AUSTRIA.

This great empire is situated nearly in the centre of Europe, extending from the 44th to the 51st degree of north latitude, and from the 8th to the 26th degree of east longitude. Its configuration is irregular, but its extent corresponds to that of an oblong of fully 600 miles in length from east to west, and above 400 miles in breadth from north to south. Compared with France, the Austrian dominions have a form nearly as compact, but their frontiers are by no means so strongly defined, nor so well guarded by physical barriers. France resembles a fivesided figure, having on three sides the sea, and on the other sides the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Vosges; while in Austria the chief ranges of mountains are in the interior. In extent of surface, the Austrian dominions considerably exceed those of France, for they cover a space of no less than 260,000 square miles. They comprise a remarkable diversity of tribes, and even nations, differing from each other in language, habits, religion, and comparative civilization.

The component parts of this great empire consist of six countries bearing each the name of kingdom, viz. Hungary, Bohemia, Galicia, Lombardy and Venice, Illyria, and Dalmatia; one archduchy, Austria; one principality, Transylvania; one duchy, Styria; one margraviate, Moravia; and one county, Tyrol. We shall begin with an historical notice of this empire, that our readers may have a distinct view of two important subjects; first, of the means by which Austria, at first a small state, progressively rose into importance; and, next, of those resources by which she withstood the reverses sustained in her long contest with revolutionary France.

The cradle of Austrian power was the fertile tract lying along the southern bank of the Danube to the eastward of the river Ens. It is said to have been overrun and partly colonized by Germans under Charlemagne; but be that as it may, after the empire of Germany was constituted in the ninth century, the district in question, afterwards called Lower Austria, was declared a military frontier for repelling the incursions of the Huns and other barbarous tribes to the eastward. It was called Ost-reich, the east country, from its position relatively to the rest of Germany; and its governor received from the head of the empire the title of margrave (in German mark∙graf, or lord of the marches), which his descendants bore for centuries without anticipating the future greatness of their house. Towards the middle of the twelfth century their territory received an important accession in the province west of the Ens, which, from its vicinity to the Alps, and the greater elevation of its surface, was called Upper Austria. The governors of this augmented domain were now raised by the emperors of Germany from the humble rank of margrave to that of duke; and it was one of their number, Duke Leopold, who, towards the end of the twelfth century, ungenerously detained our Richard I. in confinement on his return from the Holy Land. It was at this time also that the important province of Styria came to the dukes of Austria by bequest. Hitherto the ducal residence had been in a castle on the mgh ground of Kahlenberg, near Vienna; but it was now removed to that city. In 1246 the male branch of the ducal line, originally from Bamberg in Franconia, became extinct, and Austria underwent a long interregnum, he reigning emperor of Germany declared both that uchy and Styria to have lapsed to the imperial crown, and appointed a lieutenant (Statthalter) to govern them on the part of the empire. But claims to the succession were brought forward by descendants of the female branch of the Bamberg line; and after various contests, Ottocar, son of the king of Bohemia, was, in 1262, duly invested with the government of Austria and Styria. Carinthia, Istria, with part of Friuli, soon after devolved on Ottocar by succession; but he forfeited all these advantages by his imprudence in refusing to acknowledge as emperor Rodolph of Hapsburg, who had been regularly elected to that high station. Hostilities ensued; the talents of Rodolph prevailed; and, in 1276, Ottocar was obliged to renounce his title to Austria and its appendant states. Notwithstanding this renunciation, Ottocar re-entered Austria with an army, but soon after fell in battle. The ducal throne being then vacant, Rodolph vested the succession to it in his sons; and having obtained the sanction of the electors of the empire to that important act, the reign of the Hapsburg dynasty over Austria commenced in 1282.

