Austria ( ), officially the
Republic of
Austria (
German: ), is a
landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million
people in
Central Europe.
It borders
both Germany
and the
Czech
Republic
to the
north, Slovakia
and Hungary
to the east,
Slovenia
and Italy
to the
south, and Switzerland
and Liechtenstein
to the west. The territory of Austria covers
, and is influenced by a
temperate and
alpine climate. Austria's terrain is
highly mountainous due to the presence of the
Alps; only 32% of the country is below , and its
highest point is . The majority of the population speaks
German, which is also the country's official
language. Other local official languages are
Croatian,
Hungarian and
Slovene.
The origins of Austria date back to the time of the
Roman Empire when a
Celtic
kingdom was conquered by the Romans in approximately 15 BC, and
later became
Noricum, a
Roman province, in the mid
1st century AD—an area which mostly encloses
today's Austria. In 788 AD, the
Frankish king
Charlemagne conquered the area, and
introduced
Christianity. Under the
native
Habsburg dynasty, Austria
became one of the
great powers of
Europe.
In
1867, the Austrian
Empire
was merged into Austria-Hungary. The Austro-Hungarian
Empire collapsed in 1918 with the end of
World War I. After establishing the
First Austrian Republic in 1919
Austria was de facto annexed into Greater Germany by the Nazi
regime in the so-called
Anschluss in 1938.
This lasted until the end of
World War
II in 1945, after which Austria was
occupied by the Allies. In 1955, the
Austrian State Treaty
re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation.
In the same year, the
Austrian
Parliament created the
Declaration of Neutrality which
declared that the country would become permanently
neutral.
Today, Austria is a
parliamentary representative democracy comprising
nine
federal states.
The capital—and with a population exceeding
1.6 million, Austria's largest city—is Vienna
.
Austria is one of the
richest countries
in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,570. The
country has developed a
high standard of
living, and in 2008 was ranked 14th in the world for its
Human Development Index.
Austria has been a member of the
United
Nations since 1955, joined the
European Union in 1995, and is a founder of
the
OECD.
Austria also signed the
Schengen
Agreement in 1995, and adopted the European currency, the
euro, in 1999.
Etymology
Document in which "ostarrichi" was
first mentioned 996 (red circle)
The German
name of Austria derives from the Old
High German word Ostarrîchi "eastern realm", first attested in
the famous "Ostarrîchi document" of AD 996, where the term refers
to the Margraviate ruled by the
Babenberg Count Henry I located
mostly in what is today Lower Austria
and part of Upper
Austria. The name Austria is a latinization of the same
Germanic word for "
east", *
austrō also found in
Austrasia, the eastern part of
Merovingian
Francia.
German
Österreich is readily analysable as connected to
östlich "
eastern" and
Reich "realm, dominion, empire". The term
probably originates in a
vernacular
translation of the
Medieval Latin
name for the region: , which translates as "eastern marches" or
"eastern borderland", as it was situated at the eastern edge of the
Holy Roman Empire.
However,
Friedrich Heer, one the most
important Austrian historians in the 20th century, stated in his
book
Der Kampf um die österreichische Identität (The
Struggle Over Austrian Identity), that the Germanic form
Ostarrîchi was not a translation of the Latin word, but
both resulted from a much older term originating in the
Celtic languages of ancient Austria: More
than 2,500 years ago, the major part of the actual country was
called
Norig by the Celtic population (
Hallstatt culture);
No- or
Nor- meant "east" or "eastern", whereas
-rig is
related to the modern German
Reich; meaning "realm".
Accordingly,
Norig would essentially mean
Ostarrîchi and
Österreich, thus
Austria.
The Celtic name was eventually Latinised to
Noricum after the Romans conquered the area
that encloses most of modern day Austria, in approximately 15 BC.
Noricum later became a
Roman
province in the mid 1st century AD.
History
Settled in ancient times, the
central
European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman
times by various
Celtic tribes. The Celtic
kingdom of
Noricum was later claimed by the
Roman Empire and made a province. After
the fall of the Roman Empire, the area was invaded by
Bavarians,
Slavs and
Avars. The Slavic tribe of the Carantanians
migrated into the
Alps, and established the realm of
Carantania, which covered much of eastern and
central Austrian territory.
Charlemagne
conquered the area in 788 AD, encouraged colonisation, 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 went extinct. As a result,
Otakar 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 Rudolf I of Germany in 1278.
Thereafter, until
World War I, Austria's
history was largely that of its ruling dynasty, the
Habsburgs.
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, from then on, every emperor of the Holy
Roman Empire was a Habsburg, with only one exception.
The Habsburgs began also to accumulate lands 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. His son Philip the Fair married the heiress of
Castile and Aragon, and thus acquired Spain
and its
Italian, African, 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 so-called
Long War of 1593 to 1606.
During the long reign of
Leopold I
(1657–1705) and following the successful
defense of Vienna in 1683 (under the
command of the King of Poland,
John
III Sobieski), a
series of
campaigns resulted in bringing all of Hungary to Austrian
control by the
Treaty of
Carlowitz in 1699.
Emperor
Charles VI relinquished many of the fairly impressive 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 other powers' worthless recognitions 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).
Austria later became engaged in a war with
Revolutionary France—at the beginning
highly unsuccessful—with successive defeats at the hands of
Napoleon meaning the end of the old
Holy Roman Empire in 1806.
Two years
earlier, in 1804, the Empire of Austria was founded. In 1814 Austria was part of the
Allied forces that invaded France and brought to an end the
Napoleonic wars. It thus emerged
from the
Congress of Vienna in
1815 as one of four of the continent's dominant powers and a
recognised
great power.
