Austria is a mountainous, landlocked nation in central Europe that was as soon as a part of the Holy Roman Empire. When archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assassinated in 1914, the emperor declared struggle on Serbia, which in the end led to World Conflict I.

Austria Fundamentals

Austria is positioned within the jap Alps and is bordered by Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland and Lichtenstein. It’s made up on 9 states, considered one of which is the capital, Vienna.

The nation is about 32,386 sq. miles, or 83,879 sq. kilometers, and is residence to about 9 million folks. It’s a parliamentary consultant democracy and has each a president as its head of state and a chancellor who heads the federal government. The title derives from the Previous Excessive German phrase for “jap realm.”

The official language is German, and Austrian German is the nationwide language. Individuals there additionally converse Hungarian, Slovene and Burgenland Croatian.

Austria has numerous historical past; it was initially settled by Celts and has been dominated by Romans, Bavarians, Slavs, Avars and Franks. It was the bottom of energy for the Hapsburgs and was annexed by Nazi Germany, amongst different issues.

Austrian Nationwide Symbols

The Austrian flag is made up of three horizontal bars, crimson on the prime and backside and white within the center. When the flag is flown by the federal government it consists of the black eagle that’s the coat of arms of the nation. The crimson and white colours representing Austria date to the arms of the Babenberg dynasty and its first recorded use was in 1230, making it one of many oldest nationwide symbols nonetheless in use by a contemporary nation (thanks, Wikipedia!).

The nationwide anthem is “Land der Berge, Land am Strome,” and whereas the melody is attributed to Mozart, that’s in dispute. The title means “Land of the mountains, land by the river.”

The black eagle is taken into account the nationwide animal of Austria, although it isn’t truly present in that nation. The black eagle’s habitat is in Asia. The nation seems to be to the eagle for its boldness and energy.

The barn swallow is the nationwide hen of Austria.

The nationwide dish is wiener schnitzel, which we’ll get again to in a minute.

There are a lot of well-known Austrian composers together with Joseph Haydn, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert and Johann Strauss, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart spent most of his profession in Vienna. Well-known actors and filmmakers from Austria embody Billy Wilder, Fritz Lang, Peter Lorre, Hedy Lamar and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Austria Actions for Youngsters

Adventures in a Messy Life has some good concepts for an Austria unit examine and so they have printable journaling pages for subscribers that features some printable mini books.

Study completely different video games children play in Austria, and naturally you’ll want to take a look at an Austrian folks dance, “Sound of Music” model.

Lecturers Pay Lecturers has an Austria unit examine from Past Creativeness Play that’s aimed toward kindergarten via third grade, and one other one for older children from The Artistic Workshop.

Austria.data says wiener schnitzel wasn’t truly invented in Vienna, but when they declare it as their nationwide dish that’s ok for us. They’ve a recipe for it, and a  good roundup of numerous conventional Austrian recipes if you wish to attempt them. (They’ve numerous nice desserts!)

If you wish to examine Austria, take a look at The Large Guide of Austria Information or Let’s Discover Austria. Study Mozart via his Who Was e-book or this Nationwide Geographic Youngsters e-book about him.