Via Claudia Augusta
The Via Claudia Augusta is an ancient Roman road, which linked the valley of the Po River with Rhaetia across the Alps. The project of converting a pack-animal trail to serve wheeled vehicles was completed sixty years in 46-47 AD by the son of Drusus, thence it continued towards Maia, and over the Reschen Pass. This important road is called by modern-day German historians Donausüdstrasse and it served to secure the Roman northern frontier, which was marked until the end of the first century by the Danube river. Two milestones have been found, one at Rabland, a frazione of Partschins, near Merano in the South Tyrol, both are inscribed with the far terminus of the Via Claudia Augusta, Augusta Vindelicorum. Some grew into settlements and were fortified during the Empire. Others can be identified only by the findings of archaeologists, in the 2nd century AD, a second Alpine pass was opened to wheeled traffic, the Brenner Pass. Today the Via Claudia Augusta is an important route used by cyclists to cross the Alps and it starts in Donauwörth and branches near Trento into two routes.
The first and historically correct route ends in Ostiglia, the second, valentin - Merano - Bolzano - Trento - Verona - Ostiglia alternatively Trento - Feltre - Altinum - Venice. The length of the trail is approximately 700 kilometres, as a special service there are bus shuttles that take bicycles and cyclists over both the Fern Pass and the Reschen Pass, which are the most demanding parts of the route
Vindelici
The Vindelici were a Celtic people in antiquity. Their territory was known to the Romans as Vindelicia, its boundaries were to be the Danube and Germanic limes to the north, the Inn to the east, Raetia to the south, and these lands today comprise northeastern Switzerland, southeastern Baden, and southern Württemberg and Bavaria. Their chief town is assumed to have been the oppidum at Manching before the Romans, after the Roman conquest, most modern scholars consider the Vindelici to have been Celts, albeit with a heavy mutual influence of their non-Celtic neighbours, the Raeti. The Vindelicis material culture was part of the La Tène culture commonly associated with the Celts, little of the language of the Vindelici has survived, although place names suggest that they most probably spoke a variety of Gaulish, like the neighbouring Boii and Norici. One possible etymology of Vindelici is the Celtic prefix *windo-, cognate to Irish find- white, the name of the Vindelician town of Cambodunum is apparently derived from the Celtic cambo dunon, fortified place at the river bend.
Together with the tribes, the Vindelici were subjugated by Tiberius in 15 BC. The Augustan inscription of 12 BC on the Tropaeum Alpium mentions four tribes of the Vindelici among the defeated, the Cosuanetes, Licates, towards the end of the 1st century AD, the region of the Vindelici was included in the province of Raetia
Upper Rhine
The Upper Rhine is the section of the Rhine in the Upper Rhine Plain between Basle in Switzerland and Bingen in Germany. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometres 170 to 529, the Upper Rhine is one of four sections of the river between Lake Constance and the North Sea. The countries and states along the Upper Rhine are Switzerland, the largest cities along the river are Basle, Strasbourg, Mannheim and Mainz. The Upper Rhine was straightened between 1817 and 1876 by Johann Gottfried Tulla and made navigable between 1928 and 1977, the Treaty of Versailles allows France to use the Upper Rhine for hydroelectricity in the Grand Canal dAlsace. On the left bank are the French region of Alsace and the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the bank are the German states of Baden-Württemberg. The first few kilometres are in the Swiss city of Basle, around 35 million years ago, a rift valley of about 300 kilometres long and 50 kilometres wide came into being between the present cities of Basle and Frankfurt.
This was due to stresses in the Earths crust and mantle. The moat has been filled up again by sedimentation. On the edges we find mountain ridges, the rift flanks. On the eastern side, they are the Black Forest and Odenwald mountains, in the west the Vosges, during the tertiary, the High Rhine continued west from Basle and flowed via the Doubs and the Saône, into the Rhône. The rift diverted the Rhine into the newly formed Upper Rhine Valley, the two largest tributaries come from the right, the Neckar in Mannheim, the Main across from Mainz. In 1685, Louis XIV started a project to move the Upper Rhine, change its course, by 1840, the river had been moved up to 1.5 kilometres to the east, taking territory away from Baden. Around 1790, large parts of the Rhine Valley were deforested, creating arable land, the length of the Upper Rhine was reduced by 81 kilometres. Some cut-off river arms and ox-bows remain, they are called the Old Rhine or Gießen. The Rhine between Basle and Iffezheim is almost entirely canalised, on a stretch of 180 kilometres, there are 10 dams, provided with hydropower stations and locks.