The same year, the
German
Confederation
, ( ) was founded under the presidency of
Austria. Because of unsolved social, political and national
conflicts the German lands were shaken by the
1848 revolution aiming to create a unified
Germany.
A unified Germany would have been possible
either as 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 new formed empire was offered to the
Prussian King
Friedrich Wilhelm
IV.
In 1864 Austria and Prussia fought together against Denmark
, and successfully freed the independent duchies of
Schleswig and Holstein. Nevertheless as they could not agree on a
solution to the administration of the two duchies, they fought in
1866 the Austro-Prussian War
. Defeated by Prussia in the Battle of Königgrätz, Austria
had to leave the German Confederation and subsequently 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 Slav groups such as
Poles, Ukrainians,
Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes, Serbs and Croats, as well as large Italian and Romanian
communities.
As a result, ruling Austria–Hungary became increasingly difficult
in an age of emerging nationalist movements. Yet the government of
Austria tried its best to be accommodating in some respects: The
Reichsgesetzblatt, publishing the laws and ordinances of
Cisleithania, was issued in eight
languages, all national groups were entitled to schools in their
own language and to the use of their mothertongue at state offices,
for example. The government of Hungary to the contrary tried to
magyarise other ethnic entities. Thus the wishes of
ethnic groups dwelling in both parts of the
dual monarchy hardly could be solved.
The
assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
in Sarajevo
in 1914 by Gavrilo
Princip (a member of the Serbian nationalist group the Black Hand)) was used by leading Austrian and
Hungarian politicians and generals to persuade the Emperor to
declare war on Serbia, thereby risking and prompting the outbreak
of World War I which led to the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire.
On October 21, 1918, the elected German members of the
Reichsrat (parliament of Imperial Austria) met in Vienna
as the Provisional National Assembly for German Austria
(
Provisorische Nationalversammlung für Deutschösterreich).
On October 30 the assembly founded the State of German Austria by
appointing a government, called
Staatsrat. This new
government was invited by the Emperor to take part in the decision
on the planned armistice with Italy, but refrained from this
business, leaving the responsibility for the end of the war on
November 3, 1918 solely to the Emperor and his government. On
November 11 the Emperor, counseled by ministers of the old and the
new government, declared he would not take part in state business
any more; on November 12 German Austria, by law, declared itself to
be a democratic republic and part of the new German republic. The
constitution, renaming
Staatsrat to
Bundesregierung (federal government) and
Nationalversammlung to
Nationalrat (national
council) was passed on November 10, 1920.
Ethno-linguistic map of
Austria–Hungary, 1910
The
Treaty of Saint-Germain
of 1919 (for Hungary the
Treaty of
Trianon of 1920) confirmed and consolidated the new order of
Central Europe which to a great part had been established in
November 1918, creating new states and resizing others.
However,
over 3 million German Austrians found themselves living outside of
the newborn Austrian Republic in the respective states of Czechoslovakia
, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Italy.
Between
1918 and 1919, Austria was officially known as the State of
German
Austria
( ). Not only did the
Entente powers forbid German Austria
to unite with Germany, they also ignored the name German Austria in
the peace treaty to be signed; it was therefore changed to Republic
of Austria in late 1919.
After the war, an enormous inflation started to devaluate the
Krone, still Austria's currency. In the autumn of 1922,
Austria was granted an international loan supervised by the
League of Nations. The purpose of
the loan was to avert bankruptcy, stabilise the currency, and
improve its general economic condition. With the granting of the
loan, Austria passed from an independent state to the control
exercised by the League of Nations. In 1925, the
Schilling, replacing the
Krone by 10,000 : 1, was
introduced. Later it was called the Alpine dollar due to its
stability. From 1925 to 1929, economy enjoyed a short high before
nearly crashing after Black Friday.
The
First Austrian Republic
lasted until 1933 when Chancellor
Engelbert Dollfuss, gladly using what he
called "self-switch-off of Parliament" ( ), established an
autocratic regime tending towards
Italian fascism. The two big parties at this
time—the Social Democrats and the Conservatives—had paramilitary
armies; the Social Democrats'
Schutzbund was now
declared illegal but still operative as
civil war broke out.
In February 1934, several members of the
Schutzbund were
executed, the Social Democratic party was outlawed and many of its
members were imprisoned or emigrated. On 1 May 1934 the
Austrofascists imposed a new constitution
("
Maiverfassung") which cemented
Dollfuss's power but on 25 July he was assassinated in a
Nazi coup attempt. His successor
Kurt Schuschnigg struggled to keep Austria
independent as "the better German state", but on 12 March 1938
German troops occupied the country while Austrian Nazis took over
government. On 13 March 1938 the
Anschluss of Austria was officially declared,
and two days later
Hitler, a native of
Austria, proclaimed the re-unification of his home country with the
rest of Germany on Vienna's Heldenplatz. He established a
plebiscite confirming union with Germany in April 1938.
Austria was incorporated into the
Third
Reich and ceased to exist as an independent state. The Nazis
called Austria "
Ostmark" until 1942 when it
was again renamed and called "Alpen-Donau-Reichsgaue". Vienna fell
on 13 April 1945 during the Soviet
Vienna Offensive just before the total
collapse of the Third Reich.
Karl Renner
astutely set up a Provisional
Government in Vienna in April
with the approval of the victorious Soviet forces, and declared
Austria's secession from the Third Reich by the Declaration of
Independence on 27 April 1945. Total
military deaths from
1939–1945 are estimated at 260,000. Jewish Holocaust victims
totaled 65,000.
