Austria

{{Infobox Country or territory|maxwidth=250px|width=250px
 * native_name                = {{lang|de|Republik Österreich}}
 * local_name                 = Österreich
 * conventional_long_name     = Republic of Austria
 * common_name                = Austria
 * image_flag                 = Flag of Austria.svg
 * image_coat                 = Austria Bundesadler.svg
 * image_map                  = Location Austria EU Europe.png
 * map_caption                = {{map_caption |region=on the {{wp|Europe|European continent}} |subregion=the {{wp|European Union}} |location_color=dark green |subregion_color=light green |region_color=dark grey |legend=}}
 * national_motto             =
 * national_anthem            = {{lang|de|{{wp|Land der Berge, Land am Strome}}}}{{spaces|2}} ({{wp|German language|German}}) Land of Mountains, Land on the River
 * official_languages         = {{wp|German language|German}} locally also {{wp|Hungarian Language|Hungarian}}, {{wp|Slovenian Language|Slovenian}} and {{wp|Croatian Language|Croatian}}
 * capital                    = {{wp|Vienna}}
 * latd=48 |latm=12 |latNS=N |longd=16 |longm=21 |longEW=E
 * largest_city               = capital
 * government_type            = {{wp|Federal republic}}
 * leader_title1              = {{wp|President of Austria|President}}
 * leader_name1               = {{wp|Heinz Fischer}}
 * leader_title2              = {{wp|Chancellor of Austria|Chancellor}}
 * leader_name2               = {{wp|Alfred Gusenbauer}}
 * sovereignty_type           = {{wp|Austrian State Treaty|Independence}}
 * established_event1         = {{wp|Austrian State Treaty}} in force
 * established_date1          = {{wp|July 27}} {{wp|1955}}
 * established_event2         = {{nowrap|{{wp|Declaration of Neutrality}}}}
 * established_date2          = {{wp|October 26}} {{wp|1955}} (before: {{wp|Austrian Empire}}: 1804, {{wp|First Austrian Republic}}: 1918)
 * accessionEUdate            = {{wp|January 1}}, {{wp|1995}}
 * area_km2                       = 83,872
 * area_rank                  = 115th
 * area_magnitude             = 1 E10
 * percent_water              = 1.7
 * area_sq_mi                    = 32383 <!--Do not remove per |population_estimate         = 8,316,487
 * population_estimate_year   = 2007
 * population_estimate_rank   = 93rd
 * population_density_km2         = 99
 * population_density_rank    = 99th
 * population_density_sq_mi      = 257

Etymology
The name Österreich can be translated into  as the "eastern realm", which is derived from the. The name was Latinized as "Austria", although it has no etymological connection with the name of (which derives from Latin Australis meaning The South). can also mean "empire," and this connotation is the one that is understood in the context of the /,, although not in the context of the modern Republic of Österreich. The term probably originates in a translation of the  name for the region: Marchia orientalis, which translates as "eastern marches" or "eastern borderland", as it was situated at the eastern edge of the, that was also mirrored in the name ', for a short period  applied after ' to.

The current official designation is the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich). It was originally known after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1918 as the Republic of  (Republik Deutschösterreich), but the state was forced to change its name to "Republic of Austria" in 1919 by the peace. The name was changed again during the regime (1934–1938), into Federal State of Austria (Bundesstaat Österreich), but restored after regaining independence and the birth of the Second Austrian Republic (1955–present).

During the monarchy, Austria was known as the Austrian Empire (Kaisertum Österreich); however no official designation existed since the empire was strongly multiethnic. After the, the empire became known as  in reflection of the character.

Prehistory and the Middle Ages
Settled in prehistoric times, the central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various ic tribes. The Celtic kingdom of was claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province. After the fall of the Roman Empire, of which most of Austria was part (all parts south of the Danube), the area was invaded by Bavarians, Slavs and. conquered the area in 788 and encouraged colonization and Christianity. As part of, the core areas that now encompass Austria were bequeathed to the house of. The area was known as the  and was given to in 976.

The first record showing the name Austria is from 996 where it is written as , referring to the territory of the Babenberg March. The term is not historically ascertained and appears to be a translation of marchia orientalis that came up only much later.

