23,000 B.C. Venus of Willendorf, a representative of a Danubian fertility goddess, is crafted near Vienna.
1000 B.C. Illyrian tribes establish a society near Vienna.
400 B.C. Vendi tribes migrate from Gaul eastward to regions around Vienna.
100 B.C. Romans make military inroads into southern Austria.
A.D. 10 Vindobona (Vienna) is established as a frontier outpost of the Roman Empire. Within 300 years, it's a thriving trading post.
400 Vindobona is burnt and rebuilt, but the event marks the gradual withdrawal of the Romans from Austria.
500 Vienna is overrun by Lombards.
630 The Avars take Vienna.
803 Charlemagne conquers the Danube Valley and the site of Vienna, labeling what's now Austria Ostmark.
814 Death of Charlemagne signals dissolution of his empire.
881 First documented reference to Vienna (Wenia) appears.
955 Charlemagne's heir, Otto I, reconquers Ostmark.
962 Otto I is anointed the first official Holy Roman Emperor by the pope.
976 Leopold von Babenberg rises to power in the Danube Valley.
996 Austria is referred to for the first time with a derivation of its modern name (Ostarrichi).
1030 After Cologne, Vienna is the largest town north of the Alps.
1147 A Romanesque predecessor of St. Stephan's Cathedral is consecrated as the religious centerpiece of Vienna.
1192 English king Richard the Lion-Hearted is arrested and held hostage by the Viennese. His ransom pays for construction of the city's walls, completed in 1200.
1221 City charter is granted to Vienna, with trading privileges.
1246 Last of the Babenbergs, Friedrich the Warlike, dies in battle. Bohemian king Ottokar II succeeds him.
1278 Ottokar II is killed at Battle of Marchfeld. Rudolf II of Habsburg begins one of the longest dynastic rules in European history.
1335 and 1363 Habsburgs add Carinthia and the Tyrol to Austrian territory.
1433 Central spire of St. Stephan's is completed.
1453 Friedrich II is elected Holy Roman Emperor and rules from Vienna.
1469 Vienna is elevated to a bishopric.
1485-90 Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus occupies Vienna's Hofburg.
1490 Maximilian I recaptures Hungary and lost dominions.
1496 A Habsburg son marries the infanta of Spain, an act that eventually places a Habsburg in control of vast territories in the New World.
1519 Charles I, Habsburg ruler of Spain, is elected Holy Roman Emperor as Charles V.
1521 Charles V cedes Vienna to his brother for more effective rule.
1526 Rebellion in Vienna leads to brutal repression by the Habsburgs.
1529 In the first Turkish siege, fire destroys half of Vienna.
1533 Vienna is declared the official Habsburg capital.
1556 Charles V cedes his position as Holy Roman Emperor to his brother Ferdinand, the Austrian king.
1560 Vienna's city walls are strengthened.
1571 Ferdinand grants religious freedom to all Austrians. Before long, 80% of Austrians have converted to Protestantism.
1572 The Spanish Riding School is established.
1576 A reconversion to Catholicism of all Austrians begins. The Counter-Reformation begins.
1600-50 Hundreds of Catholic monks, priests, and nuns establish bases in Vienna as a means of encouraging the reconversion, and strengthening the Habsburg role in the Counter-Reformation.
1618-48 The Thirty Years' War almost paralyzes Vienna.
1679 In the worst year of the plague, 75,000 to 150,000 Viennese die.
1683 Turks besiege Vienna but are routed by the armies of Lorraine and Poland.
1699 Turks evacuate strongholds in Hungary, ending the threat to Europe.
1700 The last of the Spanish Habsburgs dies, followed a year later by the War of the Spanish Succession.
1740 Maria Theresa ascends the Austrian throne despite initial tremors from the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48).
1769 Schönbrunn Palace is completed.
1770 The marriage of a Habsburg princess (Marie Antoinette) to Louis XVI of France cements relations between Austria and France.
1780 Maria Theresa dies, and her liberal son, Joseph II, ascends to power.
1789 Revolution in France leads to the beheading of Marie Antoinette.
1805 and 1809 Armies of Napoleon twice occupy Vienna.
1810 Napoleon marries Habsburg archduchess Marie-Louise.
1811 Viennese treasury is bankrupted by military spending.
1814-15 Congress of Vienna rearranges the map of Europe following the defeat of Napoleon.
1815-48 Vienna's Biedermeier period, supervised by Klemens von Metternich, marks the triumph of the bourgeoisie.
1832 First steamship company is organized to ply the Danube.
1837 Austria's first railway line is created.
1848 Violent revolution in Vienna ousts Metternich, threatens the collapse of Austrian society, and ushers 18-year-old Franz Joseph I into power.
1859 Austria loses control of its Italian provinces, including Venice and Milan.
1862 Flooding on the Danube leads to a reconfiguration of its banks to a channel in Vienna's suburbs.
1867 Hungary and Austria merge, becoming the Austro-Hungarian Empire, headed by the emperor Franz Joseph I.
1869 Vienna's State Opera House is completed.
1873 Vienna hosts the World's Fair.
1889 Crown Prince Rudolf dies at Mayerling, sparking controversy.
1890-1900 Vienna's outer suburbs are incorporated into the city as Districts 11 to 20.
1914 Assassination of the heir to the Habsburg Empire, Archduke Ferdinand, sparks World War I.
1916 Franz Joseph dies and is succeeded by Charles I, last of the Habsburg monarchs.
1918 World War I ends, Austria is defeated, Charles I abdicates, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is radically dismantled.
1919 Liberalization of Austrian voting laws enacts monumental changes in the social structure of Vienna. "Red Vienna" period begins; the city swings radically to the left.
1927 Violent discord rocks Vienna.
1929 Worldwide economic depression occurs.
1933 Austria's authoritarian chancellor, Engelbert Dollfuss, outlaws the Austrian Nazi party.
1934 Dollfuss is assassinated by Nazis.
1938 German Nazi troops complete an amicable invasion of Austria that leads to the union of the two nations (Anschluss) through World War II.
1943-45 Massive bombings by Allied forces leave most public monuments in ruins.
1945 Allied forces defeat Germany and Austria. Vienna is "liberated" by Soviet troops on April 11. On April 27, Austria is redefined as a country separate from Germany and divided, like Germany, into four zones of occupation. Vienna also is subdivided into four zones.
1955 Allied forces evacuate Vienna; Vienna is the capital of a neutral Austria.
1961 Summit meeting in Vienna occurs between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev.
1979 Summit meeting in Vienna occurs between Leonid Brezhnev and Jimmy Carter.
1986 Investigations into the wartime activities of Austrian chancellor Kurt Waldheim profoundly embarrass Austria.
1989 The last heiress to the Habsburg dynasty, Empress Zita of Bourbon-Parma, in exile since 1919, dies and is buried in one of the most elaborate funerals in Viennese history.
1995 Austria, Sweden, and Finland are admitted to the European Union.
1997 After 10 years, longtime chancellor Franz Vranitzky steps down, turning over leadership of Social Democratic Party.
1998 Austria decides to return art that Nazis plundered (much of it in museums).
1999 Right-wing Freedom Party stirs worldwide protests against Austria.
2000 The E.U. issues sanctions against Austria, and then rescinds them.
2004 Celebrations throughout Austria as its homegrown son, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is elected governor of California.
2006 Center-Left opposition wins in Austria.
2008 Global warming poses threat to ski resorts.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.
