Vienna

Throughout its existence Vienna has been a frontier post. Originally a Celtic settlement (Vindobona), it was taken over by the Romans in the 1st century bc and fortified by Emperor Augustus as part of the defences against the Germanic tribes that lived north of the Danube. In the 5th century ad, however, the Romans evacuated the area. In the 9th century Austria became part of the renewed Roman Empire of Charlemagne, and in 976 Emperor Otto II granted it to the Babenberg family. By the end of the 12th century the city covered what is now the Inner District, and in 1221 it was granted municipal privileges.

After the extinction of the Babenbergs in 1246, Vienna came briefly under Ottokar II of Bohemia, but he was expelled in 1278 by the German king Rudolf I of Habsburg and from that time the city was a possession of the Habsburg family. Rudolf IV of Habsburg, called The Founder, made an indelible impact on Vienna, completing the construction of St Stephen's Cathedral, founding the university (1365), and launching municipal reforms. In the next three centuries the city was struck by religious strife, Turkish sieges (1529 and 1683), and the plague (1679). The title of Holy Roman emperor became hereditary in the Habsburg family in the 15th century, and the Habsburgs added Hungary and Bohemia to their domains in 1526. Vienna became the seat of their central administration and the imperial residence. In the 17th and 18th centuries the city was beautified with splendid Baroque churches and palaces. In 1804 it became the capital of the new Austrian Empire, and after the Napoleonic Wars Europe's leaders met there at the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815). In 1848 the Viennese staged an unsuccessful revolt against the Habsburgs.

During the reign (1848-1916) of Emperor Francis Joseph I, Vienna became a modern city and capital (1867) of the Austro-Hungarian empire; its old walls were dismantled and replaced by the Ringstrasse. Mayor Karl Luegerwas a model municipal administrator and fiery popular leader. The city grew, by immigration and absorption of suburbs, from 431,100 inhabitants in 1851 to 2,239,000 in 1916, and its ethnic and religious minorities included 200,000 Czechs and 147,000 Jews. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Vienna was the cradle of psychoanalysis under its originator, Sigmund Freud.

After World War I and the breakup of the empire, Vienna became the capital of a small Austrian republic. Known as Red Vienna, it was the stronghold of the Austrian Social Democratic party and the scene of violent confrontations between socialist and right-wing groups. Between 1938, after Anschluss, and 1945 it was a provincial capital in the German Reich; the Nazis exterminated most of its Jewish population.

After World War II and ten years of Allied occupation, Vienna re-emerged as the capital of a neutral Austrian republic and, after 1979, as one of the world headquarters of the United Nations. In 1995 Austria joined the European Union, and in 1996 the nation’s 1,000th anniversary was celebrated in Vienna and throughout the country. The 100th anniversary of the death of Johann Strauss, the quintessentially Viennese composer, was marked in 1999. In 2001 the historic centre of Vienna was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.