Austria gets its name from Oesterreich (German for "Eastern Kingdom"), which it was first called some nine hundred years ago. The people living in this region came to be ruled by the German royal family named Hapsburg, whose descendants for hundreds of years were German emperors and the kings and emperors of Austria.
Austria gets its name from
Oesterreich (German for "Eastern Kingdom"), which it was
first called some nine hundred years ago. The people living in this
region came to be ruled by the German royal family named Hapsburg,
whose descendants for hundreds of years were German emperors and the
kings and emperors of Austria. Over the centuries large portions of
land were given to Austria through royal marriages or through
treaties, and the country rose to become one of the most important
monarchies in Europe.
But most of the Austrian
empire was always composed of people who were not really Austrians
who spoke different languages and had different customs and did not
want to be ruled by Austria. When this is so, a country is not really
strong. In 1866, when Austria and Prussia had a war to decide which
would be most powerful among the German countries, Prussia defeated
Austria in such a short time that the war is called the Seven Weeks'
War. The great Austrian empire fell apart. Austrial lost its empire
and became a small republic. The Austrian republic was poor and the
people were unhappy. Adolf Hitler became the dictator in Germany, and
many Austrians thought that by joining Germany they could become
prosperous and powerful again. A Fascist, or Nazi, party arose in
Austria in the early 1930s.
They fought bitter and
bloody battles with those who opposed joining Germany. In 1934 they
murdered Chancellor Dollfuss, the head of the Austrian government.
Chancellor Schuschnigg, who came after Dollfuss, was weak, and in
1938 Hitler marched his armies into Austria without much opposition
and declared the country part of Germany. This was called the
Anschluss (meaning "joining together" in German). The
people spent the next seven years under Nazi rule, and so were on the
losing side in World War II. In 1945 the Allies captured the country,
and until 1955 it was split into four zones and occupied. In 1955
Austria became an independent republic again.
