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The history of Austria covers the history of Austria and its predecessor states, from the Early Stone Age to the present state. The name Ostarrîchi (Austria) has been in use since 996 AD when it was a margravate of the Duchy of Bavaria and from 1156 an independent duchy (later archduchy) of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (Heiliges Römisches Reich 962–1806).

Austria was dominated by the House of Habsburg and House of Habsburg-Lorraine (Haus Österreich) from 1273 to 1918. In 1806, when Emperor Francis II of Austria dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, Austria became the Austrian Empire, and was also part of the German Confederation until the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. In 1867, Austria formed a dual monarchy with Hungary: the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867–1918). When this empire collapsed after the end of World War I in 1918, Austria was reduced to the main, mostly German-speaking areas of the empire (its current frontiers), and adopted the name The Republic of German-Austria. However, union with Germany and the chosen country name were forbidden by the Allies at the Treaty of Versailles. This led to the creation of the First Austrian Republic (1919-1933).

Following the First Republic, Austrofascism tried to keep Austria independent from the German Reich. Engelbert Dollfuss accepted that most Austrians were German and Austrian, but wanted Austria to remain independent from Germany. In 1938, Austrian-born Adolf Hitler annexed Austria to the German Reich with the Anschluss, which was supported by a large majority of the Austrian people. Ten years after the Second World War Austria again became an independent republic as the Second Austrian Republic in 1955.

Austria joined the European Union in 1995.

Historiography
Since the territory understood by the term 'Austria' underwent drastic changes over time, dealing with a History of Austria raises a number of questions, e.g., whether it is confined to the current or former Republic of Austria, or extends also to all lands formerly ruled by the rulers of Austria. Furthermore, should Austrian history include the period 1938–1945, when it nominally did not exist? Of the lands now part of the second Republic of Austria, many were added over time – only two of the nine provinces or Bundesländer (Lower Austria and Upper Austria) are strictly 'Austria', while other parts of its former sovereign territory are now part of other countries e.g., Italy, Croatia, Slovenia and Czechia. Within Austria there are regionally and temporally varying affinities to adjacent countries.

Overview
Human habitation of the current territory of Austria can be traced back to the first farming communities of the early Stone Age (Paleolithic era). In the late Iron Age it was occupied by people of the Hallstatt Celtic culture (c. 800 BC), one of the first Celtic cultures besides the La Tène culture in France. They first organized as a Celtic kingdom referred to by the Romans as Noricum, dating from c. 800 to 400 BC. At the end of the 1st century BC, the lands south of the Danube became part of the Roman Empire, and were incorporated as the Province of Noricum around 40 AD.

The most important Roman settlement was at Carnuntum, which can still be visited today as an excavation site. In the 6th century, the Bavarii, a Germanic people, occupied these lands until it fell to the Frankish Empire in the 9th century. Around 800 AD, Charlemagne established the outpost of the Avar March (Awarenmark) in what is now Lower Austria, to hold back advances from Slavs and Avars. In the 10th century an eastern (east of the River Enns) outpost of the Duchy of Bavaria, bordering Hungary, was established as the Marchia orientalis (March of the East) or 'Margraviate of Austria' in 976, ruled by the Margraves of Babenberg. This 'Eastern March' (borderland), in German was known as Ostarrîchi or 'Eastern Realm', hence 'Austria'. The first mention of Ostarrîchi occurs in a document of that name dated 996 CE. From 1156 the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa created an independent duchy (Privilegium Minus) under the House of Babenberg, until its extinction in 1246, corresponding to modern Lower Austria.

Following the Babenberg dynasty and a brief interregnum, Austria came under the rule of the German king Rudolf I of Habsburg (1276–1282), beginning a dynasty that would last through seven centuries becoming progressively distinct from neighbouring Bavaria, within the Holy Roman Empire. The 15th and early 16th century saw considerable expansion of the Habsburg territories through diplomacy and marriages to include Spain, the Netherlands and parts of Italy. This expansionism, together with French aspirations and the resultant Habsburg–French or Bourbon–Habsburg rivalry were important factors shaping European history for over 200 years (1516–1756).

