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89-485: The party was officially founded on 25 March 1949 by Herbert Kraus and Viktor Reimann . The party's formation had been encouraged by the Socialist Party of Austria (SPÖ), which sought to split the right-wing vote in the 1949 legislative election in order to weaken the conservative People's Party (ÖVP) and gain a parliamentary majority. On the next day the constituent assembly was held at Salzburg , then in

178-776: A History of Austria raises a number of questions, e.g., whether it is confined to the current or former Republic of Austria, or extends also to all lands formerly ruled by the rulers of Austria. Furthermore, should Austrian history include the period 1938–1945, when it nominally did not exist? Of the lands now part of the second Republic of Austria, many were added over time – only two of the nine provinces (Lower and Upper Austria) are strictly 'Austria', while other parts of its former sovereign territory are now part of other countries e.g., Italy, Croatia, Slovenia and Czechia. Within Austria there are regionally and temporally varying affinities to adjacent countries. The Alps were inaccessible during

267-541: A comes or dux as appointed by the emperor. These terms are usually translated as count or duke, but these terms conveyed very different meanings in the Early Middle Ages , so to avoid misunderstanding historians usually employ the Latin versions when discussing the titles and their holders. In Lombardic speaking countries, the title was eventually regularized to margrave (German: markgraf ) i.e. "count of

356-599: A "long-prepared seizure of power by a small circle of right-wing extremists and Nazi leaders". Nevertheless, there was a strong continuity, as 5 of 6 MPs of the FPÖ elected in 1956 had previously been members of VdU. Viktor Reimann Viktor Riemann (25 January 1915 – 7 October 1996) was an Austrian author, commentator, journalist and politician ( VdU ). He sat as a member of the "Nationalrat" ( "National Parliament" ) between 1949 and 1956. Despite his involvement in liberation activism and subsequent imprisonment following

445-786: A Germanic people who had been moving southwards in several steps, and had occupied the Rugian territory. During the 540s, the Lombards crossed the Danube into Roman Pannonia, in the west of present day Austria, bringing them into conflict with the Gepids . After defeating them with help from the Avars in 567 , the Lombards recruited many locals and moved into northern Italy, starting in 568. The Avars and their vassal Slavs subsequently began moving into

534-593: A journalist than to any contributions he made with his parliamentary work. He was editor-in-chief of the party's daily newspaper, Österreichische Allgemeine Zeitung , from its launch on 1 December 1949 till April 1950 when publication came to an end for reasons of cost. The party's weekly newspaper, Neue Front , fared better, printed in Salzburg alongside the Salzburger Nachrichten for seven years between 25 February 1949 and 1956. Viktor Reimann

623-469: A king of Suevi , by crossing the frozen Danube from the east. These Suevi were at this time in a confederation with the Alemanni , in an Alpine region with streams that flowed loudly into the Danube, Baiuvarii (early Bavarians) on the east, Franks on the west, Burgundians on the south, and Thuringians on the north. This is one of the first mentions of the early Bavarians. They subsequently came to dominate

712-438: A letter mentioning that many of the peoples from around the region east of Austria, even from within the empire, were occupying Gaul at that time: "Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Alans, Gepids, Herules, Saxons, Burgundians, Allemanni and—alas! for the commonweal!—even Pannonians". There was a short period of stability around 431. In 427 the chronicle of Marcellinus Comes says that the provinces of Pannonia, "which had been held by

801-624: A major defeat to the Goths, Alans and Huns at the Battle of Adrianople , which was caused by a sudden movement of peoples coming from present-day Ukraine. The Romans recovered control, but the Romans were apparently forced to try new approaches to settling newcomers in large numbers. One of the armed groups responsible for the defeat, led by Alatheus and Saphrax , were settled into the Pannonian part of

890-699: Is represented by the Hallstatt culture , which succeeded the Urnfield culture, under influences from the Mediterranean civilizations and Steppe peoples. This gradually transitioned into the Celtic La Tène culture . This early Iron Age culture is named after Hallstatt the type site in Upper Austria . The culture is often described in two zones, Western and Eastern, through which flowed

979-547: Is still undermined by communism and the Americans are continuing to fund the spiritual Bolshevisation of Austria, exploiting the eager collaboration of certain socialist intellectuals along with the uncertainties and weaknesses of the cultural power-brokers of the [governing (in coalition)] ÖVP ("centre-right Austrian People's Party") , Throughout his time as an opposition member of parliament, Reimann's increasing public profile seems to have owed more to his continuing work as