The following centuries were characterized first by the settlement of the country. In 1156 the elevated Austria to the status of a duchy. In 1192, the Babenbergs also acquired the Duchy of.

With the death of in 1246, the line of the Babenbergers went extinct. effectively controlled the duchies of Austria, Styria and after that. His reign came to an end with his defeat at Dürnkrut at the hand of in 1278. Thereafter, until World War I, Austria's history was largely that of its ruling dynasty, the.

Rise of The Habsburgs
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Habsburgs began to accumulate other provinces in the vicinity of the Duchy of Austria. In 1438, Duke Albert V of Austria was chosen as the successor to his father-in-law,. Although Albert himself only reigned for a year, from then on, every emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was a Habsburg, with only one exception.

The Habsburgs began also to accumulate lands far from the Hereditary Lands. In 1477, the, only son of , married the heiress of , thus acquiring most of the for the family. His son married the heiress of Castile and Aragon, and thus acquired Spain and its Italian, African, and New World appendages for the Habsburgs.

In 1526, following the, Austrian rulers expanded their territories, bringing Bohemia and the part of Hungary not occupied by the Ottomans under their rule. Ottoman expansion into Hungary led to frequent conflicts between the two powers, particularly evident in the so-called of 1593 to 1606.

Austria as a European Power


The long reign of (1657–1705) saw the culmination of the Austrian conflict with the Turks. Following the successful defense of in 1683,  a series of campaigns resulted in the return of all of Hungary to Austrian control by the  in 1699. The later part of the reign of (1711–1740) saw Austria relinquish many of these fairly impressive gains, largely due to Charles's apprehensions at the imminent extinction of the House of Habsburg. Charles was willing to offer concrete advantages in territory and authority in exchange for other powers' worthless recognitions of the that made his daughter  his heir. With the rise of Prussia the began in Germany. Austria became engaged in the war with Revolutionary France, which lasted until 1797 and at the beginning proved unsuccessful for Austria. Defeats against Napoleon meant the end of the old Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Just two years before the abolition of the in 1806, in 1804 the  was founded, which was transformed in 1867 into the dual-monarchy. However, in 1814 Austria was part of the Allied forces invading France and conquering it. Following the Napoleonic wars Austria emerged from the in 1815 as one of three of the continent's dominant powers (together with Russia and Prussia). In 1815 the, (German) was founded under the presidency of Austria. Austria and Prussia were the leading powers of the. Its central institution was the in. Because of unsolved social, political and national conflicts some of the German inhabitants took part in the to create a unified Germany. The in the  elected the arch duke  as a, an administrator of the German Empire. For a new German empire would have been possible three options: a Greater Germany ' with the German-speaking territories of the Habsburg Empire, a Greater Austrian solution, ', the with the whole Habsurgian territories, and a smaller German solution,  the  without Austria at all. As Austria was not willing to relinquish its German-speaking territories to what would become the the parliament offered the crown the Prussian King. Austria grew out of Germany, Prussia grew in. In 1864 Austria and Prussia fought together against Denmark, to free the independent dutchies Schleswig and Holstein. Austria and Prussia could not agree on a solution to the administration of Schleswig and Holstein, which led to the of 1866. Austria, that fought together with most of the German states was defeated by Prussia in the battle of in. Austria had to leave the and was subsequently no longer permitted to take part in German politics.

The provided for a dual sovereignty, the empire of Austria and the kingdom of, under , who ruled until his death on. The German-Hungarian rule of this diverse empire, which included, various Slavic groups such as, , , , , and , as well as large  and n communities. As a result, running Austria-Hungary became increasingly difficult in an age of emerging nationalist movements.

World War I and its aftermath
The assassination of in  in 1914 by  (a member of the Serbian nationalist group the ) was the proximate cause of World War I, which led to the downfall and the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. War left the country in political chaos and economic ruin, the Central Powers (being Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany and Turkey) having been defeated in 1918. The Empire was broken up - Austria, with most of the German-speaking parts became a (see ) and all of what had been subordinated states became independent countries.

Between 1918 and 1919, it was officially known as the Republic of (Republik Deutschösterreich). After the forbade German Austria to unite with Germany, they also forbade the name,  it was thus changed to the Republic of Austria. The monarchy was dissolved in 1919 and a parliamentary democracy was set up by the constitution of.

