Austria Timeline of Events

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Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany 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 has a temperate and alpine climate...

Timeline of Events

1859

6.4.1859

Italian Independence wars: In the Battle of Magenta, the French army, under Louis-Napoleon, defeat the Austrian army.

6.24.1859

Battle of Solferino (Battle of the Three Sovereigns): Sardinia and France defeat Austria in Solferino, northern Italy.

1864

10.30.1864

Second war of Schleswig ends. Denmark renounces all claim to Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg, which come under Prussian and Austrian administration.

1866

7.3.1866

Austro-Prussian War is decided at the Battle of Königgratz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.

1867

5.29.1867

The Austro-Hungarian agreement known as Ausgleich ("the Compromise") is born through Act 12, which establishes the Austro-Hungarian Empire; on June 8 Emperor Franz Joseph is crowned King of Hungary.

1869

10.1.1869

Austria issues the world's first postcards.

1873

8.30.1873

Austrian explorers Julius von Payer and Karl Weyprecht discover the archipelago of Franz Joseph Land in the Arctic Sea.

1881

6.28.1881

Secret treaty between Austria and Serbia.

1896

1.5.1896

An Austrian newspaper reports that Wilhelm Roentgen has discovered a type of radiation later known as X-rays.

1908

10.6.1908

Austria annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1909

3.31.1909

Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1914

8.6.1914

World War I: Serbia declares war on Germany; Austria declares war on Russia.

1917

10.24.1917

Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat at the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany on the Austro-Italian front of World War I (lasts until 19 November - also called Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo).

1918

3.3.1918

Germany, Austria and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia's involvement in World War I, and leading to the independence of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

11.12.1918

Austria becomes a republic.

1919

9.10.1919

Austria and the Allies sign the Treaty of Saint-Germain recognizing the independence of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

1920

10.10.1920

The Carinthian Plebiscite determines that the larger part of Carinthia should remain part of Austria.

1927

7.15.1927

Massacre of July 15, 1927: 89 protesters are killed by the Austrian police in Vienna.

1933

3.15.1933

Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss keeps members of the National Council from convening, starting the austrofascist dictatorship.

1934

7.25.1934

The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt.

1938

3.12.1938

''Anschluss:'' German troops occupy Austria.

3.13.1938

Anschluss of Austria to the Third Reich.

1945

3.30.1945

World War II: Soviet Union forces invade Austria and take Vienna; Polish and Soviet forces liberate Gdańsk.

7.31.1945

Pierre Laval, the fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.

1955

7.27.1955

The Allied occupation of Austria stemming from World War II, ends.

12.14.1955

Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sri Lanka join the United Nations.

1957

6.9.1957

First ascent of Broad Peak/Faichan Kangri, the world's 12th highest mountain, by an Austrian expedition lead by Marcus Schmuck and with Fritz Wintersteller, Kurt Diemberger and Hermann Buhl.

1987

4.27.1987

The U.S. Department of Justice bars the Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from entering the United States, saying he had aided in the deportation and execution of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II.

1989

8.19.1989

Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events which began the process of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

9.11.1989

The Iron Curtain opens between the communist Hungary and Austria. From Hungary thousands of East Germans throng to Austria and West Germany.

1995

1.1.1995

The Kingdom of Sweden and the republics of Austria and Finland are admitted into the European Union.

1999

2.23.1999

An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31.

2000

11.11.2000

In Kaprun, Austria, 155 skiers and snowboarders die when a cable car catches fire in an alpine tunnel.

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