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1068-714: The Avar March , corresponding roughly to present day Lower Austria , bordered by the rivers Enns , Raab and Drava , while to the south lay the March of Carinthia . Both marches were collectively referred to as the Marcha orientalis (Eastern March), a prefecture of the Duchy of Bavaria. In 805, the Avars, with Charlemagne's permission, led by the Avar Khagan, settled south-eastward from Vienna . A new threat appeared in 862,

1157-597: The Bronze Age fortifications were appearing, protecting the commercial centers of the mining, processing, and trading of copper and tin . This flourishing culture is reflected in the grave artifacts, such as at Pitten, in Nußdorf ob der Traisen , Lower Austria. In the late Bronze Age appeared the Urnfield culture , in which salt mining commenced in the northern salt mines at Hallstatt . The Iron Age in Austria

1246-714: The Burgenland (e.g., Oberpullendorf ) high-quality iron ore was mined and processed, then exported to the Romans as ferrum noricum ( Noric iron ). This led to the creation of a Roman trading outpost on the Magdalensberg in the early 1st century b.c. , later replaced by the Roman town Virunum. Fortified hilltop settlements , e.g. Kulm (east Styria ), Idunum (mod. Villach ), Burg ( Schwarzenbach ), and Braunsberg ( Hainburg ), were centers of public life. Some cities, such as Linz , date back to this period also. During

1335-647: The Carnic Alps arriving at Virunum in Noricum, as had been agreed to by the Roman general Stilicho , following several skirmishes between the two. Alaric was voted a large amount of money to maintain peace, by the Roman Senate, at Stilicho 's instigation. From there he directed his operations against Italy, demanding Noricum among another territory, finally sacking Rome in 410 but dying on the route home that year. During this period, in 409, Saint Jerome wrote

1424-684: The Enns River . Bavaria became a Margraviate under Engeldeo (890–895) and was re-established as a Duchy under Arnulf the Bad (907–937) who united it with the Duchy of Carinthia , occupying most of the eastern alps. This proved short lived. His son Eberhard (937–938) found himself in conflict with the German King, Otto I (Otto the Great) who deposed him. The next Duke was Henry I (947–955), who

1513-694: The Frankish Empire established by the Germanic Franks in the 9th century. The name Ostarrîchi (Austria) has been in use since 996 AD when it was a margravate of the Duchy of Bavaria and from 1156 an independent duchy (later archduchy ) of the Holy Roman Empire (962–1806). Austria was dominated by the House of Habsburg and House of Habsburg-Lorraine from 1273 to 1918. In 1806, when Emperor Francis II of Austria dissolved

1602-801: The Hungarians , following the pattern of displacement from more eastern territories by superior forces. By 896 the Hungarians were present in large numbers on the Hungarian Plain from which they raided the Frankish domains. They defeated the Moravians and in 907 defeated the Bavarians at the Battle of Pressburg and by 909 had overrun the marches forcing the Franks and Bavarians back to

1691-735: The Ice Age , so human habitation dates no earlier than the Middle Paleolithic era, during the time of the Neanderthals . The oldest traces of human habitation in Austria, more than 250,000 years ago, were found in the Repolust Cave at Badl, near Peggau in the Graz-Umgebung district of Styria . These include stone tools, bone tools, and pottery fragments together with mammalian remains. Some 70,000-year-old evidence

1780-542: The Lake Constance area to the west occupied by the Alemanni ( Vorarlberg ). Pockets of the Celto-Romanic population persisted, such as around Salzburg , and Roman place names persisted, such as Juvavum (Salzburg). In addition this population was distinguished by Christianity and by their language, a Latin dialect ( Romansch ). Salzburg was already a bishopric (739), and by 798 an archbishopric. Although

1869-711: The Mauer neighborhood of the southern Vienna district of Liesing dates from this period. In the Lengyel culture , which followed Linear Pottery in Lower Austria, circular ditches were constructed. Traces of the Copper Age in Austria were identified in the Carpathian Basin hoard at Stollhof , Hohe Wand , Lower Austria. Hilltop settlements from this era are common in eastern Austria. During this time

