Page 45 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2016 - Austria

THE HIST OR Y OF A USTRIA  43

he represented the younger line
of Habsburgs, taking control of
Austria, Styria, Carniola, Carinthia
and Tyrol and the Jagiellon
inheritance, Bohemia, Moravia,
Silesia and western Hungary.
Reformation and
Turkish Threat
During the Reformation, the state,
now with a population of seven
million, became the scene of fierce
religious conflicts. Ferdinand and
his successor, Maximilian II (1564–
76), pursued a policy of tolerance
towards the Protestants, but Rudolf
II (1576–1612), brought up in the
Gothic altar in Zwettl Abbey
staunchly Catholic Spanish court,
Burgundy in 1477 gained control of Alsace, declared himself in favour of the Counter-
Lorraine and the Netherlands, one of the Reformation. The growing religious conflict
richest countries in Europe. He also entered led to the Thirty-Years’ War (1618–48),
into a treaty with the Jagiellons – thus which ravaged large
reviving his claims to the Bohemian and areas (51 castles, 23
Hungarian crowns – and, by arranging the towns and 313 villages
betrothal of his son Philip to the Spanish in Austrian-ruled
Infanta Joan, extended Habsburg rule over countries alone).
the Iberian Peninsula and the South Even greater
American dominions. In 1519, Maximilian’s destruction was
successor, his grandson Charles V (1519– caused by the wars
56), heir to the Spanish and Austrian fought during the
territories, succeeded to the throne of an 16th and 17th centuries
empire over which, it could be said, “the against the Turks, who
sun never set”. twice tried to conquer Turkish banner, captured
Following the Vienna (1529, 1683). The in 1683
abdication of King crushing defeat suffered
Charles in 1556, the by the Sultan’s army during the second
imperial crown siege of Vienna allowed the Habsburgs
passed to his brother to take control of the whole of Hungary,
Panel inscribed “AEIOU”,
Frederick III’s motto Ferdinand (1556–64); Transylvania and Croatia.
1438 Albrecht II becomes the first
Habsburg emperor 1556 Abdication of Charles V
and ascension to the throne of 1683 Outbreak of
1469 Founding of the his brother, Ferdinand I Great Turkish-
bishopric of Vienna Austrian war
1400 1450 1500 1550 1600 1650 1700
1493 Coronation of 1618–48
Maximilian I Thirty Years’
War 1697 Prince Eugene of Savoy
1519–1556 Reign of Charles V. becomes the chief commander
Height of Habsburg territorial power of the imperial army
Maximilian I

040-043_EW_Austria.indd 43 03/09/15 5:40 pm