Much like Germany, Austria, too, was divided into a British, a
French, a Soviet and a U.S. Zone and governed by the
Allied Commission for Austria.
As forecast in the
Moscow
Declaration in 1943, there was a subtle difference in the
treatment of Austria by the Allies. The Austrian Government,
consisting of Social Democrats, Conservatives and Communists and
residing in Vienna, which was surrounded by the Soviet zone, was
recognised by the
Western Allies in
October 1945 after some doubts that Renner could be Stalin's
puppet. Thereby the creation of a separate Western Austrian
government and the division of the country could be avoided.
Austria, in general, was treated as though it had been originally
invaded by Germany and liberated by the Allies.
150x
After talks which lasted for years and were influenced by the Cold
War, on 15 May 1955 Austria regained full independence by
concluding the
Austrian State
Treaty with the Four Occupying Powers. On 26 October 1955
Austria declared its "permanent neutrality" by an act of
Parliament, which remains to this day but has been indirectly
changed by constitutional amendments concerning Austria as member
of the European Union.
The political system of the Second Republic is based on the
constitution of 1920 and 1929, which was reintroduced in 1945. The
system came to be characterised by
Proporz, meaning that most posts of political
importance were split evenly between members of the Social
Democrats and the People's Party. Interest group "chambers" with
mandatory membership (e.g. for workers, business people, farmers)
grew to considerable importance and were usually consulted in the
legislative process, so that hardly any legislation was passed that
did not reflect widespread consensus. Since 1945, a single-party
government took place only 1966−1970 (conservatives) and 1970−1983
(social democrats). During all other legislative periods, either a
grand coalition of conservatives and social democrats or a "small
coalition" (one of these two and a smaller party) ruled the
country.
The country became a member of the
European Union in 1995. The major parties SPÖ
and ÖVP have contrary opinions about the future status of Austria's
military non-alignment: While the SPÖ in public supports a neutral
role, the ÖVP argues for stronger integration into the EU's
security policy; even a future NATO membership is not ruled out by
some ÖVP politicians.
In reality, Austria is taking part in the
EU's Common Foreign
and Security Policy, participates in the so called Petersburg
Agenda (including peace keeping and
peace creating tasks) and has become member of NATO
's
"Partnership for Peace"; constitution has been amended
accordingly. Since 2008, due to the Schengen Agreement, the only neighbouring
country performing border controls towards Austria is Liechtenstein.
Politics
Political system
The
Parliament of Austria is
located in Vienna, the
country's largest city and capital. Austria became a
federal,
parliamentarian,
democratic republic through the
Federal Constitution
of 1920. It was reintroduced in 1945 to the nine
states of the Federal Republic. The
head of state is
the
Federal President
(
Bundespräsident), who is directly elected by popular
vote. The chairman of the
Federal
Government is the
Federal
Chancellor, who is appointed by the president. The government
can be removed from office by either a presidential decree or by
vote of no confidence in the
lower chamber of parliament, the
Nationalrat. Voting for the
federal president and for the Parliament used to be compulsory in
Austria, but this was abolished in steps from 1982 to 2004.
The Parliament of Austria 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 16 years
(since 2007) has
voting rights. While there
is a general threshold of 4 percent for all parties at federal
elections (Nationalratswahlen), there remains the possibility to
gain a direct seat, or , in one of the 43 regional election
districts.
The Nationalrat is the dominant chamber in the formation of
legislation 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
Beharrungsbeschluss,
lit. "vote of
persistence"). A convention, called the
was convened in June 30, 2003 to decide upon suggestions to reform
the constitution, but failed to produce a proposal that would
receive the two-thirds of votes in the Nationalrat necessary for
constitutional amendments and/or reform.
With legislative and executive, the courts are the third column of
Austrian state powers. Notably the Constitutional Court
(
Verfassungsgerichtshof) may exert considerable influence
on the political system by ruling out laws and ordinances 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.
Concerning human
rights, Austria also is implementing the decisions of the
European
Court of Human Rights
, since the European Convention on Human
Rights is part of the Austrian constitution.
Recent developments
After general elections held in October 2006, the
Social Democrats emerged
as the largest party, whereas the
People's Party lost about 8% in
votes. Political realities prohibited any of the two major parties
from forming a coalition with smaller parties. In January 2007 the
People's Party and Social Democrats formed a grand coalition with
the social democrat
Alfred
Gusenbauer as Chancellor. This coalition broke up in June 2008.
Elections in September 2008 further weakened both major parties
(Social Democrats and People's Party) but together they still held
more than 50% of the votes with the Social Democrats holding the
majority. They formed a coalition with Werner Faymann from the
Social Democrats as Chancellor.
The positions of the Freedom Party and the
deceased Jörg Haider's new party
Alliance for the Future of
Austria
, both right-wing parties, were strengthened during
the election.
Foreign policy
The 1955
Austrian State Treaty
ended the occupation of Austria following World War II and
recognised Austria as an independent and sovereign state. On 26
October 1955, the
Federal
Assembly passed a constitutional article in which "Austria
declares of her own free will her perpetual neutrality". The second
section of this law stated that "in all future times Austria will
not join any military alliances and will not permit the
establishment of any foreign military bases on her territory".
Since then, Austria has shaped its foreign policy on the basis of
neutrality, but rather different from the neutrality of
Switzerland.