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1958-621: The Neolithic era, most of those areas of Austria that were amenable to agriculture and were sources of raw materials were settled. Remains include those of the Linear pottery culture , one of the first agrarian cultures in Europe. The first recorded rural settlement from this time was at Brunn am Gebirge in Mödling . Austria's first industrial monument, the chert mine at Mauer-Antonshöhe in

2047-469: The Roman empire , the territory of present day Austria corresponded roughly with the Roman province of Noricum which was annexed by the empire around 15 BC, beginning 500 years of "Austria Romana" (as it became known in the 19th century). The western and eastern extremities of present day Austria were within the Roman provinces of Raetia , and Pannonia . During Emperor Claudius 's reign (41–54 AD), Noricum

2136-539: The US occupation zone . Herbert Kraus was elected Chairman ( Bundesobmann ), while Viktor Reimann, Josef Karoly, Karl Hartleb and Karl Winkler were appointed Vice-Chairmen ( Bundesobmann-Stellvertreter ). Kraus was party leader until 1952. VdU saw itself as representing the interests of former members of the Nazi Party , expellees from Central and Eastern Europe , returning prisoners of war and other discontent portions of

2225-475: The University of Vienna where he studied History and Germanistics . Heinrich von Srbik and Hans Hirsch were two of his history tutors. In 1936 he was actively involved with the (still, in Austria, illegal) National Socialist Party . After 1938 he switched to a position of opposition , driven primarily by simple hostility to Austria having recently been integrated into an enlarged German state . In

2314-456: The VdU rather than for the mainstream centre-right and centre-left ÖVP and SPÖ parties (with respectively 44% and 39% of the national vote). Attitudes towards Reimann, a relatively high-profile VdU member of parliament, were affected by those perceptions, both during his political career and subsequently. During the build-up to the ("anti-communist") Vienna Brecht boycott which took hold in

2403-539: The VdU was briefly known) which had won nearly 12% of the national vote. In the previous election, which had taken place in 1945, approximately 556,000 former members of the National Socialist party had been deprived of the right to vote. These people regained their voting rights ahead of the 1949 election. There were strong inferences drawn from the pattern of the election results, that the former National Socialists voted in disproportionately high numbers for

2492-469: The monastery school an hour's walk downriver from Vienna. The group was also networked with other resistance groups, notably in former Czechoslovakia , and maintained contacts with agents of the allied powers . Such contacts were not without their own risks, however. The "Austrian Freedom Movement" was smashed thanks to betrayal by one of its members, the government spy and Burgtheater stage actor Otto Hartmann . The authorities arrested Riemann towards

2581-542: The Austrian population. Although close to the ÖVP, the party also advocated liberal individualism , and did not concern itself much with the "Catholic question." VdU supported the abolition of denazification laws limiting the political activities of former Nazis. While Kraus and Reimann (who himself had been active in the resistance against the Nazis) envisioned a liberal and moderately nationalist party, an alternative to

2670-697: The Bavarians extended south to later-known South Tyrol , and east to the Enns . The administrative center was at Regensburg . Those groups mixed with the Rhaeto-Romanic population and pushed it up into the mountains along the Puster Valley . In the south of modern Austria, Slavs had settled in the valleys of the Drava, Mura and Save by 600. The westward Slavic migration stopped further Bavarian migration eastwards by 610. Their most westward expansion

2759-742: The Danube soon afterwards. The Laterculus Veronensis shows that Heruli and Rugii were already present somewhere in western Europe in about 314. Similar listings from later in the 4th century, the Cosmographia of Julius Honorius , and probably also the Liber Generationis , both listed the Heruli together with the Marcomanni and Quadi, in whose traditional region the Herule kingdom would later be found. In 380 AD, Roman forces suffered

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2848-489: The Eastern Alps in the wake of the expansion of their Avar overlords during the 7th century, mixed with the Celto-Romanic population, and established the realm of Carantania (later Carinthia ), which covered much of eastern and central Austrian territory and was the first independent Slavic state in Europe, centered at Zollfeld . Together with the indigenous population they were able to resist further encroachment of

2937-542: The FPÖ party historian Kurt Piringer, Kraus "reached into the void" when he tried "to pick up on the remnants of the old liberalism to re-establish the third camp", as this liberal camp was at that time non-existent in Austria. In the 1949 legislative election the VdU obtained 11.7% of the vote and won 16 seats in the National Council . The SPÖ's strategy of creating a split in the non-Socialist vote failed, with both

