Österreich - Die ganze Geschichte - Season 2

Few things shape our lives as much as love, sex, and marriage. However, the concept of marrying for love, as it is standard in Western countries today, has not been the norm in Austria for very long. For most of history, traditional marriage had little to do with romantic love. In the new season of the successful series Austria – The Complete History, Andreas Pfeifer and Mariella Gittler once again delve into the history of our country. The first episode takes us back to the beginnings of bourgeois marriage, which, like noble marriages, primarily served the purpose of maintaining social status and wealth.

Few things have transformed Austrian transportation as much as the railway. Routes that once took two days to traverse can now be completed in two hours—life speeds up. Episode two explores how industrialization revolutionized Austria, turning it from a relatively backward country into a land of inventors: Josef Madersperger invents the sewing machine, Josef Ressl the ship's propeller, bridge and road builder Alois Negrelli becomes the leading mind behind the construction of the Suez Canal, chemist Carl Auer von Welsbach discovers the incandescent lamp, and arms manufacturer Josef Werndl invents the game-changing breech-loading rifle. Carl Ritter von Ghega, once the face of the 20-shilling note, pushes through the Semmering and becomes the father of all mountain railways. The construction of the railway costs 700 workers their lives, a fact that was accepted at the time. Meanwhile, the Pottendorf spinning mill in the south of Vienna grows to become the largest of its kind in all of Continental Europe. Using elaborate studio animations, Andreas Pfeifer explains Austria's path to progress, which has laid the foundation for our prosperity to this day. Mariella Gittler visits original sites like the tunnel for the future U5 subway line.

In the great outdoors, we breathe deeply and feel at ease. Yet we often forget that this "free" nature has long been tamed. Before rivers like the Danube were regulated—when they were truly wild—they frequently turned into raging, deadly monsters. The fate of the Fiaker family Fleischer, whose five children were caught in the devastating Danube flood of 1830, reflects an understanding of nature vastly different from our own. A dramatic struggle for survival begins. Only in the 19th century, with its new technological advancements, did it become possible to contain the Danube's torrential power, which channels up to 9,000 cubic meters of water per second.

In this episode, Andreas Pfeifer and Mariella Gittler delve into the era when Austrians began to strip nature of its threatening aspects. Not only were rivers tamed, but the Alps were also conquered and made accessible to recreational hikers. Tourism, bathing culture, and alpine sports were all born from this transformative time.

The Parliament is considered the heart of Austrian democracy. Its origins date back to 1848, when it first convened under the name "Constituent Imperial Diet." The revolutionary wave of that year not only laid the foundation for Austrian parliamentarism but also freed Austrian farmers from feudal obligations. From then on, the state assumed many responsibilities previously managed by landowners, leading to the creation of Austria's civil service and the modern administrative state as we know it today.

The moving story of the unconventional revolutionary couple Alfred Becher and Karoline von Perin serves as the central thread of this episode. While the Habsburg monarchy had weathered uprisings, revolts, and conflicts before, this revolution was different. It united the confident bourgeoisie, oppressed workers, and national movements into a powerful front against the imperial court. The Habsburgs realized that this time, everything was at stake.

Hosted by Andreas Pfeifer and Mariella Gittler, directed by Christian Papke.

The automobile began as a toy for the wealthy, with only a few hundred examples driving around Vienna at the end of the 19th century. At that time, the traffic revolution this vehicle would later spark was not yet on the horizon. For a while, the car was seen as a cleaner solution to the growing horse traffic and its mountains of waste. Whether powered by steam, electricity, or internal combustion was still undecided in the early days.

Young Ferdinand Porsche entered the automobile industry as an electrician, initially working on hybrid engines before fully committing to the gasoline engine. In those days, chauffeurs led perilous lives—bursting tires, exploding engines, and even criminals stringing ropes across roads were part of everyday automotive challenges. Rudolf Hruza, who retrained from a coachman to become the driver for a wealthy family, would pay for his fascination with the car with his life.

Meanwhile, in Galicia—Austria's "Texas"—oil production peaked, briefly placing Austria among the major players in the global petroleum industry. This episode, hosted by Andreas Pfeifer and Mariella Gittler, takes viewers back to the birth of the automobile in Austria.