In the autumn of 1922, Austria was granted an international loan supervised by the. The purpose of the loan was to avert bankruptcy, stabilize the currency, and improve the general economic condition. With the granting of the loan, Austria passed from an independent state to the control exercised by the League of Nations. At the time, the real ruler of Austria became the League, through its commissioner in Vienna. The commissioner was a Dutchman not formally part of the Austrian government. Austria had fallen under an international, which had not been seen openly since became the financial advisor to the bankrupt  of Egypt a little less than half a century earlier.

Austrofascism and the Third Reich
The, lasted until 1933 when Chancellor shut down parliament and established an autocratic regime oriented towards Italian fascism,  to check the power of Nazis advocating union with. The two big parties of this time —the Social Democrats and the Conservatives— had paramilitary armies, which fought each other. The "Heimwehr" (later integrated into the "Vaterländische Front"), the paramilitary arm of the Conservative party supported Dollfuß' s Fascist regime; the  "Republikanischer Schutzbund", was the military arm of the Social Democrats which was outlawed in 1933 but still existed underground - civil war was to break out.

After the in February 1934, several members of the Schutzbund were executed, the Social Democratic party was outlawed and many of its members were imprisoned or emigrated. In May of that year the Fascists introduced a new constitution ("Maiverfassung") which cemented Dollfuß's power but on he was assassinated in a  coup attempt.

His successor, struggled to keep Austria independent but on  German troops occupied the country and , himself a native of Austria who had lost Austrian citizenship in 1925, proclaimed its  with Germany, annexing it to the. Austria thus ceased to exist as an independent country; the Nazis called it until 1942 when it was renamed Alpen-Donau-Reichsgaue.

Just before the collapse of the Third Reich, the defeat of Germany and the end of the war,, astutely set up a Provisional Government in in April 1945 with the tacit approval of the Soviet forces and declared  Austria's secession from the Third Reich.

After the defeat of Germany, Allied Occupation
Much like Germany, Austria, too, was divided into a British, a French, a Soviet and an American Zone and governed by the. Largely owing to 's action on April 27th in setting up a Provisional Government, however, there was a subtle difference in the treatment of Austria by the Allies. The Austrian Government was recognized and tolerated by the Four Powers. Austria, in general, was treated like it had been originally invaded by Germany and liberated by the Allies.

Although the Eastern part of Austria, including the greater Vienna area, lay in the Soviet Zone, the capital itself was equally divided into four occupational zones. Outside of Vienna, however, travel across zone borders, in particular leaving or entering the Soviet zone, was difficult and time-consuming if possible at all. During the time of the, Soviet military pressure was increased further, but could be successfully overcome by skillful military, political and diplomatic influence on the part of the other Allies.

On  Austria regained full independence by concluding the  with the Four Occupying Powers. On  Austria was declared "permanently neutral" by act of Parliament, which it remains to this day.

Recent history
The political system of the Second Republic came to be characterized by the system of , meaning that most posts of some political importance were split evenly between members of the Social Democrats (Labour Party) and the People's Party (Conservatives).

Interest group representations with mandatory membership (e.g. for workers, businesspeople, farmers etc.) grew to considerable importance and were usually consulted in the legislative process, so that hardly any legislation was passed that did not reflect widespread consensus. The Proporz and consensus systems largely held even during the years between 1966 and 1983, when there were non-coalition governments, but can now be called history.

Austria nowadays has five major political parties: The SPÖ (Labour Party), the ÖVP (Conservatives), the "Greens" (Environmental, social-liberal) and FPÖ/BZÖ (both right-wing, nationalist). SPÖ and ÖVP share about 75% of the parliamentary mandates, while the remaining 25% are divided between the other three parties.

Austria became a member of the in 1995 and retained its constitutional neutrality, like some other EU members, such as Sweden. The major parties SPÖ and ÖVP have contrary opinions about the future status of Austria's military neutrality: While the SPÖ pleads for a neutral role in the EU (together with other neutral EU members like Sweden), the ÖVP argues for stronger integration into the EU's security policy; even a future NATO is not ruled out by some ÖVP politicians. Since the "permant neutrality" forms part of the Austrian constitution, a two-thirds majority in the Austrian parliament would be needed.