In the beginning of the following century the dukes of Austria lost a part of their Swiss territory by the insurrection of the cantons. This they never recovered; but in 1364 they acquired Tyrol; and Austria, hitherto known only as a remote province, little connected with the improved part of Germany, was soon after brought into contact with the general politics of the empire. The rank of emperor of Germany had been held successively by Saxon, Franconian, Suabian, and Bohemian princes, Austria having as yet supplied only one of the number (Albert I.); but, in 1438, another Albert, duke of Austria, was raised to that dignity, and, from close connection with Bohemia and Hungary, the power of Austria became so much greater than that of any other state in the empire, that from 1438 the imperial crown was regularly vested in the chief of the Austrian family. In the latter part of the century of which we are treating (the fifteenth), Maximilian I., an emperor of the Austrian line, made great additions to the power of his house by matrimonial connections, having himself espoused the heiress of the Netherlands, and afterwards married his son to the heiress of the crown of Spain. Of the latter marriage the issue was the well-known Charles V., who held the crown of Spain by inheritance, and the empire of Germany by election. Several years after his election, viz. in 1527, on the death of the king of Hungary and Bohemia, these extensive countries, formerly held by the house of Austria, reverted to it, along with Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia, and were all governed by Ferdinand, a younger brother of Charles. Such were the countries directly or indirectly subject to the sovereign who carried on such obstinate conflicts with France, and was accused, like Louis XIV., of aiming at the sovereignty of Europe.

But the dominions of Charles V. did not long remain under one ruler. Spain was made over to his son Philip, along with the Netherlands; whilst Austria, Hungary, and his German states, were vested in his brother Ferdinand. These formed a splendid possession, but their efficiency in a political sense was not at all proportioned to their extent. A long time elapsed before Hungary and the eastern provinces became cordially attached to the imperial family. The treatment they in general experienced from their sovereigns was far from conciliatory, and the vicinity of the Turks afforded a ready support to insurgents.
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Meanwhile, in the north of Germany, the religious antipathy of Catholics and Protestants led first to repeated dissensions, and eventually to the obstinate and sanguinary contest known from its duration (from 1618 to 1648) as the Thirty Years’ War. On the one side were the Catholic princes of the empire, with Austria at their head; on the other, Saxony and the Protestant states, assisted at one time by Sweden, and subsequently by France. The most distinguished commanders were Gustavus Adolphus on the part of the Protestants, and, on that of the Catholics, Wallenstein the Austrian. Both were greatly superior to the age in which they lived, and evinced, at the battle of Lutzen, fought in 1632, talents not inferior to those displayed on the same fields in 1813. Wallenstein survived his illustrious opponent, but his end was tragical: he met a violent death by order of his imperial master, against whom he had ventured to conspire. The war was at last ended by the peace of Westphalia, by which Austria was obliged to relinquish Lusatia to Saxony and Alsace to France.

The peace of Westphalia, like that of Utrecht in a subsequent age, restored tranquillity throughout Europe. It continued many years, and might have lasted much longer, had not the ambition of Louis XIV. alarmed the neighbouring states, and obliged them to look for safety in arms. Belgium, held at that time with a feeble hand by Spain, was the prize at stake; and the dread of that fertile and populous country falling into the power of France called forth the greatest efforts on the part of both Austria and Holland, which, from the extent of its financial means, was at that time a power of great influence. Louis was surrounded by able generals and well-disciplined armies. Flattered with the prospect of success, he attempted the conquest of the Netherlands in no less than three wars, in two of which (those begun in 1672 and 1689) Austria bore a principal part. In the last she received the co-operation of England, which then, for the first time, came forward as a principal in continental coalitions, contributing largely both in troops and subsidies. The chief scenes of conflict were the Netherlands and the banks of the Rhine. The French, acting with all the advantage of unity, had frequently the superiority in action; but the allies, numerous and resolute, were never discouraged by defeat. At last, in 1697, came the peace of Ryswick, which 4 left, as peace often does, the contending parties in nearly the same relative positions as at the outset of the contest. They had the satisfaction, however, of having compelled the aspiring Louis to stop short in his encroachments and schemes of aggrandizement.

