Austria: Political History and Notable Figures

970 - 1156 - Margravate of Austria (All Facts)

• Founded and ruled by the House of Babenberg

1156 - 1453 - Duchy of Austria (All Facts)

• Medieval Principality of the Holy Roman Empire, established via “Privilegium Minus”, when the namesake Margraviate was detached from Bavaria and elevated to a duchy in its own right

  • After the ruling dukes of the House of Babenberg became extinct in male line, there was as much as three decades of rivalry on inheritance and rulership, until the German king Rudolf I took over the dominion as the first monarch of the Habsburg dynasty

  • Thereafter, the namesake duchy became the patrimony and ancestral homeland of the dynasty and the nucleus of the Habsburgs

1276 - 1918 - Habsburg Monarchy (All Facts)

1276 - 1282 - Rudolf (All Facts)

• First Duke and Founder of the Duchy of Austria and Habsburg Austria

  • He became the effective founder of the Habsburg Monarchy

• He was the first member of the House of Habsburg to become King of the Romans as the 18th King of Germany, having ruled over and controlled at the time what was the “Duchy of Austria”

• His reign laid the foundations for the rise of the Habsburg Dynasty, which became one of the most influential royal houses in European history

  • He helped secure Habsburg control over Austria, Styria, and Carinthia

• He was an elderly Swabian count by the time of his election to “King of the Romans” as King of Germany

  • He was from an old Swabian family by the time he was elected

1282 - 1308 - Albert (All Facts)

• 2nd Duke of Habsburg Austria

• He and his forces defeated his rival Adolf of Nassau and his forces in the Battle of Gollheim, thus succeeding Adolf of Nassau

• He was murdered by his nephew John, who was refused his share of the Habsburg lands controlled by the namesake

1308 - 1326 - Leopold (All Facts)

• 3rd Duke of Habsburg Austria

  • He was nicknamed “The Glorious”

• He and his forces were defeated by the Three Forest Cantons of the Swiss and their forces in the Battle of Morgarten

1365 - 1386 - Leopold III (All Facts)

• 8th Duke of Habsburg Austria

  • He was nicknamed “The Just”

• He and his forces were defeated and he was killed by the (Old) Swiss Confederation in the Battle of Sempach

1404 - 1439 - Albert V / Albert II (All Facts)

• 15th Duke of Habsburg Austria

  • He was nicknamed “The Magnanimous”

• By the time of his reign, Habsburg control of the Holy Roman Empire became virtually hereditary

  • By his reign, the Habsburg Monarchy was in control of the throne of the Holy Roman Empire

1427 - 1496 - Sigismund (All Facts)

• 16th Duke of Habsburg Austria and 1st Archduke of Habsburg Austria

• He ratified the Perpetual Peace Treaty with the Swiss

1453 - 1918 - Archduchy of Austria (All Facts)

• Renaissance and Early Modern Principality of the Holy Roman Empire and the nucleus of the Habsburgs, it was one of the most important states of the Holy Roman Empire as its rulers, as the namesake, also ruled as Holy Roman Emperors and sometimes ruled other states as well

• Became the center of the Holy Roman Empire and of central Europe with its capital at Vienna, which acted as the de facto capital of and seat for the Holy Roman Empire and Emperors

1457 - 1493 - Frederick III / Frederick V (All Facts)

• 2nd Archduke of (Habsburg) Austria

  • He raised Habsburg Austria to an Archduchy prior to his reign, hence why he is the 2nd Archduke

• He lost control of Vienna, Lower Austria, Styria, and Carinthia in two campaigns to King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary

1493 - 1519 - Maximilian (All Facts)

• 3rd Archduke of (Habsburg) Austria

  • He was the son of his predecessor

• His marriage to Anne of Brittany was annulled by King Charles VIII of France, effectively ending the independence of Brittany

• His marriage to Mary of Burgundy, daughter of (the recently deceased) Charles Martin of Burgundy, effectively established the House of Habsburg as heir to the dukedom (duchy) of Burgundy within the Kingdom of France, the richest duchy in Europe at the time

  • During his reign, he thus inherited the Duchy of Burgundy, whose autonomy ended following Charles Martin’s defeat and death in the Burgundian Wars

  • Thus, he became the next Duke of Burgundy after Charles Martin

  • He then proceeded to halt King Louis XI of France’s invasion of Burgundy, taking control of the territory within France

  • When Mary of Burgundy died in a hunting accident,

• He joined an Anglo-Spanish alliance against France

  • Under his reign,

    • The English occupied Guingamp and Concerneau

    • The Spanish occupied Vannes

1519 - 1521 - Charles (All Facts)

• 4th Archduke of (Habsburg) Austria

• Under his reign,

  • Austria made a pact with Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, the three former Forest Cantons who remained faithful to Catholicism

1521 - 1564 - Ferdinand (All Facts)

• 5th Archduke of (Habsburg) Austria

• He signed the Peace of Passau, on behalf of Holy Roman Emperor and Austrian Archduke Charles V

• Under his reign,

  • Ferlach (in Carinthia) began to manufacture firearms

1547 - 1578 - Don John (All Facts)

