History of Vienna Timeline

In 1522, under Ferdinand I, the Blood Judgment of Wiener Neustadt led to the execution of leading members of the opposition within the city, and thus a destruction of the political structures.

Image source: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

In 1529, Vienna was besieged by the Ottoman Turks for the first time (the First Turkish Siege), although unsuccessfully.

Image source: Siege of Vienna (1529)

Following plans by Sebastian Schrantz, Vienna was expanded to a fortress in 1548. These fortifications accounted for the major part of building activities well into the 17th century.

In 1551, the Jesuits were brought to town and soon gained a large influence at court. The leader of the Counter-Reformation here was Melchior Khlesl, Bishop of Vienna from 1600.

Image source: Jesuits

In 1556, Vienna became the seat of the Holy Roman Emperor, with Bohemia having been added to the Habsburg realm in 1526.

Image source: Holy Roman Emperor

Leopoldstadt became a site where many Jews lived, as they had been driven out of their 50-year-old ghetto in 1670.

Image source: Leopoldstadt

After the extensive plague epidemics of 1679 and 1713, the population began to grow steadily. It is estimated that 150,000 people lived in Vienna in 1724, and 200,000 in 1790.

Image source: Great Plague of Vienna

The fortress fortifications proved decisive in the Second Turkish Siege of 1683, as they allowed the city to maintain itself for two months, until the Turkish army was defeated by the army led by the Polish King John III Sobieski.

Image source: Battle of Vienna

In 1704, an outer fortification, the Linienwall, was built around the Vorstädte.

Image source: Linienwall

Under Emperor Joseph II, the city administration was modernized in 1783: officials in charge of only the city were introduced, and the Magistrate was created.

Image source: Vienna

During the Napoleonic Wars, Vienna was taken by the French twice, in 1805 and 1809.

Image source: Napoleonic Wars

In 1810, Salomon Mayer Rothschild arrived in Vienna from Frankfurt and set up a bank named 'Mayer von Rothschild und Söhne'. The Emperor of Austria in 1823 made the five Rothschild brothers barons, and the family remained prominent until the Creditanstalt bank in Vienna was confiscated by the Nazis in 1938.

Image source: Rothschild banking family of Austria

After Napoleon's final defeat, the Congress of Vienna took place from September 18, 1814 to June 9, 1815, in which the political map of Europe was redrawn.

Image source: Congress of Vienna

The first half of the century was characterised by intensive industrialization, with Vienna being the center of the railway network after 1837.

The French February Revolution of 1848 had an effect as far away as Vienna: on March 13, the March Revolution forced long-serving chancellor Metternich to resign.

Image source: Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire

The city was expanded in 1850, mostly to include the area within the Linienwall.

In 1858, the fortifications were demolished, and the broad Ringstraße boulevard was built in their place.

Image source: Ringstrasse

In 1861, the Liberals won the first (relatively) free elections after the end of neoabsolutism.

The Gründerzeit period peaked in the World Exhibition of 1873, immediately before the stock market crash, which ended the foundation era.

Image source: 1873 Vienna World's Fair

In 1890, the city was expanded for a second time: the suburbs beyond the old Linienwall were incorporated into the town as districts 11 to 19 (the 10th district had been created in 1874).

Around 1900, Vienna became a centre of the Jugendstil (Art Nouveau), most of all with Otto Wagner and the association of artists known as the Vienna Secession, after which the characteristic building on Karlsplatz is named.

Image source: Vienna Secession

Leopoldstadt was divided in 1900, with the northern part becoming the 20th district (Brigittenau). In 1904, Floridsdorf became part of Vienna as 21st district. Censuses conducted regularly from 1869 onwards showed an all-time high population in 1910, with 2,031,000 inhabitants.

Image source: Floridsdorf

World War I led to a lack of supplies due to the economic embargo imposed by the Entente powers, resulting in shortages of food and clothes. The shortages led to the 1918 Austro-Hungarian January Strike which started in Vienna. Notably, the 1916 Rent Control was never officially repealed.