But with so restless a prince at the head of a population of 20,000,000, peace could not be of long continuance; and, on the death of the king of Spain, Austria, England, and Holland, found it again necessary to take the field. The question now related not merely to the Netherlands, but whether a French or an Austrian prince should succeed to the crown of Spain. Hence the name of War of the Succession, given to this long contest, which, beginning in 1701, lasted no less than twelve years. The superiority in military skill was now for the first time on the side of the allies. The Austrians and other Germans, subsidized by Holland and England, were led to repeated victories by Eugene and Marlborough. France sent forth numerous armies, and showed, in Villars and Vendome, generals worthy of the better days of Louis; but in Italy and the Low Countries the allies were completely successful; and it was in Spain only that they failed. Such was the state of circumstances in 1711, when the death of the reigning emperor took place unexpectedly, and the election to that dignity fell on his brother, who had been destined by the allies to the throne of Spain. The prospect of the junction on one head of the crowns of Spain and Austria brought to recollection the ambitious projects of the emperor Charles V., and inclined many who had supported the war from a dread of France, to consider the transfer of Spain to a grandson of Louis XIV. the less dangerous alternative of the two. This, joined to the change of ministry in England, the removal of Marlborough from the command, and the impatience of the Dutch under so long and burdensome a war, led to the peace of Utrecht, to which Austria, after urgent remonstrances with her allies, and fruitless efforts in the field, acceded, by a treaty concluded the year after (1714) at Baden. Well might she give her assent to a treaty which transferred to ’ her not only the Low Countries, but extensive possessions in both the north and south of Italy.

The emperor, anxious to confirm his authority in Hungary and Transylvania, now directed his troops against the Turks. The latter had, during more than a century, been ready to take part with the insurgents in Hungary against the Austrians, and had at one time, in 1683, advanced to the walls of Vienna, whence they were driven by a Polish army under Sobieski. This was the first serious check given to these confident barbarians. At a subsequent date Prince Eugene defeated them in several actions, and the peace concluded with them at Carlowitz, in 1699, secured to Austria a considerable accession of territory on the side of Hungary. Still that country continued divided and of doubtful allegiance to Austria. Eugene led thither, in 1716, a part of the armies with which he had conquered in Italy and the Netherlands, and applied European tactics against the Turks with distinguished success. The result was a series of splendid successes, and a treaty of peace highly favourable to Austria.

Such, however, was not the case in the last scene of the military career of Eugene, when, nearly twenty years after (in 1735), he headed the Austrian armies on the Rhine. The French had taken the field in support of the claims of Spain on the south of Italy. Austria was evidently overmatched in force; and England, guided by the pacific counsels of Walpole, declining to interfere, the result was a treaty, by which the emperor relinquished to Spain the contested territory in Italy.

In 1740 the death of the reigning emperor, Charles VI., brought to a close the male line of the house of Hapsburg, the succession devolving on Charles’s daughter, Maria Theresa. The death of Charles became the signal for attack on his dominions by almost all the neighbouring powers; by Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and even by France. But England came forward to support the cause of Austria with a liberal subsidy, while the Hungarians, now united and loyal, recruited her armies. The aspect of affairs was soon altered; the Bavarians were driven back; and the French, who had ventured to advance as far as Bohemia, were obliged to retire to the Rhine. Frederick II. of Prussia proved a more obstinate opponent; and, as the interest of England and Holland called the Austrian forces to the Low Countries to maintain the great contest carrying on in that quarter against France, Maria Theresa was induced to subscribe, first in 1742, and afterwards in 1745, a separate treaty with Frederick, by which she ceded to him the chief part of Silesia. But the unprovoked attack of Frederick sunk deep in her mind; she watched an opportunity of revenge; and, in 1756, formed that coalition of powers against Prussia, which gave rise to a war of seven years, and to an extent of devastation such as Germany had not witnessed for more than a century. On one side was the whole Austrian force, aided by 80,000 French, and, at particular periods of the war, by the Russians and Swedes; on the other stood Pn ιs '
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sia and England, inferior numerically to their antagonists, but managing their resources, and directing their military efforts, with all the ability belonging to the character of Frederick and Lord Chatham. On the side of the French there appeared no commander of eminence; but on that of the Austrians, Marshals Daun and Laudohn were generals worthy of being opposed to Frederick. After a number of battles and great alternations of success, both sides became tired of the waste of blood; and a contest, waged for a time with a rapidity of movement and an eagerness for conflict almost equal to those displayed in the French revolution, was marked towards its close by the cautious tactics of Turenne. At last, in 1763, a general peace was concluded, and the rival powers were left very nearly in the same position as at the beginning of the war.