3026-532: The Frankish west, such as Rupert and Virgil of the Hiberno-Scottish mission . After centuries of tension and war on the Danube border which ran through present day Austria, the power of the Marcomanni seems to have been broken by 300 AD. Many, perhaps most of them, had been moved within the empire. It seems that the Rugii and Heruli may have already moved into the Marcomanni's traditional region north of

3115-691: The Franks and Bavarians against the eastern Avars in 791, so that by 803 they had fallen back to the east of the Fischa and Leitha rivers. These conquests enabled the establishment of a system of defensive marches (military borderlands) from the Danube to the Adriatic. By around 800, Österreich, the "Kingdom of the East," had been joined to the Holy Roman Empire. Among these was an eastern march,

3204-738: The Germanic Bavarians steadily replaced Romansch as the main language, they adopted many Roman customs and became increasingly Christianized. Similarly in the east, German replaced the Slavic language. The March of Austria's neighbours were the Duchy of Bavaria to the west, the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Poland to the North, the Kingdom of Hungary to the east and the Duchy of Carinthia to the south. In this setting, Austria, still subject to Bavaria

3293-414: The Holy Roman Empire, Austria became the Austrian Empire , and was also part of the German Confederation until the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. In 1867, Austria formed a dual monarchy with Hungary: the Austro-Hungarian Empire . When this empire collapsed after the end of World War I in 1918, Austria was reduced to the main, mostly German-speaking areas of the empire (its current frontiers), and adopted

3382-426: The Huns for fifty years, were reclaimed by the Romans". However, in 433 Flavius Aëtius effectively ceded Pannonia to Attila . In 451 the Huns and their allies, now under the command of Attila must have poured through the area on their way to Gaul where they were defeated the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains that year. Attila died a few years later in 453, and this was followed by the Battle of Nedao in 454, when

3471-454: The Imperial family. Leopold then concentrated on pacifying the nobility. His monastic foundations, particularly Klosterneuburg and Heiligenkreuz , led to his posthumous canonisation in 1458, and he became Austria's patron saint . Leopold III was succeeded by his son, Leopold IV 'The Generous' (1137–1141). Leopold further enhanced the status of Austria by also becoming Duke of Bavaria in 1139, as Leopold I. Bavaria itself had been in

3560-403: The Pannonian area, having previously established themselves from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans . After the Avars suffered setbacks in the east in 626, the Slavs rebelled, establishing their own territories. The Carantanians (Alpine Slavs) elected a Bavarian, Odilo, as their Count, and successfully resisted further Avar subjugation. The Carantanians migrated westward along the Drava into

3649-437: The Press Department head of the National Theatre Administration . One source describes his departure from that position a few years later as "noisy" ( "geräuschvoll" ), possibly because he followed it up with a sensationalist book about the widely revered Vienna State Opera . In 1970 he became a regular columnist with the mass-market Kronen Zeitung . His columns were not uncontentious. In 1972 he became editor-in-chief for

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3738-556: The Roman empire, including the east of Austria, and expected to do military service for Rome. As the Roman Empire's control over these border regions crumbled, the ability of Raetia, Noricum, and Pannonia to defend themselves became increasingly problematic. The Gothic leader Radagaisus overran part of the country in 405. After several raids on Italy, the Visigoths arrived in Noricum in 408, under Alaric I . As described by Zosimus , Alaric set out from Emona (modern Ljubljana ) which lay between Pannonia Superior and Noricum over

3827-419: The SPÖ and the ÖVP losing equally to the VdU. The party drew most of its support in areas where in pre-war times the rural Landbund had been rooted and in cities with a high percentage of former Nazis. At the 1953 legislative election , its share of the vote fell slightly to 10.9% and 14 seats in the National Council. Beginning soon after its foundation, the party saw the start of heavy internal strife between

3916-463: The Slavs maintained their language and identity until the early 20th century, when assimilation reduced them to a small minority. Bavarian relationship with the Franks varied, achieving temporary independence by 717, only to be subjugated by Charles Martel . Finally Charlemagne (Emperor 800–814) deposed the last Agilolfing duke, Tassilo III , assuming direct Carolingian control in 788, with non-hereditary Bavarian kings. Charlemagne subsequently led

