Austria. The Habsburg Empire. World wars

History. Celtic tribes moved into central and eastern Austria around 400 B.C. By 15 B.C., the Romans controlled the country south of the Danube. After the Roman Empire collapsed in A.D. 476, many different peoples invaded Austria.

Finally, in 955, Austria came under the rule of Otto I, the king of Germany. In 962, the pope crowned Otto emperor of what later became known as the Holy Roman Empire. German emperors ruled the Holy Roman Empire until it ended in 1806.

The Habsburg empire grew from lands acquired in the late 1200's by Rudolf I, map below. By 1526, the Habsburg family had taken control of large parts of Bohemia and Hungary. Over the next four centuries, the borders and dominant areas within the empire shifted. At the end of World War I, the empire ended and the republic of Austria was born

The Habsburg Empire. The Babenberg family controlled northeastern Austria from 976 until 1246, when the last Babenberg duke died without an heir and the king of Bohemia seized the region. In 1273, a member of the Swiss Habsburg family became Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf I. Rudolf claimed the Babenberg lands and defeated the Bohemian king at the Battle of Marchfeld in 1278. The Habsburgs lost the Holy Roman crown in the 1300's, but a Habsburg was once again elected emperor in 1438. From then on, the Habsburgs held the title almost continuously.

In the 1400's and 1500's, the Habsburg emperors acquired new lands, including Bohemia and Hungary, but their authority was shaken by the Protestant Reformation in the 1500's and the Thirty Years' War of 1618 to 1648. During these centuries, Austria emerged as the chief state in the empire. The Ottoman Turks tried to drive Austria from Hungary and made two unsuccessful attacks on Vienna, but they were defeated in the late 1600's.

In 1740, Empress Maria Theresa also fought to maintain her possessions. When the fighting ended in 1748, Maria Theresa lost Silesia to Prussia. In 1806, after suffering several defeats in the Napoleonic Wars of the late 1700's and early 1800's, Emperor Francis II was forced to dissolve the Holy Roman Empire.

During the 1800's, revolutions broke out across Europe. Austria's minister of foreign affairs, Prince Klemens von Metternich, tried to suppress all revolutionary movements in the Austrian Empire, but in 1848, revolutionaries demanded the establishment of a constitutional government and Metternich fled.

Although the Austrian army had put down all revolts by 1851 , the empire weakened in the years that followed. Austria lost its land in Italy to Italian and French forces, and Prussia replaced Austria as the leader of the German states in Europe. In 1867, Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph was forced to give equal status to his Hungarian holdings and create the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary.

World wars. In the late 1800's and early 1900's, Slavs in Austria-Hungary demanded the right to govern themselves. Then, in 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Slavic nationalist movement in Serbia, killed Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. In response, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, thus starting World War I. Germany and other countries joined Austria-Hungary in fighting the Allies—Britain, France, Russia, and, eventually, the United States.

In 1918, Austria-Hungary was defeated. The last Habsburg emperor was overthrown and the empire was split into several countries. Austria became a republic. It adopted a democratic Constitution in 1920, but conflicting political parties struggled for supremacy. In 1934, members of the Austrian Nazi Party killed Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, and in 1938, German troops seized Austria. Adolf Hitler united Austria and Germany ,and led both countries into World War II in 1 939.

After Germany was defeated in 1945, Austria was occupied by the Allies, and a government based on Austria's 1920 Constitution was established. In 1955, the Allies ended their occupation with the understanding that Austria would remain (permanently neutral in international military affairs.

Since the 1950's, Austria’s economy has grown steadily, and the country has been politically stable. As a neutral nation, Austria has been the site of many international diplomatic meetings.