Political system
The is located in, the nation's largest city and capital. Austria became a federal,  through the  of 1920. It was reintroduced in 1945 to the nine of the Federal Republic. The is the, who is directly elected by popular vote. The chairman of the is the, who is appointed by the president. The government can be removed from office by either a presidential decree or by in the lower chamber of parliament, the.

The Parliament of Austria consists of two chambers. The composition of the Nationalrat is determined every four years by a free general election in which every citizen over 16 years (since 2007) is allowed to vote to fill its 183 seats. This period will be extended to five years after the next election. While there is a general threshold of 4 percent for all parties at federal elections (Nationalratswahlen), there remains the possibility to gain a direct seat, or Direktmandat, in one of the 43 regional election districts. The Nationalrat is the dominant chamber in the formation of legislation in Austria. However, the upper house of parliament, the has a limited right of  (the Nationalrat can &mdash; in almost all cases &mdash; ultimately pass the respective bill by voting a second time. This is referred to as 'Beharrungsbeschluss, lit. "vote of persistence"). A convention, called the Österreich–Konvent was convened in, to decide upon suggestions to reform the constitution, but has failed to produce a proposal that would receive the two thirds of votes in the Nationalrat necessary for constitutional amendments and/or reform. However, some important parts of the final report were generally agreed upon and are still expected to be implemented.

Recent political developments
In February 2000 the conservative People's Party formed a coalition with the controversial nationalistic Freedom Party, headed by. The (at that time) 14 other member states of the - but not the EU itself - condemned Austria's new coalition, froze diplomatic contacts, which were commonly referred to "sanctions", although they were more or less diplomatic unfriendliness. Given the controversy, Haider chose not to join the government, but he continued to wield influence from the sidelines.

In September 2002, the coalition between the and the  dissolved after a shake-up in the Freedom Party. In November 2002, the People's Party made large gains in general elections. After failed coalition talks with other parties, the People's Party again formed a government with the in February 2003.

After general elections held in October 2006, the Social Democrats emerged as the largest party, whereas the People's Party lost about 8% in votes. Political realities prohibited any of the two major parties from forming a coalition with smaller parties. In January 2007 the People's Party and Social Democrats formed a with the social democrat  as Chancellor.

Foreign policy
The 1955 ended the occupation of Austria following World War II and recognized Austria as an independent and sovereign state. In October 1955, the passed a constitutional law in which "Austria declares of her own free will her perpetual neutrality." The second section of this law stated that "in all future times Austria will not join any military alliances and will not permit the establishment of any foreign military bases on her territory." Since then, Austria has shaped its foreign policy on the basis of neutrality.

Austria began to reassess its definition of neutrality following the fall of the Soviet Union, granting overflight rights for the -sanctioned action against in 1991, and, since 1995, contemplating participation in the  evolving security structure. Also in 1995, it joined the Partnership for Peace and subsequently participated in peacekeeping missions in Bosnia.

Austria attaches great importance to participation in the and other international economic organizations, and it has played an active role in the  (OSCE).

Energy politics
In 1972, the country began construction of a electricity-generation station at  on the River, following a unanimous vote in parliament. However, in 1978, a voted approximately 50.5% against nuclear power, 49.5% for, and parliament subsequently unanimously passed a law forbidding the use of nuclear  power to generate electricity.

Austria currently produces more than half of its electricity by. Together with other renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and biomass powerplants, the electricity supply from renewable energy amounts to nearly 80% of total use in Austria. The rest is produced by and  powerplants.

Military
The main branches of the Austrian Armed Forces ("Bundesheer") are Joint Forces (Streitkräfteführungskommando, SKFüKdo) which consist of Land Forces (Landstreitkräfte), Air Forces (Luftstreitkräfte), International Missions (Internationale Einsätze), and Special Forces (Spezialeinsatzkräfte); next to Mission Support (Kommando Einsatzunterstützung; KdoEU) and Command Support (Kommando Führungsunterstützung; KdoFüU). In 2004, Austria expends about 0.9% of its GDP for defense. The Army currently has about 45,000 soldiers, of which about half are conscripts. As head of state, (currently ) is nominally the Commander-in-Chief of the Bundesheer. In practical reality, however, command of the Austrian Armed Forces is almost exclusively exercised by the Minister of Defense, currently Norbert Darabos.