By the Edict of Worms (Wormser Vertrag) of 28 April 1521, the Emperor Charles V (Archduke of Austria 1519–1521) split the dynasty, bestowing the hereditary Austrian lands (Österreichische Länder) on his brother, Ferdinand I (1521–1564) and the first central administrative structures were established. By 1526 Ferdinand had also inherited the kingdoms of Bohemia, and Hungary after the Battle of Mohács which partitioned the latter. However the Ottoman Empire now lay directly adjacent to the Austrian lands. Even after the unsuccessful first Siege of Vienna by the Turks in 1529, the Ottoman threat persisted for another one and a half centuries. There was a battle where the Christian Polish king, John III Sobieski stopped the Muslim attack against Christians and the city Vienna in 1583.

The 16th century also saw the spread of the Reformation. From around 1600 the Habsburg policy of recatholicization or Catholic Renewal (Rekatholisierung) eventually led to the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). Originally a religious war, it was also a struggle for power in central Europe, particularly the French opposition to the Habsburg Holy Roman Empire. Eventually, the pressure of the anti-Habsburg coalition of France, Sweden, and most Protestant German states contained their authority to the Austrian and Czech lands in 1648.

In 1683, the Ottoman forces were beaten back from Vienna a second time and eventually, in the Great Turkish War (1683–1699), pushed back beyond Belgrade. When the main (Spanish) line of the Habsburgs died out in 1700, it precipitated the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) between the Habsburgs and King Louis XIV of France. Subsequently, Austria gained control, through the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, of the Spanish Netherlands, Naples and Lombardy.

These acquisitions together with conquests in the Balkans gave Austria its greatest territorial extent to date. 1713 also saw the Pragmatic Sanction, designed to prevent any further division of the territory. But when Charles VI (Archduke 1711–1740) died and was succeeded by his daughter, Maria Theresa (1740–1780) Austria was perceived as weak, leading to the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) and the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). Subsequently, Austria lost Silesia to Prussia. Austria also lost prior conquests from the Ottomans except Banat of Temeswar and Syrmia in the Austro-Russian–Turkish War despite being allied with Russia.

These Silesian Wars initiated a long-standing tension between Austria and Prussia. Maria Theresa effectively reigned as Empress through her husband, Francis Stephen of Lorraine (d. 1765) and they founded the new dynasty of Habsburg-Lorraine. During her reign, extensive reforms were initiated, and when Francis died in 1765, these were continued by her son, Joseph II (Emperor 1765–1790; Archduke 1780–1790). However, his successor, his brother, Leopold II (1790–1792), was much more conservative.

The next emperor, his son Francis II (1792–1835), found himself at war with France in the First (1792–1797) and Second (1798–1802) Coalition wars, the prelude to the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), in which Austria lost further territory. Following further Austrian losses in the Third Coalition War (1803–1806) the future of the Habsburg Empire looked increasingly uncertain. Napoleon had declared himself Emperor of France in May 1804 and was busy reorganising much of the lands of the Holy Roman Empire, and looked to be assuming the title of emperor too, as a second Charlemagne. Francis II responded by proclaiming the Empire of Austria in August, taking the new title of Emperor. In 1806, having held both titles in the interim, he resigned the imperial crown of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which then ceased to exist.

Following the Congress of Vienna, Austria became part of the German Confederation till the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. In the 19th century nationalist movements within the empire became increasingly evident, and the German element became increasingly weakened, whilst most of Austria's Italian-speaking lands were gained by the new Kingdom of Italy. With Austria's expulsion from the German Confederation following its defeat by Prussia in the war in 1866 the Dual Monarchy with Hungary was created by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise in 1867. This succeeded in reducing but not removing nationalist tensions as it left mostly Slavic peoples and Romanians dissatisfied; dissatisfactions which were to boil over with the 1914 assassination of the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, and the ensuing chain reaction resulting in the First World War. The losses of the war resulted in the collapse of the empire and dynasty in 1918.

The non-German ethnic groups broke away leaving Austria's current boundaries as German Austria, which was proclaimed an independent republic. The severe global economic crisis coupled with domestic political tensions led to civil strife in February 1934, with the May Constitution of 1934 resulting in an authoritarian corporate state. Just two months later the Austrian Nazis staged the July coup, wanting to annex the country to into Nazi Germany, resulting in the assassination of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss. While the coup failed, Adolf Hitler succeeded in annexing Austria on 12 March 1938 as Ostmark, until 1945. Austria was divided into four occupation zones after the Second World War and then in 1955 became the independent sovereign state (Second Republic) that has existed to the present day. In 1995, Austria joined the European Union.