The history of Austria covers the history of the current country of Austria and predecessor states, from the Iron Age, through to a sovereign state, annexation by the German Third Reich, partition after the Second World War and later developments until the present day. More information can be found in history of Europe.

During the Neolithic, the territory of modern-day Austria was home to the Linear pottery culture, one of the first agrarian cultures in Europe.

Ötzi the Iceman, a well-preserved mummy of a man frozen in Austrian Alps, is dated around 3300 BC.

Noricum, in ancient geography, was a Celtic kingdom (perhaps better described as a federation of, by tradition, twelve tribes) stretching over the area of today's Austria and a part of Slovenia. It became a province of the Roman Empire. It was bounded on the north by the Danube, on the west by Raetia and Vindelicia, on the east and southeast by Pannonia, on the south by Region 10, Venetia et Histria.

During the Migration Period, the Slavic tribe of the Carantanians migrated into the Alps in the wake of the expansion of their Avar overlords during the 7th century, mixed with the Celto-Romanic population, and established the realm of Carantania, which covered much of eastern and central Austrian territory. In the meantime, the Germanic tribe of the Bavarians had developed in the 5th and 6th century in the west of the country and in Bavaria, while what is today Vorarlberg had been settled by the Alemans. Those groups mixed with the Rhaeto-Romanic population and pushed it up into the mountains.

Austria (ⁱ/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] ( listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German:  Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.

The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.

Israel Meir Kirzner (Yisroel Mayer Kirzner) (born February 13, 1930) is a leading economist in the Austrian School.

The son of a well-known rabbi and Talmudist, Kirzner was born in London, England and came to the United States via South Africa.

After studying with the University of Cape Town, South Africa in 1947-48 and with the University of London External Programme in 1950-51, Kirzner received his B.A. summa cum laude from Brooklyn College in 1954, an MBA in 1955 and Ph.D. from New York University in 1957 (studying under Ludwig von Mises).

Kirzner's major work is in the economics of knowledge and entrepreneurship and the ethics of markets. He is emeritus professor of economics at New York University, and he is a leading authority on Ludwig von Mises' thinking and methodology in economics. Kirzner's research on entrepreneurship economics is also widely recognized. In 2006, Kirzner received the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research " for developing the economic theory emphasizing the importance of the entrepreneur for economic growth and the functioning of the capitalist process.". Due to his contribution to Economic theory, Universidad Francisco Marroquín granted him an Honorary Doctorate Degree. UFM also named its Kirzner Entrepreneurship Center in his honor.

Brian Blessed ( /ˈblɛsɪd/; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor, known for his sonorous voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".

The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born at the Montague Hospital in the town of Mexborough, England. He attended Bolton on Dearne Secondary Modern School, but after his father suffered an industrial accident, he was forced to leave school early at 14 and spent several years working at a variety of jobs, ranging from undertaker to plasterer's assistant. At the age of eighteen, he suffered a nervous breakdown, from which he gradually recovered with the help of friends and family. He completed his National Service as a parachutist in the Royal Air Force. He began his acting training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, alongside Patrick Stewart. He has written about his early life in his autobiography, Dynamite Kid (1992).

An early role was that of PC 'Fancy' Smith in the BBC police drama Z-Cars from 1962 to 1965. In 1966, Blessed appeared in "Incident at Vichy" at the Phoenix Theatre in London. Blessed had small roles in such cult shows as The Avengers (1967, 1969) and the original Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969). He portrayed Caesar Augustus in the BBC series I, Claudius. He portrayed the father of Robin Hood, Lord Locksley, in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He has appeared in a number of Shakespearean roles on both stage and screen, including four of the five Shakespeare films directed by Kenneth Branagh: as The Duke of Exeter in Henry V (1989), Antonio in Much Ado About Nothing (1993), The Ghost of Hamlet's Father in Hamlet (1996) and the dual role of Duke Frederick and Duke Senior in As You Like It (2006). He also provided the voices of Bob in the animated series Kika & Bob (2008) and Grampy Rabbit in Peppa Pig.