living outside the new Austrian Republic as minorities in
1598-553: Is now Austria's National Day , a public holiday. The status of Tyrol was a lingering problem between Austria and Italy . To this day, there are 20 different squares in Austrian cities called "Südtiroler Platz" (South Tyrolean Square) in memory of the supposed loss of the Austrian territories. Terrorist acts by the South Tyrolean independence movement have been documented in the 1950s and 1960s. A great degree of autonomy
1692-601: The Austrofascists imposed a new constitution ("Maiverfassung") which cemented Dollfuss's power, but on 25 July he was assassinated in an Austrian Nazi coup attempt . His successor Kurt Schuschnigg acknowledged the fact that Austria was a "German state" and he also believed that Austrians were "better Germans" but he wished that Austria would remain independent. He announced a referendum on 9 March 1938, to be held on 13 March, concerning Austria's independence from Germany. On 12 March 1938, Austrian Nazis took over
1786-965: The Battle of Königgrätz , Austria had to leave the German Confederation and no longer took part in German politics. After the defeated Hungarian Revolution of 1848 , the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 , the Ausgleich , provided for a dual sovereignty, the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary , under Franz Joseph I . The Austrian-Hungarian rule of this diverse empire included various groups, including Germans , Hungarians , Croats, Czechs, Poles , Rusyns , Serbs, Slovaks, Slovenes, and Ukrainians, as well as large Italian and Romanian communities. As
1880-650: The County of Tyrol was ceded to Duke Rudolf IV of Austria by Countess Margaret in 1363. These territories, together, became known as the Habsburg 'Hereditary Lands', although they were sometimes referred to in sum as Austria. Rudolf established his residence at the Vienna Hofburg Palace and in 1358/59 he had the Privilegium Maius forged to elevate himself to a privileged " archduke " of
1974-761: The Empire of Austria was founded. From 1792 to 1801, the Austrians had suffered 754,700 casualties. In 1814, Austria was part of the Allied forces that invaded France and brought to an end the Napoleonic Wars . It emerged from the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as one of the continent's four dominant powers and a recognised great power . The same year, the German Confederation ( Deutscher Bund )
SECTION 20
#17328007647142068-648: The European Union (green) – [ Legend ] Austria , formally the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe , lying in the Eastern Alps . It is a federation of nine states , one of which is the capital, Vienna , the most populous city and state. Austria is bordered by Germany to the northwest, the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia to
2162-527: The Federal Constitutional Law of 1920, which had been terminated by dictator Dollfuss on 1 May 1934, was declared valid again. The total number of Austrian military deaths from 1939 to 1945 was 260,000. The total number of Jewish Austrian Holocaust victims was 65,000. About 140,000 Jewish Austrians had fled from the country in 1938–39. Thousands of Austrians had taken part in serious Nazi crimes (hundreds of thousands of people died in
2256-471: The Franks , conquered the area in 788, encouraged colonisation, and introduced Christianity. As part of Eastern Francia , the core areas that now encompass Austria were bequeathed to the house of Babenberg . The area was known as the marchia Orientalis and was given to Leopold of Babenberg in 976. The first record showing the name Austria is from 996, where it is written as Ostarrîchi , referring to
2350-645: The German Empire of 1848 , the crown of the newly formed empire was offered to the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV . In 1864, Austria and Prussia fought together against Denmark and secured the independence from Denmark of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein . As they could not agree on how the two duchies should be administered, though, they fought the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. Defeated by Prussia in
2444-620: The House of Habsburg . Charles VI was willing to offer concrete advantages in territory and authority in exchange for recognition of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 . Therefore, his daughter Maria Theresa was recognized as his heir. With the rise of Prussia , the Austria–Prussia rivalry began in Germany. Austria participated, together with Prussia and Russia, in the first and the third of the three Partitions of Poland in 1772 and 1795 respectively. From that time, Austria became
2538-554: The Long War of 1593 to 1606. The Turks made incursions into Styria nearly 20 times, of which some are cited as "burning, pillaging, and taking thousands of slaves". In late September 1529, Suleiman the Magnificent launched the first siege of Vienna , which unsuccessfully ended, according to Ottoman historians, with the snowfalls of an early beginning winter. During the long reign of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor following
