Austria History

Austria

Political and Administrative History
The German speaking peoples of Austria are closely related to those speaking the Germanic languages in other countries. Other ethnic groups include Czechs in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, Croatians in Dalmatia and Slavonia, Poles in Galicia and Silesia, Ukrainians in Bukovina and Galicia, Italians in Tirol and Istria, Slovenes in Carinthia, Carnola and Steiermark, and Hungarians in Hungary and Slovakia.

Austria was part of the First German Empire that was created in the 10th century by Saxon kings. It was an independent duchy within the empire by 1156. It came under the rule of the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1253. The Habsburg rulers of the Empire conquered Bohemia in 1278 and ruled Austria and other parts of the empire until 1918. Austrian holdings within the empire eventually included the areas corresponding to the modern states of Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and parts of western Poland and northern Italy. Outside of the formal boundaries of the Empire the Habsburgs also ruled Hungary, Transylvania, Galicia and Croatia. They lost control over Italy and Switzerland in 1648.

In 1806 the Habsburg emperors were forced to retreat eastward from Napoleon’s advances, while the French assumed control of the remaining German territories except Prussia. At the demise of the French Republic in 1815, the German states including Austria formed a customs union, but Austria refused offers to join the Prussian Kingdom in reorganizing the German Empire. The Austrian monarchs, with their extensive holdings in the East, instead developed their own eastern (Austrian) Empire. In 1867 the Habsburgs made concessions to Hungary to form the Austro-Hungarian Empire or dual-monarchy which lasted until 1918.

After the defeat of Austria-Hungary in the First World War, its eastern territories were awarded to the new states of Poland, Romania and Hungary. Southern lands went to Yugoslavia and Italy, and northern territories were brought together to form the country of Czechoslovakia. The few remaining Austrian lands were denied permission to join with Germany, and a separate Austrian Republic was established in 1919. This lasted until the Second World War when Austrian, Czech, Polish and other areas were again added to Germany. Following the Second World War the occupational zones of Austria were combined to form the new Republic of Austria.

SUMMARY OF AUSTRIAN POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY
911-1806	Holy Roman (German) Empire	Included Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Bohemia, Silesia, Tirol, Carniola, etc. 1618-1648	Thirty Years War	Independence of Switzerland, Habsburgs obtain Hungary and Croatia outside the Empire. 1664-1689	Ottoman Wars	Acquired Hungary, Transylvania, Banat, Slavonia, Serbia. 1772-1795	Partitions of Poland	Acquired Galicia. 1792-1815	Napoleonic Wars	Western areas under French rule. 1815-1866	Confederation	Joins Prussia, Austria, other states. 1867-1918	Dual Monarchy	Austro-Hungarian Empire. 1919-1938	Republic of Austria	Lost Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, Hungary, Galicia, Transylvania, Carniola, Carinthia, Istria, South Tirol, Slavonia, Dalmatia. Gained Burgenland from Hungary. 1938-1945	German Empire	Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Slovenia included. 1945-	Republic of Austria	Restored to 1919 territory.

Religious History
The Catholic Church prevailed in the Austrian Empire for many years prior to the Protestant Reformation in the early 1500s. Many important records began to be kept by Church officials concerning land, tax, court and other civil affairs. The Reformation provided much of the impetus for the widespread recording of parish registers even in the predominantly Catholic areas of Austria. Some early Protestant records date from 1523, and early Catholic records from 1560. The strong Catholic orientation of the Habsburgs succeeded in returning the Czech and Hungarian lands to the Catholic fold after a century of Protestant record keeping there. The Thirty-Years’ War 1618-1648 and other conflicts caused extensive damage to records in many areas.

