Austria

Lore & Background

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 the Romans in the late 1st century BC. Christianization began in the 4th and 5th centuries. Austria as a 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, then a Duchy in 1156, and an Archduchy in 1453. Being the heartland of the Habsburg monarchy since the late 13th century, Austria was a major imperial power. From the 16th century, Vienna also served as the Holy Roman Empire's administrative capital. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806, two years after Austria had established its own empire. The empire's defeat in the 1860s paved the way for Austria-Hungary in 1867. After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, Emperor Franz Joseph declared war on Serbia, escalating into World War I. The empire's defeat led to the Republic of German-Austria in 1918 and the First Austrian Republic in 1919. During the interwar period, an Austrofascist dictatorship under Engelbert Dollfuss formed in 1934. In 1938, Austria was annexed into Nazi Germany. After liberation in 1945 and a decade of Allied occupation, the country regained sovereignty and declared perpetual neutrality in 1955.

Reader's Guide

Austria is a semi-presidential 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 a member of the United Nations since 1955 and of the European Union since 1995. It hosts the OSCE and OPEC and is a founding member of the OECD and Interpol. It signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995 and adopted the euro in 1999.

Did You Know?

• The native name 'Austria' derives from Old High German 'Ostarrîchi', meaning 'eastern realm', first appearing in a document from 996.
• Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976.
• The Venus of Willendorf, dating to 28,000–25,000 BC, was found in Austria.
• The Celtic Kingdom of Noricum was conquered by the Roman Empire in 16 BC.