5th century B.C.
Celtic tribes settle in the territory of present-day Vienna.
15 B.C.
Roman soldiers reach the Vienna plain and build the military camp
Camuntum, as well as the auxiliary camp Vindobona.
213 The civilian town
Vindobona becomes a municipality.
791 Charlemagne establishes the Ostmark.
976 The Babenbergers
become margraves of the Ottonian Ostmark (Ostarrichi as from 996).
996 First mention of
Ostarrichi (Austrians) in an imperial document. The emergence of the
Austrian nation is in full swing.
1137 First mention of
Vienna as a city, in a chronicle.
1156 Vienna becomes the
city of residence of the Dukedom Austria.
1278 The army of the
Czech king Ottokar II loses, on the Field of Mars, the battle against
the troops of the German king Rudolph I of Habsburg. For 640 years,
Vienna remains in the hands of the Habsburg dynasty.
1477 Maximilian I
marries Mary of Burgundy, the initial example of ‘marriage diplomacy’
of the Habsburgs, and one which they will faithfully continue during the
following centuries.
1498 The ‘Kapellenknaben’
become a successful choir. They were the predecessors of the famous
Wiener Sängerknaben.
1526 The Habsburgs
inherit Hungary and Bohemia, and also occupy the throne of both
countries. Vienna becomes the centre of Europe’s largest empire, one
which will hold out until 1918.
1529 Vienna’s first
siege by the Turks is successfully resisted.
1551 Ferdinand I calls
the Jesuits to Vienna so as to halt the progressive expansion of
Protestantism by means of a counter-reformation.
1679 The Black Death
costs around 100,000 Viennese lives.
1740-1780 Under Maria
Theresia, assisted from 1765 by her son Joseph II, a policy of reforms
and modernisation is undertaken. Administration is centralised.
1781 The tolerant Joseph
II guarantees freedom of religious expression. Mozart moves to Vienna,
quickly succeeded by Joseph Haydn (1790) and Ludwig van Beethoven.
1805-1815 Vienna is
repeatedly occupied by Napoleon’s troops. At the Vienna Congress
(1815), the map of Europe is re-drawn.
1848 The population
gives free rein to its revolutionary feelings, but the insurgents get
cruelly tackled by the imperial troops. The 18-year-old Franz Joseph
becomes Austria’s emperor (until 1916). In 1854 he marries the
beautiful ‘Sissi’.
1857 The city ramparts
are dismantled, the Ringstrasse (ring road) is built.
1867 The
Austro-Hungarian Empire comes into existence.
1897 Foundation year of
the Viennese Secession, a modernist art movement.
1900 Sigmund Freud
causes an upheaval with his work ‘Traumdeutung’ (The Interpretation
of Dreams). He lays the foundation of psychoanalysis.
1910 Vienna numbers more
than 2 million inhabitants and a large Jewish community.
1916 After the death of
Emperor Franz Joseph, Charles I ascends to the throne.
1918 The end of World War I leads to the disintegration of the
Habsburg empire. A republic is proclaimed. The social-democrats govern
Vienna until 1934 (‘Red Vienna’)
1922 Vienna becomes a
‘Bundesland’ (regional state) within the Federal Republic of
Austria.
1934 After a coup d’état
by the ‘Austrofascists’ a clerical-fascist dictatorship is
established under Dollfuss.
1938 German troops enter
the country. On Heldenplatz, Hitler proclaims the so-called ‘Anschluss’
(joining) of Austria into the German Reich. Simultaneous breaking-out of
round-ups, massive arrests and deportations.
1945-1955 Vienna is
placed under Allied administration. The Austrian State-treaty of 1955
obliges the nation to maintain a state of neutrality.
1970-1983 The socialist
Bruno Kreisky puts fresh accents on the country’s foreign policy and
on its modernisation.
1995 Austria joins the
European Union.
1996 The Austrian nation
celebrates its 1,000th anniversary.
1999 Vienna commemorates
the 100th anniversary of the death of Johann Strauss, the Waltz King.
Concerts and festivities are organised everywhere.
2000: With the opening of the
‘Milleniumstower’ Vienna gains a new remarkable building. The museum
‘Judenplatz’ opens its doors in memory of the holocaust.
2001: Opening of G-town in the suburb Simmerung. This complex
offers a perfect combination of residence, shopping, culture and
relaxation.
2001
Opening ceremony of the Museum Quarter.
2004
President
Thomas Klestil (ÖVP) deceases. He is being succeeded by Heinz Fischer
(SPÖ).
2006
Vienna celebrates Mozart’s 250th birthday.
Chronicle
: History of the city in chronological order