From this time Germany enjoyed peace during thirty years. In 1778 the death of the elector of Bavaria gave rise to pretensions on the part of Austria, which drew once more into the field Frederick II., now grown grey in command. Austria opposed to him forces fully equal in number and scarcely inferior in discipline, but happily the campaign proved bloodless, each side anticipating a close of the dispute by negociation. In that manner, accordingly, it ended; Austria being content with the cession by Bavaria of the frontier district, called the quarter of the Inn.

Maria Theresa had married Francis duke of Lorraine, who was afterwards elected emperor of Germany, but died in 1765. Their son, Joseph IL, was then joined in the sovereign power with his mother; and, on her death in 1780, he became sole ruler. The princes of the house of Austria, disposed rather to follow than to lead, have seldom been the authors of political change; but the emperor Joseph was imbued with all the ardour of a sanguine innovator. He gave a loose to this disposition after 1780, issuing a number of edicts, of which several were praiseworthy in their objects, but abrupt and premature in their operations. He established general toleration in religion, abolished a number of monasteries and convents, dismantled various fortresses, and took steps for new-modelling the existing systems both of law and of national education. Had the public in his dominions been ripe, as in France, for a general political change, Joseph would have been hailed as a subverter of abuses, and as the author of general improvement; but the Austrians, attached to old usages, understood little of his plans, and merely received them with passive acquiescence. The actual effect was thus very limited, notwithstanding the example of new institutions in the United States of America, and soon after in France. But in Belgium the case was different: the contagion of the French revolution spread over the country, and produced a sudden rising against the Austrians. This unexpected revolt, and the chequered success of the war then carrying on against Turkey, are understood to have preyed on the sensitive mind of the emperor, and to have caused his death in 1790.

Leopold, the brother and successor of Joseph, had a very short reign, the crown devolving in 1792 on his son Francis IL, the present emperor. Francis had hardly succeeded to it when he found himself involved in a contest with France, the length and vicissitudes of which proved such as to castjnto the shade all former wars between that country and Austria. The first important blow was struck in November 1792 at Jemappes, where the numbers and audacity of the French obtained a signal success. Next year the superior efficiency of the Austrian armies secured to them a temporary superiori- y; but, i∏ 1794, the multitudes of Frenchmen brought orward by the energetic measures of the terrorists, and le talents of commanders such as Pichegru, Moreau, Kleber, young in years, but full of enterprise and activity, led to the conquest of the Netherlands, and to the retreat of the Austrians beyond the Rhine. France now offered to Austria a separate peace; but England engaging to furnish large subsidies, the emperor declined a treaty that would have involved the cession of Belgium. The French, determined to obtain this cession by force of arms, crossed the Rhine, in the autumn of 1795, with two formidable armies. Prussia had withdrawn from the contest, and allowed the whole weight of it to fall upon the emperor. It was then that the talents of Marshal Clairfayt, as yet known only to military men, became apparent to Europe at large. With numbers inferior to the two French armies collectively, he found means, by rapid movements, to concentrate a force superior to either singly, and drove them across the Rhine with great loss. Next year, however, the French, undismayed by failure, resumed the offensive, and crossed the Rhine again with two armies; one of which penetrated into the heart of Franconia, whilst the other overran Suabia and part of Bavaria. But these armies had not the means of affording each other ready support; they were separated by the Danube, while the Austrians were in possession of the bridges on that river, and could move within a smaller circle. They were thus enabled to repeat their manoeuvre of the preceding year, by detaching a superior force against the French army in Franconia, and thus obliging it not only to evacuate the country it had overrun, but to seek safety beyond the Rhine. Such was also the case with the southern army of the French, although the retreat conducted by Moreau was the subject of general commendation.

