Wiener Neustadt
Wiener Neustadt () is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administration of Wiener Neustadt-Land District. The city is the site of one of the world's oldest military academies, the Theresian Military Academy, which was established by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria in 1751 to train officers for the Austrian army. History. The area once belonged to the County of Pitten, which had been inherited by Margrave Ottokar III of Styria in 1158. After the dynasty of  the Otakars became extinct with the death of his son Ottokar IV, the Duchy of Styria passed to the Austrian House of Babenberg according to the Georgenberg Pact. Duke Leopold V of Austria established the town in 1194 and financed the construction of a fortress close to the Hungarian border with the ransom paid for the English king Richard the Lionheart, whom he had previously captured and held as a hostage at Dürnstein Castle. In 1241, a small Mongol squadron raided Neustadt during the Mongol incursions in the Holy Roman Empire but was later repulsed by Duke Friederich and his  knights. In 1246 it was the scene of a victory of the Hungarians over the Austrians. Wiener Neustadt, meaning more or less "New Vienna" ("Viennese Newtown"), gained important privileges given to the city in order to enable it to prosper. It remained a part of Styria, which after the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld fell to the House of Habsburg and in 1379 became a constituent duchy of Inner Austria. In the 15th century, Wiener Neustadt experienced a population boom, when Emperor Frederick III of Habsburg took up a residence here and established the Diocese of Wiener Neustadt in 1469 . His wife, Eleanor of Portugal, died in Wiener Neustadt in 1467, and the late Gothic church of the old Cistercian abbey contains a monument to her memory. The "Wappenwand" (coat-of-arms wall) at the local castle displays the coats of arms of his possessions in the middle. His son Maximilian I maintained his court in Wiener Neustadt and is buried here at St. George's Cathedral. The town then also had a significant Jewish commune with Rabbi Israel Isserlin as its most notable member, until all Jews were expelled by order of Emperor Maximilian I in 1496. Habsburg's  long-time rival King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary conquered the city in August 1487 after having laid siege to it for two years. According to legend he dedicated the magnificent Corvinus Cup to the inhabitants after his victory. Maximilian I managed to reconquer his native city in 1490. During the 16th century, Wiener Neustadt lost its status as imperial residence and much of its importance. However, it still fulfilled its function as bulwark against the Turks and the Kuruc. It was at Neustadt that the emperor Rudolf II granted to the Bohemian Protestants, in 1609, the , or patent of equal  rights. The revocation of this patent helped to precipitate the Thirty Years' War. In 1751 the city received greater attention when Empress Maria Theresa of Austria decided to dedicate the First Military Academy, worldwide, inside the imperial castle. In 1752, the Theresian Military Academy took up its operations, which have continued to this day with only a few interruptions (Erwin Rommel was appointed commandant after the Austrian "Anschluss" in 1938). In 1768, Wiener Neustadt was destroyed by an earthquake that damaged the castle, which was rebuilt using plans made by the architect Nicolò Pacassi. In 1785, Emperor Joseph II of  Habsburg transferred the see of the Wiener Neustadt diocese to Sankt Pölten. In the 19th century the city, which was almost entirely rebuilt after a destructive fire in 1834, became an industrial town, especially after the opening of the Austrian Southern Railway in 1841. In 1909, the "first official Austrian airfield" was inaugurated north of the city. It served as a training ground for the flight pioneers Igo Etrich, Karl Illner and Adolf Warchalowski, who conducted their tests there. The Austro-Hungarian strike of January 1918 was started in Wiener Neustadt by workers from the Austro-Daimler factory, which was  engaged in arms production, and inspired by the Bolshevik seizure of power to take strike action to oppose the war. A key factor in the strike was the halving of the flour ration. Porsche met the workers and agreed to drive to Vienna to speak to the Minister of Food. However his plea to the workers to return to work was ignored and they marched on the Town Hall. Here they were joined by other workers from the locomotive factory, the radiator works, the aircraft factory and local ammunition plants of G. Rath and the Lichtenwörther. On 14 January over  10,000 workers gathered outside the town hall to complain about the halving of the flour ration. Inspired by the Russian Revolution the workers set up Workers Councils. During World War II, strategic targets in Wiener Neustadt, including the marshalling yards, the Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (WNF) factory, and two Raxwerke plants which used forced laborers imprisoned at Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, were repeatedly bombed. Bombing operations such as Operation Pointblank left only 18 of 4,000 buildings undamaged. Climate. The average monthly temperatures are generally cool ("see table below"), with summer months reaching and winter months reaching a few degrees above freezing  in the daytime. Transportation. Wiener Neustadt Hauptbahnhof () connects Wiener Neustadt with other major population centers. It is owned and operated by the Austrian Federal Railway. Wiener Neustadt is also served by Autobahn. The city has two airfields (the military Wiener Neustadt West Airport, the first airfield in Austria, and the civilian Wiener Neustadt East Airport) and is the starting point of Austria's only shipping canal, the Wiener Neustadt Canal, which was meant to reach out to Trieste but was never finished. Local council. Elections in January 2020: Total: 40 seats University, professional schools, vocational academies. Austria's first and  largest Fachhochschule for business and engineering, the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, is located here. Development of the city. The most recent extension of the city is the "Civitas Nova", Latin for "new city", an ambitious project for an industrial, research and commercial center. In 2015, on the area of the Civitas Nova, a cancer treatment center for ion therapy was opened under the name of MedAustron. Culture. In 1996 Wiener Neustadt received international attention as the so-called "sidewalk" designed by Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata was built around the main square. Wiener Neustadt is the setting for the  book "Reluctant Return: A Survivor's Journey to an Austrian town". Sport. SC Wiener Neustadt played in the Austrian Football First League. In 1995 Wiener Neustadt was the host of 1995 Speedway Grand Prix of Austria. It was the first, and so far, only Austrian SGP. The European horseback jumping championships of 2015 for children, juniors and young riders was set up at Lake Arena, outside of Wiener Neustadt. Wiener Neustadt played host to the sixth round of the 2018 Red Bull Air Race World Championship. The city is home to a baseball and softball team called the "Diving Ducks , which have had success both within the country and internationally. They provide teams for various age groups, starting from the youngest team to the softball team Crazy Chicklets", the adult team "Rubber Ducks" as well as their professional team the "Diving Ducks".