Austria
began to reassess its definition of neutrality following the fall
of the Soviet
Union
, granting overflight rights for the UN-sanctioned action against Iraq
in 1991,
and, since 1995, it has developed participation in the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy
(CFSP). Also in 1995, it joined the Partnership for Peace
and subsequently participated in peacekeeping missions in Bosnia.
Meanwhile, the only part of the Constitutional Law on Neutrality of
1955 still valid fully is not to allow foreign military bases in
Austria.
Austria attaches great importance to participation in the
Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development and other
international economic organisations, and it has played an active
role in the
Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Energy politics
In 1972,
the country began construction of a nuclear-powered electricity-generation station
at Zwentendorf
on the River Danube,
following a unanimous vote in parliament. However, in 1978,
a
referendum voted approximately 50.5%
against nuclear power, 49.5% for, and parliament subsequently
unanimously passed a law forbidding the use of nuclear power to
generate electricity.
Austria currently produces more than half of its electricity by
hydropower. Together with other
renewable energy sources such as
wind,
solar and
biomass powerplants, the electricity supply
from renewable energy amounts to 62.89% of total use in Austria,
with the rest being produced by
gas and
oil powerplants.
Military
The manpower of the Austrian Armed Forces ( ) mainly relies on
conscription. All males who have
reached the age of eighteen and are found fit serve a six months
military service, followed by an
eight year reserve obligation. Both males and females at the age of
sixteen are eligible for voluntary service.
Conscientious objection is legally
acceptable and those who claim this right are obliged to serve an
institutionalised nine months
civilian
service instead. Since 1998, women volunteers have been allowed
to become professional soldiers.
The main sectors of the Bundesheer are Joint Forces
(Streitkräfteführungskommando, SKFüKdo) which consist of Land
Forces (Landstreitkräfte), Air Forces (Luftstreitkräfte),
International Missions (Internationale Einsätze) and Special Forces
(Spezialeinsatzkräfte), next to Mission Support (Kommando
Einsatzunterstützung; KdoEU) and Command Support (Kommando
Führungsunterstützung; KdoFüU). Being a
landlocked country, Austria has no
navy.
In 2004, Austria's defence expenditures corresponded to
approximately 0.9% of its GDP. The Army currently has about 45,000
soldiers, of whom about half are conscripts. As head of state,
Austrian President (currently
Heinz Fischer) is nominally the
Commander-in-Chief of the Bundesheer. In practical reality,
however, command of the Austrian Armed Forces is almost exclusively
exercised by the Minister of Defense, currently
Norbert Darabos.
Since the end of the
Cold War, and more
importantly the removal of the former heavily guarded "
Iron Curtain" separating Austria and Hungary,
the Austrian military has been assisting Austrian border guards in
trying to prevent border crossings by
illegal immigrants. This assistance came
to an end when Hungary joined the EU Schengen area in 2008, for all
intents and purposes abolishing "internal" border controls between
treaty states. Some politicians have called for a prolongation of
this mission, but the legality of this is heavily disputed. In
accordance with the Austrian constitution, armed forces may only be
deployed in a limited number of cases, mainly to defend the country
and aid in cases of national emergency, such as in the wake of
natural disasters. They may
generally not be used as auxiliary police forces.
Within its self-declared status of permanent neutrality, Austria
has a long and proud tradition of engaging in UN-led peacekeeping
and other humanitarian missions. The
Austrian Forces Disaster
Relief Unit (AFDRU), in particular, an all-volunteer unit with
close ties to civilian specialists (e.g. rescue dog handlers)
enjoys a reputation as a quick (standard deployment time is 10
hours) and efficient
SAR unit.
Currently, larger contingents of Austrian
forces are deployed in Bosnia
, Kosovo
and, since
1974, in the Golan
Heights
.
States
As a
federal republic, Austria is
divided into
nine states ( ).
These states are then divided into
districts ( ) and statutory cities ( ). Districts
are subdivided into municipalities ( ). Statutory Cities have the
competencies otherwise granted to both districts and
municipalities. The states are not mere administrative divisions
but have some legislative authority distinct from the federal
government, e.g. in matters of culture, social care, youth and
nature protection, hunting, building, and zoning ordinances. In
recent years, it has been discussed whether today it is appropriate
for a small country to maintain ten parliaments.
Geography
Topography of Austria
Austria is a largely
mountainous country
due to 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 ( ), only about a quarter can be considered low
lying, and only 32% of the country is below . The Alps of western
Austria give way somewhat into low lands and plains in the eastern
part of the country.
Austria
can be divided into five areas, the biggest being the Eastern Alps
, which constitute 62% of 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 comprises
the remaining 4%.
The six highest mountains in Austria are:
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.
Climate
The greater part of Austria lies in the cool/temperate
climate zone in which humid westerly winds
predominate. With over half of the country dominated by the
Alps, the
alpine
climate is the predominant one. 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, summer temperatures can be relatively warm—reaching
temperatures of around 20 – 40 °
C.
Economy
Modern Vienna
Austria is one of the 12
richest countries
in the world in terms of GDP (
Gross domestic product) per capita,
has a well-developed
social market
economy, and a high
standard of
living. 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 strong in
Austria and have large influence on labour politics. Next to a
highly-developed industry, international tourism is the most
important part of the national economy.
Germany has
historically been the main trading partner of Austria, making it
vulnerable to rapid changes in the German
economy. However, since Austria became a member state of
the
European Union it has gained
closer ties to other
European Union
economies, reducing its economic dependence on Germany. In
addition, membership in the EU has drawn an influx of foreign
investors attracted by Austria's access to the single European
market and proximity to the aspiring economies of the European
Union. Growth in GDP accelerated in recent years and reached 3.3%
in 2006.
