Austria

  

Socialist Republic of Austria Sozialistische Republik Österreich (German)
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: "Bundeshymne"
Location of Austria in Europe
Capital and largest city	Vienna 48°12′N 16°21′E
Official and national language	Austrian German Slovene
Recognised languages	Hungarian Burgenland Croatian
Ethnic groups (2022)	67.4% Austrians 17.1% Slovenes 6.3% Ex-Yugoslavs 2.2% Turks 1.7% Germans 5.3% Others
Religion (2018)	None (Official) 50.7% Irreligious 30.4% Roman Catholic 7.8% Islam 5.0% Eastern Orthodoxy 4.6% Protestantism 1.5% Other
Demonym(s)	Austrian
Government	Federal multiparty people's democratic socialist republic
• President of Austria	Pamela Neurath
• Chancellor	Leo Huber
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Federal Council
• Lower house	National Council
Formation
• Name	1 November 996
• Duchy	17 September 1156
• First Archduchy	6 January 1453
• Empire	11 August 1804
• Austria-Hungary	30 March 1855
• Austrian State	12 November 1922
• Socialist revolution	10 October 1924
Area
• Total	104,150 km2 (40,210 sq mi) (113th)
• Water (%)	0.84 (as of 2015)
Population
• 2022 estimate	11,335,112 (98th)
• Density	106/km2 (274.5/sq mi) (106th)
GDP (PPP)	2018 estimate
• Total	$461.432 billion
• Per capita	$51,936 (17th)
GDP (nominal)	2019 estimate
• Total	$446,315 billion (27th)
• Per capita	$50,277 (15th)
Gini (2020)	27.0 low
HDI (2019)	0.922 very high · 18th
Currency	Schilling (öS) (ATS)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Driving side	right
Calling code	+43
ISO 3166 code	AT
Internet TLD	.at

Austria (German: Österreich), officially the Socialist Republic of Austria (Sozialistische Republik Österreich), is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, located on the Eastern Alps and the Adriatic Sea. It is composed of 21 federated states, one of which is Vienna, Austria's capital and largest city. Occupying an area of 104,150 km² (40,212 sq mi), Austria is bordered by Germany to the northwest, Czechia to the north, Slovakia to the northeast, Hungary to the east, Croatia and the Adriatic Sea to the south, Italy to the southwest, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. Austria is a federal multiparty people's democratic socialist republic, and has a population of 11.3 million people. While Austrian German and Slovene are the country's official languages, several other languages are nationally recognized.

Austria initially emerged from the remnants of the Eastern and Hungarian Marches around the year 996. Originally a margraviate of the Duchy of Bavaria, it developed into a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire in 1156 and was later made an archduchy in 1453. By the 16th century, Austria served as the center of the Habsburg monarchy, which established near unbroken rule as emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, thus Vienna began serving as the empire's administrative capital. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Austria established its own empire, which became a great power and the dominant member of the German Confederation. Following the German Revolution of 1848 and the Austro-German War of 1851–1853, Austria's defeat led to the unification of Germany under Prussia, and paved the way for the establishment of Austria-Hungary.

Following the unsuccessful efforts of Franz Ferdinand to reform the empire, the Austro-Hungarian War of 1917–1923 led to its dissolution. With the dissolution of the Dual Monarchy, the Treaty of Trianon established a temporary provisional state, the Austrian State, in order to govern the nation until a permanent government would be formed. However, the ineffective Austrian State catalyzed the Austrian Revolution with assistance from socialist Italy, in a proxy conflict between Italy and Germany. In 1924 the Socialist Republic of Austria was declared, modeled after the Italian Republic.

Austria is a socialist state, with a President of Austria as chairperson of the collective head of state, and a Chancellor of Austria as chairperson of the federal government. The state includes an autonomous region in Slovenia, with maintains a separate parliament. Major urban areas of Austria include Vienna, Ljubljana, Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is consistently ranked in the top 20 richest countries in the world by GDP per capita terms. The country has achieved a high standard of living and in 2018 was ranked 20th in the world for its Human Development Index. Vienna consistently ranks in the top internationally on quality-of-life indicators. Austria is a member of the League of Nations and the European Community.

