Austria (German: Österreich, literally "the Eastern Realm" or "Eastern Empire") is a land-locked alpine country in Central Europe bordering Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west, Germany and Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east and Slovenia and Italy to the south. Austria, along with neighboring Switzerland, is the winter sports capital of Europe. However, it is just as popular for summer tourists who visit its historic cities and villages and hike in the magnificent scenery of the alps.

History

Today's Austria is what was once the German speaking core and center of power for the large multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire. This empire stretched eastwards from present-day Austria through much of east-central and south-central Europe. While Prussia united the German states to the north into one "Germany" in the latter part of the 19th Century, Austria remained oriented eastwards towards its empire. However, from the start of the 20th century, the political history of Austria has been closely linked to the misfortunes and disasters of modern German history, mainly the First and Second World Wars and their aftermath.