With the end of the, and more importantly the removal of the former heavily guarded "Iron Curtain" separating Austria and Hungary, the Austrian military have been assisting Austrian border guards in trying to prevent border crossings by illegal immigrants. This assistance will come to an end when Hungary joins the EU Schengen area in 2008, for all intents and purposes abolishing "internal" border controls between treaty states. Some politicians have called for a prolongation of this mission, but the legality of this is heavily disputed. In accordance with the Austrian constitution, armed forces may only be deployed in a limited number of cases, mainly to defend the country and aid in cases of national emergencies, such as in the wake of natural disasters etc. They may generally not be used as auxiliary police forces.

Despite, or perhaps because of, its self-declared status of permanent neutrality, Austria has a long and proud tradition of engaging in UN-led peacekeeping and other humanitarian missions. The (AFDRU), in particular, an all-volunteer unit with close ties to civilian specialists (rescue dog handlers, etc) enjoys a reputation as a quick (standard deployment time is 10 hours) and efficient  unit. Currently, larger contingents of Austrian forces are deployed in, and, since 1974, on the.

States
A federal republic, Austria is divided into (Bundesländer). These states are then divided into s and cities. Districts are subdivided into municipalities (Gemeinden). Cities have the competencies otherwise granted to both districts and municipalities. The states are not mere administrative divisions but have some distinct legislative authority separate from the federal government.

Geography


Austria is a largely ous country due to its location in the. The, and  are all partly in Austria. Of the total area of Austria (84 000 km² or 32,000 ), only about a quarter can be considered low lying, and only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft). The high mountainous Alps in the west of Austria flatten somewhat into low lands and plains in the east of the country.

Austria can be divided into five areas. The biggest area are the, which constitute 62% of Austria's total area. The Austrian foothills at the base of the and the  account for around 12% of its area. The foothills in the east and areas surrounding the periphery of the Pannoni low country amount to about 12% of the total landmass. The second greater mountain area (much lower than the Alps) is situated in the north. Known as the Austrian, it is located in the central area of the Bohemian Mass, and accounts for 10% of Austria. The Austrian portion of the comprises the remaining 4%.

Climate
The greater part of Austria lies in the cool/temperate in which humid westerly winds predominate. With over half of the country dominated by the the  is the predominant one. In the East, in the and along the, the climate shows continental features with less rain than the alpine areas. Although Austria is cold in the winter, in the summer temperatures can be relatively warm reaching 20-35 degrees Celsius. This year, though, the weather has been changing rapidly from cool temperatures to fairly warm temperatures. Therefore, it will be hard to predict the weather in the future for Austria.

The six highest mountains in Austria are:

Economy


Austria is one of the 10 richest countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita, has a well-developed, and a very high. Until the 1980s, many of Austria's largest industry firms were nationalised; in recent years, however, has reduced state holdings to a level comparable to other European economies. s are particularly strong in Austria and have large influence on labour politics. Next to a highly-developed industry, international tourism is the most important part of the national economy.

has historically been the main trading partner of Austria, making it vulnerable to rapid changes in the. But since Austria became a member state of the it has gained closer ties to other  economies, reducing its economic dependence on Germany. In addition, membership in the EU has drawn an influx of foreign investors attracted by Austria's access to the single European market and proximity to EU aspiring economies. Growth in GDP accelerated in recent years and reached 3.3% in 2006.

Education
Responsibility for educational oversight in Austria lies partly at the Austrian (Bundesländer), partly with the federal government. Optional education is provided for all children between the ages of three and six years. School attendance is for nine years, ie usually to the age of fifteen.

lasts for four years. Alongside, includes two main types of schools based on a pupil's ability as determined by grades from the primary school: the  for the more gifted children which normally leads to the  which is a requirement for access to universities and the  which prepares pupils for vocational education.

The Austrian university system had been open to any student who passed the examination until recently. A 2006 bill allowed the introduction of entrance exams for studies such as. Currently all students are charged a fee of about €370 per semester for all university studies. A recent report critizised the Austrian education system for the low number of students attending universities and the overall low number of academics compared to other OECD countries.

Demographics


Austria's population estimate in October 2006 was 8,292,322. The population of the capital,, exceeds 1.6 million (2.2 million with suburbs), representing about a quarter of the country's population and is known for its vast cultural offerings and high standard of living.

