AEIOU: A Podcast about Austria

This episode details the reign of Emperor Ferdinand, who gives old Charles II of Spain a run for his money on the award for most inbred Habsburg monarch. That the final year of his reign is also the most revolutionary year in all of Europe's history is merely a coincidence.

In this episode, we'll wrap up the Napoleonic Wars and learn how Austrian Chancellor and Foreign Minister Klemens von Metternich helped establish the Concert of Europe and ushered in an era of peace. Kind of. There was some peace. There was also a stabbing or two.

Well, not really Belgium so much as the Austrian Netherlands, Liege, and a few other places. In this episode, we'll discuss how the French Revolution influenced events in Austria, and we'll learn a little bit about how ultimatums can backfire.

In this episode, I debut a new voice (my own -- still AI generated), we talk about the monumental reforms undertaken during the reign of Joseph II, and we learn that, where Poland loses, Austria gains -- both territory and new ethnic groups!

In this episode, we discuss the reign over Austria of Maria Theresa, the only woman to rule the Habsburg Monarchy. We'll learn why she named all her daughters Maria, how she felt about religion and politics, and some of the permament changes with which she left Austria.

No, it's not another installment in the ongoing saga of the Roy family! It's the story of two wars of succession, one in Spain and one in Austria. Learn why the so-called Habsburg jaw indicated a bigger problem than just your chin arriving in any given room ten minutes before the rest of your head.

I'm back after an extended absence and ready for more abuse! This week's podcast covers the rest of the Thirty Years War and its aftermath. War with the Empire's fellow Germans ultimately gives way to war with Denmark, war with Sweden, war with France, and war with the Ottomans. 

This week, we learn a new word -- defenestration -- and we learn why that word has been associated with the city of Prague. We also talk begin a discussion of the Thirty Years War and why it happened despite our previously discussed efforts to settle the religious question. 

In this week's episode, perhaps one of the most momentous series of events in the history of humankind and certainly among the most momentous in European history: Luther launches the Reformation and faces off against the most powerful man in the world.

The third episode of this podcast introduces a familiar name to our growing lexicon: Habsburg. And what is an interregnum anyway? And why do we care? And finally, another Latin motto for Austria.

In our second episode, we look at some of the more prominent members of the Babenberg dynasty, learn a little about Austrian vexillology, and find out more about why the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, or really an empire.

Our first episode gives some background on what Austria is and how it's changed over a millennium. Then we jump right in with the history, providing some detail about the area's first dynasty, the House of Babenberg.