Austria

Austrian Empire
Kaiserthum Oesterreich
Established	1359 (as Habsburgs in Austria)
Capital	Vienna (Wien)
Largest City	Vienna (Wien)
Government Type	Absolute monarch (1359 - 1862) Constitutional Monarchy (1862-19**) Absolute Monarchy Military State
Languages	German (Official) Hungarian Czech Slovakian Romanian many others
Currency	Austrian Thaler

The Austrian Empire (German: Kaiserthum Oesterreich) is a country located in Central Europe.

History

Various Celtic tribes settled the Central European territory that is now Austria in pre-Roman times. The Roman Empire eventually annexed the Celtic kingdom of Noricum and made it a province. Petronell-Carnuntum, now in eastern Austria, was an important army camp that later became the seat of the Upper Pannonia region. For approximately 400 years, Carnuntum was home to 50,000 people.

Middle Ages

The region was overrun by Bavarians, Slavs, and Avars after the Roman Empire fell. In 788, King Charlemagne of the Franks conquered the region, encouraging colonization and introducing Christianity. The key regions that presently make up Austria were handed to the family of Babenberg as part of Eastern Francia. The marchia Orientalis, as it was known, was awarded to Leopold of Babenberg in 976.

The oldest documented mention of the term Austria is from 996, and it is spelled as Ostarrîchi, alluding to the Babenberg March's domain. The Privilegium Minus raised Austria to duchy rank in 1156. The Babenbergs also took over the Duchy of Styria in 1192. The Babenberg line died out with Frederick II's death in 1246.

As a consequence, the duchies of Austria, Styria, and Carinthia were virtually taken over by Ottokar II of Bohemia. His reign came to an end in 1278 when he was defeated at Dürnkrut by Rudolph I of Germany. Following that, Austria's history has primarily been defined by its reigning dynasty, the Habsburgs.

A New Era: Habsburg Reign (1453-1655)

The Habsburgs began to amass new territories around the Duchy of Austria in the 14th and 15th century. In 1438, Emperor Sigismund's son-in-law, Duke Albert V of Austria, was chosen to succeed him. With the exception of Albert, who barely ruled for a year, every emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was a Habsburg from then on.

The Habsburgs began to acquire land outside of their inherited holdings as well. Archduke Maximilian, Emperor Frederick III's only son, married the heiress Maria of Burgundy in 1477, gaining control of the majority of the Netherlands for the family. His son Philip the Fair married Joanna the Mad, the heiress of Castile and Aragon, in 1496, and the Habsburgs acquired Spain, as well as its Italian, African, Asian, and New World extensions.

Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Austrian control was established in Bohemia and the remaining parts of Hungary not held by the Ottomans. The Ottoman advance into Hungary resulted in many clashes between the two empires, most notably during the Long War (1593–1606). The Turks invaded Styria about 20 times, with some of them being described as "burning, pillaging, and capturing thousands of slaves." Suleiman the Magnificent initiated the first Siege of Vienna in late September 1529, which ended in failure, according to Ottoman historians, with early-season snowfalls.

Great Turkish Wars And Spanish Successions (1655-1715)

In the 1680s, the Austrian Empire has engaged in the Great Turkish War, a series of conflicts between the Ottomans and the Holy League, whom Austria is part of. As a result, Ottomans would lose several territories in Hungary, except major parts of Croatia and Banat in Treaty of Neusatz. Austrians would not advocate for more advances, as Spanish Succession War would be erupting by the death of Carlos II.

In 1699, Austria would agree on son of elector of Bavaria, Joseph Ferdinand would be awarded Spain while Austria and France would be splitting Spanish possessions in Italy. However, that would be annulled as Joseph Ferdinand died in just that year and a second partition treaty would be installed. Spain, Spanish Netherlands and would be inherited by Karl von Habsburg, second son of Leopold I, Holy Roman Empire while Italian possessions (Naples, Sicily and Milan) would go to France.

Spanish, seeing the negative reputation of France after Triple Alliance Wars, would agree on these terms and after the death of Carlos II, Karl von Habsburg would be coronated as Carlos II in 1701. This would cause the continuation of Habsburg alliance chain between Spain and Austria. In 1705, Leopold I would die and his oldest son, Joseph I, would inherit Austria. In 1706, Joseph I would be having twin sons which would be seen as a sign of God, and would reinforce the prestige of Habsburgs.

