Chapter 16 country without applause

A famous waltz gave the Danube a beautiful name, but its water is not blue, but gray, wrapped in mud, rolling eastward, living up to that good name.What does the current Austrian Republic look like?The river towns are ancient and wonderful, but are slowly passing away; amidst the ruins of their former glory, the old aimlessly and disheartened their remaining days; They started a new life in a new environment; while the young people who stayed in the country simply died because of the unbearable suffocating life.Austria only has a population of 6 million, but there are about 2 million of them crowded into the capital Vienna.In the past, Vienna was an ancient and important center of science, medicine and art, and also a happy city. As long as people are naive and sloppy, they can live a happy life. In the next 100 years, Vienna will gradually decline , Repeat the mistakes of Venice.The capital of this great empire, which used to govern a population of 50 million, will be reduced to a small city that only relies on tourism for its livelihood.Vienna was nothing more than a wharf for the ships that carried goods from Bohemia and Bavaria to Romania and the Black Sea.

Austria's history can be traced back to the time of the ancient Danube monarchy.The essence of the country is reflected in her name, and her ambitions are revealed in her name.This great empire was once very prosperous, but it can be changed over time. From the perspective of geography, she has become very complicated now.She was dismembered beyond recognition by the giant hand of history, but on the issue of how the natural environment affects the formation of centralized power, the lost Austro-Hungarian Empire has made vivid annotations with its own rise and fall.Putting her border issues aside for a moment, look at her geographic profile.In terms of location, Austria is about the same distance from the toe tip of Italy as the nose tip of the Danish peninsula. She is almost the heart of the European continent.She is a vast plain surrounded by mountains, bordered on the west by the Tyrolean mountains and the Swiss Alps, and on the north by the Bohemian mountains of Ertu, Lisengberg and the Carpathians .In the deep mountains and old forests of the Carpathian Mountains, the Danube sang a cheerful song, traveling all the way between the Transylvania Mountains and the Balkan Mountains in the south.For the cold wind from the Adriatic Sea, the Dinaric Alps are like a natural barrier to the great plain, keeping the cold wind behind them.

The founders of Austria had little knowledge of geography, let alone a map as detailed and accurate as it is today.However, like the pioneers of the American West, relying solely on instinct and the principle of "instant effect", this group of medieval conquerors occupied large tracts of land.And the inevitable consequences of this kind of conquest and possession will inevitably come to the door. At that time, no matter how clever and cunning human beings are in the face of the power of nature, they will have to succumb. Before 1000 AD, the Hungarian Great Plain was still sparsely populated. Although many tribes came to the Great Plain from the Black Sea westward along the Danube River, they failed to establish a stable rule here.After a long war with the Slavic peoples in the east, Charlemagne erected a "boundary monument" of Eastern Europe here.This "boundary monument" marked the birth of a principality that would eventually rule all the lands here.Although the Hungarians and Turks constantly harassed her (the last time the Turks besieged Vienna was much later than the founding of Harvard University), in the Babenberg family (a family that ruled Austria from the 10th to the 13th centuries—— Translator's Note) and under the effective management and strong protection of the Habsburg family in Switzerland, the Principality of Austria has always been able to turn bad luck into good fortune and remain unchanged.The king of this small country actually recommended himself as the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and Austria is not a serious empire. It is neither Roman nor holy. It is just a loose federation composed of many German-speaking peoples. composition.Until the arrival of Napoleon in 1806, the empire was still "sacred", and the emblem of the Holy Roman Empire was thrown into the dustbin of history by Napoleon, a proletarian, because Napoleon himself wanted to be emperor.