But whilst in Germany success inclined to the side of Austria, the case was very different in Piedmont and Lombardy. In Piedmont indeed the war had long been carried on between the French and the allies without decisive success on either side. The opposing forces were nearly equal, and the mountainous nature of the country afforded so many strong positions, that there seemed no means of bringing the contest to a speedy termination. But all this was suddenly changed by the genius of one man. Buonaparte appeared on the scene, and in less than a month after receiving the command, defeated the allies in three engagements; obliged the court of Turin to make a separate peace; and, pouring his forces into Lombardy, drove the Austrians from every position in that country except Mantua. The strength of the latter place, however, bade defiance to the attacks of the French, and enabled the emperor to make repeated attempts for the recovery of Lombardy. No part of the war is more deserving of attention than this campaign; for none displayed in a more striking light the extensive resources of Austria, or the inventive mind of Buonaparte. Threatened in the end of July by an Austrian army of great strength, but which was imprudently advancing in two bodies, he hesitated not a moment in sacrificing his artillery, that by sudden marches he might assail his opponents before they effected a junction. In this he succeeded; but his loss was heavy, and the Austrians were rather repulsed than defeated. Six weeks after, a repetition by Buonaparte of these daring movements was attended with decisive success. When apparently marching against the Austrian troops in Trent, he turned suddenly to the right, and advancing by a valley, reached the head-quarters of their army before they were prepared. The result was a series of actions, which cut off the retreat of their main body, and obliged it to fly for refuge to Mantua. But ere two months had passed the Austrians prepared another army, which, advancing towards Verona, Buonaparte marched to encounter, using in his dispatch to Paris these remarkable words: Il faut frap- [7:4:222]per l’ ennemi comme la foudre, et le balayer des son premier pas. On this occasion, however, fortune was not favourable to him. He was worsted twice in action (on the 6th and 12th November); yet, far from being discouraged, he conceived the extraordinary plan of quitting his camp, at night, and gaining the rear of that army which had twice repulsed him. He reckoned on the effect of a surprise; but his hopes were disappointed by the time unavoidably lost in attacks on the village of Arcole, which stood in his way. The main body of the Austrians had time to advance, and the result was a series of conflicts, attended with great loss on both sides.

Thus ended the campaign of 1796, sanguinary beyond example even in those days of waste of life, and not altogether conclusive in its results. Next year, however, the chances of war were no longer doubtful. The Austrians having reinforced their army, made a final effort to relieve Mantua; but Buonaparte having intercepted a dispatch with their intended plan of operations, was enabled to make such a disposition of his troops as to insure success; and the results were, the victory of Rivoli, the surrender of the force destined to relieve Mantua, and the complete expulsion of the Austrians from Italy. The French now crossed the mountain barrier, and advanced toward the heart of Austria. This, joined to the approach of their armies from the Rhine, obliged the emperor to conclude preliminaries of peace at Leoben, and afterwards a treaty proceeding on these as a basis at Campo Formio. This treaty involved the cession by Austria of Belgium and Lombardy, but gave her, in return, Venice and its dependent provinces, making an absolute loss in population of 1,500,000 souls.