Only when there is a supply of water, the old river bed will receive more water than the canal. The straightening and channeling reduced the water table by up to 16 metres and thus had an effect on flora. Gravel is missing from the river, due to the dams and this has caused erosion below the dam at Iffezheim
Lake Constance
Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water, the Obersee, the Untersee, and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein. The lake is situated in Germany and Austria near the Alps and its shorelines lie in the German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, and the Swiss cantons of Thurgau, St Gallen and Schaffhausen. Freshwater Lake Constance is central Europes third largest, after Lake Balaton and it is 63 km long, and at its widest point, nearly 14 km. It covers approximately 571 km2, and is 395 m above sea level, the greatest depth is 252 metres in the middle of the eastern part. Its volume is approximately 10×10^9 m3, the regulated Rhine flows into the lake in the southeast, through the Obersee, the city of Konstanz and the Untersee, and flows out near Stein am Rhein. The lake itself is an important drinking water source for southwestern Germany, the culminating point of the lakes drainage basin is the Tödi at 3,614 metres above sea level.
Car ferries link Romanshorn to Friedrichshafen, and Konstanz to Meersburg, Lake Constance was formed by the Rhine Glacier during the ice age and is a zungenbecken lake. The Rhine, the Bregenzer Ache, and the Dornbirner Ache carry sediments from the Alps to the lake, thus decreasing the depth. Lake Constance was first mentioned by the Roman geographer Pomponius Mela about 43 AD and he noted that the Rhine flows through two lakes, and gave them the Latin names Lacus Venetus and Lacus Acronius. Pliny the Elder used the name Lacus Brigantinus, after the Roman city of Brigantium, the lake is colloquially known as the Swabian Sea. The lake was frozen in the years 1077,1326,1378,1435,1465,1477,1491,1517,1571,1573,1600,1684,1695,1709,1795,1830,1880, and 1963. Approximately 1,000 tonnes of fish were caught by 150 professional fishermen in 2001 which was below the ten year average of 1,200 tonnes per year. The Lake Constance trout was almost extinct in the 1980s due to pollution, Lake Constance is the home of the critically endangered species of trout Salvelinus profundus, and formerly the now extinct Lake Constance whitefish.
After the Council of Constance, the Latin-speaking Catholic world gave the lake its current international name and it was derived from the city of Konstanz, that, in turn, was named after a Roman emperor. The German name, derives from the town of Bodman, Lake Constance is the only area in Europe where no borders exist, because there is no legally binding agreement as to where the borders lie between Switzerland and Austria. Legal questions pertaining to transport and fishing are regulated in separate treaties. One concerns a houseboat which was moored in two states, another concerns the rights to fish in the Bay of Bregenz, in relation to the latter, an Austrian family was of the opinion that it alone had the right to fish in broad portions of the bay. However, this was accepted neither by the Austrian courts nor by the organs, a 100-year flood around June 1999 raised the level about 2 metres above normal, flooding harbors and many shoreline buildings and hotels
Alemanni
The Alemanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes on the upper Rhine river. In 496, the Alemanni were conquered by Frankish leader Clovis, mentioned as still pagan allies of the Christian Franks, the Alemanni were gradually Christianized during the 7th century. The Pactus Alamannorum is a record of their customary law during this period, until the 8th century, Frankish suzerainty over Alemannia was mostly nominal. But after an uprising by Theudebald, Duke of Alamannia, Carloman executed the Alamannic nobility, during the and weaker years of the Carolingian Empire the Alemannic counts became almost independent, and a struggle for supremacy took place between them and the Bishopric of Constance. According to Asinius Quadratus their name means all men and it indicates that they were a conglomeration drawn from various Germanic tribes. Other sources say the name derives from alahmannen which means men of sanctuary and not all men. The Romans and the Greeks called them as such mentioned and this etymology has remained the standard derivation of the term.