Currency
In Austria, the
euro was introduced as an
accounting currency on 1 January 1999, and euro coins and banknotes
entered circulation on 1 January 2002. As a preparation for this
date, the minting of the new euro coins started as early as 1999,
however all Austrian euro coins introduced in 2002 have this year
on it; unlike other countries of the
Eurozone where mint year is minted in the coin.
Eight different designs, one per face value, were selected for the
Austrian coins. In 2007, in order to adopt the new common map like
the rest of the Eurozone countries, Austria changed the common side
of its coins.
Before adopting the Euro in 2002 Austria had maintained use of the
Austrian schilling which was
first established in December 1924. The Schilling was abolished in
the wake of the
Anschluss in 1938 and has
been reintroduced after the end of the
World War II in November 1945.
Austria has one of the richest collection of collectors' coins in
the Eurozone, with face value ranging from 10 to 100 euro (although
a 100,000 euro coin was exceptionally minted in 2004). These coins
are a legacy of an old national practice of minting of silver and
gold coins. Unlike normal issues, these coins are not
legal tender in all the eurozone. For instance,
a €5 Austrian commemorative coin cannot be used in any other
country.
Education
Responsibility for educational oversight in Austria is entrusted
partly to the
Austrian states
(Bundesländer), and partly to the federal government. School
attendance is
compulsory for
nine years, i.e. usually to the age of fifteen. The
Programme for
International Student Assessment, coordinated by the
OECD, currently ranks Austria's education as the 18th
best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD
average.
Kindergarten education, free in most
states, is provided for all children between the ages of three and
six years and, whilst optional, is considered a normal part of a
child's education, due to its high takeup rate. Maximum class size
is around 30, each class normally being cared for by one qualified
teacher and one assistant. Standard attendance times are 8am to
12am, with extra afternoon care also frequently provided for a
fee.
Primary education, or
Volksschule, lasts for four years, starting at
age six. Maximum class size is 30, but may be as low as 15. It is
generally expected that a class will be taught by one teacher for
the entire four years and the stable bond between teacher and pupil
is considered important for a child's wellbeing. The "3Rs" dominate
lesson time, with less time allotted to project work than in the
UK. Children work individually and all members of a class follow
the same plan of work. There is no streaming. Lessons begin at 8am
and last until noon or 1pm with hourly five- or ten-minute breaks.
Children are given homework daily from the first year. Historically
there has been no lunch hour, children returning home to eat.
However, due to a rise in the number of mothers in work, primary
schools are increasingly offering pre-lesson and afternoon
care.
As in
Germany, secondary education consists of two main
types of schools, attendance at which is based on a pupil's ability
as determined by grades from the primary school. The
Gymnasium caters for the more
able children, in the final year of which the
Matura examination is taken, which is a requirement
for access to university. The
Hauptschule prepares pupils for vocational
education but also for various types of further education (
HTL = institution of higher technical education;
HAK = commercial academy;
HBLA = institution of higher education for economic
business; etc.). Attendance at one of these further education
institutes also leads to the
Matura. Some
schools aim to combine the education available at the Gymnasium and
the Hauptschule, and are know as
Gesamtschulen. In addition, a recognition of
the importance of learning
English
has led some Gymnasiums to offer a bilingual stream, in which
pupils deemed able in languages follow a modified curriculum, a
portion of the lesson time being conducted in English.
As at primary school, lessons at
Gymnasium begin at 8am, and continue with
short intervals until lunchtime or early afternoon, with children
returning home to a late lunch. Older pupils often attend further
lessons after a break for lunch, generally eaten at school. As at
primary level, all pupils follow the same plan of work. Great
emphasis is placed on homework and frequent testing. Satisfactory
marks in the end-of-the-year report ("Zeugnis") are a prerequisite
for moving up ("aufsteigen") to the next class. Pupils who do not
meet the required standard re-sit their tests at the end of the
summer holidays; those whose marks are still not satisfactory are
required to re-sit the year ("sitzenbleiben"). It is not uncommon
for a pupil to re-sit more than one year of school. After
completing the first two years, pupils choose between one of two
strands, known as "Gymnasium" (slightly more emphasis on arts) or
"Realgymnasium" (slightly more emphasis on science). Whilst many
schools offer both strands, some do not, and as a result, some
children move schools for a second time at age 12. At age 14,
pupils may choose to remain in one of these two strands, or to
change to a vocational course, possibly with a further change of
school.
The Austrian university system had been open to any student who
passed the
Matura examination until recently.
A 2006 bill allowed the introduction of entrance exams for studies
such as
Medicine. In 2001, an obligatory
tution fee ("
Studienbeitrag") of €363.36 per term was
introduced for all public universities. Since 2008, for all EU
students the studies are free of charge, as long as a certain
time-limit is not exceeded (the expected duration of the study plus
usually two terms tolerance). When the time-limit is exceeded, the
fee of around €363.36 per term is charged. Some further exceptions
to the fee apply, e.g. for students with a year's salary of more
than about €5000. In all cases, an obligatory fee of €15.50 for the
student union and insurance is charged.
Demographics
Austria's population estimate in January 2009 was 8,356,707.
The
population of the capital, Vienna, exceeds 1.6
million (2.2 million including the suburbs), representing about a
quarter of the country's population and is known for its vast
cultural offerings and high standard of living.