Etymology

The German name for Austria, Österreich, derives from the Old High German Ostarrîchi, which meant "eastern realm" and which first appeared in the "Ostarrîchi document" of 996. This word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local (Bavarian) dialect.

Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976. The word "Austria" is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. At the time, the Danube basin of Austria (Upper and Lower Austria) was the easternmost extent of Bavaria.

History

The land that is now Austria was settled in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes: the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province, and present-day Petronell-Carnuntum in eastern Austria was an important army camp turned capital city, home to 50,000 people for nearly 400 years.

Middle Ages

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the area was invaded by Bavarians, Slavs and Avars. Charlemagne, King of the Franks, conquered the area in AD 788, encouraged colonization, and introduced Christianity. As part of Eastern Francia, the core areas that now encompass Austria were bequeathed to the house of Babenberg. The area was known as the marchia Orientalis and was given to Leopold of Babenberg in 976.

The first record showing the name Austria is from 996, where it is written as Ostarrîchi, referring to the territory of the Babenberg March. In 1156, the Privilegium Minus elevated Austria to the status of a duchy. In 1192, the Babenbergs also acquired the Duchy of Styria. With the death of Frederick II in 1246, the line of the Babenbergs was extinguished.

As a result, Ottokar II of Bohemia effectively assumed control of the duchies of Austria, Styria, and Carinthia. His reign came to an end with his defeat at Dürnkrut at the hands of Rudolph I of Germany in 1278. Thereafter Austria's history was largely that of its ruling dynasty, the Habsburgs.

Venus of Willendorf, 28,000 to 25,000 BC. Museum of Natural History Vienna

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Habsburgs began to accumulate other provinces in the vicinity of the Duchy of Austria. In 1438, Duke Albert V of Austria was chosen as the successor to his father-in-law, Emperor Sigismund. Although Albert himself only reigned for a year, henceforth every emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was a Habsburg, with only one exception.

The Habsburgs began also to accumulate territory far from the hereditary lands. In 1477, Archduke Maximilian, only son of Emperor Frederick III, married the heiress Maria of Burgundy, thus acquiring most of the Netherlands for the family. In 1496, his son Philip the Fair married Joanna the Mad, the heiress of Castile and Aragon, thus acquiring Spain and its Italian, African, Asian and New World appendages for the Habsburgs.

In 1526, following the Battle of Mohács, Bohemia and the part of Hungary not occupied by the Ottomans came under Austrian rule. Ottoman expansion into Hungary led to frequent conflicts between the two empires, particularly evident in the Long War of 1593 to 1606. The Turks made incursions into Styria nearly 20 times, of which some are cited as "burning, pillaging, and taking thousands of slaves". In late September 1529 Suleiman the Magnificent launched the first Siege of Vienna, which unsuccessfully ended, according to Ottoman historians, with the snowfalls of an early beginning winter.

17th and 18th centuries

The Battle of Vienna in 1683 broke the advance of the Ottoman Empire into Europe.

During the long reign of Leopold I (1657–1705) and following the successful defence of Vienna against the Turks in 1683 (under the command of the King of Poland, John III Sobieski), a series of campaigns resulted in bringing most of Hungary to Austrian control by the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699.

Emperor Charles VI relinquished many of the gains the empire made in the previous years, largely due to his apprehensions at the imminent extinction of the House of Habsburg. Charles was willing to offer concrete advantages in territory and authority in exchange for recognition of the Pragmatic Sanction that made his daughter Maria Theresa his heir. With the rise of Prussia, the Austrian–Prussian dualism began in Germany. Austria participated, together with Prussia and Russia, in the first and the third of the three Partitions of Poland (in 1772 and 1795).

19th century

The Congress of Vienna met in 1814–15. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.

Austria later became engaged in a war with Revolutionary France, at the beginning highly unsuccessfully, with successive defeats at the hands of Napoleon, meaning the end of the old Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Two years earlier, the Empire of Austria was founded. From 1792 to 1801, the Austrians had suffered 754,700 casualties. In 1814, Austria was part of the Allied forces that invaded France and brought to an end the Napoleonic Wars.

