(Photos during our trip to Vienna, Austria. Photos of Austrian Kaisers' palaces and burial sites, along with other historical & tourist spots, Plus Innsbruck, Austria pics)
Originally a Celtic settlement, Vienna, then called Vindobona, became an important Roman military and commercial center; Emperor Marcus Aurelius resided there and died there (A.D. 180). After the Romans withdrew (late 4th cent.), it rapidly changed hands among the invaders who overran the region. The Magyars, who gained possession of Vienna early in the 10th cent., were driven out by Leopold I of Babenberg, the first margrave of the Ostmark (see Austria). Construction on Vienna's noted Cathedral of St. Stephen began c.1135.By 1278. The Habsburgs had gained control and this mighty dynasty managed to rule Austria right up until WW I. Although the Habsburgs were not averse to using a bit of muscle, they preferred less barbaric ways of extending their territory and so Austria gradually expanded thanks to judicious real estate purchases and many politically-motivated marriages. New territories were acquired, which resulted in the Habsburgs, now also the Holy Roman Emperors, ruling much of central Europe including Hungary and Bohemia and Croatia, parts of Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Ukraine, as well as the Netherlands and Spain and its vast overseas possessions. (The Empire was divided into a Spanish and Austrian half in 1556.)