This peace, however, proved only a truce. The absence of a portion of the French armies in Egypt, and the evident misgovernment of the directory, induced England to form a new coalition, and renew the continental contest early in 1799. The Austrian troops took the field, powerful equally in numbers and discipline; and the French, commanded for the first time by inferior leaders, were driven back both in Germany and Italy. The arrival of Russian auxiliaries, and the talents of Suwaroff, bore forward the tide of success, until the autumn of the year, when increased levies on the part of the French, and a better choice of generals, began to turn the scale in their favour. The capricious Paul now withdrew from the coalition, and the Austrians entered on the campaign of 1800 with their own forces only. These proved, as formerly, insufficient to withstand the French, especially when the latter were commanded in Germany by Moreau, in Italy by Buonaparte. Battles, unfortunately too decisive, took place; the victories of Hohenlinden and Marengo led to the treaty of Luneville, and to the cession by Austria of almost all her Venetian acquisitions.

This peace, though not so short as the preceding, lasted only four years. In 1805 Austria and Russia, provoked by Buonaparte’s aggressions, and stimulated by English subsidies, took the field with numerous armies; but the successive overthrows at Ulm and Austerlitz rendered peace again indispensable to Austria. It was obtained (6th August 1806) by the surrender of the remainder of the Venetian territory, of the Tyrol, and of various districts, comprising a sacrifice in all of three millions of subjects. Soon after these reverses, Francis II. renounced the title and authority of emperor of Germany, and assumed the title of emperor of Austria. Taught by repeated disasters, he remained passive in the great contest in 1806 and 1807 between France, Prussia, and Russia; but in 1809 the war in Spain having withdrawn a very large portion of the French force, he ventured once more to try his fortune in the field. The Austrian armies were numerous; but Buonaparte had still a powerful French force at command, and was aided by all the troops of the confederation of the Rhine. The' Austrians, worsted in Bavaria, retreated to Vienna; and although temporary hopes were excited by their success at Aspern (21st and 22d May), they were blasted by the disastrous day of Wagram, and peace was again purchased by a sacrifice of territory containing more than three millions of inhabitants. Austria, now reduced to a population of twenty millions, remained in peace during the years 1810, 1811, and 1812; but when the disasters of the French in Russia once more raised the hopes of Germany, and brought friendly standards into Saxony, Austria took part with the grand alliance, and her troops bore a conspicuous part in the battle of Leipsic and the invasion of France. The definitive treaties of 1814 and 1815 reinstated her in all her former territories, except Belgium, and gave her substantial additions on the side of Italy. Satisfied with these, the Austrian government has ever since wisely abstained from war, directing its attention to the reinstatement of its finances, and the promotion of its productive industry.

Population of the Austrian Empire in 1831 ; the provinces classed by the comparative density of the inhabitants. 1

Population of the 1 nhabitants per

Province. Square Mile.

Tyrol 780,000 50

Dalmatia 340,000 ..58

Military frontier adjoining (1 θθθ θθθ 73

Turkey J ’ ’

Sclavonia 370,000 85

Transylvania 2,000,000 88

Hungary 9,000,000 100

Styria 850,000 102

Governments of Laybachì

and Trieste (Carinthia?- 1,160,000 105

and Istria).... J

Croatia 600,000 110

Upper Austria and Salzburg... 900,000 130

Galicia of the Buckowine 4,400,000 135

Lower Austria, including! 1 30 θ θθθ 16 5

Vienna í

Moravia and Austrian Sile-Ì g θθθ θθθ ∣g-

sia J ’ ’

Bohemia 3,900,000 190

Lombardy and the Venetiani ^θθ θθθ g∣5

provinces J ’ ’

Population of the empire 33,000,000

Yearly increase, computed! 400 000

from the last 10 years....) ’

Average of the whole empire per square mile,! ∣ 3 θ nearly J

Such are the constituent portions of this great empire. Differing as they do in climate, soil, language, and customs, no general description can possibly apply to the whole. We shall therefore recapitulate the chief characteristics of each in succession, classing them in the following order: The archduchy of Austria; Hungary and the adjacent provinces; Bohemia, Moravia, Galicia; the Alpine Provinces; Lombardy and Venice.