4005-427: The autumn of 1938, Reimann teamed up with the Augustinian canon regular Roman Karl Scholz to set up a "catholic-conservative" resistance group. After war broke out, in September 1939, the group was renamed, becoming the "Austrian Freedom Movement" ( "Österreichische Freiheitsbewegung" ) . Their political objectives were to start by educating people about the true nature of National Socialism, and then to accomplish

4094-458: The city's theatres for ten years between 1953 and 1963, Reimann joined in the criticism of the iconic playwright . In a contribution which he made in October 1951 to the bimonthly periodical Neue Front under the headline "Wer schmuggelte das Kommunistenpferd in das deutsche Rom?" ( loosely, "Who smuggled the communist wooden horse into the German Rome?" ), Reimann wrote that "giving Bertolt Brecht Austrian citizenship [in 1950] shows that our country

4183-412: The condemnations published had been written by Reimann himself. Those who saw Neue Front , its editor in chief, and indeed the VdU itself, as apologists for former National Socialist members and collaborators could be sharply critical, not simply within Austria, but also across the frontier in West Germany where some of the same concerns still resonated. Between 1956 and 1960 Reimann was employed as

4272-465: The country's incorporation into Hitler's Germany , Riemann found himself identified as a controversialist, or on occasion more simply as an embarrassment, by representatives of the consensual centrist Austrian political mainstream during the postwar decades . A succession of political biographies and his newspaper contributions may have contributed to this. Viktor Reimann was born and died in Vienna . Successful completion of his schooling led him to

4361-469: The dominant SPÖ and ÖVP, appealing to the educated middle- and upper middle-class, VdU in fact became a rallying point for former National Socialists. More than 500,000 former members of the Nazi Party or other Nazi organisations had been excluded from the 1945 elections. By 1947 however, more than 90 percent of them were categorised as mere "followers" who regained their right to vote and, thanks to an amnesty in 1948, also their right to be elected. According to

4450-412: The downfall of the Nazi regime. This should be accompanied by the extraction of the Danube and Alpine provinces from the recently enlarged German state, and the re-establishment of an independent Austria, which should also incorporate Bavaria , thereby extending in a northerly direction all the way to the River Main . In the end, there were around 300-400 members, many of whom had been taught by Scholz at

4539-418: The end of 1940. He was held in investigatory detention for two years and then, early in 1943, sentenced by the special People's Court to ten years imprisonment. Till 1945 Viktor Reimann survived his detention at the punishment prison in Straubing . Soviet troops reached the border from Hungary at the end of March 1945 and captured Vienna after two weeks of savage fighting by the middle of April. By

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4628-403: The end of 1945 Reimann had become deputy editor in chief, a position he retained till 1948. There are nevertheless suggestions that his (at this stage) pro-US political stance sometimes led to difficulties with senior colleagues at the paper. During his time at the Salzburger Nachrichten Viktor Reimann rediscovered an appetite for political activism more generally. With Herbert Kraus , he

4717-419: The end of 1945 the Soviet occupiers had acquiesced in the creation of a provisional government under Karl Renner which immediately came into line with the tide of history by endorsing the 1943 Moscow Declarations and repudiating the 1938 annexation . War formally ended in May 1945, and with it the National Socialist chapter in Austrian (and European) history. When he was released from prison Viktor Riemann

4806-466: The first-recorded local tribal ( Taurisci , Ambidravi , Ambisontes ) and place names. Out of this arose Noricum (2nd century to c . 15 b.c. ) – a confederation of Alpine Celtic tribes (traditionally twelve) under the leadership of the Norici . It was confined to present-day southern and eastern Austria and part of Slovenia . The West was settled by the Raeti . Dürrnberg and Hallein (Salzburg) were Celtic salt settlements. In eastern Styria and

4895-400: The frequently overlooked classes drew praise from Wolfgang Purtscheller who found it a "deeply apologetic and for that reason deeply interesting book over the re-emergence of a national identity". History of Austria#The Second Republic (since 1945) Timeline The history of Austria covers the history of Austria and its predecessor states. In the late Iron Age Austria

4984-485: The hands of the Welf (Guelph) dynasty, who were pitted against the Hohenstaufen . The latter came to the imperial throne in 1138 in the person of Conrad III (1138–1152); the Duke of Bavaria, Henry the Proud , was himself a candidate for the imperial crown and disputed the election of Conrad, and was subsequently deprived of the Duchy, which was given to Leopold IV. When Leopold died, his lands were inherited by his brother Henry II (Heinrich Jasomirgott) (1141–1177). In

