Tyrol

The Tyrol was an independent shire until 1363 when countess Margarete Maultasch - lacking any descendants to succeed her - bequeathed it to the Austrian monarch Rudolf IV of Habsburg. Following heavy defeat against Napoleon Austria was forced cede the Tyrol to Bavaria in 1805. In 1809 the Tyroleans who are known to be an obstinate and proud people rose up against the Bavarian authority and succeeded two times in defeating Bavarian and French troops trying to retake the county. Often glorified as national hero Andreas Hofer, the leader of the uprising, was executed in 1810 having finally lost a third battle against the French and Bavarian forces. The Tyrol remained under Bavarian and partial Italian authority for another four years before being reunified und returned to Austria following the decisions at the Congress of Vienna in 1814.\nIn the final days of World War I Austrian-Hungarian troops defending the Tyrol's borders were misinformed about the date of the final ceasefire, which lead to them dropping their weapons one day too early. Hence Italian troops seized the opportunity and overran the Austrian positions. The Treaty of Saint-Germain then ruled that the southern part of Tyrol had to be ceded Italy although harbouring only a 3%-minority of Italians. The northern part is today one of nine federal state of the Federal Republic of Austria called Tyrol, while the South Tyrol today constitutes the Italian province of Bozen-Bolzano. See also: Tyrol (disambiguation)