2632-585: The Luxembourg and Wittelsbach dynasties. The Habsburg Albertinian line was again elevated to the Imperial throne in 1438. Duke Albert V of Austria was chosen King of the Romans as the successor to his House of Luxembourg father-in-law, Emperor Sigismund . Although Albert's reign spanned only one year, he was succeeded by his Leopoldian cousin, Duke Ernest's son, Frederick V , who eventually reunified
2726-832: The Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp alone), a fact which was officially acknowledged by Chancellor Franz Vranitzky in 1992. Allied-occupied Austria was after World War II divided into military occupation zones. Austria was governed by the Allied Commission for Austria . As stipulated in the Moscow Declaration of 1943 a subtle difference was seen in the treatment of Austria by the Allies. The Austrian government, consisting of Social Democrats, Conservatives, and Communists resided in Vienna , which
2820-825: The Polish border in the Sudetes towards the Adriatic coast in the south. When he failed to be elected King of the Romans in 1273, he contested the election of the successful candidate, the Swabian count Rudolf of Habsburg . Nevertheless, Rudolf was able to secure his rule as the first actual German king after the Great Interregnum. By his Imperial authority he seized Ottokar's "alienated" territories and added them to his already extensive homelands in Swabia. King Ottokar
2914-677: The Romans in the late 1st century BC. Christianization in the region began in the 4th and 5th centuries, during the late Roman period , followed by the arrival of numerous Germanic tribes during the Migration Period . Austria, as a unified state, emerged from the remnants of the Eastern and Hungarian March at the end of the first millennium , first as a frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire , it then developed into
Kühtai - Misplaced Pages Continue
3008-695: The Second World War , Kühtai grew rapidly into a hotel village and is today a popular hiking and skiing area. In 1976/77 the church was built. In the course of the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics , the village hosted snowboarding and freestyle competitions. At the end of December 2014, the women's 2014/15 Alpine Ski World Cup took place here for the first time (as a replacement for the cancelled competition in Semmering ). Austria – in Europe (green & dark grey) – in
3102-491: The Treaty of Neuberg , signed in 1379. Albert retained Austria proper, while Leopold took the remaining territories. In 1402, there was another split in the Leopoldian line , when Duke Ernest took Inner Austria (i.e. the duchies of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola) and Duke Frederick IV became the ruler of Tyrol and Further Austria . The partitions decisively weakened the Habsburg position, in favour of their rivals from
3196-452: The archducal title of the Austrian rulers, invented by Duke Rudolf IV in the forged Privilegium Maius of 1359, was officially acknowledged by the Habsburg emperor Frederick III . Initially, the duchy was comparatively small in area, roughly comprising the modern-day Austrian state of Lower Austria . As a former border march , it was located on the eastern periphery of the Empire, on
3290-538: The euro currency in 1999. The native name for Austria, Österreich , derives from the Old High German Ostarrîchi , which meant "eastern realm" and which first appeared in the "Ostarrîchi document" of 996. This word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local (Bavarian) dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976. The word "Austria"
3384-408: The schwaighof converted into a hunting lodge and, in 1624, a road was built from Sellrain . Emperor Franz Joseph I bought the hunting lodge back in 1893 and used it as a base for hunting Alpine marmots . The property passed via his granddaughter, Hedwig to the counts of Stolberg-Stolberg , who turned it into a winter sports hotel. In 2016 it was modernised by its new owners. As early as
3478-418: The 1930s climbers and summer holidaymakers stayed at Kühtai. The hunting lodge was converted in the 19th century into a schloss hotel. The increasing number of skiers in the early 20th century soon reached Austria-Hungary and, along with that, the Kühtai. Under the direction of the k.u.k. Works and Farming Ministry ( Arbeits- und Ackerbauministerium ) the place was opened up as a ski resort in 1909. After
3572-541: The Americans, planned for the supposed "Alpine Fortress Operation" of a national redoubt, that was largely to have taken place on Austrian soil in the mountains of the Eastern Alps . However, it never materialised because of the rapid collapse of the Reich. Karl Renner and Adolf Schärf (Socialist Party of Austria [Social Democrats and Revolutionary Socialists]), Leopold Kunschak (Austria's People's Party [former Christian Social People's Party]), and Johann Koplenig (Communist Party of Austria) declared Austria's secession from
