Austrian History I Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1804

The year 962 is that preferred by German and Austrian historians as the date of the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire. It was ruled by the Habsburg dynasty from 1438 till its dissolution in 1806. In fact, a specifically Austrian Empire was only proclaimed in 1804 when it became obvious that the Holy Roman Empire had no future.

Answer: Charles V

The combination of so much power in the hands of one person was viewed with consternation at the time and resisted by many other European powers, including France. When Charles V abdicated in 1556, the Spanish and Central European empires went to separate monarchs.

Answer: Ottoman Empire

Much of south-eastern Central Europe was under Ottoman rule from about 1520-1700. It was only in 1699 that the Turks were pushed back to a really significant distance from Vienna, and that the court returned there from Prague. From about 1683-99, it was something of a 'front-line' city.

Answer: Prussia

The rise of Prussia to the status of a first-class European power during the reign of Frederick II (the Great) was sudden and unexpected.

Answer: Maria Theresa

Legally, women were barred from inheriting office in Central Europe, but Maria Theresa succeeded under a special arrangement to ensure the continuity of the House of Habsburg. This arrangement was called the Pragmatic Sanction: it was a practical solution to a practical problem.

Answer: Austerlitz

Austerlitz is often regarded as Napoleon's greatest victory.

Answer: Metternich

More than anyone else, Metternich was the architect of the Central European police state of the period 1815-48. (Obviously, it was *not* a modern, totalitarian police state, but rather a 'surveillance state', that also had pre-publication censorship and witch-hunts for subversives, imaginary and real).

Answer: Hungary

Many Hungarian units of the Habsburg army and Hungarian aristocrats supported the revolution in Hungary, making it truly national in scope. The Austrian government had great difficulty suppressing the Hungarian uprising but eventually did so with the help of Tsarist Russian troops - and amid considerable brutality.

Answer: Prague

Prague, which was also the capital of Bohemia, had been immensely important since the late Middle Ages, when it was among the biggest three cities in Central Europe (along with Cologne and Lübeck). It is now the capital of the Czech Republic.

Answer: The exclusion of Austria from Germany

Before 1866, the distinction between Germany and Austria was vague and rather meaningless.

Answer: 1867

This re-constitition of the Empire satisfied the aspirations of the Hungarians for self-rule and was also part of a policy of 'divide and rule' as substantial non-Hungarian groups were placed under Hungarian rule, for example, the Slovaks and most of the Croats. (That said, the Hungarians reached an arrangement with the Croats in 1868 that gave the latter a substantial degree of autonomy).

Answer: Carl Jung

From about 1880-1914 (and even somewhat later), Vienna was a hive of scientific and cultural activity. Carl Jung was Swiss.

Answer: Czechoslovakia

The small district of Glatz was taken from Germany. Czechoslovakia comprised Bohemia, Moravia, a small part of Silesia, Slovakia and Ruthenia. The last of these was lost to the Soviet Union in 1945, and the rest of the country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. Yugoslavia acquired large areas from Austria-Hungary, but its core, Serbia had been independent before WWI.

The same applied in the case of Romania, which also acquired substantial areas from Austria-Hungary in 1918.

Answer: 1938

The inclusion of Austria in Germany had been a long-standing hope among some German nationalists. However, Hitler's plans for a 'Greater Germany' extended far beyond the union of Austria with Germany.

Answer: 1955

From 1945-55 the country was occupied, in much the same way as Germany, by American, British, French and Soviet forces, which all had their own sectors in Vienna. (The Center, District I, was international and run jointly by all four powers of occupation). Unlike Germany, Austria had its own national government from 1945 on, which succeeded in negotiating the withdrawal of all foreign troops during the Cold War.