It emerged from the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as one of the continent's four dominant powers and a recognised great power. The same year, the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund) was founded under the presidency of Austria. Because of unsolved social, political, and national conflicts, the German lands were shaken by the 1848 revolutions aiming to create a unified Germany.

Map of the German Confederation (1815–1836) with its 39 member states.

The various different possibilities for a united Germany were: a Greater Germany, or a Greater Austria or just the German Confederation without Austria at all. As Austria was not willing to relinquish its German-speaking territories to what would become the German Empire of 1848, the crown of the newly formed empire was offered to the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. In 1864, Austria and Prussia fought together against Denmark and secured the independence from Denmark of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. As they could not agree on how the two duchies should be administered, though, they fought the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. Defeated by Prussia in the Battle of Königgrätz, Austria had to leave the German Confederation and no longer took part in German politics.

The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the Ausgleich, provided for a dual sovereignty, the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, under Franz Joseph I. The Austrian-Hungarian rule of this diverse empire included various Slavic groups, including Croats, Czechs, Poles, Rusyns, Serbs, Slovaks, Slovenes, and Ukrainians, as well as large Italian and Romanian communities.

As a result, ruling Austria-Hungary became increasingly difficult in an age of emerging nationalist movements, requiring considerable reliance on an expanded secret police. Yet, the government of Austria tried its best to be accommodating in some respects: for example, the Reichsgesetzblatt, publishing the laws and ordinances of Cisleithania, was issued in eight languages; and all national groups were entitled to schools in their own language and to the use of their mother tongue at state offices.

An ethno-linguistic map of Austria-Hungary, 1910.

Many Austrians of all different social circles such as Georg Ritter von Schönerer promoted strong pan-Germanism in hope of reinforcing an ethnic German identity and the annexation of Austria to Germany. Some Austrians such as Karl Lueger also used pan-Germanism as a form of populism to further their own political goals. Although Bismarck's policies excluded Austria and the German Austrians from Germany, many Austrian pan-Germans idolized him and wore blue cornflowers, known to be the favourite flower of German Emperor William I, in their buttonholes, along with cockades in the German national colours (black, red, and yellow), although they were both temporarily banned in Austrian schools, as a way to show discontent towards the multi-ethnic empire.

Austria's exclusion from Germany caused many Austrians a problem with their national identity and prompted the Social Democratic Leader Otto Bauer to state that it was "the conflict between our Austrian and German character". The Austro-Hungarian Empire caused ethnic tension between the German Austrians and the other ethnic groups. Many Austrians, especially those involved with the pan-German movements, desired a reinforcement of an ethnic German identity and hoped that the empire would collapse, which would allow an annexation of Austria with Germany.

A lot of Austrian pan-German nationalists protested passionately against minister-president Kasimir Count Badeni's language decree of 1897, which made German and Czech co-official languages in Bohemia and required new government officials to be fluent in both languages. This meant in practice that the civil service would almost exclusively hire Czechs, because most middle-class Czechs spoke German but not the other way around. The support of ultramontane Catholic politicians and clergy for this reform triggered the launch of the "Away from Rome" (German: Los-von-Rom) movement, which was initiated by supporters of Schönerer and called on "German" Christians to leave the Roman Catholic Church.

20th century

As the Second Constitutional Era began in the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary took the opportunity to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908.

When Franz Ferdinand inherited the throne of Austria-Hungary, he knew it was his job to federalize the nation. The failure to create the United States of Greater Austria would lead to the outbreak of the Austro-Hungarian War, which eventually led to the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Partition of Austria-Hungary would be lead by Germany, and would see the creation of a provisional Austrian State.

Prior to the war, inflation began to devalue the Krone, which was still Austria's currency. A month after the armistice, Austria was granted an international loan supervised by Germany. The purpose of the loan was to avert bankruptcy, stabilise the currency, and improve Austria's general economic condition. The loan meant that Austria passed from an independent state to a German satellite. in 1940, the Schilling was introduced, replacing the Krone at a rate of 10,000:1. Later, it was nicknamed the "Alpine dollar" due to its stability.

Franz Ferdinand of Austria, whose reign sparked the Austro-Hungarian War.