• He was the illegitimate son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V

• He and his Holy League forces were defeated by Selim II and his Ottoman forces in the Fourth Ottoman-Venetian War

  • However, he and his Holy League forces defeated Selim II and his Ottoman forces in the Battle of Lepanto

1596 - 1621 - Albert VII (All Facts)

• 12th Archduke of (Habsburg) Austria

  • He was the third son of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II

  • He was made a cardinal

  • He was made archbishop of Toledo

  • He became Viceroy of Portugal

• He and his forces were defeated by Maurice of Orange and his forces in the Battle of Nieuwpoort during the Eighty Years’ War / Dutch Revolt

• He died without an heir, marking the end of the “independent” Catholic (Southern) Netherlands

  • Thereafter, policy towards the Dutch Revolt was controlled from Madrid in Spain, as opposed to Brussels, where royal ministers were divided between pro-peace “doves” and pro-war “hawks”

1619 - 1637 - Ferdinand II (All Facts)

• 12th Archduke of (Habsburg) Austria

• His installation of Italian Catholic priests in formerly Protestant churches in Linz led to the Upper Austrian Peasant War against him

1625 - 1657 - Ferdinand III / Ferdinand IV (All Facts)

• 13th Archduke of (Habsburg) Austria

1601 - 1666 - Anne (All Facts)

• Queen and Wife of King Louis XIII of France

1675 - 1690 - Charles V of Lorraine (All Facts)

• Duke of Lorraine during the reign of King Louis XIV

• He and his Holy Roman and Austrian forces and John III Sobeiski and his Polish-Lithuanian forces defeated Kara Mustafa Pasha and his Ottoman forces in the Battle of Vienna during the Great Turkish War / Eighth Ottoman-Habsburg War

  • He was considered the savior of Vienna from Ottoman forces

• He and his Holy Roman forces defeated the Ottoman forces in the Battle of Mohacs during the Great Turkish War / Eighth Ottoman-Habsburg War

1657 - 1705 - Leopold (All Facts)

• 15th Archduke of (Habsburg) Austria

  • He was Austrian

• During his reign,

  • He signed

    • the Treaty of the Hague (with King William III of England and the Netherlands)

      • This reinstituted the Grand Alliance and effectively triggered the War of the Spanish Succession

  • He led Austria in the War of the Spanish Succession

• During his reign,

  • He annexed Hungary and Transylvania

• He died and was succeeded by his son

1705 - 1711 - Joseph (All Facts)

• 16th Archduke of (Habsburg) Austria

  • He was Austrian

  • He was the son of his predecessor

1666 - 1730 - Victor Amadeus II of Savoy (All Facts)

• Duke of Savoy

• He and his British, French, Dutch, Austrian, and Savoyard (Holy Roman) forces defeated Giulio Alberoni and his Spanish forces in the War of the Quadruple Alliance

  • He ceded the island of Sicily to Austria in exchange for Sardinia, whereupon he became king there, escalating the conflict

• Under his reign,

  • the Treaty of the Hague was signed with the European powers of the Quadruple Alliance, ending the War of the Quadruple Alliance

1663 - 1736 - Prince Eugene of Savoy (All Facts)

• French Military Commander for Austria under Holy Roman Emperor Leopold

• He and his Holy Roman forces and Hungarian forces defeated Sultan Mustafa II and his Ottoman forces and the Crimean Khanate in the Battle of Zenta during the Great Turkish War / Eighth Habsburg-Ottoman War

• He led the Holy Roman Empire (and Savoy) in the War of the Spanish Succession in which he and his Holy Roman and Austrian forces

  • along with John Churchill and his English and Scottish forces, and Dutch forces, defeated the French forces and Bavarian forces in the Battle of Blenheim

  • along with John Churchill and his British and Dutch forces, defeated the French forces in the Battle of Oudenaarde

  • along with John Churchill and his British and Dutch forces, defeated the French forces in the Siege of Lille, taking that city from France

  • along with John Churchill and his British and Dutch forces, defeated the French forces in the Battle of Malplaquet

• He signed the Treaty of Rastatt with France, ending Austrian-French hostilities associated with the War of the Spanish Succession

• He and his Holy Roman, Austrian, Bavarian, and Serbian forces defeated the Ottoman forces in the Siege of Belgrade and in the Fourth Austro-Turkish War

1711 - 1740 - Charles VI (All Facts)

• 17th Archduke of (Habsburg) Austria

  • He was Austrian

  • He was the son of his predecessor

  • He tried but failed to claim the Spanish throne (as his namesake III) following the Battle of Villaviciosa

• He signed the Treaty of Utrecht with the other European leaders powers of the time, ending the War of the Spanish Succession

• He signed the Treaty of Passarowitz with the Ottoman Empire and Republic of Venice (Italy), ending the Fourth Austro-Turkish War

• He issued his “Pragamatic Sanction”

• He founded (and later dissolved) the “Ostend Company”

• Under his reign,

  • the Treaty of the Hague was signed with the European powers of the Quadruple Alliance, ending the War of the Quadruple Alliance