In
contrast to the capital, other cities do not exceed 1 million
inhabitants: the second largest city Graz
is home to
250,099 inhabitants, followed by Linz
(188,968),
Salzburg
(150,000), and Innsbruck
(117,346). All other cities have fewer than
100,000 inhabitants.
German, Austria's official language, is spoken by 88.6% of the
population—followed by Turkish (2.3%), Serbian (2.2%), Croatian
(1.6%), Hungarian (0.5%), and Bosnian (0.4%).
The Austrian federal
states of Carinthia
and Styria
are home to
a significant indigenous Slovene
speaking minority with around 14,000 members (Austrian census;
unofficial numbers of Slovene groups speak of up to 50,000).
In the
east-most state, Burgenland
(formerly part of the Hungarian half of Austria–Hungary), about 20,000
Austrian citizens speak Hungarian
and 30,000 speak Croatian.
Of the remaining
number of Austria's people
that are of non-Austrian descent, many come from surrounding
countries, especially from the former
East
Bloc nations. So-called
guest
workers (Gastarbeiter) and their descendants, as well
as refugees from the
Yugoslav wars and
other conflicts, also form an important
minority group in Austria. Since 1994 the
Roma–
Sinti
(gypsies) are an officially recognised ethnic minority in
Austria.
According to
census information published by
Statistik Austria for the year 2001 there were a total of 710,926
foreign nationals living in Austria.
Of these, 124,392
speak German as their mother tongue
(mainly immigrants from Germany, some from Switzerland and Bolzano-Bozen, Italy) The next
largest populations of linguistic and ethnic groups are 240,863
foreign nationals from the former
Yugoslavia
(Serbian being the largest number of these at
135,376, followed by Croatian at 105,487); 123,417 Turkish
nationals; 25,155 whose native tongue is English; 24,446 Albanian;
17,899 Polish; 14,699 Hungarian; 12,216 Romanian; 7,982 Arabs;
6,902 Slovenes (not including the autochthonous minority); 6,891
Slovaks; 6,707 Czech; 5,916 Persian; 5,677 Italian; 5,466 Russian;
5,213 French; 4,938 Chinese; 4,264 Spanish; 3,503 Bulgarian.
The populations of the rest fall off sharply below 3,000. Between
200,000 and 300,000 ethnic
Turks
(including minority of Turkish
Kurds)
currently live in Austria. They are the largest single immigrant
group in Austria.
Austria's mountainous terrain led to the development of many
distinct
German dialects.
All of
the dialects in the country, however, belong
to Austro-Bavarian groups of German
dialects, with the exception of the dialect spoken in its
western-most Bundesland, Vorarlberg
, which belongs to the group of Alemannic dialects. There is also a
distinct grammatical standard for
Austrian German with a few differences to
the German spoken in Germany.
As of 2006, some of the Austrian states introduced standardised
tests for new citizens, to assure their language ability, cultural
knowledge and accordingly their ability to integrate into the
Austrian society. For the national rules, see
Austrian
nationality law – Naturalisation.
Politics concerning ethnic groups ( )
An
estimated 13,000 to 40,000 Slovenes in the
Austrian state of Carinthia (the Carinthian
Slovenes) as well as Croats (around
30,000) and Hungarians in Burgenland were
recognised as a minority and have enjoyed special rights following
the Austrian State Treaty ( ) of 1955. The Slovenes in the
Austrian state of Styria (estimated
at a number between 1,600 and 5,000) are not recognised as a
minority and do not enjoy special rights, although the State Treaty
of July 27, 1955 states otherwise.
The right for bilingual topographic signs for the regions where
Slovene- and Croat-Austrians live alongside the German speaking
population (as required by the 1955 State Treaty) is still to be
fully implemented.
Many Carinthians are afraid of Slovenian territorial claims, pointing to the fact that
Yugoslav troops entered the state after each of the two World Wars and considering that some official
Slovenian atlases show parts of Carinthia as Slovene cultural
territory. The recently deceased governor,
Jörg Haider, has made this fact a matter of
public argument in autumn 2005 by refusing to increase the number
of bilingual topographic signs in Carinthia. A poll by the Kärntner
Humaninstitut conducted in January 2006 states that 65% of
Carinthians are not in favour of an increase of bilingual
topographic signs, since the original requirements set by the State
Treaty of 1955 have already been fulfilled according to their point
of view.
Another interesting phenomenon is the so called
"Windischen-Theorie" stating that the Slovenes can be split in two
groups: actual Slovenes and
Windische (a traditional
German name for Slavs), based on differences in language between
Austrian Slovenes, who were taught Slovene standard language in
school and those Slovenes who spoke their local Slovene dialect but
went to German schools. The term
Windische was applied to
the latter group as a means of distinction. This politically
influenced theory, dividing Slovene Austrians into the "loyal
Windische" and the "national Slovenes", was never generally
accepted and fell out of use some decades ago.
Religion
At the end of the twentieth century, about 74% of Austria's
population were registered as Roman Catholic, while about 5%
considered themselves
Protestants.
Austrian Christians are obliged to pay a mandatory membership fee
(calculated by income—about 1%) to their church; this payment is
called "Kirchensteuer" ("Ecclesiastical/Church tax").
About 12% of the population declare that they have
no religion.
Of the remaining people, around 340,000 are
registered as members of various Muslim communities, mainly due to
the influx from Turkey
, Bosnia-Herzegovina
and Albania
. About 180,000 are members of
Eastern Orthodox Church, more than 20,000
are active
Jehovah's Witnesses
and about 8,100 are
Jewish.