5073-408: The inhabitants sought out and developed raw materials in the central Alpine areas. The most important find is considered to be the Iceman Ötzi , a well-preserved mummy of a man frozen in the Alps dating from approximately 3,300 BC, although these finds are now in Italy on the Austrian border. Another culture is the Mondsee group , represented by stilt houses in the Alpine lakes. By the beginning of

5162-412: The lines that neither the intent nor the spirit of the content were as crudely or overtly antisemitic as some of the material appearing in the gutter press at the same time: that fell far short of a complete exoneration. Under the title Die Dritte Kraft in Österreich ( The Third Force in Austria ), Viktor Reimann published a history of the political Austrian "Third estate" since 1945 . This study of

5251-409: The mark". The first recorded instance of the name 'Austria' appeared in 996, in a document of King Otto III written as Ostarrîchi , referring to the territory of the Babenberg March. In addition, for a long time the form Osterlant was in use, the inhabitants being referred to as Ostermann or Osterfrau . The Latinized name Austria applied to this area appears in the 12th Century writings in

5340-425: The meantime, Conrad had been succeeded as emperor by his nephew Frederick I Barbarossa (1155–1190), who was descended from both the Welfs and Hohenstauffens and sought to end the conflicts within Germany. To this end he returned Bavaria to the Welfs in 1156, but as compensation elevated Austria to a duchy through an instrument known as the Privilegium Minus . Henry II thus became Duke of Austria in exchange for losing

5429-410: The modern Klagenfurt ), Teurnia (near Spittal ), and Lauriacum ( Enns ). Archaeological sites from the Roman period include Kleinklein (Styria) and Zollfeld ( Magdalensberg ). Christianity appeared in Austria in the 2nd century, prompting Church organization that can be traced back to the 4th century. After the arrival of the Bavarii , Austria became the object of new missionary efforts from

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5518-413: The more liberal approach of the founders Kraus and Reimann and the German nationalist faction centering on the former Luftwaffe colonel Gordon Gollob . This led to the collapse of the party, which was absorbed by the newly founded Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) of former SS brigadier Anton Reinthaller in 1956. VdU founders Reimann and Kraus left the FPÖ shortly thereafter and the latter lamented over

5607-542: The name, the Republic of German-Austria . However, union with Germany and the chosen country name were forbidden by the Allies at the Treaty of Versailles . This led to the creation of the First Austrian Republic (1919–1933). Following the First Republic, Austrofascism tried to keep Austria independent from the German Reich . Engelbert Dollfuss accepted that most Austrians were German and Austrian, but wanted Austria to remain independent from Germany. In 1938, Austrian-born Adolf Hitler annexed Austria to Germany , which

5696-482: The neighboring Franks and Avars in the southeastern Alps. Meanwhile, the Germanic tribe of the Bavarii ( Frankish vassals), had developed in the 5th and 6th century in the west of the country and in later-known Bavaria , while Alemans had settled in later-known Vorarlberg . In the northern alps the Bavarians were established as a stem dukedom by around 550, under Agilolfing rule until 788 as an eastern Frankish Empire outpost. Those lands that were occupied by

5785-466: The paper's Upper Austria edition, and in 1974 he moved across from Linz to Vienna in order to take charge of the arts and culture section, retaining this position till 1987. Several of Reimann's contributions, notably his 1974 series of articles in a series called "The Jews in Austria" which appeared in the Kronen Zeitung , became a focus of research involving possible antisemitic content. Conclusions were far from unanimous. There were findings along

5874-492: The province of Raetia . Present day Burgenland in the east was in Pannonia. To the south was Region 10, Venetia et Histria . The Danubian limes , formed a defensive line separating Upper and Lower Austria from Germanic tribes , most importantly the Marcomanni . The Romans built many Austrian cities that survive today. They include Vindobona ( Vienna ), Juvavum ( Salzburg ), Valdidena ( Innsbruck ), and Brigantium ( Bregenz ). Other important towns were Virunum (north of

5963-411: The rest. However they embarked on a programme of consolidating their power base. One such method was to employ indentures servants such as the Kuenringern family as Ministeriales and given considerable military and administrative duties. They survived as a dynasty through good fortune and skill at power politics, in that era dominated by the continual struggle between emperor and papacy . The path

