
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, located in the Eastern Alps. It consists of nine states, with Vienna as the capital and most populous city. Bordered by Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, Austria covers an area of 83,879 km² and has a population of around 9 million.
Inhabited since the Paleolithic period, the region saw Celtic settlement around 400 BC, followed by Roman annexation. Austria evolved into a unified state from the remnants of the Eastern and Hungarian March, developing from a frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire to an Archduchy. The Habsburg monarchy established Austria as a major imperial power, leading to the creation of Austria-Hungary in 1867.
After World War I and the empire’s collapse, the Republic of German-Austria was declared in 1918, followed by the First Austrian Republic in 1919. Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938 but regained sovereignty in 1945. It declared perpetual neutrality in 1955.
Today, Austria is a semi-presidential democracy with a high standard of living. It has been a UN member since 1955 and joined the EU in 1995. Austria adopted the euro in 1999 and is home to several international organizations.
Image Credit | By Rob984 – Derived from Germany on the globe (Germany centered).svg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=88451627