Tyrol
This article is about the Tyrol, the region in the eastern Alps. For other meanings, see Tyrol (disambiguation).The
Tyrol is a historical region in Western
Central Europe, which includes the
Austrian state of
Tyrol (consisting of
North Tyrol and
East Tyrol) and the
Italian regions known as the
South Tyrol and
Trentino.
For the Roman history of the region, see
Raetia.
The Tyrol, incorporated into the southern part of the
Duchy of Bavaria during the
Early Middle Ages, consisted largely of ecclesiastical holdings of the Bishops of
Brixen and
Trento. Over the centuries, the
Counts residing in
Castle Tyrol, near
Meran, extended the[1363]]/
1369 the
Wittelsbach released the country for
Habsburg when Margarete Maultasch, lacking any descendants to succeed her, bequeathed Tyrol to Duke
Rudolph IV of House of
Habsburg. From that time onwards, the Tyrol was ruled by various lines of the Habsburg family, who held the title of the Count of the Tyrol (see
List of rulers of Austria).
Following defeat by
Napoleon,
Austria was forced to cede the Tyrol to
Bavaria in
1805. In
1809 the Tyrolese, known to be an obstinate and proud people, rose up against the Bavarian authority and succeeded twice in defeating
Bavarian and
French troops trying to retake the
county. Often glorified as the Tyrol's national hero,
Andreas Hofer, the leader of the uprising, was executed in
1810 in
Mantua, having lost a third and final battle against the
French and
Bavarian forces. The Tyrol remained divided under Bavarian and
Italian authority for another four years before being reunified and returned to
Austria following the decisions at the
Congress of Vienna in
1814. Integrated into the
Austrian Empire, from
1867 onwards it was a
Kronland of
Cisleithania, the western half of
Austria-Hungary.
|
Tyrol after 1918, the southern part is now a part of Italy |
In the final days of
World War I, the already disintegrating Austrian-Hungarian troops were defeated in the
Battle of Vittorio Veneto on
October 29,
1918. Even though the subsequent armistice signed on
November 3 was not to enter into force until
November 4, the Austrian command ordered its troops to cease hostilities one day too early. This not only allowed Italian troops to take 356,000 soldiers of the Austrian army as prisoners, but also to overrun the Austrian positions and occupy Tyrol, including the northern part. The
Treaty of Saint-Germain then ruled that southern part of the Tyrol had to be ceded to
Italy, according to
London Pact. The region included not only the largely
Italian speaking area today known as
Trentino (then often called
Welschtirol in
German), but also the territory now known as
South Tyrol, although it harbored only a 3%-minority of Italians.
The northern part, consisting of the geographically separate regions of Northern Tyrol and Eastern Tyrol, is today one of nine
federal states of the
Federal Republic of Austria called
Tyrol (consisting of North Tyrol and East Tyrol).