Whether in food, personal care, or medicine, our modern lives are built on hygiene—a concept that, historically, is relatively new. Well into the second half of the 19th century, household wells in tenement buildings were often located dangerously close to cesspits, creating breeding grounds for deadly infections. This was starkly evident during the 1873 World Exhibition at the Donau Hotel near the Prater, where cholera epidemics claimed tens of thousands of lives. Salvation came with the Vienna Mountain Spring Pipeline, which brought clean alpine water to the city, finally freeing it from this scourge.

Hospitals of the time were no better. Handwashing was dismissed as eccentric, and gynecologists unwittingly transferred cadaveric toxins from autopsies to the blood of laboring mothers, many of whom succumbed to puerperal fever.

This episode follows two pioneers of Austrian hygiene—epidemiologist Anton Drasche and surgeon Ignaz Semmelweis—in their tireless fight for cleanliness and the lifesaving changes it brought to society.

Hitler's time in Vienna was like a black hole in his biography. Later, in Mein Kampf, he distorted and drastically shortened the months he spent there—nobody was to learn how far he had truly fallen. However, a former companion from those days posed a threat to his carefully constructed "Führer" image. Reinhold Hanisch, a petty criminal, told early Hitler biographers in the mid-1930s about a failed artist who had hit rock bottom alongside him in the men's homeless shelter on Meldemannstraße.

How much did Vienna shape the future dictator and mass murderer? Did he, as he later claimed, become a fervent antisemite under the influence of Mayor Karl Lueger? Andreas Pfeifer and Mariella Gittler explore the extent to which the Viennese environment may have shaped Hitler's worldview and, ultimately, world history.

Adding to the intrigue is a curious historical coincidence: in 1913, another future dictator, Josef Stalin, also spent several weeks in the imperial city, living just ten kilometers from Hitler. The two men may even have briefly crossed paths during one of Emperor Franz Joseph's outings to Schönbrunn Palace.

When the assassin Bogdan Zerajić fired at the Habsburg governor in Bosnia in 1910, he could have sparked the global conflagration that erupted four years later with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. But Zerajić missed his target and turned the gun on himself. Meanwhile, unrest simmered across other regions of the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire, particularly among the Czechs, who were awakening to their national identity.

Through dramatic re-enactments from these hotspots, this episode chronicles the tumultuous decades when ethnic fault lines within the Habsburg state became increasingly pronounced. The Ottoman Empire's retreat from the Balkans primarily benefited Russia, which shifted from being Austria's long-standing ally to its fierce strategic adversary—largely due to missteps in Habsburg Balkan policy. This pivotal shift set the stage for World War I. The national states we know today are direct outcomes of these historical developments.

As the monarchy in Austria neared its end, an entire profession faced obsolescence: servants and maids were no longer in demand—neither at court nor in the countless households that had long since run out of money. Many struggled to adapt to this transition, while others were relieved to leave behind the drudgery they had loathed.

The new democratic society no longer required newspapers to be ironed or assistance with morning robes. However, it was markedly more socially mobile than its predecessor, offering new opportunities and career paths. Former servants transitioned into service providers, and for the first time, the disenfranchised working class began organizing politically.

This period of upheaval was marked by hundreds of assassinations targeting crowned heads and state officials, dominating the headlines. This film takes viewers on a journey through this transformative era, told through the experiences of Viennese maid Cäcilie Zwicker and Vorarlberg servant Meinhard Hämmerle.

Just a few years before the outbreak of World War I, the world is alive with revelry. Entertainment, consumerism, and sports sweep people into a frenzy of possibility—a world where everything seems achievable, except collective downfall.

In Vienna, merchant Emil Storch establishes one of the first comprehensive mail-order businesses, earning him the title of an early Jeff Bezos. Yet, the exuberance proves to be a dead end. Overextended, Storch loses everything in the postwar inflation. Similarly, the fate of daring cycling pioneer Cenzi Flendrovsky is equally tragic. Her passion for promoting the sport captivates the masses, but her life is cut short at just 28 by the consequences of a cycling accident.

The prewar years bring the world its first taste of a globalized abundance society. Yet, this euphoria is short-lived. The outbreak of World War I catches Austria's peace-loving society off guard. Overabundance gives way to scarcity, and the dividends of peace quickly evaporate. As history shows, war and prosperity have always been incompatible.