Politics

The Parliament of Austria is located in Vienna, the country's capital and most populous city. Austria became a federal, representative constitutional monarchy through the Federal Constitution of 1935. The political system of the Archduchy with its nine states is based on the constitution of 1935, which was reenacted on 1 May 1945.

The head of state is the Archduke of Austria (Erzherzog von Österreich), who is a descendant of the Hapsburg Austrian Emperors. The head of the Federal Government is the Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler), who is selected by the President and tasked with forming a government based on the partisan composition of the lower house of parliament.

The government can be removed from office by a vote of no confidence in the lower chamber of parliament, the Nationalrat.

Austria's parliament consists of two chambers. The composition of the Nationalrat (183 seats) is determined every five years (or whenever the Nationalrat has been dissolved by the federal president on a motion by the federal chancellor, or by Nationalrat itself) by a general election in which every citizen over the age of 16 has the right to vote. The voting age was lowered from 18 in 2007.

While there is a general threshold of 4% of the vote for all parties in federal elections (Nationalratswahlen) to participate in the proportional allocation of seats, there remains the possibility of being elected to a seat directly in one of the 43 regional electoral districts (Direktmandat).

The Nationalrat is the dominant chamber in the legislative process in Austria. However, the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, has a limited right of veto (the Nationalrat can—in almost all cases—ultimately pass the respective bill by voting a second time; this is referred to as a Beharrungsbeschluss, lit. "vote of persistence"). A constitutional convention, called the Österreich -Konvent was convened on 30 June 2003 to consider reforms to the constitution, but failed to produce a proposal that would command a two-thirds majority in the Nationalrat, the margin necessary for constitutional amendments or reform.

While the bicameral Parliament and the Government constitute the legislative and executive branches, respectively, the courts are the third branch of Austrian state powers. The Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof) exerts considerable influence on the political system because of its power to invalidate legislation and ordinances that are not in compliance with the constitution. Since 1995, the European Court of Justice may overrule Austrian decisions in all matters defined in laws of the European Union. Austria also implements the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, since the European Convention on Human Rights is part of the Austrian constitution.

Administrative divisions

Austria is a federal monarchy consisting of nine states. The states are sub-divided into districts and statutory cities. Districts are subdivided into municipalities (Gemeinden). Statutory Cities have the competencies otherwise granted to both districts and municipalities. Vienna is unique in that it is both a city and a state.

Austria's constituent states are not mere administrative divisions but have some legislative authority distinct from the federal government, e.g. in matters of culture, social welfare, youth and nature protection, hunting, building, and zoning ordinances. In recent years, it has been questioned whether a small country should maintain ten subnational legislatures. Consolidation of local governments has already been undertaken at the Gemeinde level for purposes of administrative efficiency and cost savings.

State	Capital	Area (sq km)	Population (1 Jan 2017)	Density per km2
Burgenland	Eisenstadt	3,965	291,942	73.6
Carinthia	Klagenfurt	9,536	561,077	58.8
Lower Austria	Sankt Pölten	19,178	1,665,753	86.9
Salzburg	Salzburg	7,154	549,263	76.8
Styria	Graz	16,401	1,237,298	75.4
Tyrol	Innsbruck	12,648	746,153	59.0
Upper Austria	Linz	11,982	1,465,045	122.3
Vienna		415	1,867,582	4,500
Vorarlberg	Bregenz	2,601	388,752	149.5
Carniola	Ljubljana	9,990	3,601	TBA
Triest, Gorizia and Gradisca	Trieste	3,013	490,716	TBA

Geography

Austria is a largely mountainous country because of its location in the Alps. The Central Eastern Alps, Northern Limestone Alps and Southern Limestone Alps are all partly in Austria. Of the total area of Austria (84,000 km² or 32,433 sq mi), only about a quarter can be considered low lying, and only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft). The Alps of western Austria give way somewhat into low lands and plains in the eastern part of the country.

Austria lies between latitudes 46° and 49° N, and longitudes 9° and 18° E.

