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Austria and the Holy Roman Empire
The
territory of Austria, originally known as the
Celtic kingdom of Noricum, was a long time ally
of Rome. It was occupied rather than conquered
by the Romans during the reign of Augustus and
made the province Noricum in 16 BC. Later it was
conquered by Huns, Rugii, Lombards, Ostrogoths,
Bavarii, Avars (until c. 800), and Franks (in
that order). Finally, after 48 years of Hungarian
rule (907 to 955), the core territory of Austria
was awarded to Leopold of Babenberg in 976 after
the revolt of Henry II, Duke of Bavaria. Being
part of the Holy Roman Empire the Babenbergs ruled
and expanded Austria from the 10th century to
the 13th century.
After Frederick II, Duke
of Austria died in 1246 and left no successor,
Rudolf I of Habsburg gave the lands to his sons
marking the beginning of the line of the Habsburgs,
who continued to govern Austria until the 20th
century.
With the short exception
of Charles VII Albert of Bavaria, Austrian Habsburgs
held the position of German Emperor beginning
in 1438 with Albert II of Habsburg until the end
of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 14th and
15th Austria continued to expand its territory
until it reached the position of a European imperial
power at the end of the 15th century.
Modern
history
Just two years before the
abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, in
1804 the Empire of Austria was founded, which
was transformed in 1867 into the dual-monarchy
Austria-Hungary. The empire was split into several
independent states in 1918, after the defeat of
the Central Powers in World War I, with most of
the German-speaking parts becoming a republic.
(See Treaty of Saint-Germain.) A still nowadays
very important and very problematic point was
the loss of the German speaking South-Tyrol to
Italy after WW I. Between 1918 and 1919 it was
officially known as the Republic of German Austria
(Republik Deutschösterreich). After the Entente
powers forbade German Austria to unite with Germany,
they also forbade the name, and then it was changed
to simply Republic of Austria. The democratic
republic lasted until 1933 when the chancellor
Engelbert Dollfuß established an autocratic
regime oriented towards Italian fascism (Austrofascism).
Austria became
part of Germany in 1938 through the Anschluss
and remained under Nazi rule until the end of
World War II. After the defeat of the Axis Powers,
the Allies occupied Austria until 1955, when the
country became a fully independent republic under
the condition that it would remain neutral (see:
Austrian State Treaty). Austria also became a
member of the UN in the same year. After the collapse
of communist states in Eastern Europe, Austria
became increasingly involved in European affairs,
in 1995 joining the European Union, and in 1999
adopting the Euro monetary system.
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