Austria History
Recent History
In
elections in 2000, the right-wing Freedom Party came in just behind the
Social Democrats, forming a ruling coalition with the moderate right
People's Party. Freedom Party leader and alledged Nazi sympathiser Jörg
Haider handed the leadership to Susanne Riess-Passer, seen as less extreme,
but the EU imposed sanctions on Austria despite the move. The Danube flooded
in August 2003, sanctions were lifted in September because they were seen as
counterproductive, and in November the People's Party made sweeping
electoral gains at the Freedom Party's expense, but was nevertheless obliged
to form a governing coalition with the latter despite divisions. Pension
reforms, restitution for Holocaust crimes and strict asylum laws are some of
the other issues that have dominated public debate.
In late 2003 the country mourned president Thomas Klestil, who died two days
before the end of his term in office and in 2004 Austrian Elfriede Jelinek
was awarded a Nobel Laureate in Literature, recognising her powerful poetic
voice. In the first half of 2006 Austria held the temporary, six-month EU
presidency and attempted to reinvigorate the establishment of the European
Constitution. Domestically the nation was confronted by two controversial
criminal matters. In March, historian David Irving was imprisoned for three
years for denying the Holocaust (he was released and deported in December).
In August year 18-year-old Natascha Kampusch, who had disappeared in 1998,
escaped from the underground cell where she had been imprisoned. Her captor,
Wolfgang Priklopil, subsequently committed suicide. Austria went to the
polls later in the year and a coalition government of the centre-left Social
Democrats (SPO) and the conservative People's Party was formed in January
2007, with the SPO's Alfred Gusenbauer as chancellor.
Modern Day History
Austria began the 20th century in prosperity but its expansionist tendencies
in the Balkans and its annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908 led to the
assassination of the emperor's nephew in Sarajevo in June 1914. A month
later, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, the Russians came to the
Serbians' aid and the slaughter of WWI began in earnest.
At the conclusion of the war, the shrunken Republic of Austria was created
and forced to recognise the independent states of Czechoslovakia, Poland,
Hungary and Yugoslavia which, along with Romania and Bulgaria, had
previously been under the control of the Habsburgs. The new republic
suffered economic strife, which led to an upsurge in Nazi-style politics.
Austria's embrace of fascism meant that German troops met little opposition
when they invaded in 1938 and incorporated Austria into the Third Reich. A
national referendum in Austria that year supported the annexation. For its
troubles, Austria was bombed heavily in WWII and by 1945 it had been
restored to its 1937 frontiers by the victorious Allies. It was divided into
four zones by occupying American, British, French and Russian troops who
remained entrenched for a decade before withdrawing and allowing Austria to
proclaim its neutrality.
In the post-war years Austria worked hard to overcome economic difficulties
and established a free trade treaty with the European Union (EU, then known
as the EEC) in 1972. Apart from the election of former German army officer
and UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim to the Austrian Presidency in 1986,
Austrian politics became a rational zone of consensus rather than conflict.
Increases in Eastern European immigration following the collapse of the
Eastern Bloc resulted in the rise of the right-wing anti-immigration Freedom
Party in the late 1980s. Concern among moderates has been exacerbated by the
recent influx of refugees from the former Yugoslavia.
The Austrian people heartily endorsed their country's entry into the EU in a
referendum in 1994 and formally joined the Union on 1 January 1995. Since
then most Austrians have been rather ambivalent about the advantages of EU
membership.
Pre 20th Century History
In its early years, the land that became Austria was invaded by a succession
of tribes and armies using the Danube Valley as a conduit - Celts, Romans,
Vandals, Visigoths, Huns, Avars, Slavs all came and went. Charlemagne
established a territory in the Danube Valley known as the Ostmark in 803,
and the area became Christianised and predominantly Germanic.
By 1278 the Habsburgs had gained control and this mighty dynasty managed to
rule Austria right up until WWI. Although the Habsburgs were not averse to
using a bit of muscle, they preferred less barbaric ways of extending their
territory and so Austria gradually expanded thanks to judicious real estate
purchases and some politically-motivated marriages. One such marriage
produced two sons: the eldest became Charles I of Spain, who mutated three
years later into Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire; the younger son,
Ferdinand, became the first Habsburg to live in Vienna and was anointed
ruler of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia. In 1556, Charles abdicated as emperor
and Ferdinand I was crowned in his place. Charles' remaining territory was
inherited by his son, Phillip II, splitting the Habsburg dynasty into two
distinct lines - the Spanish and the Austrian.
In 1571, when the emperor granted religious freedom, the vast majority of
Austrians turned to Protestantism. In 1576, the new emperor, Rudolf II,
embraced the Counter-Reformation and much of the country reverted, with a
little coercion, to Catholicism. The attempt to impose Catholicism on
Protestant areas of Europe led to the Thirty Years' War, which started in
1618 and devastated much of Central Europe. Peace was finally achieved in
1648 with the Treaty of Westphalia. For much of the rest of the century,
Austria was preoccupied with halting the advance of the Turks into Europe.
Vienna nearly capitulated to a Turkish siege in 1683 but was rescued by a
Christian force of German and Polish soldiers. Combined forces subsequently
swept the Turks to the southeastern edge of Europe. The removal of the
Turkish threat saw a frenzy of Baroque building in many cities, and under
the musical emperor Leopold I, Vienna became a magnet for musicians and
composers.
In 1740, Maria Theresa ascended the throne and ruled for 40 years. This
period is generally acknowledged as the era in which Austria developed as a
modern state. During her reign, control was centralised, a civil service was
established, the army and economy were reformed and a public education
system was introduced. But progress was halted when Napoleon defeated
Austria at Austerlitz in 1805. European conflict dragged on until the
settlement at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15. Austria was left with
control of the German Confederation but suffered upheaval during the 1848
revolutions and eventual defeat in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War. This led to
the formation of the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867 under emperor
Franz Josef and exclusion from the new German empire unified by Bismarck.
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