page_title: Corps Austria Frankfurt am Main
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Corps Austria Frankfurt am Main / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Ball of Corps Austria on the occasion of the 150th Founders’s Day Celebration 2011 Deutsch: Stiftungsfestball im Rahmen des 150. Stiftungsfestes des Corps Austria im Hotel "Frankfurter Hof", Frankfurt am Main
context_page_description: Corps Austria is a member Corps of the Kösener Senioren-Convents-Verband, the association of the oldest student fraternities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Corps Austria is "pflichtschlagend", which refers to the fact that it requires of its members to participate in several organized duel-like fencing engagements with members of other specific student fraternities, a ritual dating back to the 17th century and described by Mark Twain in his book "A tramp abroad". The Corps Austria is further considered "farbentragend" in that its members wear a colored sash across their chests as evidence of their membership of the fraternity. Both of these tendencies are characteristic of the most traditional and often very elite all-male fraternities in countries for central Europe. Eligible applicants are students of the Goethe University Frankfurt and other colleges in Frankfurt, Germany. Members of Corps Austria are colloquially referred to as "Austrianer", or simply "Austern". Corps Austria was founded in 1861 at the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague and moved to the newly established Goethe University Frankfurt in 1919.
context_section_description: Out of fear of the liberal and enlightened ideals of the French Revolution, the Reichstag of the Holy Roman Empire in Regensburg in 1793 proscribed all student associations. However this ban would be strictly enforced only in the territory of the Habsburg Empire and then in large part thanks to the zeal of the suppressive Metternich régime. Even correspondence with foreign universities would be forbidden to students. After a brief period of respite in the aftermath of the so-called "March Revolution" of 1848, student associations were once more forbidden in 1849. 
  It was not until 1859, that the situation had sufficiently mellowed to allow the establishment of such student bodies of the same model as were to be found in other German-speaking states. The cause of this change can be attributed both to the overwhelming defeat of the Habsburg Empire in the Battle of Solferino and the resultant dire state of the Empire's finances. In order to carry out much needed reforms to address these issues, Emperor Franz Joseph I required the support of the middle-classes, who tended to embrace liberal ideals.
  Whilst the question of national identity did not arise concerning students in other German-speaking territories, the question of students' national identity did however arise in the context of the multi-national Habsburg Empire. The Czechs, for example, regarded the particular form of German student association as was introduced to Prague to be "typically German", whilst the Austrians increasingly believed their student associations to be almost an extension of their national identity. Consequently, such student bodies with their colourful nationalist paraphernalia frequently drew the wrath of the native population upon themselves.
caption: 150th Founders’s Day Celebration Ball 2011
exif: {}