3666-432: The Babenberg proprietary church , settled with Irish monks. The Austrian lands prospered, due to their favorable location on the Danube, as an important trade route from Krems and Mautern via Vienna down to Hungary and the Byzantine Empire . For a short time, the Babenbergs came to be one of the most influential ruling families in the Empire, peaking under the reign of Leopold V the Virtous (1177–1194) and Leopold VI
3760-459: The Celts in Europe. The Celtic Kingdom of Noricum that included most of modern Austria and parts of modern Slovenia was conquered by the Roman Empire in 16 BC and made a province called Noricum which lasted until the year of 476. The regions of today's Austria which were not located within the province of Noricum were divided between the Roman provinces of Pannonia , which encompassed parts of eastern Austria, and Raetia , which encompassed
3854-418: The Czech Přemyslid dynasty . In the east, the Imperial border with the Kingdom of Hungary (present-day Slovakia ) had gradually shifted towards the plains of the Morava River and the eastern rim of the Vienna Basin . On the right shore of the Danube, the lower Leitha River marked the Imperial–Hungarian border for centuries. In the south, Austria bordered the Styrian lands which were likewise elevated to
Kühtai - Misplaced Pages Continue
3948-544: The Empire. It was the ambitious Přemyslid ruler Ottokar II of Bohemia , son of King Wenceslaus I, who took the occasion to take over the rule in the "princeless" lands of late Duke Frederick II the Warlike. Referring to the Privilegium Minus , Pope Innocent IV, against the feudal principle of patrilineal inheritance, confirmed the hereditary rights of Frederick's sister Margaret, widow of Henry of Hohenstaufen, and his niece Gertrude , widow of Ottokar's elder brother Přemyslid Margrave Vladislaus of Moravia who died in 1247. Upon
4042-405: The Empire. The following two centuries were turbulent for the duchy. Under Habsburg rule, several inquisitorial persecutions against Waldensians were carried out, notably by the cleric Petrus Zwicker in the late 14th century. Following the brief, yet eventful, rule of Duke Rudolf IV, his brothers Albert III and Leopold III divided the Austrian domains between themselves, in accordance with
4136-439: The Generous (1136–1141) was a loyal vassal of the imperial House of Hohenstaufen in the struggle against the Bavarian Welf dynasty . In 1139, after King Conrad III of Germany deposed the Welf duke Henry the Proud , he gave the Bavarian duchy to his half-brother Margrave Leopold. Leopold's brother and successor Henry Jasomirgott was enfeoffed with Bavaria in 1141. In 1156, Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick Barbarossa approached
4230-446: The German Austrians from Germany, many Austrian pan-Germans idolised him and wore blue cornflowers, known to be the favourite flower of German Emperor William I , in their buttonholes, along with cockades in the German national colours (black, red, and yellow), although they were both temporarily banned in Austrian schools, as a way to show discontent towards the multi-ethnic empire. Austria's exclusion from Germany caused many Austrians
4324-400: The Glorious (1194–1230). In 1186, they signed the Georgenberg Pact with the first and last Otakar duke Ottokar IV of Styria and, upon his death in 1192, acquired the adjacent Styrian lands in the south, which were ruled with Austria in personal union until 1918. They also expanded their territory into the old Bavarian lands west of the Enns River, along the Traun to the city of Linz ,
4418-425: The Holy Roman Empire . The right of primogeniture was implemented with the Treaty of Rheinfelden one year later. Rudolf's descendants ruled Austria and Styria until 1918. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Habsburgs accumulated further provinces in the southeastern part of the Empire: the Duchy of Carinthia with the March of Carniola , initially ceded to the House of Gorizia , came under Habsburg rule in 1335;
4512-423: The Hungarian troops at the Battle of Kressenbrunn . Bohemian king since 1253, he now was sole ruler of the Bohemian, Moravian, Austrian and Styrian lands—an anticipation of the early modern Habsburg monarchy after 1526. In 1269, Ottokar also effectively controlled the Duchy of Carinthia , with Carniola and the Windic March further in the south. He controlled, in all, a Central European realm stretching from
4606-446: The Illustrious with the Austrian margraviate. A large-scale German settlement ( Ostsiedlung ) along the Danube down to the border with Hungary followed, which ultimately disrupted the Slavic continuity between the West Slavic ( Slovak ) and South Slavic ( Slovene ) lands. Although today closely associated with the Habsburg dynasty , Austria was, until 1246, a feudal possession of the younger House of Babenberg. Margrave Leopold
