History of Vienna

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Old coat of arms of Vienna (1465–1925) with the imperial double-headed eagle

The history of

Habsburgs, under whom it became one of Europe's cultural hubs. During the 19th century as the capital of the Austrian Empire and later Austria-Hungary, it temporarily became one of Europe's biggest cities. Since the end of World War I, Vienna has been the capital of the Republic of Austria
.

Beginnings and early Middle Ages

Overview of the Roman legion settlement Vindobona in the center of today's Vienna
Roman ruins at Michaelerplatz

The name Vindobona derives from a Celtic language, suggesting that the region must have been inhabited before Roman times. The Romans created a military camp (occupied by Legio X Gemina) during the 1st century on the site of the city centre of present-day Vienna. The settlement was raised to the status of a municipium in 212. Even today, the streets of the First District show where the encampment placed its walls and moats. The Romans stayed until the 5th century.

Roman Vindobona was located in the outskirts of the empire and thus fell prey to the chaos of the Migration Period. There are some indications that a catastrophic fire occurred around the beginning of the 5th century. However, the remains of the encampment were not deserted, and a small settlement remained. The streets and houses of early medieval Vienna followed the former Roman walls, which gives rise to the conclusion that parts of the fortification were still in place and used by the settlers.[citation needed]

Avars following later. Early Vienna was centred on the Berghof.[citation needed
]

The first documented mention of the city during the

Magyars. However, it is unclear whether this refers to the city or the River Wien
.

Babenberg rule

Duke Henry II of the Babenberg dynasty elevated Vienna to his capital in 1155

In 976, the Margraviate of Ostarrîchi was given to the Babenberg family. Vienna lay at its border with Hungary.

Vienna was an important site of trade as early as the 11th century. In the

Leopold IV
, Vienna is mentioned as a Civitas for the first time, which indicates the existence of a well-ordered settlement. In 1155, Margrave
Henry II of Austria made Vienna his capital. In 1156, Austria was raised to a duchy in the Privilegium Minus, with Vienna becoming the seat of all future dukes. During that time, the Schottenstift
was founded.

The events surrounding the

Pope Celestine III, and died (without having been absolved) after falling from a horse in a tournament
.

In 1221, Vienna received the rights of a

staple port (Stapelrecht). This meant that all traders passing through Vienna had to offer their goods in the city. This allowed the Viennese to act as middlemen in trade, so that Vienna soon created a network of far-reaching trade relations, particularly along the Danube basin and to Venice, and to become one of the most important cities in the Holy Roman Empire
.

Frederick II
with Vienna in the background (Babenberger family tree, 1489-1492)

However, it was considered embarrassing that Vienna did not have its own bishop. It is known that Duke

Frederick II negotiated about the creation of a bishopric in Vienna, and the same is suspected of Ottokar Přemysl
.

Habsburg rule

Duke Rudolf IV of Austria, known as "the Founder", did much to expand the city

In 1278,

Albert I
. The family of the Paltrams vom Stephansfreithof was foremost among the insurgents.

In 1280, Jans der Enikel wrote the "Fürstenbuch", a first history of the city.

With the

Frederick the Handsome
published his edict allowing the city to maintain an Eisenbuch (iron book) listing its privileges.

The combination of the heraldic eagle with the city coat of arms showing a white cross in a red field is found on a seal dated 1327. This heraldic emblem was in use throughout the 14th century in different variants.[1]

Rudolf IV of Austria deserves credit for his prudent economic policy, which raised the level of prosperity. His epithet the Founder is due to two things: first, he founded the University of Vienna in 1365, and second, he began the construction of the gothic nave
in the Stephansdom. The latter is connected to the creation of a metropolitan chapter, as a symbolic substitute for a bishop.

There was a period of inheritance disputes among the Habsburgs resulting not only in confusion, but also in an economic decline and social unrest, with disputes between the parties of

Leopold IV. In 1408, the mayor Konrad Vorlauf
, an exponent of the patrician party, was executed.

After the election of Duke

Jewish
population of Vienna in 1421/22.

Eventually, in 1469, Vienna was given its own bishop, and the Stephansdom became a

Albert VI, then Matthias Corvinus), as Frederick proved unable to maintain peace in the land vis-à-vis rampaging gangs of mercenaries (often remaining from the Hussite Wars
).

In 1485, the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus and the Black Army of Hungary conquered the city and Vienna became the king's seat that served as the capital of Hungary until 1490.

