Tyrol is a region in Western Central Europe, which included the present day Austrian state of Tyrol (consisting of North Tyrol and East Tyrol), the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and three communes of the Italian region Veneto (Livinallongo del Col di Lana, Colle Santa Lucia e Cortina d'Ampezzo).
History
Prehistory
Historically the region was home to a series of autochthonous cultures occupying roughly the area of the later county of Tyrol. The most prominent are the late Bronze Age Laugen-Melaun/Luco-Meluno and Iron Age Fritzens-Sanzeno cultures.
The Laugen-Melaun/Luco-Meluno culture, named after two important archaeological sites near the modern-day town of Brixen (Bressanone) in Bolzano-Bozen, appears in the 14th century BC in the area of today's Bolzano-Bozen and Trento, while the northern part of Tyrol comes under the influence of the Urnfield Culture[1]. It is characterized by a particular type of richly decorated pottery, while the metal-working is strongly influenced by adjacent cultures. The people of the Laugen-Melaun/Luco-Meluno culture cremated the dead and placed their ashes in urns, and worshipped their gods in sanctuaries sometimes placed in remote areas, on mountain-tops or close to water.
Around 500 BC the Fritzens-Sanzeno-culture, also known as culture of the Rhaetics, after the goddess Rhaetia who according to roman authors was the main deity of the people inhabiting the region, succeeds both the Laugen-Melaun/Luco-Meluno culture of the southern and the Urnfield culture of the northern part of Tyrol [2]. As in the preceding culture, the richly ornamented pottery is very characteristic, while many aspects such as the metal-working, burial customs and religion are strongly influenced by its neighbours, mainly the Etruscans and Celts. Nonetheless, the Fritzens-Sanzeno-people possessed important cultural traits which clearly distinguish them from adjacent groups, such as the typical mountain-sanctuaries already in use during the time of the Laugen-Melaun/Luco-Meluno-Culture, certain types of fibulae, bronze armor, and an own alphabet derived from the Etruscan.
Antiquity
In 15 BCE the region was conquered by the Romans and its northern and eastern part were incorporated into the Roman Empire as the provinces of Raetia and Noricum respectively, while the part south of and including the area around the modern day cities of Merano and Bolzano became part of Italia's Regio X. As in the rest of Europe, the Roman era left deep marks in the culture and in the language (see: Rhaeto-Romance languages).
According to a more recent and controversial theory, the Rhaeto-Romance languages are autochthonous and date back to before the Roman conquest (see: Paleolithic Continuity Theory).
From the 5th to the 6th century it was part of the Ostrogothic Kingdom. And after its fall in 553 to the 9th century, the region was settled by the Bavarii and the Langobards. As part of the Frankish Empire and later the Holy Roman Empire the region had a strategic importance as a bridgehead to Italy as the southern part of the duchy of Bavaria.
Tyrol, incorporated into the southern part of the Duchy of Bavaria during the Early Middle Ages, consisted largely of ecclesiastical holdings of the Bishops of Brixen and Trento. Over the centuries, the Counts residing in Castle Tyrol, near Merano, extended their territory over much of the region and came to surpass the power of the bishops, who were nominally their feudal lords. Later counts came to hold much of their territory directly from the Holy Roman Emperor. The Meinhardinger family, originating in Gorizia, held not only Tyrol and Gorizia, but for a time also the Duchy of Carinthia.
1363/1369 the Wittelsbach released the country for Habsburg when Margarete Maultasch, lacking any descendants to succeed her, bequeathed Tyrol to Duke Rudolph IV of House of Habsburg. From that time onwards, Tyrol was ruled by various lines of the Habsburg family, who held the title of the Count of Tyrol (see List of rulers of Austria).
The red eagle in Tyrol's coat of arms is derived from the red Brandenburg eagle at the time when Louis V, Duke of Bavaria and Margarete Maultasch governed Brandenburg as well.
Following defeat by Napoleon in 1805, Austria was forced to cede Tyrol to the Kingdom of Bavaria in the Peace of Pressburg. Tyrol as a part of Bavaria became a member of the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806. The Tyroleans, known to be an obstinate and proud people, rose up against the Bavarian authority and succeeded twice in defeating Bavarian and French troops trying to retake the country. Austria lost the war of the Fifth Coalition against France, and got even harsher terms in the Treaty of Schönbrunn in 1809. Often glorified as Tyrol's national hero, Andreas Hofer, the leader of the uprising, was executed in 1810 in Mantua, having lost a third and final battle against the French and Bavarian forces. Tyrol remained divided under Bavarian and Italian authority for another four years before being reunified and returned to Austria following the decisions at the Congress of Vienna in 1814. Integrated into the Austrian Empire, from 1867 onwards it was a Kronland [Crown Land] of Cisleithania, the western half of Austria-Hungary.