4700-399: The Mad , the heiress of Castile and Aragon , thus acquiring Spain and its Italian, African, Asian , and New World appendages for the Habsburgs. In 1526, following the Battle of Mohács , Bohemia and the part of Hungary not occupied by the Ottomans came under Austrian rule. Ottoman expansion into Hungary led to frequent conflicts between the two empires, particularly evident in
4794-458: The Nazis renamed Austria the " Ostmark ", a name which it had until 1942, when it was renamed the "Alpine and Danubian Gaue" (Alpen-und Donau-Reichsgaue). Though Austrians made up only 8% of the population of the Third Reich, some of the most prominent Nazis were native Austrians, including Adolf Hitler , Ernst Kaltenbrunner , Arthur Seyss-Inquart , Franz Stangl , Alois Brunner , Friedrich Rainer , and Odilo Globocnik , as were over 13% of
SECTION 50
#17328007647144888-411: The Provisional National Assembly for German Austria ( Provisorische Nationalversammlung für Deutschösterreich ). On 30 October the assembly founded the Republic of German-Austria by appointing a government, called Staatsrat . This new government was invited by the Emperor to take part in the decision on the planned armistice with Italy but refrained from this business. This left the responsibility for
4982-420: The Social Democrats and the Conservatives, had paramilitary armies; the Social Democrats' Republikanischer Schutzbund was now declared illegal, but was still operative as the 12–15 February 1934 Austrian Civil War broke out. In February 1934, several members of the Schutzbund were executed, the Social Democratic party was outlawed, and many of its members were imprisoned or emigrated. On 1 May 1934,
5076-407: The Third Reich by the Declaration of Independence on 27 April 1945 and set up a provisional government in Vienna under state Chancellor Renner the same day, with the approval of the victorious Red Army and backed by Joseph Stalin . (The date is officially named the birthday of the second republic.) At the end of April, most of western and southern Austria were still under Nazi rule. On 1 May 1945,
5170-399: The Vienna court and Middle High German poetry flourished. The poem Nibelungenlied probably arose in the Austrian lands. However, Leopold's son, Duke Frederick II the Warlike , entered into fierce conflicts soon after his accession in 1230, not only with the Austrian nobility, but also with King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia , King Andrew II of Hungary and even with Emperor Frederick II for
5264-401: The alleged entanglement in the rebellion of the duke's brother-in-law Henry of Hohenstaufen. The latter earned him an Imperial ban and an expulsion from Vienna in 1236. Though he could later reconcile with the Emperor, the border conflict with Hungary culminated in several clashes of arms after 1242, after King Béla IV of Hungary marched into Austria to reconquer occupied lands. Duke Frederick
5358-436: The areas of present-day Vorarlberg and Tyrol . Present-day Petronell- Carnuntum in eastern Austria was an important army camp turned capital city in what became known as the Pannonia Superior . Carnuntum was home to 50,000 people for nearly 400 years. After the fall of the Roman Empire , the area was first invaded by the Germanic Rugii which made this region part of their " Rugiland ". In 487, most of modern Austria
5452-427: The birthplace of classical music and played host to different composers including Joseph Haydn , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Ludwig van Beethoven , and Franz Schubert . Austria later became engaged in a war with Revolutionary France , which was highly unsuccessful in the beginning, with successive defeats at the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte , meaning the end of the old Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Two years earlier,
5546-682: The currency, and improve Austria's general economic condition. The loan meant that Austria passed from an independent state to the control exercised by the League of Nations. In 1925, the Austrian schilling was introduced, replacing the Krone at a rate of 10,000:1. Later, it was nicknamed the "Alpine dollar" due to its stability. From 1925 to 1929 the economy enjoyed a short high before nearly crashing after Black Tuesday . The First Austrian Republic lasted until 1933, when Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss , using what he called "self-switch-off of Parliament" , established an autocratic regime tending towards Italian fascism . The two big parties at this time,
5640-427: The death of Gertrude's second husband, Margrave Herman VI of Baden , in 1250, Ottokar invaded the Austrian lands, acclaimed by the local nobility. To substantiate his claims, he married Margaret (about 30 years his senior) in 1252. King Béla IV of Hungary contested this, referring to the Gertrude's third marriage with his relative Roman Danylovich and occupied the Styrian lands. However, Ottokar prevailed as he defeated
