Austria's Colonization: A Historical Perspective

Austria's history is a rich tapestry of cultural and political change. From the Paleolithic Age to the present day, the region has been home to a diverse range of peoples and has played a significant role in European history.

The area now known as Austria was settled by Celtic peoples from Western Europe around 400 BC, who established the state of Noricum. The Romans arrived in 200 BC and by 15 BC, they dominated the entire area. The Romans were followed by various German tribes, and in the 9th century, Charlemagne established a territory in the Danube valley known as the Ostmark. In 996, the Ostmark was first referred to as Ostarrichi, a clear forerunner of the modern German word Österreich or Austria.

The Duchy of Austria was one of the extensive feudal possessions of the Babenberg family from 976 to 1246. The dynasty established their first residence in Pöchlarn before moving it to Melk in the scenic Wachau region. In the 12th century, Henry II moved his residence to Vienna, which has remained the capital of the country ever since.

In the 13th century, Rudolf I emerged with the crown, beginning six centuries of Habsburg rule in Austria. The Habsburgs increased their influence and power through strategic alliances ratified by marriages. The Turkish threat, which included unsuccessful sieges of Vienna in 1529 and 1683, prompted Poland, Venice, and Russia to join the Habsburg Empire in repelling the Turks.

In the 18th century, the French revolution and the rise of Napoleon proved to be a major threat to the Habsburgs. During the Congress of Vienna (1814/15), Austrian Chancellor Metternich tried to reconsolidate Austrian power. In 1848, the French philosophy of middle-class revolution reached Austria, but the rebellion was promptly squashed, and Emperor Franz I and Metternich responded by cutting down civil liberties and introducing strict censorship.

In the 19th century, growing urbanization and industrialization led to a new urban middle class. Artists of this time include painters like Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller and Friedrich Gauermann, the composer Franz Schubert, and many poets.

In the 20th century, with ethnic tensions and a rigid system of alliances, the Austro-Hungarian monarchy was a catastrophe waiting to happen. The final spark was the assassination of the Austrian archduke and heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, in June 1914 in Sarajevo. Austria’s declaration of war against Serbia marked the beginning of World War I. After the end of the war in 1918, the first Republic of Austria was established, ending the 640-year-old Habsburg dynasty.

The Roman Empire conquered Austria in the 1st century BC

The Roman Empire conquered the area of modern-day Austria in the 1st century BC, when it annexed the lands south of the Danube. The region was known as the Roman province of Noricum, and it was ruled by the Romans until the 5th century AD. During the Migration Period, the 6th century, the Bavarii, a Germanic people, occupied these lands until it fell to the Frankish Empire established by the Germanic Franks in the 9th century.

The Bavarians occupied Austria in the 6th century

The Bavarians, a Germanic people, occupied the lands south of the Danube in the 6th century, during the Migration Period. This area was previously part of the Roman Empire and was known as Noricum. The Bavarians occupied these lands until they fell to the Frankish Empire 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.

The Franks conquered the Bavarians in the 9th century

The Franks were a Germanic-speaking people who invaded the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. They were divided into three groups: the Salians, the Ripuarians, and the Chatti, or Hessians. In the mid-4th century, the Romans were compelled to abandon the area between the Meuse and Scheldt rivers to the Salian Franks. The Franks solidified their hold on what is now Belgium, took permanent control of the lands immediately west of the middle Rhine River, and edged into what is now northeastern France. The firm establishment of the Franks in northeastern Gaul by the year 480 meant that both the former Roman province of Germania and part of the two former Belgic provinces were lost to Roman rule. The small Gallo-Roman population there became submerged among the German immigrants, and Latin ceased to be the language of everyday speech.

In 481/482 Clovis I succeeded his father, Childeric, as the ruler of the Salian Franks of Tournai. In the following years, Clovis compelled the other Salian and Ripuarian tribes to submit to his authority. He then took advantage of the disintegration of the Roman Empire and led the united Franks in a series of campaigns that brought all of northern Gaul under his rule by 494. He stemmed the Alemannic migrations into Gaul from east of the Rhine, and in 507 he drove southward, subduing the Visigoths who had established themselves in southern Gaul. A unified Frankish kingdom in northern Gaul was thus established and secured. Clovis converted to Catholicism, and the mass adoption of orthodox Christianity by the Franks further served to unite them into one people. It also won them the support of the orthodox clergy and the remaining Gallo-Roman elements in Gaul, since most other Germanic tribes had adopted Arianism.

Clovis belonged to the Merovingian dynasty, so named for his grandfather Merovech. Under Clovis’s successors, the Merovingians were able to extend Frankish power east of the Rhine. The Merovingian dynasty ruled the Frankish territories until they were displaced by the Carolingian family in the 8th century. The Carolingian Charlemagne (Charles the Great, reigned 768–814) restored the western Roman Empire in cooperation with the papacy and spread Christianity into central and northern Germany. His empire disintegrated by the mid-9th century.

The Habsburgs ruled Austria from 1273 to 1918

In 1273, Count Radbot's seventh-generation descendant, Rudolph of Habsburg, was elected King of the Romans. Rudolph and his allies defeated and killed King Ottokar II of Bohemia at the Battle on the Marchfeld in 1278, and he appointed his sons as Dukes of Austria, moving the family's power base to Vienna. From that date, the agelong identification of the Habsburgs with Austria begins.

The Habsburgs expanded their influence through arranged marriages and by gaining political privileges. In 1482, Maximilian I acquired the Netherlands through marriage. In 1506, his son Philip married Joanna of Castile, also known as Joanna the Mad, heiress of Castile and Aragon. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, the son of Philip and Joanna, inherited the Habsburg Netherlands in 1506, Habsburg Spain and its territories in 1516, and Habsburg Austria in 1519.

The Habsburg monarchy was a union of crowns, with only partial shared laws and institutions other than the Habsburg court itself. The provinces were divided into three groups: the Archduchy proper, Inner Austria, and Further Austria. The Habsburg realms were unified in 1804 with the formation of the Austrian Empire.

The monarchy began to fracture in the face of inevitable defeat during the final years of World War I and ultimately disbanded with the proclamation of the Republic of German-Austria and the First Hungarian Republic in late 1918.

Austria was part of the Holy Roman Empire from 962 to 1806

The Kingdom of Hungary was administered by its own institutions separately from the rest of the empire. After Austria was defeated in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 was adopted, joining the Kingdom of Hungary and the Empire of Austria to form Austria-Hungary.

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