In 1522, under Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor the Blood Judgment of Wiener Neustadt led to the execution of leading members of the opposition within the city, and thus a destruction of the political structures. From then on, the city stood under direct imperial control.

Panorama of Vienna from the south, 1558 (reproduction)

In 1556, Vienna became the seat of the Emperor, with Bohemia having been added to the Habsburg realm in 1526.

During this time, the city was also

Melchior Khlesl
, Bishop of Vienna from 1600.

Panoramic view of Vienna after the city walls were reconstructed in 1548. In the middle is St Stephen's Cathedral, behind the medieval Hofburg complex. Right next to it the Minoritenkirche and to the far right Schottenstift with the Schottentor gate.

Turkish sieges

Siege of Vienna in 1683, painting by Frans Geffels

In 1529, Vienna was besieged by the

fortress in 1548. The city was furnished with eleven bastions and surrounded by a moat. A glacis was created around Vienna, a broad strip without any buildings, which allowed defenders to fire freely. These fortifications, which accounted for the major part of building activities well into the 17th century, became decisive in the Second Turkish Siege of 1683, as they allowed the city to maintain itself for two months, until the Turkish army was defeated by the army led by the Polish King John III Sobieski
. This was the turning point in the Turkish Wars, as the Ottoman Empire was pushed back more and more during the following decades.

See also: Ottoman wars in Europe

18th century

View of Vienna during the Baroque era, by Bernardo Bellotto

The following period was characterised by extensive building activities. In the course of reconstruction, Vienna was largely turned into a

Belvedere (the garden palais of Prince Eugene of Savoy). In 1704, an outer fortification, the Linienwall
, was built around the Vorstädte.

After the extensive

factories were built, starting in Leopoldstadt. Leopoldstadt also became a site where many Jews lived, as they had been driven out of their 50-year-old ghetto in 1670. Hygienic problems began to become noticeable: sewers and street cleaning began to develop. Also in this time, the first house numbers (the Konskriptionsnummern) were issued, and the government postal
system began to develop.

Under Emperor

graveyards
within the city were closed.

19th century

The "Lion of Aspern" is a monument to the fallen Austrian soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars
The Congress of Vienna restored peace in Europe after Napoleon

During the Napoleonic Wars, Vienna was taken by the French twice, in 1805 and 1809. The first conquest happened without a battle. Three French marshals crossed the strongly defended Taborbrücke (Tábor bridge), the only Danube bridge at that time, and convinced the Austrian commander that the war was already over. In the meantime, the French army easily entered the city and was greeted by the population with interest rather than rejection. Napoleon allowed 10,000 men of the Vienna national guard to remain armed and left the arsenal to them when he left, as complete as he had found it.

However, the second occupation happened only after heavy fire. Shortly after, Napoleon suffered his first large defeat at

Salomon Mayer Rothschild arrived in Vienna from Frankfurt and sets up a bank named "Mayer von Rothschild und Söhne". The Emperor of Austria in 1823, made the five Rothschild brothers barons. The Rothschild family became famous as bankers in the major countries of Europe, and the Rothschild banking family of Austria remained prominent until the Creditanstalt bank in Vienna was confiscated by the Nazis in 1938.[2][3]

After Napoleon's final defeat, the

Charles Joseph, Prince de Ligne
to famously say: Le congres danse beaucoup, mais il ne marche pas ("The congress dances, but does not progress"). The events cost Austria a great deal of money, which was reflected in mockery about the major participants:

Alexander of Russia: loves for all
Frederick William of Prussia: thinks for all
Frederick of Denmark: speaks for all
Maximilian of Bavaria: drinks for all
Frederick of Württemberg: eats for all
Emperor Francis of Austria: pays for all
Panorama from Leopoldsberge with topographic indications (around 1830)

The first half of the century was characterised by intensive

industrialization
, with Vienna being the center of the railway network after 1837.

The

Metternich
to resign.

During the 19th century, Vienna, along with Budapest, became one of the main centers of the Aromanian diaspora. The Aromanian population of these cities stands out for one of the first ones to develop a strictly Aromanian identity.[4]

Expansion under Emperor Franz Joseph I

Under the rule of Emperor Franz Joseph I the city experienced rapid growth and an unprecedented flowering of culture, the arts and architecture
Old, small houses (in the foreground) that were destroyed and replaced during the big expansion under Emperor Franz Joseph
The newly completed Ringstraße with Parliament (1900)
Ball at Vienna city hall with mayor Karl Lueger (1904)

The city was expanded in 1850, mostly to include the area within the Linienwall. The

World Exhibition of 1873, immediately before the stock market crash, which ended the Gründerzeit
("foundation era").

