Essential Information & explanations, latest texts & monographs on Austria.

A Death in Vienna by Daniel Silva

Rick Steves' Germany, Austria, and Switzerland 2004 by Rick Steves

Vienna (Eyewitness Travel Guides) by Stephen Brook

The German Way : Aspects of Behavior, Attitudes, and Customs in the German-Speaking World by Hyde Flippo

Austria (Eyewitness Travel Guides) by Teresa Czerniewicz-Umer

Lonely Planet Austria (Austria, 3rd Ed) by Mark Honan

One Eye Laughing, the Other Weeping: The Diary of Julie Weiss, Vienna, Austria to New York, 1938 (Dear America) by Barry Denenberg

Hayek's Challenge: An Intellectual Biography of F. A. Hayek by Bruce J. Caldwell

Fodor's Austria, 10th Edition : The Guide for All Budgets, Where to Stay, Eat, and Explore On and Off the BeatenPath by Fodor's

Streetwise Vienna by Streetwise Maps

Fin-De-Siecle Vienna : Politics and Culture by Carl E. Schorske

East of Paris : The New Cuisines of Austria and the Danube by David Bouley

Fodor's Vienna and the Danube Valley: The Guide for All Budgets, Where to Stay, Eat, and Explore on and Off the Beaten Path (Fodor's Vienna and the Danube Valley) by Fodor's

The Jewish State by Theodor Herzl

A Concise History of Hungary by Miklós Molnár

Austria

The Republic of Austria is a landlocked country in Central Europe, a federation of nine states. Austria is bordered by Liechtenstein and Switzerland on the west, Italy and Slovenia on the south, Hungary and Slovakia on the east, and Germany and the Czech Republic on the north. Republik Österreich (In detail) (Full size) National motto: none Official language German Capital Vienna President Thomas Klestil Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel Area - Total - % water Ranked 112nd 83,858 km² 1.3% Population - Total (2000) - Density Ranked 86th 8,150,835 97/km² Independence July 27, 1955 Currency Euro (€); prior to 1999, schilling Time zone UTC +1 National anthem Land der Berge, Land am Strome Internet TLD .AT Calling Code 43 Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 History 2 Politics 3 States 4 Geography 5 Cities and towns 6 Economy 7 Demographics 8 Well-known Austrians 9 Miscellaneous topics 10 External links History Main article: History of Austria After being conquered by the Romans, Huns, Lombards, Ostrogoths, Bavarii and Franks, Austria were under the rule of the Babenbergs from the 10th to the 13th century. The Babenbergs were then succeeded by the Habsburgs, whose line continued to govern Austria until the 20th century. After the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire, Austria became part of the double-monarchy Austria-Hungary in 1867. The empire was split into two after the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I, leading to Austria as it is today. In 1918 Austria became a republic, which lasted until 1934 when the chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß established a dictatorship. Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938 (the Anschluss). After the defeat of the Nazis, the Allies occupied Austria at the end of World War II until 1955, when the country again became a fully independent republic under the condition that it remained neutral. However, after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, Austria became increasingly involved in European affairs, and in 1995, Austria joined the European Union, and the Euro monetary system in 1999. Politics Main article: Politics of Austria The head of state is a president, elected every six years by popular vote. The President chooses the chancellor, traditionally the leader of the largest party in the elections for parliament. The Austrian parliament consists of two chambers, the Bundesrat, which consists of 64 representatives of the states, based on population, and the Nationalrat, which has 183 directly-elected members. After three decades of social-democratic (SPÖ) participation in government, a right-wing coalition was formed in 2000, consisting of the conservative People's Party (ÖVP) and the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ). However, after some turmoil within the FPÖ concerning party policy and leadership, Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel (ÖVP) announced on September 9, 2002 that general elections would be held prematurely at the end of November. In the elections of November 24, 2002, the ÖVP won a landslide victory (42.3% of the vote), whereas the FPÖ was reduced to a mere 10.1%. The current Austrian parliament (Nationalrat, 183 seats) is made up as follows:

79 seats ÖVP (Austrian People's Party) (42.3% of the vote)
69 seats SPÖ (Austrian Social Democratic Party) (36.51%)
18 seats FPÖ (Austrian Freedom Party) (10.1%)
17 seats Die Grünen (Austrian Green Party) (9.47%)

