The history of Austria covers the history of Austria and its predecessor states. In the Migration Period , the 6th century, the Bavarii , a Germanic people, occupied these lands until it fell to the Frankish Empire established by the Germanic Franks in the 9th century. When this empire collapsed after the end of World War I in , Austria was reduced to the main, mostly German-speaking areas of the empire its current frontiers , and adopted the name, the Republic of German-Austria.
However, union with Germany and the chosen country name were forbidden by the Allies at the Treaty of Versailles. This led to the creation of the First Austrian Republic β Engelbert Dollfuss accepted that most Austrians were German and Austrian, but wanted Austria to remain independent from Germany.
In , Austrian-born Adolf Hitler annexed Austria to Germany , which was supported by a large majority of Austrians. Austria joined the European Union in Since the territory understood by the term 'Austria' underwent drastic changes over time, dealing with a History of Austria raises a number of questions, e. Furthermore, should Austrian history include the period β, when it nominally did not exist? Of the lands now part of the second Republic of Austria, many were added over time β only two of the nine provinces Lower and Upper Austria are strictly 'Austria', while other parts of its former sovereign territory are now part of other countries e.
Within Austria there are regionally and temporally varying affinities to adjacent countries. The Alps were inaccessible during the Ice Age , so human habitation dates no earlier than the Middle Paleolithic era, during the time of the Neanderthals. The oldest traces of human habitation in Austria, more than , years ago, were found in the Repolust Cave at Badl, near Peggau in the Graz-Umgebung district of Styria.
These include stone tools, bone tools, and pottery fragments together with mammalian remains. Some 70,year-old evidence was found in the Gudenus Cave in northwestern Lower Austria. Upper Paleolithic remains are more numerous in Lower Austria.