On the eve of World War I the Austrian crownland of Tyrol included an area populated mainly by Italian speakers, which coincided roughly with the present-day Province of Trento. The linguistic border was well-defined and followed the border between South Tyrol and Trento at the Salurn Pass[3]. The existence of areas largely populated by Italian-speaking populations under the rule of the Austrian Empire was a constant cause of friction between Austria and Italy, a national state set on the unification of all Italians. Being part of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria was "an embarrassment, if not a contraddiction" for Italy[4]. Italy's fear that it would not get what it wanted in case of a victorious Triple Alliance made it remain neutral during the first year of the war, and the preoccupation that it wouldn't get what it wanted from a victorious Entente either if it remained neutral led it to join the war on the side of the latter[5]. Italy conducted intense negotiations with Austria, which was prepared to part with Trento in exchange of Italy's neutrality, but Italy wanted the old borders of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, which ran between Salurn and the Brenner Pass, a demand which Austria refused, since it would mean giving up a territory regarded as personal fief by the Habsburg Emperors. From the Entente Italy demanded the boundary at the Brenner Pass in order to change Alliances. On 26th April 1915 Italy signed the London Pact, in which it accepted to declare war against the Central Powers, in exchange for the unredeemed territories of Trentino, Gorizia, Trieste and Dalmatia as well as the part of German Tyrol south of the main Alpine divide[6]. Apart from these territorial gains the change of alliance enabled Italy to gain what it really aspired to: Italian military dominance in the Mediterranean[7]. The ideals of irredentism where used to convince the population of the necessity of the war, but the true motives of the political leadership to join the war was their idea that Italy should become a great European power[8].
The war against the Austro-Hungarian Empire was declared on May 24, 1915. This put Tyrol on the front line, which passed through some of the highest mountains in the Alps. The ensuing front became known as the "War in ice and snow", as troops occupied the highest mountains and glaciers all year long. Twelve metres (40 feet) of snow were a usual occurrence during the winter of 1915–16 and tens of thousands of soldiers disappeared in avalanches. The remains of these soldiers are still being uncovered today. The Italian Alpini, as well as their Austrian counterparts (Kaiserjäger, Standschützen and Landesschützen) and the German Alpenkorps occupied every hill and mountain top and began to carve extensive fortifications and military quarters, even drilling tunnels inside the mountains and deep into glaciers, like at Marmolada. Guns were dragged by hundreds of troops on mountains up to 3,890 m (12,760 ft). Streets, cable cars, mountain railways and walkways through the steepest of walls were built. But whoever had occupied the higher ground first was almost impossible to dislodge, so both sides turned to drilling tunnels under mountain peaks, filling them up with explosives and then detonating the whole mountain to pieces, including its defenders, such us Col di Lana, Monte Pasubio, Lagazuoi, etc. Climbing and skiing became essential skills for the troops of both sides and soon Ski Battalions and Special Climbing units were formed.
On May 15, 1916, the Austrian army staged an attack from the Trentino without the aid of the German army, whose command had advised against such a move. In order to achieve the necessary troop strength, several divisions where withdrawn from the Russian front. The offensive was only a limited tactical success. The Austrians penetrated twelve miles into Italian territory and inflicted heavy casualties on the Italians, but fell short of their strategic and political goals[9]. This inconclusive attack weakened the eastern front, which enabled the Russian Army to overrun Austrian positions in Galicia and threaten the heart of the Habsburg Empire[10].
Until the end of the war the Tyrolean frontline remained practically unchanged. The decisive battles where fought elsewhere. This changed after the Armistice of Villa Giusti. It was signed on the 3rd of November 1918 but was set to come into force only the day after, the 4th November 1915, at 3pm, which allowed the Italians to mount a final attack against an army which was already routed and in full retreat[11], and enabled Italian troops to penetrate deep into Austrian territory with barely a fight[12]. In its advance, Italian troops took roughly 350,000 to 400,000 fleeing Austro-Hungarian soldiers prisoner in the space of 36 hours[13]. It appears that this was also due to the fact that the Austrian command had decided that captivity in Italy was preferable to starvation at home[14]. After the armistice, hundreds of thousands Austrian soldiers without weapons, food and discipline made their way home through the alpine valleys. The alpine villages where caught between the retreating, half-starved soldiers who repeatedly resorted to theft and robbery to survive, and the advancing Italian army. At the same time, great numbers of Italian war prisoners where making their way south towards their homeland. Austria did not have the means to guarantee the orderly retreat of its own army or the organized return of Italian war prisoners[15].