5734-426: The death of his only surviving son King Conrad IV four years later ended the line of Hohenstaufen rulers, only eight years after the extinction of the Babenberg dynasty. The extinction led to the Great Interregnum , a period of several decades during which the status of the country's rulers was disputed. While in the following years several candidates were elected King of the Romans , none of them were able to control
SECTION 60
#17328007647145828-458: The election was officially 99.5%, with 98.9% voting "yes". In the case of Austria, Adolf Hitler's native soil, 99.71% of an electorate of 4,484,475 officially went to the ballots, with a positive tally of 99.73 percent. Although most Austrians favored the Anschluss , in certain parts of Austria, the German soldiers were not always welcomed with flowers and joy, especially in Vienna, which had Austria's largest Jewish population. Nevertheless, despite
5922-496: The empire would collapse, which would allow an annexation of Austria by Germany . A lot of Austrian pan-German nationalists protested passionately against minister-president Kasimir Count Badeni 's language decree of 1897, which made German and Czech co-official languages in Bohemia and required new government officials to be fluent in both languages. This meant in practice that the civil service would almost exclusively hire Czechs because most middle-class Czechs spoke German but not
6016-495: The end of the war, on 3 November 1918, solely to the emperor and his government. On 11 November, the emperor, advised by ministers of the old and the new governments, declared he would not take part in state business any more; on 12 November, German-Austria, by law, declared itself to be a democratic republic and part of the new German republic. The constitution, renaming the Staatsrat as Bundesregierung (federal government) and Nationalversammlung as Nationalrat (national council)
6110-504: The future capital of Upper Austria . In 1191, Duke Leopold V joined the Third Crusade and the siege of Acre . Once the city was conquered and occupied, he picked a fierce quarrel with King Richard the Lionheart , allegedly over Leopold's raising of his Babenberg banner beside the royal flags of Richard and Philip II of France . When the English king passed through Austria on his way home, Leopold had him abducted and arrested at Dürnstein Castle . Handed over to Emperor Henry VI , Richard
6204-442: The government, while German troops occupied the country, which prevented Schuschnigg's referendum from taking place. On 13 March 1938, the Anschluss ( lit. ' joining ' or ' connection ' ) of Austria was officially declared. Two days later, Austrian-born Adolf Hitler announced what he called the "reunification" of his home country with the "rest of the German Reich " on Vienna's Heldenplatz . He established
6298-426: The hands of Rudolph I of Germany in 1278. Thereafter, until World War I, Austria's history was largely that of its ruling dynasty, the Habsburgs . In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Habsburgs began to accumulate other provinces in the vicinity of the Duchy of Austria. In 1438, Duke Albert V of Austria was chosen as the successor to his father-in-law, Emperor Sigismund . Although Albert himself only reigned for
6392-453: The members of the SS and 40% of the staff at the Nazi extermination camps . In the Reichsgau , besides the main camp KZ-Mauthausen , there were numerous sub-camps in all provinces where Jews and other prisoners were killed, tortured and exploited. At this time, because the territory was outside the operational radius of Allied aircraft, the armaments industry was greatly expanded through the forced labor of concentration camp prisoners, this
6486-401: The newly formed or enlarged states of Czechoslovakia , Yugoslavia , Hungary , and Italy. These included the provinces of South Tyrol , and German Bohemia . The status of German Bohemia and Sudetenland later played a role in World War II. The border between Austria and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was settled with the Carinthian Plebiscite in October 1920 and allocated the major part of
6580-413: The northeast, Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The landlocked country occupies an area of 83,879 km (32,386 sq mi) and has a population of around 9 million. The area of today's Austria has been inhabited since at least the Paleolithic period . Around 400 BC, it was inhabited by the Celts and then annexed by
6674-414: The northern and southern shores of the Danube River, east of ("below") the Enns tributary. Drosendorf , Raabs , Laa and other fortifications along the Thaya River , north of the historic Waldviertel and Weinviertel regions and separated by the Manhartsberg range, marked the border with the Duchy of Bohemia (elevated to a Kingdom in 1198) and the Moravian lands, both of which were held by
6768-846: The other way around. The support of ultramontane Catholic politicians and clergy for this reform triggered the launch of the Away from Rome movement, which was initiated by supporters of Schönerer and called on "German" Christians to leave the Roman Catholic Church. As the Second Constitutional Era began in the Ottoman Empire , Austria-Hungary took the opportunity to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 by Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip
