Austria

Austria

Flag

Three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and red; the flag design is certainly one of the oldest - if not the oldest - national banners in the world; according totradition, in 1191, following a fierce battle in the Third Crusade, Duke Leopold V of Austria's white tunic became completely blood-spattered; upon removal of his wide belt or sash, a white band wasrevealed; the red-white-red color combination was subsequently adopted as his banner.

Introduction
Once the center of power for the large Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria was reduced to a small republicafter its defeat in World War I. Following annexation by Nazi Germany in 1938 and subsequent occupation by the victorious Allies in 1945, Austria's status remained unclear for a decade. A State Treatysigned in 1955 ended the occupation, recognized Austria's independence, and forbade unification with Germany. A constitutional law that same year declared the country's "perpetual neutrality" as acondition for Soviet military withdrawal. The Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 and Austria's entry into the European Union in 1995 have altered the meaning of this neutrality. A prosperous, democraticcountry, Austria entered the EU Economic and Monetary Union in 1999.

Geography
Location: Central Europe, north of Italy and Slovenia
Geographic coordinates: 47 20 N, 13 20 E
Area: total: 83,871sq. km, land: 82,445 sq. km, water: 1,426 sq. km
Land boundaries: Czech Republic 362 km, Germany 784 km, Hungary 366 km, Italy 430 km, Liechtenstein 35 km, Slovakia 91 km, Slovenia 330 km, Switzerland164 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims: none (landlocked)
Natural resources: oil, coal, lignite, timber, iron ore, copper, zinc, antimony, magnetite, tungsten, graphite, salt,hydropower

People and Society
Nationality: Austrian(s)
Ethnic groups: Austrians 91.1%, former Yugoslavs 4% (includes Croatians, Slovenes, Serbs, and Bosniaks), Turks 1.6%, German 0.9%, other or...