Dukes of Austria - Geography

Geography

In the beginning, the duchy was comparatively small by area, roughly comprising what is today the Austrian state of Lower Austria, on the northern and southern shore of the broad Danube River east of ("below") the Enns tributary. It was the site of the Carolingian Avar March. It was established by Charlemagne in about 800, lost to the invading Magyars in the 907 Battle of Pressburg, and re-established as a Bavarian march upon the victory of King Otto I of Germany in the 955 Battle of Lechfeld.

Drosendorf, Raabs, Laa and several other fortifications along the Thaya River in the north of the historic Waldviertel and Weinviertel regions, separated by the Manhartsberg range, marked the border with the Duchy of Bohemia (elevated to a Kingdom in 1198) and the Moravian lands, both held by the Czech Přemyslid dynasty. In the east, the border with the Kingdom of Hungary (present-day Slovakia) had been gradually shifted towards the plains of the Morava (March) River and the Vienna Basin. On the right shore of the Danube, the lower Leitha River would mark the Imperial–Hungarian border for centuries. In the south, Austria bordered on the Styrian lands, which were elevated to a duchy in 1180 and then also comprised the area beyond the Vienna Woods around later Wiener Neustadt and Neunkirchen (the former County of Pitten) up to the Semmering and Wechsel Pass.