In contrast to the capital, other cities do not exceed 1 million inhabitants: the second largest city is home to 250,099 inhabitants, followed by  (188,968),  (150,000), and  (117,346). All other cities have fewer than 100,000 inhabitants.

German-speaking Austrians, by far the country's largest group, form roughly 90% of Austria's population. The Austrian federal states of and  are home to a significant (indigenous)  with around 14,000 members (Austrian census; unofficial numbers of Slovene groups speak of up to 50,000). Around 20,000 and 30,000  live in the east-most Bundesland,  (formerly part of the Hungarian half of ). The remaining of Austria's people are of non-Austrian descent, many from surrounding countries, especially from the former  nations. So-called (Gastarbeiter) and their descendants, as well as refugees from  and other conflicts, also form an important  in Austria. Since 1994 the and  (gypsies) are an officially recognized ethnic minority in Austria

According to the 2001, the mother tongue of the population by prevalence, is German (88.6%) followed by Turkish (2.3%), Serbian (2.2%), Croatian (1.6%), Hungarian (0.5%) and Bosnian (0.4%).

The official language,, is spoken by almost all residents of the country. Austria's mountainous terrain led to the development of many distinct German dialects. All of the dialects in the, however, belong to groups of German dialects, with the exception of the dialect spoken in its west-most Bundesland, , which belongs to the group of  dialects. There is also a distinct grammatical standard for with a few differences to the German spoken in Germany.

As of 2006, some of the Austrian states introduced standardised tests for new citizens, to assure their language and cultural knowledge and accordingly their ability to integrate into the Austrian society.

Politics concerning ethnic groups (Volksgruppenpolitik)
An estimated 13,000 to 40,000 in the Austrian state of  (the ) as well as Croatians (around 30,000 ) and  in Burgenland were recognized as a minority and have enjoyed special rights following the Austrian State Treaty (Staatsvertrag) of 1955. The Slovenians in the Austrian state of (estimated at a number between 1,600 and 5,000) are not recognized as a minority and do not enjoy special rights, although the State Treaty of   states otherwise.

The right for bilingual topographic signs for the regions where Slovene- and Croat-Austrians live alongside the Germanic population (as required by the 1955 State Treaty) is still to be fully implemented. Many Carinthians are afraid of Slovenian territorial claims, pointing to the fact that Yugoslav troops entered the state after each of the two World Wars and considering that some official Slovenian atlases show parts of Carinthia as Slovenian cultural territory. The current governor,, has made this fact a matter of public argument in autumn 2005 by refusing to increase the number of bilingual topographic signs in Carinthia. A poll by the Kärntner Humaninstitut conducted in January 2006 states that 65% of Carinthians are not in favour of an increase of bilingual topographic signs, since the original requirements set by the State Treaty of 1955 have already been fulfilled according to their point of view. Another interesting phenomenon is the so called "Windischen-Theorie" stating that the Slovenians can be split in two groups: actual Slovenians and Windische (a traditional German name for Slavs), based on differences in language between Austrian Slovenians, who were taught Slovenian standard language in school and those Slovenians who spoke their local Slovenian dialect but went to German schools. The term Windische was applied to the latter group as a means of distinction. This theory was never generally accepted and fell out of use some decades ago.

Religion


About 12% of the population declare that they have. Of the remaining people, about 180,000 are members of the and about 7,300 are. It has to be noted that the Austrian Jewish Community of 1938 – Vienna alone counted more than 200,000 - was reduced to solely 4,000 to 5,000 after the. The influx of ans, especially from the former Yugoslav nations, Albania and particularly from largely contributed to a substantial Muslim minority in Austria&mdash;around 300,000 are registered as members of various Muslim communities. , which was legally recognized as a religion in Austria in 1983, enjoys widespread acceptance and has a following of 20,000 (10,402 at the 2001 ).

According to the most recent 2005,


 * 54% of Austrian citizens responded that "they believe there is a God".
 * 34% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force".
 * 8% answered that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force".