Walafrid Strabo, a monk of the Abbey of St, the name of Germany and the German language in several languages is derived from the name of this early Germanic tribal alliance. For details, see Names of Germany, the Alemanni were first mentioned by Cassius Dio describing the campaign of Caracalla in 213. At that time they dwelt in the basin of the Main. Cassius Dio portrays the Alemanni as victims of this treacherous emperor and they had asked for his help, says Dio, but instead he colonized their country, changed their place names and executed their warriors under a pretext of coming to their aid. When he became ill, the Alemanni claimed to have put a hex on him, Caracalla, it was claimed, tried to counter this influence by invoking his ancestral spirits. In retribution Caracalla led the Legio II Traiana Fortis against the Alemanni, the legion was as a result honored with the name Germanica. Not on good terms with Caracalla, Geta had been invited to a reconciliation, at which time he was ambushed by centurions in Caracallas army.
True or not, pursued by devils of his own, Caracalla left for the frontier, where for the rest of his short reign he was known for his unpredictable and arbitrary operations launched by surprise after a pretext of peace negotiations. If he had any reasons of state for such actions they remained unknown to his contemporaries, whether or not the Alemanni had been previously neutral, they were certainly further influenced by Caracalla to become thereafter notoriously implacable enemies of Rome. This mutually antagonistic relationship is perhaps the reason why the Roman writers persisted in calling the Alemanni barbari, most of the Alemanni were probably at the time in fact resident in or close to the borders of Germania Superior. At that time the frontier was being fortified for the first time
Austria
Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north and Slovakia to the east and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany.
In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index.
Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
Limes Germanicus
At its height, the limes stretched from the North Sea outlet of the Rhine to near Regensburg on the Danube. Those two major rivers afforded natural protection from mass incursions into imperial territory, with the exception of a gap stretching roughly from Mogontiacum on the Rhine to Castra Regina, the total length was 568 km. It included at least 60 forts and 900 watchtowers, Roman border defences have become much better known through systematic excavations financed by Germany and through other research connected to them. The Saalburg is a fortification and museum of the Limes near Frankfurt. The first emperor who began to build fortifications along the border was Augustus, originally there were numerous Limes walls, which were connected to form the Upper Germanic Limes along the Rhine and the Rhaetian Limes along the Danube. Later these two walls were linked to form a common borderline, from the death of Augustus until after 70 AD, Rome accepted as her Germanic frontier the water-boundary of the Rhine and upper Danube.
Beyond these rivers she held only the plain of Frankfurt, opposite the Roman border fortress of Moguntiacum, the southernmost slopes of the Black Forest. The northern section of this frontier, where the Rhine is deep and broad, the upper Rhine and upper Danube are easily crossed. The frontier which they form is inconveniently long, enclosing an acute-angled wedge of foreign territory between the modern Baden and Württemberg, the Germanic populations of these lands seem in Roman times to have been scanty, and Roman subjects from the modern Alsace-Lorraine had drifted across the river eastwards. The first advance came about 74 AD, when what is now Baden was invaded and in part annexed, the point of the angle was broken off. The second advance was made by Domitian about 83 AD, among the blockhouses was one which by various enlargements and refoundations grew into the well-known Saalburg fort on the Taunus near Bad Homburg. This advance necessitated a third movement, the construction of a frontier connecting the annexations of AD74 and we know the line of this frontier which ran from the Main across the upland Odenwald to the upper waters of the Neckar and was defended by a chain of forts.
The angle between the rivers was now almost full, but there remained further advance and further fortification. This is the frontier which is now visible and visited by the curious, the southern part of the Pfahlgraben is remarkably straight, for over 50 km it points almost absolutely true for Polaris. This frontier remained for about 100 years, and no doubt in that long period much was done to it to which precise dates are difficult to fix and it cannot even be absolutely certain when the frontier laid out by Pius was equipped with the manpitts and other special fortifications. Germanic invasions in the late 3rd century led to the abandonment of the so-called Upper Raetian Limes in favour of a Roman defence line along the rivers Rhine and Danube. Support was provided to some degree by fast river boats, the navis lusoria being the standard type, watch towers were in sight contact and heavily fortified castra placed at important passes and in the hinterland of the frontier. The limes itself is a simple construction
Barthold Georg Niebuhr
Barthold Georg Niebuhr was a Danish-German statesman and historian who became Germanys leading historian of Ancient Rome and a founding father of modern scholarly historiography. Classical Rome caught the admiration of German thinkers, by 1810 Niebuhr was inspiring German patriotism in students at the University of Berlin by his analysis of Roman economy and government. Niebuhr was a leader of the Romantic Era and symbol of German national spirit that emerged after the defeat at Jena, Niebuhr was born in Copenhagen, the son of Carsten Niebuhr, a prominent German geographer resident in the city. His father provided his early education, the precocious young Niebuhr by 1794 was already an accomplished classical scholar and who read several languages. That year he entered the University of Kiel, where he studied law, There he formed an important friendship of his life, that with Madame Hensler, the widowed daughter-in-law of one of the professors, six years older than himself. He made the acquaintance of her sister, Amelie Behrens, in 1796, he left Kiel to become private secretary to the Danish finance minister, Count Schimmelmann.
