Vienna Timeline
Below is a timeline of the history of Vienna, the capital of Austria.
| 23,000 BC | The "Venus of Willendorf," a statue of a Danubian fertility goddess, is crafted near Vienna. |
| 1000 BC | Illyrian tribes establish a society near Vienna. |
| 400 BC | Vendi tribes migrate from Gaul eastward to regions around Vienna. |
| 100 BC | Romans make military inroads into southern Austria. |
| 10 AD | Vindobona (Vienna) is established as a frontier outpost of the Roman Empire. Within 300 years, it's a thriving trading post. |
| 400 | Vindobona is burnt and rebuilt, but the event marks the gradual withdrawal of the Romans from Austria. |
| 500 | Vienna is overrun by Lombards. |
| 630 | The Avars take Vienna. |
| 803 | Charlemagne conquers the Danube Valley and the site of Vienna, labeling what's now Austria "Ostmark." |
| 814 | Death of Charlemagne leads to dissolution of his empire. |
| 881 | First documented reference to Vienna (Wenia). |
| 955 | Charlemagne's heir, Otto I, reconquers Ostmark. |
| 962 | Otto I is anointed the first official Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope. |
| 976 | Leopold von Babenburg, first of his dynasty, rises to power in the Danube Valley. |
| 996 | Austria is referred to for the first time with a derivation of its modern name (Ostarrichi). |
| 1030 | Vienna is the largest town north of the Alps after Cologne. |
| 1147 | A Romanesque predecessor of St. Stephan's Cathedral is consecrated as the religious centerpiece of Vienna. |
| 1192 | The English king Richard the Lion-Hearted is arrested and held hostage by the Viennese. His ransom pays for construction of the city's walls, completed in 1200. |
| 1221 | City charter is granted to Vienna, with trading privileges. |
| 1246 | Last of the Babenburgs, Friedrich the Warlike, dies in battle. Bohemian king Ottokar II succeeds him. |
| 1278 | Ottokar II is killed at Battle of Marchfeld. Rudolf II of Habsburg begins one of the longest dynastic rules in European history. |
| 1335, 1363 | Habsburgs add Carinthia and the Tyrol to Austrian territory. |
| 1433 | Central spire of St. Stephan's Cathedral is completed. |
| 1453 | Friedrich II is elected Holy Roman Emperor and rules from Vienna. |
| 1469 | Vienna is elevated to a bishopric. |
| 1485-90 | Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus occupies Vienna's Hofburg. |
| 1490 | Maximilian I recaptures Hungary and lost dominions. |
| 1496 | A Habsburg son marries the infanta of Spain, an act that eventually places a Habsburg in control of vast territories in the New World. |
| 1519 | Charles I, Habsburg ruler of Spain, is elected Holy Roman Emperor as Charles V. |
| 1521 | Charles V cedes Vienna and the central European portion of his holdings to his brother for more effective rule. |
| 1526 | Rebellion in Vienna is brutally repressed by the Habsburgs. |
| 1529 | In the first Turkish siege, fire destroys half of Vienna. |
| 1533 | Vienna is declared the official Habsburg capital. |
| 1556 | Charles V cedes his position as Holy Roman Emperor to his brother Ferdinand, the Austrian king. |
| 1560 | Vienna's city walls are strengthened. |
| 1571 | Ferdinand grants religious freedom to all Austrians. Before long, 80% of Austrians have converted to Protestantism. |
| 1576 | A reconversion to Catholicism of all Austrians begins. The Counter-Reformation begins. |
| 1600-1650 | Hundreds of Catholic monks, priests, and nuns establish bases in Vienna as a means of encouraging the reconversion and strengthening the Habsburg role in the Counter-Reformation. |
| 1618-48 | The Thirty Years' War almost paralyzes Vienna. |
| 1679 | The worst year of the plague - 75,000 to 150,000 Viennese die. |
| 1683 | Turks besiege Vienna but are routed by the armies of Lorraine and Poland. |
| 1699 | Turks evacuate strongholds in Hungary, ending the threat to Europe. |
| 1700 | The last of the Spanish Habsburgs dies, followed a year later by the War of the Spanish Succession. |