But the land has not been silent ever since.The Habsburg family was not too smart but too stubborn. Even when their homeland was in danger, they still coveted Germany and wanted to eat a piece of this big cake.By 1866 the Habsburg dream of yellow beams had been completely shattered.They were driven back to their old nest by the Prussians, and could only stay in that mountain forever. This eastern monument established by Emperor Charlemagne has now been reduced to a seven-rate country.Torn apart by civil strife, the former totalitarian empire has no hope, no future.The continuation of the Swiss Alps and a small part of the famous Tyrolean mountains make up most of its territory.According to the "Treaty of Versailles", the remaining areas of the Tyrol Mountains have been returned to Italy on the grounds that these areas were once part of the Roman Empire.There are two towns in the mountains of Austria, Innsbruck and Salzburg, that make a little sense.Innsbruck is the only way for the ancients to go from the Brenner Pass to Italy. Because the river flows through here, it is full of medieval atmosphere.Salzburg is also considered one of the most beautiful towns in Europe, and is world-famous for being the birthplace of music master Mozart.In order to maintain the vitality of the city, it still strives to present elegant music and theater performances to people.

Neither the Austrian mountains nor the Bohemian plains to the north yielded anything of value, and the Vienna Basin was impoverished.The ancient Romans built a military camp named Wendobona on the Vienna Basin, and it developed into today's Vienna.In 180 A.D., the famous philosopher and Roman emperor Mark Aurelius (121-180, who had fought numerous battles throughout his life, studied rhetoric with Herodes Atticus when he was young, and studied rhetoric with Frent He studied philosophy and admired Stoic philosophy the most. During his reign from 161 to 180, he often went to war with foreign enemies. During his military life in the north and south, he wrote autobiographical memoirs "Self-examination Records" every day, which is an excellent philosophical work of that era ——Translator’s Note), died here after the last battle with the Germanic barbarians in the north, and this small settlement has somewhat gained some notoriety because of him.In Vienna, the scale of the city did not appear until after 1000.This is largely due to the Crusades, a great population migration in the Middle Ages.Because the Crusaders dreamed of going to the Holy Land of the East to make a fortune, and didn't want to be extorted by Genoa and Venetian shipowners, they set off from Vienna at that time, marched along the Danube River, and fought all the way to the land of hope that God bestowed on Abraham. .

In 1276, the Habsburgs took Vienna and turned it into the central stronghold of a vast domain that they kept expanding until they eventually extended to all the aforementioned mountains. In 1485, Vienna was captured by the Hungarians. In 1529 and 1683, it was besieged by the Turks twice again.However, in every war, Vienna survived until the beginning of the 18th century, due to a policy error, the city began to gradually disintegrate.At that time it entrusted every part of the principality, whether important or not, to a pure-bred Germanic nobleman.Excessive power in rulers is not a blessing for all.And those gentle Austrian knights have all become gentler, more kind, and even weak and cowardly.

In the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, Slavs accounted for 47%, Germans accounted for 25%, and the rest were Hungarians (19%), Romanians (7%), and Italians and Gypsies. There are about 600,000 Italians. (accounting for 1.5%), there are about 100,000 Gypsies.Since the Gypsies seem to be somewhat respected in the immediate vicinity of Hungary, they are mainly concentrated there. At that time, other European emperors were slowly learning the lessons of history, but the Germanic masters who ruled Austria obviously did not take the lessons of history to heart.Only when emperors and nobles voluntarily shoulder the responsibility of leadership can the country enjoy long-term peace and stability, but if they do not fulfill their duties and conscientiously "lead", but only seek to enjoy "service", their end will come at this time.Because in the war against Napoleon, the Austrian army was repeatedly defeated and defeated, and the people of Vienna were angry. middle.

Since then, Vienna's geographical location has played an important role.Merchants and manufacturers gradually rose with the departure of the nobles.Freed from its ancient fortifications, Vienna grew rapidly and became the most important center of commerce, science and art in Eastern Europe. However, the world war dealt Vienna a fatal blow.Its prosperity and glory were reduced to ashes overnight.A few years ago, it was the ruling center of that great empire, and now it has practically no resemblance to the past.Austria has a false name and a bleak future.When France resolutely opposed her annexation to Germany, she was suddenly plunged into utter despair.