A Short History of Vienna

About Vienna

Under the Hapsburgs, Vienna became the capital of the Holy Roman Empire and a cultural center, renowned for its patronage of the arts, sciences, music, as well as its fine cuisine. It was occupied by Hungary from 1485 too 1490.

During the Ottoman Wars, Vienna came under threat again, but the attacking Ottoman armies were stopped twice; once in 1529 (the Siege of Vienna) and again in 1683 (the Battle of Vienna). In between these attacks, the plague ravaged the city, killing approximately one-third of the city's population in 1679.

One of the most formative parts of Vienna's history is its time as the capital of the Austrian Empire (1804-1867). The empire was founded by the German-Roman Emperor Franz II, who became Emperor Francis I of Austria. The state he founded was comprised of his own personal lands and lands of the Holy Roman Empire.  France and its German allies formed the Third Coalition and defeated Francis Il at Austerlitz in December 1805.

Francis Il was forced to agree to the Treaty of Pressburg, which ultimately led to a great loss of territory for the Holy Roman Empire. Many Austrian holdings in Germany were passed to French allies such as the King of Bavaria. In order to prevent Napoleon from succeeding him after France's creation of the Confederation of the Rhine, Francis Il dissolved the Holy Roman Empire.

Austria was defeated again in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and allied itself with Hungary in the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, which granted Hungary equal status to the rest of Austria. This newly formed empire was called the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and was a dual monarchy designed to satisfy Hungarian nationalists. Vienna and Budapest were both capital cities during this time, though the empire was ruled by the Austrian Franz Joseph I until his death in 1916. For the most part, the forty-five years of his reign were peaceful.