hetalia | [SCANLATION]LIECHTENSTEIN'S JOURNAL OF SWISS DOPINESS

Translated by

westoestlich and edited by

konkira. The "frugality" panel turned out AMAZING!! I can't begin to fathom how much work it took! Massive love and many <3333-s.

THE BEGINNING OF AUSTRIA

Austria began as a margraviate, fortified against Magyar offenses, called the Ostmark (English: Saxon Eastern March).
The Magyars with other ethnic groups would later establish Hungary. In Hungarian, the name for the country is "Magyar Köztársaság".
Ostmark (Austria) was then at extreme military disadvantage, to the point where it all but fell under Hungarian control.
Prussia, too, began as the Margraviate of Brandenburg intended to buffer Slavic expansion, and later incorporated the territory of the Teutonic Knights.
So in a sense Austria and Prussia were both created to fight.

SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

Austria's first predecessor states were, interestingly, in modern Swiss territory.
The Habsburg castle, which was the seat of the Habsburg dynasty, is located in Northern Switzerland rather than Austria.
So how did it come to be, that modern Austria lies east to Switzerland, its place of origin?
At first the two would-be countries coorperated well. Then the would-be Switzerland, for good reasons, revolted against Habsburg intervention in its affairs.
Among the chaos the Habsburgs understandably hastened to move their seat to modern Austria.

During the Austro-Swiss partnership, Austria granted the region military protection in exchange for Swiss allegiance.
Though they both lay in the Holy Roman Empire, they were regarded as two separate entities.
The then head of the Habsburgs were loved among the Swiss - like "we'd go to any length to serve him."

But the honeymoon was soon over.
The new man on the Austrian throne proclaimed,

"Switzerland is my territory.
Therefore the same tax laws apply."

Switzerland fell under Austrian control. Austria even started appointing Vogts to govern Switzerland. (Remember, they were supposed to be separate entities.)
That marked the end of the Austro-Swiss partnership.

Wilhelm Tell, a Swiss hunter, was demanded by the Habsburg-appointed Vogt, Gessler, to shoot an apple off the head of his son. He succeeded in spite of tremendous mental strife, and went on to shoot Gessler himself.

It was clear that Austria and Switzerland couldn't go back where they were.
Switzerland now sought independence.
Several cantons formed the "Confoederatio Helvetica", and challenged Austrian rule with their new army.
(The place where the canton representatives took their oaths is still a tourist attraction.)

The Swiss army was nothing more than a bunch of farmers hastily donned in armors and equipped with swords.
Nobody would have expected them to stand any chance against Austria's professionals.

But the Swiss army won devastating victories against the Austrian knights.
The Swiss took advantage of their terrain and hurled huge rocks onto the enemy.
The Austrians, taken aback by such Indiana Jones-like tactics, had to face defeat.

After winning its independence, Switzerland was plagued by its lack of natural resources, the low quality of its top soil, and the mountaineous terrain which made agriculture almost impossible.
Switzerland had to import raw material and export manufactured goods. Its men served for centuries as mercenaries. Through amazing efforts Switzerland, neighbored on all sides by great powers, made a living out of almost nothing.

Austria, after a humiliating flight from Habsburg, began to feel at home in Vienna. The region, endowed with natural resources, did strike one as having the potential to become a center of East Europe. Perhaps it was the right turn for Austrian history when the Habsburgs moved to Vienna after all.
(Vienna's geographic location did make it vulnerable to Turkish attacks, though. )

The loss of Swiss partnership led to a temporary downward spiral for the Habsburgs.
Owing to a certain weak - but amazingly successful - ruler*, however, Austria began its rise to predominance in Europe.

*Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, who through a series of marriages netted Austria huge territorial prizes. Hence the famous Habsburg motto "Let others wage wars; you, fortunate Austria, marry."

[SCANLATION]LIECHTENSTEIN'S JOURNAL OF SWISS DOPINESS

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