6052-403: The rivers Enns , Ybbs and Inn . The West Hallstatt area was in contact with the Greek colonies on the Ligurian coast. In the Alps, contacts with the Etruscans and under Greek influence regions in Italy were maintained. The East had close links with the Steppe Peoples who had passed over the Carpathian Basin from the southern Russian steppes. The population of Hallstatt drew its wealth from

6141-444: The salt industry. Imports of luxury goods stretching from the North and Baltic seas to Africa have been discovered in the cemetery at Hallstatt. The oldest evidence of an Austrian wine industry was discovered in Zagersdorf , Burgenland in a grave mound. The Cult Wagon of Strettweg , Styria is evidence of contemporary religious life. In the later Iron Age , the Celtic La Tène culture spread to Austria. This culture gave rise to

6230-480: The same area, a double infant burial site was discovered at Krems-Wachtberg, dating from Gravettian culture (27,000 years old), the oldest burial ground found in Austria to date. Mesolithic remains include rock shelters (abris) from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine Valley , a funeral site at Elsbethen and a few other sites with microlithic artifacts which demonstrate the transition from living as hunter-gatherers and sedentary farmers and ranchers. During

6319-437: The sons of Attila and their Ostrogothic allies were defeated, The victors were able to consolidate independent kingdoms north of the Middle Danube. North of the Danube in present day Austria where the Marcomanni had been were the Rugii, and Heruli. In 468 the Ostrogoths won the Battle of Bolia , giving them hegemony over the Pannonian kingdoms. During the cold winter of 469/470, the Ostrogoths unexpectedly attacked Hunimund ,

6408-537: The territory eastward along the Danube valley, so that by 1002 it reached Vienna . The eastward expansion was finally halted by the newly Christianized Hungarians in 1030, when King Stephen (1001–1038) of Hungary defeated the Emperor, Conrad II (1024–1039) at Vienna. A 'core' territory had finally been established. The land contained the remnant of many prior civilisations, but the Bavarians predominated, except in

6497-582: The time of Leopold III (1095–1136). (compare Austrasia as the name for the north-eastern part of the Frankish Empire). The term Ostmark is not historically certain and appears to be a translation of marchia orientalis that came up only much later. The Babenbergs pursued a policy of settling the country, clearing forests and founding towns and monasteries. They ruled the March from Pöchlarn initially, and later from Melk , continually expanding

6586-506: The title of Duke of Bavaria. Austria was now an independent dominion within the Holy Roman Empire, and Henry moved his official residence to Vienna that year. In 1186 the Georgenberg Pact bequeathed Austria's southern neighbour, the Duchy of Styria to Austria upon the death of the childless Duke of Styria, Ottokar IV , which occurred in 1192. Styria had been carved out of the northern marches of Carinthia , and only raised to

6675-464: The western alpine parts of present day western Austria. In 476 Odoacer became ruler of Italy with barbarian forces including Heruli and Rugii, and other peoples from the Danubian region. Remnants of the Roman organization survived south of the Danube in the form of fortified strongholds, but the barbarians raided frequently, as described in the biography Severinus of Noricum by Eugippius . Noricum

6764-470: Was Otto's brother. In 955 Otto successfully forced back the Hungarians at the Battle of Lechfeld , beginning a slow reconquest of the eastern lands, including Istria and Carniola . During the reign of Henry's son, Henry II (the Quarrelsome) (955–976) Otto became the first Holy Roman Emperor (962) and Bavaria became a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire . Otto I re-established the eastern march, and

6853-425: Was a co-founder, in March 1949, of the "Verband der Unabhängigen" ( "Federation of Independents" / VdU) party . When a Salzburg party branch was set up on 1 September 1949 Reimann became its chairman, as well as head of the party press department. Viktor Reimann became a member of the "Nationalrat" ( "National Parliament" ) in 1949 . His was one of 16 seats allocated to the "Wahlpartei der Unabhängigen" (as

6942-523: Was a relatively small player. The Babenberg Margraves controlled very little of modern Austria. Salzburg, historically part of Bavaria became an ecclesiastical territory, while Styria was part of the Carinthian Duchy. The Babenbergs had relatively small holdings, with not only Salzburg but the lands of the Diocese of Passau lying in the hands of the church, and the nobility controlling much of