On February 28, 2003, the coalition between the ÖVP and the FPÖ was continued, again with Wolfgang Schüssel (ÖVP) as Federal Chancellor. His Vice Chancellor was Herbert Haupt (FPÖ) until replaced by Hubert Gorbach (FPÖ) on October 20, 2003. Prior to that, long-lasting "probing talks" ("Sondierungsgespräche") took place between the ÖVP and the other major parties FPÖ, SPÖ and the Green Party. States Main article: States of Austria A federal republic, Austria is divided into nine states, or Bundesländer. These are:

Geography Main article: Geography of Austria Austria's west and south are situated in the Alps, making it a well-known winter sports destination. The highest mountain is the Grossglockner, at 3798 meters above sea level, followed by the Wildspitze (3774 m). The north and east of the country are mostly rolling terrain. The climate is temperate, with cold winters and cool summers. Cities and towns Main article: List of cities in Austria The main cities are its capital Vienna and the capitals of its states (Bundesländer) St. Pölten, Linz, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Bregenz, Klagenfurt, Graz and Eisenstadt. Economy Main article: Economy of Austria Austria, with its well-developed market economy and high standard of living, is closely tied to other European Union economies, especially Germany's. Membership in the EU has drawn an influx of foreign investors attracted by Austria's access to the single European market and proximity to EU aspirant economies. Slow growth in Germany and elsewhere in the world affected Austria, slowing its growth to 1.2% in 2001. To meet increased competition from both EU and Central European countries, Austria will need to emphasize knowledge-based sectors of the economy, continue to deregulate the service sector, and lower its tax burden. The town of Kaprun in the state of Salzburg Demographics Main article: Demographics of Austria German-Austrians, by far the country's largest ethnic group, form between 85% and 89% of Austria's population. Around ten percent of Austria's people are of non-Austrian descent, many from surrounding countries, especially from the former East Bloc nations. The Austrian federal states of Carinthia and Styria are home to a significant (indigenous) Slovenian minority with around 18,000 members. So-called guest workers (gastarbeiter) and their descendants also form an important minority group in Austria. The official language, German, is spoken by almost all residents of the country. Austria's mountainous terrain lead 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 west-most Bundesland, Vorarlberg, which belongs to the group of Alemannic dialects. There is also a distinct grammatical standard for Austrian German with a few significant differences to the German spoken in Germany. More than three-quarters of Austrians are Roman Catholic. Other important religions are Islam and Protestantism. Jews haved lived in the areas that now form the Republic of Austria for centuries. A large portion of Austria's Jewish community emigrated during the 1930s and most of the remaining Jewish community was murdered during the holocaust. In 1930, Austria was home to at least 100,000 Jews. Today, estimates place the size of Austria's small but growing Jewish community between 10,000 and 20,000. Well-known Austrians Main article: List of Austrians Austria has been the birthplace for several (famous composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Strauss, Sr. and Johann Strauss, Jr.; it's also the home of members of the Second Viennese School such as Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and Alban Berg. Other famous Austrians include physicists Ludwig Boltzmann and Erwin Schrödinger as well as philosophers Ludwig Wittgenstein and Kurt Gödel, psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, poet Peter Rosegger, and painter Gustav Klimt. Being situated in the Alps, Austria has been the homeland of many great alpine skiers, such as Toni Sailer, Hermann Maier, Annemarie Moser-Pröll and Anita Wachter. Holidays DateEnglish Name Local NameRemarks January 1 New Year's DayNeujahr January 6 EpiphanyEpiphanieHeilige Drei Könige MoveableEaster SundayOstersonntagGood Friday work-free for Protestants MoveableEaster MondayOstermontag May 1 Staatsfeiertagalso, Labour day MoveableAscensionChristi HimmelfahrtThursday 40 days after Easter MoveablePentecostPfingstsonntag MoveableWhit MondayPfingstmontag MoveableCorpus ChristiFronleichnamThursday 11 days after Pentecost August 15 Assumption of MaryMariae Himmelfahrt October 26National dayNationalfeiertagLaw on neutrality passed in 1955 November 1 All SaintsAllerheiligen December 8 Immaculate ConceptionMariae Empfängnis December 25 ChristmasChristtag, Weihnachten December 26 Boxing DayStephanitag Miscellaneous topics

Much of the material in these articles comes from the CIA World Factbook 2000 and the 2003 U.S. Department of State website. External links

Encyclopedia by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science & Culture
Library of Congress Portals on the World - Austria
CIA's Factbook on Austria
The Symbols of Austria
Worldwide Press Freedom Index - Rank 26 out of 139 countries (three-way tie)

The above article is adapted from from Wikipedia All Wikipedia article text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

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Note again ... some material here is adapted from from Wikipedia All Wikipedia article text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

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