6862-452: The predominantly German-speaking South Tyrol . The desire for the annexation of Austria to Germany was a popular opinion shared by all social circles in both Austria and Germany. On 12 November, German-Austria was declared a republic, and named Social Democrat Karl Renner as provisional chancellor. On the same day it drafted a provisional constitution that stated that "German-Austria is a democratic republic" (Article 1) and "German-Austria
6956-524: The proclamation of the Republic of German-Austria in 1918 and the First Austrian Republic in 1919. During the interwar period , anti-parliamentarian sentiments culminated in the formation of an Austrofascist dictatorship under Engelbert Dollfuss in 1934. A year before the outbreak of World War II , Austria was annexed into Nazi Germany by Adolf Hitler , and it became a sub-national division . After its liberation in 1945 and
7050-559: The propaganda and the manipulation and rigging which surrounded the ballot box result, there was massive genuine support for Hitler for fulfilling the Anschluss , since many Germans from both Austria and Germany saw it as completing the long overdue unification of all Germans into one state. On 13 March 1938, Austria was annexed by the Third Reich and ceased to exist as an independent country (the Anschluss ). The Aryanisation of
7144-525: The south. The Avar Khaganate established in 567 comprised most of the later Austrian march up to the Enns river, where it bordered on the German stem duchy of Bavaria. Temporarily part of Samo's Empire from 631 to 658, the territory was under constant attack by the Carolingian forces of Charlemagne from 791 onward. About 800, Charlemagne, having won several victories against the Avars, established
7238-587: The successful defence of Vienna against the Turks in 1683, under the command of the King of Poland John III Sobieski , the Great Turkish War resulted in most of Hungary being controlled by Austria. This arrangement was formalized in the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor relinquished many of the gains the empire made in the previous years. He enjoyed the imminent extinction of
7332-617: The territory of the Babenberg March. In 1156, the Privilegium Minus elevated Austria to the status of a duchy. In 1192, the Babenbergs also acquired the Duchy of Styria . With the death of Frederick II in 1246, the line of the Babenbergs was extinguished. As a result, Ottokar II of Bohemia effectively assumed control of the duchies of Austria, Styria, and Carinthia . His reign came to an end with his defeat at Dürnkrut at
7426-592: The territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Crownland of Carinthia to Austria. This set the border on the Karavanke mountain range, with many Slovenes remaining in Austria. After the war, inflation began to devalue the Krone, which was still Austria's currency. In the autumn of 1922, Austria was granted an international loan supervised by the League of Nations . The purpose of the loan was to avert bankruptcy, stabilise
7520-433: The use of their mother tongue at state offices. Many Austrians of all different social circles such as Georg Ritter von Schönerer promoted strong pan-Germanism in the hope of reinforcing an ethnic German identity and the annexation of Austria to Germany. Some Austrians such as Karl Lueger also used pan-Germanism as a form of populism to further their own political goals. Although Bismarck's policies excluded Austria and
7614-845: The wealth of Jewish Austrians started immediately in mid-March, with a so-called "wild" (i.e. extra-legal) phase, but it was soon structured legally and bureaucratically so the assets which Jewish citizens possessed could be stripped from them. At that time, Adolf Eichmann , who grew up in Austria, was transferred to Vienna and ordered to persecute the Jews. During the November pogrom in 1938 ("Reichskristallnacht"), Jews and Jewish institutions such as synagogues were subjected to violent attacks in Vienna, Klagenfurt, Linz, Graz, Salzburg, Innsbruck and several cities in Lower Austria. Otto von Habsburg ,
7708-420: Was able to send the Allies information about armaments factories where V-1 flying bombs , V-2 rockets , Tiger tanks , and aircraft ( Messerschmitt Bf 109 , Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet , etc.) were manufactured, information which was important to the success of Operation Crossbow and Operation Hydra , both of which were preliminary missions before the launch of Operation Overlord . This resistance group, which
7802-719: Was conquered by Odoacer , a barbarian soldier and statesman from the Middle Danube , which incorporated most of today's Austria in his Kingdom of Italy . By 493, it was conquered by the Germanic Ostrogoths which created their own kingdom, the Ostrogothic Kingdom . Following the Kingdom's fall the area was invaded by the Alemanni , Baiuvarii , Slavs , and Avars . Charlemagne , King of