In the meantime, Italian occupation of Tyrol was going as planned. On the 11th September Italian troops occupied the Brenner Pass and the Pass at Toblach. In order to secure access to the Inn valley, crucial for an advance into southern Germany, Innsbruck, the capital of Tyrol, and the village Landeck where occupied as well. On 10 January 1919 the commander of the 3rd army corps, gen. Ugo Sani, was appointed military governor of northern Tyrol with residence in Innsbruck[16].
The division of Tyrol
The Italian victory in the battle of Vittorio Veneto determined the final collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and led to the end of the First World War on the Italian Front, fastening the surrendering of Germany, unable to sustain a new front-line in the South.
The Treaty of Saint-Germain ruled that, according to the London Pact, the southern part of Tyrol had to be ceded to Italy, granting Italy the right to push its border northward to the strategically important Alpine water divide. The northern was ceded to the First Austrian Republic.
Other facts
Today Tyrolean lands are known for some of the finest snow skiing in Europe. Some famous resorts in the Tyrolean Alps include Kitzbühel, Wilder Kaiser, Ischgl, and St. Anton, home of the world's first ski school founded by Hannes Schneider.
The Tyrol Gröstl is a traditional food which contains potatoes and pieces of cut pork browned lightly together with chopped onion and butter in a frying pan. It is spiced with abundant marjoram, plus salt, pepper, caraway and parsley. Gröstl is often served with fried egg and herbs, sheet or rohnensalat (beetroot).
"The Green Hills Of Tyrol" is a popular bagpiping tune, as a 3/4 retreat march. It is one of the best known, and oldest tunes played by pipe bands. It was originally transposed by Pipe Major MacLean in Crimea, during the Crimean War.
Notes
- ^ Gleirscher 1992.
- ^ Gleirscher 1991.
- ^ Alcock 1996, p. 67.
- ^ Alcock 1996, p. 67.
- ^ Alcock 1996, p. 67.
- ^ Alcock 1996, p. 68.
- ^ Rusconi 2005, p. 127-128.
- ^ Rusconi 2005, p. 184-185.
- ^ Rothenberg 1977, p. 79-80.
- ^ Rothenberg 1977, p. 80.
- ^ Herwig 1997, p. 438.
- ^ Pasquali 2007, p. 109.
- ^ Herwig 1997, p. 438.
- ^ Rothenberg 1976, p. 218.
- ^ Pasquali 2007, p. 113.
- ^ Pasquali 2007, p. 113.
References
Alcock, Antony (1996), Trentino and Tyrol: from Austrian Crownland to European Region. In: Seamus Dunn/T.G. Fraser (eds.), Europe and Ethnicity. The First World War and contemporary ethnic conflict, London and New York:Routledge, ISBN 0-415-11996-0, pp. 67-87.
Gleirscher, Paul (1991), Die Räter, Chur: Rätisches Museum Chur
Gleirscher, Paul (1992), Die Laugen-Melaun-Gruppe. In: Metzger, Ingrid R., Die Räter – I Reti, Bozen:Athesia, ISBN 88-7014-646-4, pp.117-134.
Herwig, Holger (1997), The First World War. Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918, New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-340-57348-1
Pasquali, Corrado (2007), 1918-1920 Dal Piave ad Innsbruck, Trento: TEMI editrice, ISBN 9788-89706-19-84
Rothenberg, Gunther E. (1976), The army of Francis Joseph, West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, ISBN 0-911198-41-5
Rothenberg, Gunther E. (1977), The Habsburg Army in the First World War: 1914-1918. In: Robert. A. Kann/Béla Király/Paula S. Fichtner, The Habsburg Empire in World War I. Essays on the Intellectual, Military, Political and Economic Aspects of the Habsburg War Effort, New York:Columbia University Press, ISBN 0-914710-16-8, pp. 73-86.
Rusconi, Gian Enrico (2005), L'azzardo del 1915. Come l'Italia decide la sua guerra, Bologna: Il Mulino, ISBN 88-15-09868-2
External links
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