The
Austrian Jewish
Community of 1938—Vienna alone counted more than 200,000—was
reduced to around 4,500 during the
Second
World War, with approximately 65,000 Jewish Austrians killed in
the Holocaust and 130,000 emigrating.
The large majority of the current Jewish population are post-war
immigrants, particularly from
eastern
Europe and
central Asia (including
Bukharan Jews).
Buddhism was legally recognised as a
religion in Austria in 1983.
According to the most recent
Eurobarometer
Poll 2005,
- 54% of Austrian citizens responded that
"they believe there is a God".
- 34% answered that "they believe there is
some sort of spirit or life force".
- 8% answered that "they do not believe
there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force".
Alter Dom, Linz
While northern and central Germany was the origin of the
Reformation, Austria and Bavaria were
the heart of the
Counter-Reformation in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, when the absolute monarchy of
Habsburg imposed a strict regime to restore
Catholicism's power and influence among Austrians. The
Habsburgs for a long time viewed themselves as the
vanguard of
Catholicism and
all other confessions and religions were repressed.
In 1781, in the era of Austrian enlightenment,
Emperor Joseph II issued a
Patent of Tolerance for Austria that allowed other confessions a
limited
freedom of worship.
Religious freedom was declared a constitutional right in
Cisleithania after the Austro-Hungarian
Ausgleich in 1867 thus paying tribute to the
fact that the monarchy was home of numerous religions beside Roman
Catholicism such as Greek, Serbian, Romanian, Russian, and
Bulgarian
Orthodox Christians
(Austria neighboured the
Ottoman
Empire for centuries),
Calvinist,
Lutheran Protestants and Jews.
In 1912, after the
annexation of Bosnia
Hercegovina
in 1908, Islam was officially
recognised in Austria.
Austria remained largely influenced by Catholicism. After 1918,
First Republic Catholic leaders such as
Theodor Innitzer and
Ignaz Seipel took leading positions within or
close to Austria's government and increased their influence during
the time of the
Austrofascism;
Catholicism was treated much like a
state
religion by
Engelbert
Dollfuss and
Kurt Schuschnigg.
Although
Catholic (and Protestant) leaders initially welcomed the Germans in
1938 during the Anschluss of Austria into
Germany, Austrian
Catholicism stopped its support of Nazism
later on and many former religious public figures became involved
with the resistance during the Third
Reich. After the end of
World
War II in 1945, a stricter
secularism
was imposed in Austria, and religious influence on politics
declined.
Culture
Music
Austria's past as a European power and its cultural environment
have generated a broad contribution to various forms of art, most
notably among them music. Austria has been the birthplace of many
famous composers such as
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Joseph Haydn,
Franz
Schubert,
Anton Bruckner,
Johann Strauss, Sr.,
Johann Strauss, Jr. and
Gustav Mahler as well as members of the
Second Viennese School such
as
Arnold Schoenberg,
Anton Webern and
Alban
Berg.
Vienna has long been especially an important centre of musical
innovation. Eighteenth and nineteenth 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. Vienna's status began its rise as
a cultural center in the early 1500s, 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
World War II to replace
the traditional Austrian anthem by Joseph Haydn.
Austria has also produced one notable jazz musician, keyboardist
Josef Zawinul, who helped pioneer
electronic influences in jazz as well as being a notable composer
in his own right. The
pop and
rock musician,
Falco, was internationally acclaimed during
the 1980s, especially for his song "
Rock
Me Amadeus" dedicated to Mozart. The drummer
Thomas Lang was born in Vienna in 1967 and is
now world renowned for his technical ability, having played with
artists such as
Geri Halliwell and
Robbie Williams.
Art and architecture
Among Austrian Artists and architects one can find the painters
Ferdinand Georg
Waldmüller,
Rudolf von Alt,
Hans Makart,
Gustav Klimt,
Oskar
Kokoschka,
Egon Schiele,
Carl Moll, and
Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the
photographers
Inge Morath and
Ernst Haas and architects like
Johann Bernhard Fischer von
Erlach,
Otto Wagner,
Adolf Loos, and
Hans
Hollein.
Science, philosophy and economics
Austria was the cradle of numerous scientists with international
reputation. Among them are
Ludwig
Boltzmann,
Ernst Mach,
Victor Franz Hess and
Christian Doppler, prominent scientists in
the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, contributions by
Lise Meitner,
Erwin Schrödinger and
Wolfgang Pauli to nuclear research and
quantum mechanics were key to
these areas' development during the 1920s and 1930s. A present-day
quantum physicist is
Anton Zeilinger, noted as the first
scientist to demonstrate
quantum
teleportation.
In addition to
physicists, Austria was the
birthplace of two of the most noteworthy philosophers of the
twentieth century,
Ludwig
Wittgenstein and
Karl Popper. In
addition to them biologists
Gregor
Mendel and
Konrad Lorenz as well
as mathematician
Kurt Gödel and
engineers such as
Ferdinand
Porsche and
Siegfried Marcus
were Austrians.
A focus of Austrian science has always been medicine and
psychology, starting in
medieval
times with
Paracelsus. Eminent
physicians like
Theodore Billroth,
Clemens von Pirquet, and
Anton von Eiselsberg have built
upon the achievements of the 19th century
Vienna School of Medicine. Austria was home to
psychologists
Sigmund Freud,
Alfred Adler,
Paul
Watzlawick and
Hans Asperger and
psychiatrist
Viktor Frankl.