Early in the 1400s reformer John Huss in Bohemia succeeded in creating a climate for change. His movement and the United Brethren who broke from the Hussites in 1467 preceded the general Reformation that engulfed Europe during the years 1520-1560. Lutheranism followed by Calvinism became popular in Bohemia and Moravia, as well as in Slovakia, Hungary and Transylvania. Unitarianism was popular in Transylvania. Anabaptists, Orthodox adherents and Jews were also prevalent. Ottoman rule in Hungary brought Muslim subjugation to all of these denominations in the 1600s. Lutheranism became strong in Slovenia and Salzburg in the 1520s, but was not so widespread in other western areas which remained primarily Roman Catholic.

The Catholic Counter-Reformation succeeded in regaining the entire territory for Catholicism. In turn many Czech Protestants fled to Germany, and Lutherans, particularly Salzburgers went to Prussia and Germany. Reformed Protestants went to Hungary, Poland and Transylvania. Hungary continued a Protestant tradition despite the Catholic status of the Empire. Orthodox adherants were prominent in Bukovina, Croatia and Slavonia, although they also were compelled to pledge their loyalty to the Pope in the 1600s, thus forming the Uniat or Greek-Catholic denomination. Jews were prevalent in Galicia and Bukovina.

In 1880, 78% of the population of Austria-Hungary was Roman Catholic, 10% Protestant, 6% Orthodox, and 5% Jewish and 1% Muslim. In 1991 religious affiliation in Austria was 89% Roman Catholic, 6% Protestant, 2% Muslim, 1% Orthodox and 2% other.

The Roman Catholic Church has 2 archbishoprics and 7 bishoprics. The Protestants are of the Augsburg (Lutheran) or Reformed (Calvinist) confessions. Several smaller independent groups include Mennonites, Huguenots, Baptists, Seventh-Day Adventists, Methodists, Apostolics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc.

REFORMATION IN AUSTRIA
Religion	Area	Counter-Reformation Hussites 1410-	Bohemia	1620 Brethren 1467-       	Bohemia, Moravia	1620 Lutherans 1523-	Austria, Salzburg, Slovenia Bohemia, Moravia Hungary, Slovakia Banat, Transylvania	1627 Reformed (Calvinists) 1526-	Hungary Banat, Transylvania	1627 Hutterites (Anabaptists) 1528-	Moravia	1620 Unitarians 1572- 	Transylvania	1627 Orthodox 1586-	Banat, Transylvania Slavonia (Croatia) Galicia	1697 (Uniat) Others 1867-	Austria Old Catholics 1872-	Austria

Population Statistics
Throughout the history of the Austrian Empire, wars, epidemics, plagues, and pestilence swept through the land, greatly diminishing the population and causing tremendous material destruction and a dramatic increase in poverty. The chaos resulting from those disasters also allowed for the displacement and destruction of many valuable parish registers.

The Black Death (1348-1350) penetrated Europe, reducing the population by about a third. Other plagues occurred in 1478, several times during the early 1600s, and again in 1648 at the close of the Thirty Years War. The Turkish invasion of Transylvania, Croatia and part of Hungary began in 1606. By 1683 they had conquered most of Hungary and Slovakia. This resulted in a massive migration from the area. However, by 1718 the Austrian army had driven nearly all of the Turks out of Hungary. Conflicts continued throughout the 18th and 19th centuries with a number of Turkish and Russian wars. Napoleonic and Italian conflicts in the 19th century and the two World Wars in the 20th century (1914-1918 and 1939-1945) affected the populations and the keeping of records.

The population of the territories that would later be part of the Austrian Empire was about 6 million in the year 1500, of which about 2 million were located in what would be present-day Austria. By 1700, the Empire's population had grown to 11 million, and by 1800 there were 24 million. By 1900 there were 46 million residents of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, including 6 million in what would be modern Austria. In 1950 there were 7 million residents, and in 1996 modern Austria had over 8 million inhabitants with a population density of 247 per square mile.

The area of Austria is 32,378 square miles, a little smaller than Maine. The capital is Vienna (Wien, pop. 1.5 million). Other important cities are Graz (238,000), Linz (203,000), Salzburg (144,000) and Innsbruck (118,000).