In 1861, the Liberals won the first (relatively) free elections after the end of

neoabsolutism
.

After the great flood of 1830, Regulation of the Danube was frequently considered. It was finally put into practice during the 1860s. The many branches of the Danube were removed, and a straight course was created away from the city centre. The branch near the central city was made narrower and has been known under the somewhat misleading name Donaukanal (Danube Canal) ever since.

During that period, the population of Vienna increased sharply, mostly because of immigration. Censuses were conducted regularly from 1869 onwards, which showed an all-time high of population in 1910, with 2,031,000 inhabitants.

Around 1900, Vienna became a centre of the Jugendstil (Art Nouveau), most of all with Otto Wagner and the association of artists known as Vienna Secession (after which the characteristic building on Karlsplatz is named).

In 1890, the city was expanded for a second time: the (

Vororte) suburbs beyond the old Linienwall were incorporated into the town as the districts 11 to 19 (the 10th district had been created in 1874 by the division of the fourth). Leopoldstadt was divided in 1900, with the northern part becoming the 20th district (Brigittenau). In 1904, Floridsdorf
became part of Vienna as 21st district.

During those years,

anti-Semitism
, which enjoyed popular support.

World War I

Italian leaflets dropped on Vienna in 1918.

Rent Control
was never officially repealed; even today there are buildings where the 1916 rent—by now essentially meaningless—applies.

These food shortages led to the

Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria to organise meetings in November 1917 opposing the war.[5]

The

Gabriele d'Annunzio, was carried out on August 9, 1918, with 11 Ansaldo SVA. He flew undisturbed for over 1,200 km in a roundtrip to Vienna to drop about 400,000 propaganda
leaflets, written in Italian and German, asking the people of Vienna the end of the alliance between Austria-Hungary and Germany.

The First Republic

Karl-Marx-Hof is one of the best-known municipal tenement complexes of the 1920s

The end of the war was also the end of

parliament. The population was concentrated in the capital, which was often called a hydrocephalus because of this; [6] articles in the international press had doubts about the viability of Vienna as a major European metropolis after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary.[7]

In 1921, Vienna was separated from surrounding

Social Democrats, who had dominated since the end of the war, were now in charge of the city administration. "Red Vienna" was considered an international model. Many notable Gemeindebauten
(low-cost residential estates) were built during that period.

However, the increasing economic difficulties resulted in a political radicalization and polarisation of the political parties. On the social democratic side, the left-wing Republikanische

Schutzbund (Republican Protective Alliance) was formed in 1923/24, which was a well-organised and well-equipped paramilitary group. It was opposed by the right-wing Heimwehr
("Home Guard"), which had been formed after the end of the war from local guards and similar combat units.

In May 1923, in the presence of President Michael Hainisch, the First World Congress of Jewish Women was inaugurated at the Hofburg.[8]

Austrofascism

The Justizpalast fire (here an image from 1881 prior to the fire) led to the end of the First Republic

The fire of the Justizpalast (

Austrofascism
).

Annexation by Nazi Germany and Second World War

After the annexation by Germany, many Viennese Jews were forced to clean the sidewalks by the Nazis, with the support of many Viennese
The flak tower in the Augarten belonged to the aerial defense system during Nazi rule

In March 1938

Reichskristallnacht on November 9, 1938, the synagogues, the Jewish centres of not only religious, but also social life, were destroyed. In August, the KZ Oberlanzendorf Wien (Central Office for Jewish Emigration) was created. Its head was Adolf Eichmann.[9] On the whole, and despite some instances of anti-Semitism, the city of Vienna was less supportive of the Nazi regime than was the rest of Austria. This however did not reach any extent of an organised resistance.[10] Hitler himself hated Vienna and was determined to build up Linz, his childhood hometown, and relegate Vienna to backwater status.[11]

In the course of the expansion of the city in 1938, 91 adjoining municipalities were incorporated into the city, from which the 22nd (

Third Reich
.

World War II

During the war, the city housed 12 sub-camps of the infamous

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
, located in various parts of the city.

Although originally out of range of Allied bombers operating from England, by 1943 the city began being attacked by bombers based in Italy. As in other major cities of Nazi Germany, large flak towers were constructed in Vienna as defensive structures against these bombers. These structures remain in place today, as they are so thick and their foundations so deep that to destroy them would damage surrounding buildings.

