History of Tyrol
The history of Tyrol, a historical region in the middle alpine area of Central Europe, dates back to early human settlements at the end of the last glacier period, around 12,000 BC.
Archaeological findings show people settled in the middle alpine region, later to be called Tyrol, when the glaciers retreated and flora and fauna revived, after the last ice age ended around 12,000 BC.
Preferred settlement sites were sunny terraces on the valleys slopes, and hill tops in the middle heights.In the Bronze and Iron Ages the region was home to a series of autochthonous cultures occupying roughly the area of the later county of Tyrol.
As in the Urnfield culture, Laugen-Melaun-people cremated their dead, placing their ashes in urns, and worshipping their gods in sanctuaries sometimes situated in remote areas, on mountain-tops or close to water.
[2] As in the preceding culture, the richly ornamented pottery is very characteristic, while many aspects such as the metal-working, burial customs and religion are strongly influenced by its neighbours, primarily the Etruscans and Celts.
At the end of count Meinhard II's rule (1259–1295) the "county and reign of Tyrol" had established itself firmly in the "Land on the Adige and Inn", as the region was then called.
Margarete Maultasch decided to bequeath Tyrol to Duke Rudolph IV of the House of Habsburg, probably pressed by the aristocracy, an act which caused a conflict between Meinhard's uncle Stephen II, who forged an alliance with the powerful Lord of Milan Bernabò Visconti to invade Tyrol, and the House of Habsburg.
Stephen finally renounced Tyrol to the Habsburgs with the Peace of Schärding for a huge financial compensation after the death of Margarete Maultasch in 1369.
Tyrol repeatedly became involved in the political and military conflicts of the Habsburgs with Milan, Venice, Switzerland and the County of Gorizia, as well as Bavaria and Swabia.
The Battle of Sempach in 1386, in which Duke Leopold III of Austria was defeated by the Old Swiss Confederacy had important repercussions on Tyrol, and was the first of a series of military conflicts between the county and its neighbours.
This enabled Sigismund "Rich in Coin" to continue his father's rule to the end of the 15th century and lead the county into the modern era.
Sigismund's opulent lifestyle and the misfortunes of war with Venice bled the treasury, leading to his decision to mortgage the Tyrolean silver mines.
One day later a military unit of 8000 men consisting of Bavarian and French Troops approached Innsbruck from the Brenner Pass, but was convinced to surrender by captain Teimer, who dressed up as a Major of the regular Austrian army and made the Bavarian officers believe that the Austrian army was approaching Innsbruck, when in fact it was still about 40 miles away.
[6] Following the defeat of the Austrian Army on the Bavarian front, Napoleon dispatched Charles Lefebvre to Tyrol, and by May 19 Innsbruck had been seized again and the rebellion seemed quelled.
Point IV of the agreement stated that Austria was to withdraw its troops from the territories of Vorarlberg and Tyrol, returning them to Bavarian rule.
On October 21 Bavarian, French and Italian troops under the command of Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon poured into Tyrol, forcing the Tyroleans to retreat to the Bergisel again.
The execution of Hofer, considered a Tyrolean hero until today, is the topic of the song Zu Mantua in Banden, since 1948 the Tyrol's official anthem.
Tyrol remained divided under Bavarian and Italian authority for another four years, before its reunification and return to Austria following the decisions at the Congress of Vienna in 1814.
On the eve of World War I, the southern part of the Austrian crown land of Tyrol was populated mainly by Italian speakers (the so-called Welschtirol, or Trentino).
On 26 April 1915, Italy signed the Treaty of London, agreeing to declare war against the Central Powers in exchange for the unredeemed territories of Trentino, Gorizia, Trieste and Dalmatia, as well as the part of German Tyrol south of the main Alpine divide.
The Italian Alpini, their Austrian counterparts (Kaiserjäger, Standschützen and Landesschützen), and the German Alpenkorps occupied every hill and mountain top.
They began carving extensive fortifications and military quarters, even drilling tunnels inside the mountains and deep into glaciers, like at Marmolada.
[13] This inconclusive attack weakened the eastern front, which enabled the Russian Army to overrun Austrian positions in Galicia and threaten the heart of the Habsburg Empire[14] After the Battle of Asiago in 1916, which ended in a stalemate and brought only minor territorial gains to Austria, the Tyrolean frontline remained largely static.
The Italian General Pietro Badoglio sharply rejected the proposal, and threatened to stop all negotiations and continue the war.
[18] It appears that the large quantity of prisoners stemmed from the Austrian command decision that captivity in Italy was preferable to starvation at home.
[19] After the armistice, hundreds of thousands of Austrian soldiers without weapons, food and discipline made their way home through the alpine valleys.
The alpine villages were caught between the retreating, half-starved soldiers who repeatedly resorted to theft and robbery to survive, and the advancing Italian army.
To secure access to the Inn valley, crucial for an advance into southern Germany, Innsbruck, capital of Tyrol, and the village Landeck were occupied as well.
On 10 January 1919, the commander of the 3rd army corps, Gen. Ugo Sani, was appointed military governor of northern Tyrol with residence in Innsbruck.
Italy's border was pushed northward to the strategically important Alpine water divide, including present-day South Tyrol with its large German-speaking majority.
