Polen - Österreich#

Poland - Austria: Contacts between the two countries were mainly based on marriage between the two ruling families in the Middle Ages. Elisabeth, daughter of Duke Albrecht V, married Casimir IV. Their son Wladyslaw ascended the Bohemian throne in 1474 and became King of Hungary in 1490. In 1515, at the Vienna Conference of Princes yet another bond between the Habsburgs and Jagiellons developed, and in the 17th  century the joint fight against the Turks brought new contacts, which culminated under the Polish king Jan III Sobieski when he dispersed the Turks in 1683, ending the siege of Vienna. On the occasion of the Partitions of Poland in 1772 and in 1795 Austria had its share in the destruction of the Polish state and acquired a relatively large part of it. After 1815 Austria kept Galicia, and in 1846 it also received the city-state of Kraków. The influence of Polish people on the Habsburg Monarchy - in 1910 around 10 % of the population was Polish - was especially strong after 1860, as many Polish aristocrats held high positions (e.g. Prime Minister Count K. F. Badeni) and the "Polenklub" (Polish Club) played an important role in the Abgeordnetenhaus (House of Deputies). Cultural relations were also close, e.g. between the Wiener Secession and the "Junge Polen" (Young Polish Artists), who were based in Kraków. In 1916, a plan was developed in the course of the First World War to appoint the Habsburg Karl Stefan ruler of the newly created "Little Poland". With the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1918 a territory of 81,000 km2 fell to the new Polish state.

Literature#