The U.S. bombings of 1944 and 1945 and the vicious fighting during the subsequent conquest of Vienna by Soviet troops in April 1945 caused much destruction within the city. However, some historic buildings survived the bombardment; many more were reconstructed after the war.

The Second Republic

Allied occupation

See also: Allied-occupied Austria
Zones of Allied occupation in Vienna

Only a few days after the war, a provisional city government and administration was created. Also, the political parties were recreated. On April 29, 1945, the parliament building passed from the occupation force to the new Austrian government, and Karl Renner announced the reinstitution of the democratic Republic of Austria. Vienna was divided into five occupation zones between the Soviet Union, the United States, the UK, France, and with the first district (city centre) being patrolled by all four.

The first municipal elections were held in November 1945. Of the 100 seats in the municipal council, the left-wing Social Democratic Party captured 58, the right-wing Austrian People's Party 36, and the Communists 6. In 1946, it was decided that the expansion of city territory of 1938 should be reversed, but this law was delayed by a veto of the occupying powers and was not put into practice until 1954. Two districts remained with Vienna, namely the 22nd one (Donaustadt) north of the Danube and the 23rd one (Liesing) in the south (some other districts gained some Lower Austrian territory).

Modern history since independence (1955)

Vienna International Centre houses UN agencies, making Vienna after New York and Geneva the third most important seat

On May 15, 1955, the country regained its political independence and sovereignty with the "Austrian State Treaty". The Austrian Parliament immediately amended the treaty to establish Austria's future neutrality and non-alignment (similar to that of Switzerland). This peace treaty was called a state treaty because Austria had temporarily ceased to exist in 1938.

After the war, as everywhere in Western Europe, there was an enormous economic boom, among other things because of the economic aid resulting from the Marshall Plan.

Public transport in Vienna was improved by the introduction of the new

UNESCO World Heritage Site
. The project has since been redesigned.

Vienna was the capital of the surrounding

capital outside of the territory it served
.

In the municipal elections of 2001, the Social Democrats regained an absolute majority. With the Liberal Forum not gaining enough votes, only four parties have been represented in the municipal council since then. In the 2005 elections, the Social Democrats further increased their majority.

Panoramic view of Vienna towards the east, seen from "Himmel" (Heaven)

Espionage in Austria is legal if the country itself is not the target.

diplomatic cover; Chinese, Iranian, Israeli, Saudi, American, British, and other European spies and counterspies are also in the country. Because of the tolerance of espionage the country is excluded from the Club de Berne.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ Karl Lind, Mittheilungen der kaiserl. königl. Central-Commission zur Erforschung und Erhaltung der Baudenkmale 11, 1866.
  2. ^ Joan Comay, Who's who in Jewish History (2001) pp 305-14
  3. ^ Niall Ferguson, The House of Rothschild (2 vol. 1998)
  4. ^ Kahl, Thede (2003). "Aromanians in Greece: Minority or Vlach-speaking Greeks?" (PDF). Jahrbücher für Geschichte und Kultur Südosteuropas. 5: 205–219.
  5. ^ "Jännerstreik-1918". www.dasrotewien.at. SPÖ Vienna. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  6. ^ Parsons, N. (2009). Vienna : a cultural history. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
  7. ^ VIENNA AFTER THE WAR., The New York Times, December 29, 1918
  8. ISBN 978-3-205-99137-3
    .
  9. ^ Christine O'Keefe (2007-02-02). "Concentration Camps".
  10. ^ See Evan Burr Bukey, Hitler's Austria. Popular Sentiment in the Nazi Era. UNC Press, Chapel Hill, 2000.
  11. ^ See Thomas Weyr, The Setting of the Pearl. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005
  12. ^ a b Jones, Sam (2023-07-13). ""It's really the Wild West": Vienna's spying problem spins out of control". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  13. ^ Rabl, Sarah; Rollwagen, Joseph D.; Stadlober, Hannah (2010-09-01). "Spy vs. Sy". The Vienna Review. Archived from the original on 27 October 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2013.