Image source: Austro-Hungarian strike of January 1918

The Flight over Vienna propaganda flight, an air raid inspired by Gabriele d'Annunzio, was carried out on August 9, 1918, with 11 Ansaldo SVA aircraft dropping leaflets.

Image source: Flight over Vienna

On November 12, 1918, the Republic of Deutsch-Österreich, or German-Austria, was proclaimed in front of the parliament.

Image source: Republic of German-Austria

In 1921, Vienna was separated from surrounding Lower Austria and became a state of its own, with the mayor now equivalent in rank to a state governor. It remained the nominal capital of Lower Austria until 1986.

Image source: Vienna

In May 1923, in the presence of President Michael Hainisch, the First World Congress of Jewish Women was inaugurated at the Hofburg.

The fire of the Justizpalast (Palace of Justice) in 1927 after violent demonstrations, the collapse of the Creditanstalt bank, and finally the dissolution of parliament in 1933 marked the way to the Austrian Civil War in February 1934. On the left, the Republikanische Schutzbund paramilitary group was formed in 1923/24.

Image source: Austrian Civil War

After Engelbert Dollfuß, Chancellor of Austria since 1932, had forbidden the Nazi Party, the Communist Party of Austria and the Republikanischer Schutzbund in 1933, he extended the ban to the Social Democratic Party in 1934 after the February Uprising.

Image source: Engelbert Dollfuss

In the course of the expansion of the city in 1938, 91 adjoining municipalities were incorporated into Vienna, from which the 22nd through 26th districts (Groß-Enzersdorf, Schwechat, Mödling, Liesing and Klosterneuburg) were created.

In March 1938 Nazi Germany occupied and annexed Austria in a process known as the Anschluss. Hitler's anti-Jewish policies fell on fertile soil in Vienna, where latent anti-Semitism had increased during the early 20th century.

Image source: Anschluss

During the Reichskristallnacht on November 9, 1938, the synagogues and Jewish centres—not only religious but also social life—were destroyed.

Image source: Kristallnacht

Although originally out of range of Allied bombers operating from England, by 1943 the city began being attacked by bombers based in Italy. The bombings of 1944 and 1945 and the fighting during the Soviet conquest of Vienna in April 1945 caused much destruction.

On April 29, 1945, the parliament building passed from the occupation force to the new Austrian government, and Karl Renner announced the reinstitution of the democratic Republic of Austria. The first municipal elections were held in November 1945.

Image source: Karl Renner

In 1946, it was decided that the expansion of city territory of 1938 should be reversed, but this law was delayed by a veto of the occupying powers and was not put into practice until 1954.

On May 15, 1955, the country regained its political independence and sovereignty with the Austrian State Treaty. The peace treaty was called a state treaty because Austria had temporarily ceased to exist in 1938.

Image source: Austrian State Treaty

Public transport was improved by the introduction of the new Vienna U-Bahn network, the first part of which was opened in 1978.

Image source: Vienna U-Bahn

In 1979, the second Strategic Arms Limitation Talks treaty was signed in Vienna.

Image source: Strategic Arms Limitation Talks

Vienna was the capital of the surrounding state of Lower Austria until 1986, when it was replaced by Sankt Pölten.

Image source: St. Pölten

At the end of the 20th century, a skyline consisting of several skyscrapers was created with, among others, the Andromeda Tower and Millennium Tower on the left and right sides of the Danube.

Image source: Millennium Tower (Vienna)

In the municipal elections of 2001, the Social Democrats regained an absolute majority in Vienna.

Image source: Social Democratic Party of Austria

Despite the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, as of July 2023 there are more than 180 accredited Russian diplomats in Vienna, reportedly more than one third using diplomatic cover for spying. Chinese, Iranian, Israeli, Saudi, American, British, and other European spies and counterspies are also active in the country.