7031-574: Was already relatively close to home and in July 1945 he became a contributing editor on the newly launched Salzburger Nachrichten (daily newspaper). Austria had been divided into four zones of military occupation: Salzburg had ended up not in the Soviet occupation zone but in the US occupation zone, and initially the newspaper's publication was under the close control of General Eisenhower's twelfth army corps. By

7120-587: Was bounded on the east approximately by the Vienna Woods , the current eastern border of Styria , and parts of the Danube , Eisack , Drava rivers. Under Diocletian (284–305), Noricum was divided along the main Alpine ridge into a north ( Noricum ripense ) and a south ( Noricum Mediterraneum ). Across the Ziller in the west, corresponding approximately to the present provinces of Vorarlberg and Tyrol , lay

7209-732: Was eventually abandoned in 488, while Raetia was abandoned by the Romans to the Alamanni . In 493 Theoderic the Great , an Ostrogothic king, killed Odoacer and took control of Italy. By 500 the Herulian kingdom on the Danube, apparently by now under a king named Rodulph, had conquered their neighbours the Rugii, and become allies with Theoderic in Italy. In 508 Rodulph was killed by the Langobards ,

7298-646: Was found in the Gudenus Cave in northwestern Lower Austria. Upper Paleolithic remains are more numerous in Lower Austria. The best known are in the Wachau region, including the sites of the two oldest pieces of art in Austria. These are figurative representations of women, the Venus of Galgenberg found near Stratzing and thought to be 32,000 years old, and the nearby Venus of Willendorf (26,000 years old) found at Willendorf , near Krems an der Donau . In 2005 in

7387-676: Was its editor-in-chief throughout. Reimann's own contributions to Neue Front did much to burnish his credentials as a polemicist . Neue Front contained frequent articles criticising the activities of the Austrian People's Courts which had been established in 1945 (and which are not to be confused with the National Socialist era special People's Court that had concentrated on "political cases"). The post-1945 Austrian People's Courts were condemned and, some felt, defamed by "Neue Front" over their continuing attention to denunciations received concerning alleged "Nazi-era crimes". Sometimes

7476-525: Was later incorporated into the Carolingian empire , first as a tribal margravate under Slavic dukes and, after the failed rebellion of Ljudevit Posavski in the early 9th century, under Frankish-appointed noblemen. During the following centuries, Bavarian settlers went down the Danube and up the Alps, a process through which Austria was to become a mostly German-speaking country. Only in southern Carinthia,

7565-595: Was not always smooth. The fifth Margrave, Leopold II 'The Fair' (1075–1095) was temporarily deposed by the Emperor Henry IV (1084–1105) after finding himself on the wrong side of the Investiture Dispute . However Leopold's son, Leopold III 'The Good' (1095–1136) backed Henry's rebellious son, Henry V (1111–1125), contributed to his victory and was rewarded with the hand of Henry's sister Agnes von Waiblingen in 1106, thus allying himself with

7654-655: Was occupied by people of the Hallstatt Celtic culture ( c. 800 BC), they first organized as a Celtic kingdom referred to by the Romans as Noricum , dating from c. 800 to 400 BC. At the end of the 1st century BC, the lands south of the Danube became part of the Roman Empire . In the Migration Period , the 6th century, the Bavarii , a Germanic people, occupied these lands until it fell to

7743-410: Was reached in 650 at the Puster Valley , but gradually fell back to the Enns by 780. The settlement boundary between Slavs and Bavarians roughly corresponds to a line from Freistadt through Linz , Salzburg ( Lungau ), to East Tyrol ( Lesachtal ), with Avars and Slavs occupying eastern Austria and modern Bohemia . Carantania, under pressure of the Avars, became a vassal to Bavaria in 745 and

7832-533: Was succeeded by Otto II in 967, and found himself in conflict with Henry who he deposed, allowing him to re-organise the duchies of his empire. Otto considerably reduced Bavaria, re-establishing Carinthia to the south. To the east, he established a new Bavarian Eastern March , subsequently known as Austria, under Leopold , count of Babenberg in 976. Leopold I, also known as Leopold the Illustrious ruled Austria from 976 to 994. The marches were overseen by

7921-796: Was supported by a large majority of Austrians . After the German defeat in World War II, the German identity in Austria was weakened. Ten years after the Second World War Austria again became an independent republic as the Second Austrian Republic in 1955. Austria joined the European Union in 1995. Since the territory understood by the term 'Austria' underwent drastic changes over time, dealing with

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