Second Chain Of Wars: Sava-Drava Campaign And Great Silesian Wars (1720-1790)

Austrians would have to be engaged in a second series of war with Ottomans during the 1730s. Known as Sava-Drava Campaign, Ottomans would be crushed by Austria and had to award their territories in Croatia, Banat and Serbia via Treaty of Smederovo in 1735. Austrians would be facing another war, by the Great Silesian War declared in 1750. Prussia, using an old claim on Silesia, would be allying France and Sweden. This would also push Austria to establish a coalition of four-nation with Britain, Spain and the Netherlands.

While France and Prussia would have been advancing at first, the tides turned in favor of the coalition, resulting in the Treaty of Vienna. Prussia would have been dismembered, while France would be losing many colonies. Habsburgs would be dominating the Europe until Augustine Wars.

Augustine Wars and New Balance (1790-1860)

Augustine Wars, waved by the French Revolution and Spiga’s coup, would be hitting warily after 1795. Austria would be trying to reestablish Ancien Régime, which turned out to be a failure. France, occupying Habsburg territories of Franche-Comté and Brabant and forming a client state in the Netherlands, and drew the attention of many European nations. Nevertheless, French would be occupying many parts of Europe and be pushing Austria in a state of disarray by puppeting Austria and German principalities.

However, French attack on Ottomans in 1811 would put French in a precarious situation, so they would be facing many defeats, causing Ottoman liberation of Austria and formation of newly fresh and amicable relations between two nations. The British, Ottoman and Austrian would be overrunning France. In 1814, Congress of Vienna would be reestablishing a new balance system between European nations. Austria, giving up parts of Serbia, would be allowed to annex Bavaria which would have been seen as a French loyal state. States of Hannover, Saxony and Pomerania would be reestablished; and the rest of many German principalities would be reunited under a new confederation, a rump continuation of the Holy Roman Empire. Austrian Empire, seeing this as a way to prevent nationalism to rise again, would be accepting this division between German nations.

Nevertheless, Austria would be feeling in threat as Ottomans would highly be increasing their grip over Balkans and Mediterranean Sea while Russia would be establishing new trade routes and posts in Pacific Ocean. Given that, they would be agreeing with other minor German nations on annexation of some territories from Poland. The territories of Weichselland, Sieradzland and Galicia would be annexed and established with Polish Partition in 1834.

An Age of Liberty (1862-1900)

Austrian Empire would see many reforms to catch their rivals and neighborhoods, which would not be much successful. Given their political situation, Austria's contemporary king, Francis II, great-grand son of Joseph I, would be highly hesitant to implement new reforms and give up his royal power. This would cause both liberal and national revolts in many regions of the country. Francis II would be abdicating in favor of his modernist and ambitious brother, Ferdinand VI in 1862. Ferdinand VI would be the main factor of Austrian modernization, both politically and economically. He would first grant new rights to liberal protestors by establishing an assembly and limiting his rights, then he would be defeating many of national protests and be establishing new administrative reforms, whose the most famous is the division of Hungary into smaller regions such as Thisseland, Pannonia, Ungvar and Falviedek.

This new age of liberty would allow many new republican ideologies to develop as communardism (which would be highly dominant in France), progressivism, Faramundizm (a new ideology seeking for German unification and the main organization of Rhenish revolution); the rather Neostabilism (which is a conservative and authoritarian political theory).

This new age would be proven right as Austria would be increasing its prestige by being the mediator power in both Treaty of Amsterdam and Treaty of Angorra, which they would be allowed to annex Bosnia and Bukovina. However, there would be arguments as it would be highly diminishing their military power, which turned out right.

The Crises During 20th Century: Alpine Wars And Rise Of Neostabilists (1900-1935)

Venice, annexing Marche and forming an allied Latium Republic in Latial Wars of 1908, would have been seen as a threat by the Austrians. Alpine Wars would erupt as Austria would try to prevent another Venetian aggression. They could not, however, be standing the unfavorable geographic conditions and British pressure to accept peace. This would push Austria in a new political debate and the political rise of both Faramundizm and Neostabilism. While this political debate was continuing for a few years, Neostabilists would be capturing the government in 1914 and be establishing themselves as their key allies to king.

The new chancellor, Emmerich Stefanov, would be going for nationalist reforms such as establishment of many German schools and possible Germanization of some border regions such as Transylvania and Banat. While they would be also going for economic and military modernization, whose latter one was seen much vital. In 1922, European Economic Crisis would cause a new wave of authoritarian rulers and new economic reforms. This would cause Austria being slightly less affected, despite being highly close to other German nations where the crisis hit hard.

While they have been going under a series of militarization efforts, they would redevelop their relations with Ottomans, who also underwent a similar process of modernization. This would push them into an alliance with France, who also grew resentment against British and Russian. In 1929, they would be establishing Tripartite Pact, which would be cordial to their cooperation.