The
Austrian School of Economics,
which is prominent as one of the main competitive directions for
economic theory, is related to Austrian economists
Joseph Schumpeter,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk,
Ludwig von Mises, and
Friedrich Hayek. Other noteworthy
Austrian-born émigrés include the management thinker
Peter Drucker, scientist
Sir Gustav Nossal, and the 38th Governor of
California,
Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
Literature
Complementing its status as a land of artists and scientists,
Austria has always been a country of poets, writers, and novelists.
It was the home of novelists
Arthur
Schnitzler,
Stefan Zweig,
Thomas Bernhard,
Franz Kafka, and
Robert
Musil, of poets
Georg Trakl,
Franz Werfel,
Franz Grillparzer,
Rainer Maria Rilke,
Adalbert Stifter,
Karl Kraus and children's author
Eva Ibbotson.
Famous contemporary playwrights and novelists are
Nobel prize winner
Elfriede Jelinek,
Peter Handke and
Daniel Kehlmann.
Cuisine
The Viennoise
Austria's cuisine is derived from that of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. Austrian
cuisine is mainly the tradition of Royal-Cuisine ("Hofküche")
delivered over centuries. It is famous for its well-balanced
variations of beef and pork and countless variations of vegetables.
There is also the "Mehlspeisen" Bakery, which created particular
delicacies such as Sachertorte, "Krapfen" which are doughnuts
usually filled with apricot marmalade or custard, and "Strudel"
such as "
Apfelstrudel" and
"Topfenstrudel" filled with sweetened sour cream.
In addition to native
regional traditions, the cuisine has been influenced by Hungarian, Bohemia Czech
, Jewish, Italian, Balkan and French
cuisine,
from which both dishes and methods of food preparation have often
been borrowed. The Austrian cuisine is therefore one of the
most multicultural and transcultural in Europe.
Typical Austrian dishes include
Wiener
Schnitzel,
Schweinsbraten,
Kaiserschmarren,
Knödel,
Sachertorte
and
Tafelspitz. There are also Kärntner
Kasnudeln, a cooked filled dough-bag with a type of cottage cheese
and spearmint, and
Eierschwammerl
dishes. The "Eierschwammerl", also known as "Pfifferling", are
native yellow, tan mushrooms. The candy
Pez was
invented in Austria, as well as
Mannerschnitten. Austria is also famous for its
Mozartkugeln, and its coffee
tradition.
Sports
Salzburg Stadium, Home of the FC RB
Salzburg
Due to the mountainous terrain,
alpine
skiing is a prominent sport in Austria. Similar sports such as
snowboarding or
ski-jumping are also widely popular. A popular
team sport in Austria is
football, which is governed by the
Austrian Football
Association. However, Austria rarely has international success
in this discipline, going out in the first round of the
2008 UEFA European
Football Championship which was co-hosted by Austria and
Switzerland. Besides football, Austria also has professional
national leagues for most major team sports including the
Austrian Hockey League for
ice hockey, and the
Österreichische
Basketball Bundesliga for
basketball.
Bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton are also popular events with a
permanent track located in Igls, which hosted
bobsleigh and luge competitions for the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics held in Innsbruck. The
first Winter Youth Olympics in
2012 will be held in Innsbruck as well.
See also
References
Footnotes
- Lonnie Johnson 17
- Jelavich 267
- Johnson 19
- Johnson 20–21
- Johnson 21
- Lonnie Johnson 23
- Lonnie Johnson 25
- Brook-Shepherd 11
- Lonnie Johnson 26
- Lonnie Johnson 26–28
- Lonnie Johnson 34
- Johnson 36
- Lonnie Johnson 55
- Schulze 233
- Lonnie Johnson 59
- Johnson 52–54
- Brook-Shepherd 246
- Brook-Shepherd 245
- Brook-Shepherd 257–8
- Lonnie Johnson 104
- Brook-Shepherd 269–70
- Brook-Shepherd 261
- Johnson 107
- Brook-Shepherd 283
- Lonnie Johnson 109
- Brook-Shepherd 292
- Lonnie Johnson 112–3
- Lonnie Johnson 135–6
- Rűdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten
Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000.
- Anschluss and World War II. Britannica Online
Encyclopedia.
- Lonnie Johnson 137
- Manfried Rauchensteiner: Der Sonderfall. Die Besatzungszeit in
Österreich 1945 bis 1955 (The Special Case. The Time of Occupation
in Austria 1945 to 1955), edited by Heeresgeschichtliches Museum /
Militärwissenschaftliches Institut (Museum of Army History /
Institute for Military Science), Vienna 1985
- Lonnie Johnson 153
- Lonnie Johnson 139
- Lonnie Johnson 165
- Brook-Shepherd 447,449
- Lonnie Johnson 17, 142
- Lonnie Johnson 168–9
- Real GDP Growth – Expenditure Side, provided by
the Austrian National Bank
- http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/8/39700724.pdf
- "World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous
Peoples - Austria: Turks". Minority Rights Group International,
World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Austria:
Turks, 2008. Online. UNHCR Refworld
- Requirements to become an Austrian citizen,
provided by the Viennese state government
- Lonnie Johnson 153
- http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windischen-Theorie
- Statistics: 2005 Report of Jehovah's Witnesses
Worldwide.
- Expulsion, Deportation and Murder - History of the
Jews in Vienna Vienna Webservice
- Bukharian Jews find homes on Long Island,
Bukharian Reviews, September 16, 2004
- Lonnie Johnson 28
- Brook-Shepherd 16
Bibliography
External links
Government
Travel
Miscellanea
English
Photos
_058.jpg/180px-Canaletto_(I)_058.jpg)
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Facts
Map
Misc
Timeline
Search