| 1740 | Maria Theresa ascends the Austrian throne after initial tremors from the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48). |
| 1769 | Schönbrunn Palace is completed. |
| 1770 | The marriage of Habsburg princess Marie Antoinette to Louis XVI of France cements relations between Austria and France. |
| 1780 | Maria Theresa dies, and her liberal son, Joseph II, ascends to power. |
| 1789 | Revolution in France leads to the beheading of Marie Antoinette. |
| 1805 and 1809 | Armies of Napoléon twice occupy Vienna. |
| 1810 | Napoléon marries Habsburg archduchess Marie-Louise. |
| 1811 | Viennese treasury is bankrupted by military spending. |
| 1814-15 | Congress of Vienna rearranges the map of Europe following the defeat of Napoléon. |
| 1832 | First steamship company is organized to ply the Danube. |
| 1837 | Austria's first railway line is created. |
| 1815-48 | Vienna's Biedermeier period, supervised by Metternich, marks the triumph of the bourgeoisie. |
| 1848 | Violent revolution in Vienna ousts Metternich, threatens the collapse of Austrian society, and ushers 18-year-old Franz Joseph I into power. |
| 1850 | Vienna's population reaches 431,000. |
| 1859 | Austria loses control of its Italian provinces, including Venice and Milan. |
| 1862 | Flooding on the Danube leads to a reconfiguration of its banks to a channel in Vienna's suburbs. |
| 1867 | Hungary and Austria merge, becoming the Austro-Hungarian Empire, headed by the emperor Franz Joseph I. |
| 1869 | Vienna's State Opera House is completed. |
| 1873 | Vienna World's Fair. |
| 1889 | Crown Prince Rudolf dies at Mayerling, sparking controversy. |
| 1890-1900 | Vienna's outer suburbs are incorporated into the city as Districts 11 to 20. |
| 1914 | Assassination of the heir to the Habsburg Empire, Archduke Ferdinand, sparks World War I. |
| 1916 | Franz Joseph dies and is succeeded by Charles I, last of the Habsburg monarchs. |
| 1918 | World War I ends, Austria is defeated, Charles I abdicates, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is radically dismantled. |
| 1919 | Liberalization of Austrian voting laws enacts monumental changes in the social structure of Vienna. "Red Vienna" period begins; the city swings radically to the left. |
| 1927 | Violent discord rocks Vienna. |
| 1929 | Worldwide economic depression. |
| 1933 | Austria's authoritarian chancellor, Dollfuss, outlaws the Austrian Nazi party. |
| 1934 | Dollfuss is assassinated by Nazis. |
| 1938 | German Nazi troops complete an amicable invasion of Austria that leads to the union of the two nations (Anschluss) through World War II. |
| 1943-45 | Massive bombings by Allied forces leave most public monuments in ruins. |
| 1945 | Allied forces defeat Germany and Austria. Vienna is "liberated" by Soviet troops on April 11. On April 27, Austria is redefined as a country separate from Germany and divided, like Germany, into four zones of occupation. Vienna also is subdivided into four zones. |
| 1955 | Allied forces evacuate Vienna; Vienna becomes the capital of a neutral Austria. |
| 1961 | Summit meeting in Vienna occurs between Kennedy and Khrushchev. |
| 1979 | Summit meeting in Vienna occurs betweenCarter and Brezhnev. |
| 1986 | Investigations into the wartime activities of Austrian chancellor Kurt Waldheim profoundly embarrass Austria. |
| 1989 | The last heiress to the Habsburg dynasty, Empress Zita of Bourbon-Parma, in exile since 1919, dies and is buried in one of the most elaborate funerals in Viennese history. |
| 1995 | Austria, along with Sweden and Finland, is admitted to the European Union. |
| 1997 | After 10 years, longtime chancellor Franz Vranitzky steps down, turning over leadership of Social Democratic Party. |
| 1998 | Austria decides to return art that Nazis plundered (much of it in museums). |
| 1999 | Right-wing Freedom Party stirs worldwide protests against Austria. |
| 2000 | The EU issues sanctions against Austria and then rescinds them. |
| 2002 | Danube flooding causes billions of euros in damage to the Austrian economy and buildings. |
