GERMANIC TRIBES WERE not the first peoples to occupy the eastern
Alpine-Danubian region, but the history and culture of these
tribes, especially the Bavarians and Swabians, are the foundation
of Austria’s modern identity. Austria thus shares in the broader
history and culture of the Germanic peoples of Europe. The
territories that constitute modern Austria were, for most of
their history, constituent parts of the German nation and were
linked to one another only insofar as they were all feudal
possessions of one of the leading dynasties in Europe, the
Habsburgs.
Surrounded by German, Hungarian, Slavic, Italian, and Turkish
nations, the German lands of