History of Austria: Difference between revisions

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.

 

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.

 

 

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.

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.

 

 

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.

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 Charles II.

 

 

Spanish, seeing the negative reputation of France after Triple Alliance Wars, would agree on these terms and after the death of Charles II, Karl von Habsburg would be coronated as Charles III 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.

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, 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.

 

 

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.

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 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.

[[File:RTL Claudia Maddalena.png|thumb|225x225px|Claudia Magdalena, last monarch of Austria]]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 Faramundism 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.

 

 

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.

{{Main|Great War}}

 

The Austrian Empire was one of the three principal members of the [[Factions of the Great War#Tripartite Coalition|Tripartite Coalition]]. The [[Glossary of terms#Neostabilism|neostabilists]] of Austria saw [[Glossary of terms#Faramundism|Faramundism]], or the ideology of German unification, as a threat to Austrian hegemony in Central Europe. Austrian Chancellor Emmerich Stefanov began a campaign on suppressing Faramundism in and on the peripheries of the Austrian Empire. In the Kingdom of Saxony, Faramundism (and other ideologies deemed by the Austrians as radical) were freely allowed to flourish. This concerned the neostabilists of Austria. A British intelligence report in early 1935 reported a military presence building upon the Austrian-Saxon border. As such, the British were on high alert but wanted to avoid resorting to military intervention at all costs should an Austro-Saxon conflict happen.

On June 7, 1935, Austrian troops mobilized and invaded the Kingdom of Saxony. Austrian ambassador to Britain, Friedrich Boehme, reported that it was not an act of war against the Kingdom of Saxony but a response to the Saxon monarchy's calls to quell the "state of anarchy" and restore order. The Saxon government was also reported to be in debt to the Austrian monarchy, which the Austrians used to justify their occupation. Austrian news reported the occupation as "welcomed" by the Saxon public. However, post-war analyses revealed this statement to be largely untrue. Britain, still unwilling to intervene directly, resorted to diplomatic means to resolve the issue, which resulted in Britain eventually recognizing the Austrian occupation on June 27, 1935.

 

Not long after, by the next week, on July 1, 1935, British intelligence once again reported a large buildup of the Austrian military, this time on the Pomeranian border. This shifted the attitude of Britain towards Austria. On July 5, Britain declared a guarantee of Pomeranian independence, warning Austria of a war should they invade Pomerania.

When the [[Great War]] erupted, Poland officially declared neutrality. Austria and the Ottomans tried to coerce the Polish state into siding with the Tripartite Coalition, to allow them access through Polish territory. However, Poland steadfastly refused. As a response, Austria started supplying the German insurrectionists in the north with weapons and auxiliary support. In the south, there have been reports of Ottoman troops crossing Polish borders. The Polish Sejm accused Austria of agitating for war, but this was denied by both Austria.

 

On the 18th and 20th of September 1936, two explosions damaged parts of the Krakau railway, killing two Austrian servicemen. Three people were arrested, identified by Austria as "Polish nationalists." Although Poland denied any involvement in the attacks, the Austrians maintained that these were "acts of subversion carried out by the Polish state." On 26 September 1936, the Austrian Empire declared war on Poland. This was followed with the Ottomans also declaring war on Poland on the same day. The Austrians overran the northern part of Poland and proceeded to invade the Baltic coast (part of the [[Russia|Russian National Republic)]].

After several significant losses in Africa and North Germany, Camille Laframboise of France and Stefanov Emmerich of Austria engineered a military operation aimed to shock Great Britain and Russia and distract them from the other active fronts of the war. It also aimed to close what Camille Lafamboise saw as a gap between the Tripartite's Coalition's zone of control: the Rhine and the low countries. The plan was dubbed ''Operation Vendémiaire'' (lit. "Operation Grape Harvester" in Occitan). Operation ''Vendémiaire'' was launched on September 7, 1937, and began with attacks on the neutral Netherlands and Rhineland.

 

France had hoped that the Netherlands would easily capitulate, considering that they recently [[Russo-Corean War|came out of a war in East Asia]], while also expecting Rhineland to respond poorly to coordinated Austrian attacks on their eastern border. However, the plan did not do well as anticipated. The French were able to capture Antwerp by the end of September, but the Dutch were able to put up a significant resistance and prevented the French army from moving northward. Instrumental to the defense was Dutch admiral Louw Verduijn, who was vehemently anti-French and a close ally of the King of the Netherlands. By the end of the year, with British reinforcement, the Dutch were able to push back the advancing French and forced a retreat. In Rhineland, the Austrians were able to capture Erfurt and Goettingen, but were forced to retreat after being defeated by an Anglo-Rhenish force in the Battle of Alsfield.

*'''Russian zone of occupation'''

**[[Galicia]]: A National Republic established as a homeland for Jews.

**[[Austria]]: The Austrian monarchy was abolished, and a liberal democracy was established in Austria.

**[[Bohemia]]: A constitutional monarchy.