Main article:
History of LiechtensteinAt one time, the territory was part of the ancient
Roman province of
Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on European history. Prior to the reign of its current
dynasty, the region was
enfeoffed to a line of the counts of
Hohenems.
The
Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name, comes from
Castle Liechtenstein in Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 until the 13th century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast tracts of land, predominantly in
Moravia,
Lower Austria,
Silesia, and
Styria, though these territories were all held in
fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the
Habsburg family, whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisers. Thus, without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial
diet (
parliament), the
Reichstag.
The family yearned for the added power a seat in the Imperial government would bring, and therefore sought to acquire lands that would be unmittelbar, or held without any feudal personage other than the
Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of
Schellenberg and county of
Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz had exactly the political status required: no feudal lord other than their
comital sovereign and the
suzerain Emperor.
On 23 January 1719, after the lands had been purchased,
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed that Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and elevated the newly-formed territory to the dignity of Fürstentum (
principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honour of "[his] true servant,
Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It was on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the
Holy Roman Empire. It is a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases that the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
Schloss Vaduz, overlooking the capital, is still home to the
Prince of LiechtensteinAs a result of the
Napoleonic Wars, by 1806 the
Holy Roman Empire was under the control of French emperor
Napoleon I. Napoleon dissolved the Empire and this had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial, legal and political mechanisms broke down. The state ceased to owe obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders.
Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became
suzerain, as well as remaining sovereign lord. From 25 July 1806 when the
Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the Prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I, until the dissolution of the Confederation on 19 October 1813.
Soon afterward, Liechtenstein joined the
German Confederation (20 June 1815 – 24 August 1866) which was presided over by the
Emperor of Austria.
Johann I Josef, Prince of LiechtensteinThen, in 1818,
Johann I granted the territory a limited constitution. 1818 also saw the first visit of a member of the house of Liechtenstein, Prince Alois; however, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur until 1842.
Developments during the 19th century included:
In 1836, the first factory was opened, making ceramics.
In 1861, the
Savings and
Loans Bank was founded, as was the first cotton-weaving mill.
Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
[
edit] 20th century
Until the end of
World War I, Liechtenstein was closely tied first to the
Austrian Empire and later to
Austria-Hungary; the ruling princes continued to derive much of their wealth from estates in the Habsburg territories, and they spent much of their time at their two palaces in Vienna. The economic devastation caused by this war forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbour,
Switzerland. Liechtenstein's army was disbanded in 1868 for financial reasons.
At the time of the dissolution of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein, as a fief of the
Holy Roman Empire, was no longer bound to the emerging independent state of
Austria, since the latter did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. This is partly contradicted by the
coeval Liechtenstein perception that the dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor still maintained an abstract heritage of the Holy Roman Empire.
Franz I, Prince of Liechtenstein.
In early 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Nazi Germany, 84 year old
Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his 31 year old third cousin,
Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, it is believed[
who?] that he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany were to gobble up Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he had married in 1929, was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna, and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already identified her as their Jewish "problem". Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.
[5]During
World War II, Liechtenstein remained officially neutral, looking to neighboring Switzerland for assistance and guidance, while family treasures within the war zone were taken to Liechtenstein (and
London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict,
Czechoslovakia and
Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in
Bohemia,
Moravia, and
Silesia — the princes of Liechtenstein lived in
Vienna until the
Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the
World Court) included over 1,600 km2 (618 sq mi) of agricultural and forest land, and several family castles and palaces.
Citizens of Liechtenstein were also forbidden to enter Czechoslovakia during the
Cold War. More recently the diplomatic conflict revolving around the controversial post-war
Beneš decrees has resulted in Liechtenstein not sharing international relations with the Czech Republic or Slovakia. The issue with Slovakia is yet to be resolved, however, Liechtenstein and the Czech Republic established diplomatic relations on 13 July 2009.
[6][7][8]Liechtenstein gave asylum to about 500 soldiers of the
First Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German
Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is commemorated by a
monument at the border town of
Hinterschellenberg which is marked on the country's
tourist map. The act of granting asylum was no small matter as the country was poor and had difficulty feeding and caring for such a large group of refugees. Eventually, Argentina agreed to resettle the asylum seekers permanently. In contrast,
the British repatriated the Russians who had fought for Germany to the USSR, and many of them perished in the
Gulag.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including the priceless portrait "
Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the
National Gallery of Art of the
United States in 1967. Liechtenstein prospered, however, during the decades following, as it used its low corporate tax rates to draw many companies to the country.
The
Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's sixth wealthiest leader with an estimated wealth of
USD $5 billion.
[9] The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
