VIENNA HISTORY |
| |
| Vienna was originally a Celtic city founded around 500 BC. In 15 BC, it
became a frontier city ("Vindobona") guarding the Roman Empire against the
German tribes to the north. In the Middle Ages, it became the home of the
Babenberg and, later, the Habsburg dynasties and through the latter the
capital of the Holy Roman Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The
Ottoman Turkish invasions of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries were
stopped at Vienna. See the Battle of Vienna (1683). In 1815, Vienna was the
site of the Congress of Vienna which redrew national boundaries in Europe
after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo. |
|
During the Cold War, Vienna was a hotbed of international espionage owning
to its location in neutral Austria, between the Western and Eastern blocs.
Other famous Viennese items include the Lipizzaner stallions, the Vienna
Boys' Choir (Wiener Sängerknaben), Wiener Schnitzel, Sachertorte, and Danish
pastries. Viennese cafes claim to have invented the process of filtering
coffee from the captured baggage after the second Turkish siege of 1683. |
|