It can be divided into five areas, the biggest being the Eastern Alps, which constitute 62% of the nation's total area. The Austrian foothills at the base of the Alps and the Carpathians account for around 12% and the foothills in the east and areas surrounding the periphery of the Pannoni low country amount to about 12% of the total landmass. The second greater mountain area (much lower than the Alps) is situated in the north. Known as the Austrian granite plateau, it is located in the central area of the Bohemian Mass and accounts for 10% of Austria. The Austrian portion of the Vienna basin makes up the remaining 4%.

Phytogeographically, Austria belongs to the Central European province of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. According to the WWF, the territory of Austria can be subdivided into four ecoregions: the Central European mixed forests, Pannonian mixed forests, Alps conifer and mixed forests, and Western European broadleaf forests. Austria had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 3.55/10, ranking it 149th globally out of 172 countries.

Climate

The greater part of Austria lies in the cool/temperate climate zone, where humid westerly winds predominate. With nearly three-quarters of the country dominated by the Alps, the alpine climate is predominant. In the east—in the Pannonian Plain and along the Danube valley—the climate shows continental features with less rain than the alpine areas. Although Austria is cold in the winter (−10 to 0 °C), summer temperatures can be relatively high, with average temperatures in the mid-20s and a highest temperature of 40.5 °C (105 °F) in August 2013.

According to the Köppen Climate Classification Austria has the following climate types: Oceanic (Cfb), Cool/Warm-summer humid continental (Dfb), Subarctic/Subalpine (Dfc), Tundra/Alpine (ET) and Ice-Cap (EF). It is important to note though that Austria may experience very cold, severe winters, but most of the time they are only around as cold as those in somewhat comparable climate zones, for example Southern Scandinavia or Eastern Europe. As well, at higher altitudes, summers are usually considerably cooler than in the valleys/lower altitudes. The subarctic and tundra climates seen around the Alps are much warmer in winter than what is normal elsewhere due in part to the Oceanic influence on this part of Europe.

Economy

Austria consistently ranks high in terms of GDP per capita, due to its highly industrialised economy, and well-developed social market economy. Until the 1980s, many of Austria's largest industry firms were nationalised; in recent years, however, privatisation has reduced state holdings to a level comparable to other European economies. Labour movements are particularly influential, exercising large influence on labour politics and decisions related to the expansion of the economy. Next to a highly developed industry, international tourism is the most important part of the economy of Austria.

Demographics

Austria's population was estimated to be nearly 9 million (8.9) in 2020 by Statistik Austria. The population of the capital, Vienna, exceeds 1.9 million (2.6 million, including the suburbs), representing about a quarter of the country's population. It is known for its cultural offerings and high standard of living.

Vienna is by far the country's largest city. Graz is second in size, with 291,007 inhabitants, followed by Linz (206,604), Salzburg (155,031), Innsbruck (131,989), and Klagenfurt (101,303). All other cities have fewer than 100,000 inhabitants.

Culture

Music

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Austria's past as a European power and its cultural environment generated a broad contribution to various forms of art, most notably among them music. Austria was the birthplace of many famous composers such as Joseph Haydn, Michael Haydn, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner, Johann Strauss, Sr. and Johann Strauss, Jr. as well as members of the Second Viennese School such as Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern and Alban Berg. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, then an independent Church Principality of the Holy Roman Empire, which later became part of Austria, and much of Mozart's career was spent in Vienna.

Vienna was for a long time an important centre of musical innovation. 18th- and 19th-century composers were drawn to the city due to the patronage of the Habsburgs, and made Vienna the European capital of classical music. During the Baroque period, Slavic and Hungarian folk forms influenced Austrian music.

The Vienna State Opera

Vienna's status began its rise as a cultural centre in the early 16th century, and was focused around instruments, including the lute. Ludwig van Beethoven spent the better part of his life in Vienna. Austria's current national anthem, attributed to Mozart, was chosen after the Great War to replace the traditional Austrian anthem by Joseph Haydn.

Austrian Herbert von Karajan was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 35 years. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, and he was a dominant figure in European classical music from the 1960s until his death.

International pop super star Johann Hölzel, also known by his stage name Falco was born in Vienna, Austria 19 February 1957.

See also

This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Austria, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).