While northern and central Germany was the origin of the, Austria (and Bavaria) was the heart of the in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the absolute monarchy of  imposed a strict regime to maintain Catholicism's power and influence among Austrians. The s viewed themselves as the vanguard of and all other confessions and religions were oppressed. In 1781, issued a Patent of Tolerance that allowed other Christian confessions a limited. Religious freedom was declared a constitutional right in the in 1867 thus paying tribute to the fact that the monarchy was home of numerous religions beside Roman Catholicism such as Greek, Serbian, Romanian, Russian, and Bulgarian  (Austria neighboured the  for centuries), and both  and.

Austria continued to remain largely influenced by Catholicism. After 1918, First Republic Catholic leaders such as and  took leading positions within or close to the Austrian Government and increased their influence during the time of the &mdash;Catholicism was treated much like a  by dictators  and. Although Catholic leaders welcomed the Germans in 1938 during the of Austria into, Austrian Catholicism stopped its support of  later on and many former religious public figures became involved with the resistance during the. After 1945 a stricter secularism was imposed in Austria, and religious influence on politics declined.

As of the end of the twentieth century, about 73% of Austria's population were registered as Roman Catholic, while about 5% considered themselves s. Both these numbers have been on the decline for decades, especially Roman Catholicism, which has suffered an increasing number of seceders from the church. Austrian Catholics are obliged to pay a mandatory tax (calculated by income&mdash;about 1%) to the Austrian Roman Catholic Church, which might act as an incentive to leave the church.

Music
Austria's past as a European power and its cultural environment have generated a broad contribution to various forms of art, most notably among them music. Austria has been the birthplace of many such as, , , , ,  and  as well as members of the  such as ,  and.

Vienna has long been especially an important center of musical innovation. Eighteenth and nineteenth century composers were drawn to the city due to the patronage of the Habsburgs, and made Vienna the European capital of classical music. During the Baroque period, Slavic and Hungarian folk forms influenced Austrian music. Vienna's status began its rise as a cultural center in the early 1500s, and was focused around instruments including the lute. spent the better part of his life in Vienna.

Austria's current was chosen after  to replace the traditional Austrian anthem by Joseph Haydn. The composition, which was initially attributed to, was most likely not composed by Mozart himself.

Austria has also produced one notable jazz musician, keyboardist who helped pioneer electronic influences in jazz as well as being a notable composer in his own right.

Art and architecture


Among and architects one can find painters, ,  or ,  photographer  or architect.

Science, philosophy and economics
Austria was the cradle of numerous scientists with international reputations. Among them are, , and , prominent scientists in the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, contributions by, and  to nuclear research and quantum mechanics were key to these areas' development during the 1920s and 1930s. A present-day quantum physicist is, noted as the first scientist to demonstrate.

In addition to physicists, Austria was the birthplace of two of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century, and. In addition to them biologists and  as well as mathematician  and engineers such as  and  were Austrians.

A focus of Austrian science has always been medicine and psychology, starting in medieval times with. Eminent physicians like, , and have built upon the achievements of the 19th century. Austria was home to psychologists, , and  and psychiatrist.

The of Economics, which is prominent as one of the main competitive directions for economic theory is related to Austrian economists, , , and.

Other noteworthy Austrian-born émigrés include the management thinker and the 38th Governor of California,.

Literature
Complementing its status as a land of artists and scientists, Austria has always been a country of poets, writers,and novelists. It was the home of novelists, , , or , of poets , , ,  or  and writer.

Famous contemporary playwrights and novelists are Nobel prize winner and writer.

Cuisine
Austria's cuisine is derived from the cuisine of the. In addition to native regional traditions, it has been influenced above all by, , , and Bavarian cuisines, from which both dishes and methods of food preparation have often been borrowed. The Austrian Cuisine is therefore one of the most multi and transcultural cuisines in Europe.

Typical Austrian dishes include, , , and. There are also Kasnockn, a macaroni dish with fresh Pinzgauer cheese and parsley, and Eierschwammerl dishes. The Eierschwammerl are the native yellow, tan mushrooms. These mushrooms are delicious, especially when in a thick Austrian soup, or on regular meals.

The candy was invented in Austria. Austria is also famous for its'.

Sports
The most popular sport in Austria is and Austria shows constant dominance in the Nations-Cup. Similar sports such as or  are also widely popular. The most popular team sport in Austria is. However, Austria rarely has international success in this discipline, though the is jointly being held with Switzerland. Besides football, Austria also has professional national leagues for most major team sports including, and.