In 1999, Austria had an estimated population of around 8 million people. The majority of the population were ethnic Austrian, with smaller numbers of German and Turkish people. The economy was largely based on services and manufacturing, though there was also a thriving agricultural industry. Foreign relations were primarily with other European countries due to Austria’s geographic proximity to them. In terms of politics, Austria was ruled by the Social Democratic Party led by Chancellor Viktor Klima who held office from 1997 to 2000. This government implemented a number of reforms that aimed to strengthen the country’s ties with the European Union while maintaining its autonomy. See ethnicityology for Austria in the year of 2018.
Yearbook 1999
Austria. Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of Austria. Austria ended in a political deadlock after October’s election to the National Council (Parliament) when the right-wing populist FPÖ (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, Austria’s Freedom Party) became the country’s second largest after the Social Democrats (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ). The success was primarily due to party leader Jörg Haider, who in the spring was elected head of government in the federal state of Carinthia in southern Austria. He made his election campaign a charm offensive where he mixed a lot of general promises with anti-immigrant rhetoric and appealed as a chameleon to the voters both left and right. SPÖ made its worst choice after the Second World War and had a decline of 4.7 percentage points compared to the 1995 election. 34% of the votes were satisfied. That meant a six-mandate reduction to 65 of the National Council’s 183 seats. It was almost a dead race between the conservative ÖVP (Österreichische Volkspartei, Austrian People’s Party) and FPÖ, which won second place with only 440 votes more. ÖVP went back a bit and lost a mandate, while FPÖ won eleven. The environmental party Die Grünen (The Greens) made a good choice and received 14 seats – an increase of five.
- Also see Abbreviationfinder.org to see the acronym of AUS which stands for Austria and other definitions of this 3-letter abbreviation.
Until the election, Austria had been governed by what was called the great coalition between social democrats and conservatives. Austria’s economy is one of Europe’s strongest, unemployment is low and so is inflation. But the Austrians seemed bored by all the cow trading and all the compromises that the great coalition brought and wanted renewal in politics. And that’s exactly what Haider promised.
OVP leader Wolfgang Schüssel had already declared before the election that his party would leave the government if it did not come in second place. After a party board meeting, he explained that ÖVP was preparing to go into opposition, but he later left the door open for further government negotiations. After two months of unsuccessful deliberations between politicians, President Thomas Klestil in December commissioned Social Democrats leader Viktor Klima to form government, but he had not yet succeeded at the end of the year when Austria was ruled by an expedition minister for over three months.
Vienna History
In the Roman province of Pannonia, on what has been the area of the Celtic Boers, was built during the first century AD a Roman army camp called Vindobona, around which civilian settlements grew. Emperor Marcus Aurelius died there in 180. That a continuous settlement took place between Vindobona and the medieval city has been established through archaeological investigations; However, the name Vienna is earliest known from 1030. When Austria was elevated to the duchy of Babenberg in 1156, Vienna became its capital, and so it remained after the Habsburgs’ takeover of 1276. Thanks to a favorable location at the so-called Danube Gate, Vienna developed into a hub for transit trade between the West – and Eastern Europe and became the cultural center with a university founded in 1365.
In 1529, the city, though unsuccessfully, was besieged by Turkish troops, which had already subjugated most of Hungary. The Ottoman Empire’s expansion came in conjunction with the great geographical discoveries of the time to gradually weaken Vienna’s position as an international trading city. In return, the city was given a new role as the seat of central government in the Habsburg Empire. During the Reformation, a significant portion of Vienna’s population was Protestantism, which, however, was again pushed back by the counter-reform favored by the authorities. In 1683, Vienna was subjected to yet another severe Turkish siege. The attackers fought back this time with the help of the Polish king Johan III Sobieski in the battle of Kahlenberg.
Since Austria, through the peace in Karlowitz in 1699, won the hegemony over the Danube region, Vienna’s real heyday began. The former Gothic building style gave way to the Baroque, which made its mark on the central parts of the city, as well as on the magnificent castles erected in the immediate vicinity. At the same time, Vienna under Karl VI, Maria Teresia and Josef II developed into an art and music city of international standards. During the Napoleonic Wars, Vienna was occupied by French troops in 1805 and 1809, but emerged after the end of the war as Europe’s political center. by the Vienna Congress of 1814–15 being placed there. At the same time, the city’s central position in cultural life was further strengthened.
The revolution year of 1848, Vienna became the scene of street battles that twice forced Emperor Ferdinand I to leave the city. After the order was restored, the old fortifications that had surrounded the inner city were demolished. In their place was a 57 m wide ring road (Ring) with connected parks and monumental buildings. During the period leading up to the First World War, rapid industrialization took place, followed by strong population growth. New parties with a broad foundation emerged: the Social Democrats and the Christian Social. The latter’s leader, Karl Lueger, acted as mayor from 1897 on major innovations, such as the municipalization of gas and the introduction of electricity and the tramway.
Following the fall of the Habsburg Empire in 1918, Vienna’s population declined sharply, while its economy deteriorated. Socially conditional contradictions between the Social Democrats and the Christian-Social Government led to unrest in 1927 and 1934. Following the accession to Germany (Anschluss) in 1938, the population decline, including through the loss of the city’s approximately 180,000 Jews. During the Second World War, the city became a center for refugees from the north, south and east. Some destruction was brought to Vienna by Allied airstrikes in the fall of 1944, as well as street battles and artillery fire in 1945. However, Vienna escaped a worse fate by informing Red Army commanders of the German army about where the German troops were located. To some extent, German commanders ignored Hitler’s order to convert Vienna into a fortress city, which undoubtedly would have caused great havoc. From 1945 to 55, Vienna was occupied by Soviet, American, French and British troops. The International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, was established in Vienna in 1957, as was UNIDO, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in 1967.