Further reading

See also: Timeline of Vienna § Bibliography
  • Baranello, Micaela. The Operetta Empire: Music Theater in Early Twentieth-Century Vienna (U of California Press, 2021).
  • Beller, Steven. Vienna and the Jews 1867-1938: A Cultural History (Cambridge, 1989).
  • Bowman, William D. Priest and Parish in Vienna, 1780 to 1880 (2000).
  • Boyer, John W. Culture and Political Crisis in Vienna: Christian Socialism in Power, 1897-1918 (U of Chicago Press, 1995).
  • Boyer, John. Political Radicalism in Late Imperial Vienna: Origins of the Christian Social Movement, 1848-1897 (U of Chicago Press, 1981).
  • Buklijas, Tatjana. "Surgery and national identity in late nineteenth-century Vienna." Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 38.4 (2007): 756-774. online
  • Coen, Deborah R. Vienna in the age of uncertainty: science, liberalism, and private life (U of Chicago Press, 2008).
  • Csendes, Peter. Historical Dictionary of Vienna (Scarecrow Press, 1999).
  • Emerson, Charles. 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War (2013) compares Vienna to 20 major world cities on the eve of World War I; pp 87–109.
  • Geehr, Richard S. Karl Lueger: Mayor of Fin de Siècle Vienna (Wayne State University Press, 1990)
  • Hamann, Brigette. Hitler's Vienna: A Dictator's Apprenticeship (Oxford P, 1999).
  • Hanák, Péter. The garden and the workshop: essays on the cultural history of Vienna and Budapest (Princeton University Press, 2014)
  • Healy, Maureen. Vienna and the Fall of the Habsburg Empire: Total War and Everyday Life in World War I (2004).
  • Karnes, Kevin C. "Wagner, Klimt, and the Metaphysics of Creativity in fin-de-siècle Vienna." Journal of the American Musicological Society 62.3 (2009): 647-697. online[dead link‍]
  • Karnes, Kevin. Music, criticism, and the challenge of history: Shaping modern musical thought in late nineteenth century Vienna (Oxford UP, 2008).
  • Karnes, Kevin. A kingdom not of this world: Wagner, the arts, and utopian visions in fin-de-siècle Vienna (Oxford UP, 2013).
  • May, A.J. Vienna in the Age of Franz Joseph (U of Oklahoma Press, 1968).
  • Millar, Simon and Peter Dennis. Vienna 1683: Christian Europe Repels the Ottomans (Osprey, 2008)
  • Morton, Frederik. A Nervous Splendour: Vienna 1888-1889 (Little, Brown, 1979).
  • Offenberger, Ilana Fritz. The Jews of Nazi Vienna, 1938-1945: Rescue and Destruction (Springer, 2017).
  • Parsons, Nicholas. Vienna: A Cultural History (2008).
  • Rampley, Matthew. The Vienna School of Art History: Empire and the Politics of Scholarship, 1847-1918 (Penn State Press, 2013).
  • Regal, Wolfgang and Michael Nanut. Vienna A Doctor’s Guide: 15 walking tours through Vienna’s medical history (2007)
  • Rozenblit, Marsha. The Jews of Vienna, 1867-1914: Assimilation and Identity (State University of New York Press, 1984).
  • Schorske, Carl E. Fin-de-siècle Vienna: politics and culture (1979)
  • Silverman, Lisa. Becoming Austrians: Jews and Culture between the World Wars (Oxford UP, 2012), focus on Vienna.
  • Uhl, Heidemarie. "Museums as Engines of Identity: 'Vienna around 1900' and Exhibitionary Cultures in Vienna—A Comment." Austrian History Yearbook 46 (2015): 97-105.
  • Wagner-Trenkwitz, Christoph. A Sound Tradition: A Short History of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Amalthea Signum Verlag, 2017).
  • Wasserman, Janek. "The Austro-Marxist struggle for 'intellectual workers': the lost debate on the question of intellectuals in interwar Vienna." Modern Intellectual History 9.2 (2012): 361-388.
  • Wistrich, Robert S. "Karl Lueger and the Ambiguities of Viennese Antisemitism." Jewish Social Studies 45.3/4 (1983): 251-262. online
  • Yales, W. E. Theatre in Vienna: A Critical History, 1776-1995 (Cambridge University Press, 1996)

Historiography and Memory

  • Arens, Katherine. Belle Necropolis: Ghosts of Imperial Vienna (2014), art and memory
  • Beller, Steven. Rethinking Vienna 1900 (2001)
  • Jovanović, Miloš. "Whitewashed empire: Historical narrative and place marketing in Vienna." History and Anthropology 30.4 (2019): 460-476.
  • Pirker, Peter, Johannes Kramer, and Mathias Lichtenwagner. "Transnational memory spaces in the making: World War II and holocaust remembrance in Vienna." International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 32.4 (2019): 439-458. online

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