7896-580: Was especially the case with regard to the manufacture of fighter planes, tanks and missiles. Most of the resistance groups were soon crushed by the Gestapo . While the plans of the group around Karl Burian to blow up the Gestapo's headquarters in Vienna were uncovered, the important group around the later executed priest Heinrich Maier managed to contact the Allies . This so-called Maier-Messner group
7990-526: Was finally defeated and killed by the united Austrian and Hungarian forces in the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld . Rudolf married his daughter Judith off to Ottokar's son Wenceslaus II , who retained the Bohemian kingdom. Having reached an agreement with the prince-electors , he granted the Austrian domains to his sons Albert and Rudolf II at the 1282 Diet of Augsburg, elevating them to Princes of
8084-459: Was founded under the presidency of Austria. Because of unsolved social, political, and national conflicts, the German lands were shaken by the 1848 revolutions aiming to create a unified Germany. The various different possibilities for a united Germany were: a Greater Germany , or a Greater Austria or just the German Confederation without Austria at all. As Austria was not willing to relinquish its German-speaking territories to what would become
8178-588: Was granted to Tyrol by the Italian national government. Duchy of Austria The Duchy of Austria ( Austriae Ducatus ( Latin ) ; Herzogtuom Osteriche ( Middle High German ) ) was a medieval principality of the Holy Roman Empire , established in 1156 by the Privilegium Minus , when the Margraviate of Austria ( Ostarrîchi ) was detached from Bavaria and elevated to
8272-619: Was in contact with the American secret service ( OSS ), soon provided information about mass executions and concentration camps such as Auschwitz . The group's aim was to cause Nazi Germany to lose the war as quickly as possible and re-establish an independent Austria. Vienna fell on 13 April 1945, during the Soviet Vienna offensive , just before the total collapse of the Third Reich. The invading Allied powers, in particular
8366-683: Was killed at the 1246 Battle of the Leitha River , whereby the Babenberg line became extinct in the male line. According to feudal law, the immediate heritable fees fell back to the suzerain , the Holy Roman Emperor . However, Emperor Frederick II, in the last years of his rule, was weakened by the struggle against Pope Innocent IV , and was stuck in the Italian Wars between the Guelphs and Ghibellines . His death in 1250 and
8460-798: Was only released after paying an enormous ransom, and the duke used his share to lay out the Wiener Neustadt fortification near the Hungarian border. According to legend, the emperor granted him permission to bear the red-white-red colors that became the flag of Austria . His son Leopold VI, sole ruler of the Austrian and Styrian lands from 1198, married the Byzantine princess Theodora Angelina and later married his daughter Margaret to Henry of Hohenstaufen , son of Emperor Frederick II , in 1225. Notable minnesingers like Reinmar von Hagenau and Walther von der Vogelweide were regular guests at
8554-536: Was passed on 10 November 1920. The Treaty of Saint-Germain of 1919 (for Hungary the Treaty of Trianon of 1920) confirmed and consolidated the new order of Central Europe which to a great extent had been established in November 1918, creating new states and altering others. The German-speaking parts of Austria which had been part of Austria-Hungary were reduced to a rump state named the Republic of German-Austria (German: Republik Deutschösterreich ), though excluding
8648-596: Was responsible for directing the nationalized industries under the directorship of Minister Peter Krauland (party ÖVP). On 15 May 1955, after talks which lasted for years and were influenced by the Cold War Austria regained full independence by concluding the Austrian State Treaty with the allies of World War II. On 26 October 1955, all occupation troops had left and Austria declared its permanent neutrality by an act of parliament. This day
8742-654: Was surrounded by the Soviet zone. This Austrian government was recognised by the allies of World War II in October 1945 despite concerns that Karl Renner could be Stalin's puppet. On 26 July 1946 the Austrian Parliament passed its first nationalization law and approximately 70 mining and manufacturing companies were seized by the Austrian state. The Ministry of Property Protection and Economic Planning ( Ministerium für Vermögenssicherung und Wirtschaftsplanung )
8836-606: Was used by leading Austrian politicians and generals to persuade the emperor to declare war on Serbia, thereby risking and prompting the outbreak of World War I, which eventually led to the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Over one million Austro-Hungarian soldiers died in World War I. On 21 October 1918, the elected German members of the Reichsrat (parliament of Imperial Austria) met in Vienna as
#713286