Austro-Hungarian Empire History
Empire Wiki Topics
The Holy Roman Empire was the major political entity in the heart of Europe between 1500 and 1806. Austrian Empire begin in 1814 and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or the Dual Monarchy, after 1867. The Empire lasted until the end of World War I in 1918.
- abt 1,000 A.D.: Iron plow invented in Lower Rhine region. Resultant increase in food production leads to population growth and German emigration to the east - Bohemia and Hungary - and to the Crusades.
- 1130s: Zipser and Transylvania Saxon colonies founded by Germans (Upper Hungary - Slovakia and Transylvania).
- 1241: Mongol raid devastates Hungary, Slovakia.
- 1335-1350: Black Death (Bubonic plague) begins in Constantinople, spreads to Mediterranean seaports, then to Central and Western Europe. 50-75 % of Europe's population is wiped out. Emigration to the east ceases for a long time.
- 1526: Battle of Mohacs - The Turks defeat Hungary and the Hungarian King dies on the battlefield. The Turks are repulsed in Vienna and the Habsburg monarchy takes over rule of Hungary.
- 1545-1547: Council of Trent - Reform of the Roman Catholic church, beginning of church registers of baptism, marriage, death.
- 1620-1650: Thirty Years' War - Germany and Bohemia are devastated by warring factions - Many church registers lost.
- 1683: Second siege of Vienna by Turks - Turks are turned back and gradually retreat from Hungary; 1686 Budapest liberated; 1688 Belgrade liberated.
- 1700s and early 1800s: Re-settlement of Hungary in the wake of 150 years of Turkish rule. The Banat and Backa are two main areas of 'Danube Swabian' settlements. (New settlers are actually from Alsace-Lorraine, Swabia, Slovakia, Bohemia, Galicia, Sub-Carpathian Rus, etc.).
- 1848: Nationalist revolutions in Western and Central Europe. Vestiges of serfdom finally abolished. Beginning of Hungarian independence from Austria; Czechs and other nationalities gain small measures of cultural independence.
- 1867: The compromise which institutes a dual monarchy. Two independent states which shared a common ruler, as emperor in Austria, as king in Hungary.
- 1914-1918: Austria-Hungary defeated in First World War, split into separate entities based on nationality: Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia created; Galicia goes to Poland; Transylvania goes to Romania.