Classical Times & Roman Civilization (101 BC to 400 AD)

During Classical Times, much of the region south of the Danube River was known as Noricum - incorporated into the Roman Empire in 101 BC.  The Romans divided the territory of present-day Austria into three provinces: Rhaetia (Vorarlberg and Tirol), Noricum (Salzburg, Carinthia, Styria, Upper and Lower Austria), and Pannonia Superior (the Vienna basin, Burgenland, and half of Hungary).  The western uplands region between the upper Rhine River, the lower course of the Inn River, and the Bavarian and subalpine plateau was known as Rhaetia, an area which also included parts of modern-day Germany and Switzerland. The plains region in the east and southeast was known as Pannonia, and included areas in present-day Hungary and Slovenia. The Romans invaded all three regions about 15 BC and made them provinces of the empire.

Under Roman control, the provinces eventually became outposts for offensive and defensive action against various barbarian tribes. To a large extent Roman strategy was based on the fact that the region contains important passes through the Eastern Alps and thus commands vital transportation arteries between northern, southern, western, and eastern Europe. One of the first Roman military posts in the region was Vindobona (now Vienna), which was located on the site of a Celtic settlement on the edge of the Eastern Alps and on an arm of the Danube. Vindobona became an important strategic crossroad for two main trade routes and for numerous roads leading into the fertile basin of Niederosterreich. Carnuntum (now Petronell), east of present-day Vienna, was another important Roman center in the area.

Prior to the opening of the Christian era, the southern part of the country now called Austria was inhabited by the Taurisci, a Centic tribe called who were later called the Norici and who were conquered by the Romans about 14 BC.  The land they inhabited was later included in the Roman provinces of Pannonia and Noricum.  Under Roman rule, Vindobona, the modern Vienna, became a place of some significance.  The part of the country north of the Danube was peopled by the Marcomanni and the Quadi - two Germanic tribes who would become the Bavarians.  Both of these tribes were frequently at war with the Romans - particularly during the reign of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, who died at Vindobona in 180 AD while campaigning against them (Steed Chapter 1).
The First Coming of the Germans

As a result of periodic overpopulation and land hunger, combined with pressure from remote peoples and the attraction of the wealth of the peaceful Roman provinces, tribes of the Germanic peoples attacked the provincial frontiers at various times starting in AD 166. The frontiers completely broke down during the 4th century AD. Goths, Rugians, Lombards, Vandals, Ostrogoths, and Huns at one time or another crossed the Vienna Basin. The Alamanni advanced into Rhaetia, the Herulians captured Juvavum (now Salzburg), and the Goths advanced along the Drava (Drau) River.

The Slavs and the Avars moved into Pannonia from the east and southeast at about the same time the Germans invaded the northwest. By the mid-6th century the Bavarians had occupied Tirol, and the Alamanni had settled to the west. The Slavic peoples were split into northern and southern groups by Avars and Bavarians contending for control of the Danube River valley. The Avars left only superficial traces in the country, but the Slovenes built settlements in the depopulated valleys of the Eastern Alps. The Germans finally overwhelmed the Slovene settlements, which could not depend on a continuous stream of new settlers. In a few areas of what are now Karnten and Steiermark the Slovenes managed to establish permanent settlements.

By the 2nd century BC, Germanic peoples had already occupied northern Germany and southern Scandinavia.  The first clash between the Germanic peoples and the neighboring Romans was in the 2nd century BC, when the Cimbri and Teutons invaded Gaul and were defeated in present-day Provence, France by the Roman General Gaius Marius (101-102 BC).  By this period, however, much of Germany was occupied by such Germanic tribes as the Suevi, Cherusci, and others.  When the Romans in turn attempted to conquer the area east of the Rhine River early in the 1st century, they were defeated by the Cherusci chief Arminius (Hermann).

Much of what is known about Germanic peoples comes to us from historical accounts written by two Roman authors: Commentaries (51 BC) by Julius Caesar and Germania (AD 98) by Cornelius Tacitus.  By comparing the two writings, it is possible to trace the evolution of Germanic society in the intervening period.  In Caesar's time, land tenure did not involve private property; instead, fields were divided annually among clans.  By the time of Tacitus, however, land was distributed annually to individuals according to social class.  The basic sociopolitical unit was the pagus (clan).  In Caesar's period, some pagi had military leaders as chiefs, but only during wartime.  By Tacitus's time, however, several pagi, at least, had full-time, elected chiefs.  These leaders did not have absolute power but were limited by a council of nobles and an assembly of fighting men.  Military chiefs had groups (comitium) of men who swore allegiance to them in both peace and war.

In the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, two ancient Germanic peoples, the Cimbri and the Teutons, were the first Germanic tribes to invade Roman territory. They first came into contact with the Romans in the province of Noricum (now southern Austria) in 113 BC. The Cimbri, victorious in several engagements, were prevented from devastating Italy by their defeat in 101 BC by the Roman general Gaius Marius, near present-day Vercelli in northern Italy. When the battle was lost, their women killed their children and themselves. According to the account of Julius Caesar, the Audatici of Belgium were the descendants of the Cimbri and the Teutons. The Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus mentioned a people bearing the name of Cimbri, few in number but of great reputation, who sent ambassadors to Augustus, emperor of Rome. They lived, according to the Roman historian Pliny the Elder, on the Chersonesus Cimbrica (Peninsula of the Cimbri), now known as the Jutland Peninsula, which is the mainland part of Denmark.

By the mid-2nd century AD Germanic pressures on the Roman frontiers intensified.  The emperor Marcus Aurelius waged successful warfare against such tribes as the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Iazyges.  By this period, German mercenaries were beginning to be used by the Roman armies.

During the 3rd century, more migrations caused a crisis within the empire, as Goths, Alamanni, and Franks penetrated German borders.  The movement stopped temporarily in the late 3rd century during the reigns of the emperors Diocletian and Constantine the Great, but it resumed under pressure from the non-Germanic Huns, who came out of Central Asia in the 4th century.  By the 5th century, the Germans occupied the whole Western Roman Empire.