But in 1798 he gave up this appointment and traveled in Great Britain, spending a year at Edinburgh studying agriculture, of his stay in Great Britain, he said “my early residence in England gave me one important key to Roman history. It is necessary to know civil life by personal observation in order to such states as those of antiquity. I never could have understood a number of things in the history of Rome without having observed England. ”In 1799 he returned to Denmark, in 1804 he became chief director of the national bank. After the death of his first wife in 1816 Niebuhr married Margarete Henslen, with whom he had one son, Marcus, in September 1806, he quit the Denmark post for a similar appointment in Prussia. He showed much business ability in his work, which he attributed to his life in England and Scotland. He arrived in Prussia on the eve of the catastrophe of Jena and he was for a short time Prussian minister in the Netherlands, where he endeavoured without success to fund a loan.
He commenced his lectures with a course on the history of Rome, the first two volumes, based upon his lectures, were published in 1812, but attracted little attention at the time owing to the absorbing interest of political events. In 1813 Niebuhrs own attention was diverted from history by the uprising of the German people against Napoleon, he entered the Landwehr, in 1815 he lost both his father and his wife. He next accepted the post of ambassador at Rome, before his departure for Rome, he married his wifes niece. He also, on a home from Italy, deciphered in a palimpsest at the Abbey of St. Gall the fragments of Flavius Merobaudes. As minister, he brought about the understanding between Prussia and the Pope signalized by the bull De salute animarum in 1821, Niebuhr was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1822. In 1823 he resigned the position in Rome and established himself at Bonn and he assisted in August Bekkers edition of the Byzantine historians, and delivered courses of lectures on ancient history, geography, and on the French Revolution
Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg is the westernmost federal state of Austria. It has the second-smallest area after Vienna, and although it has the second-smallest population and it borders three countries, Germany and Liechtenstein. It has a Germanic Alpine culture, quite different from the rest of Austria, the only Austrian state that shares a border with Vorarlberg is Tyrol to the east. The capital of Vorarlberg is Bregenz, although Dornbirn and Feldkirch have larger populations, the main rivers in Vorarlberg are the Ill, the Rhine, the Bregenzer Ache and the Dornbirner Ach. One of the shortest rivers is the Galina, even before the dam for the power plant was built, Lüner Lake was the largest mountain lake in the Alps. Most of this energy is exported to Germany at peak times. At night, energy from plants in Germany is used to pump water back into some of the lakes. As there are several mountain ranges in Vorarlberg, such as the Silvretta, the Rätikon, the Verwall. Lech is a ski resort on the banks of the river Lech.
In recent years Lech has grown to one of the worlds premier ski destinations. With some other neighbouring villages Lech created the largest connected ski area in Austria, together these villages form the Arlberg region, the birthplace of the modern Alpine skiing technique and the seat of the Ski Club Arlberg. Lech is a holiday destination for Royal families and celebrities, for example Jason Biggs, Tom Cruise, Diana - Princess of Wales, and the former Queen Beatrix. Damüls is recognized as the municipality with the most annual snowfall worldwide, the highest mountain is Piz Buin, whose rocky peak of 3,312 m is surrounded by glaciers. Vorarlberg is supposed to enjoy the greatest scenic diversity within limited confines in the entire Eastern Alps, the distance from Lake Constance and the plains of the Alpine Rhine valley across the medium altitude and high Alpine zones to the glaciers of the Silvretta range is a mere 90 km. Vorarlberg is divided into four districts, from north to south, Dornbirn, Feldkirch.
These districts appear on the license plates in form of abbreviations, B, DO, FK. For several years, the Vorarlberg economy has been performing well above the Austrian average, while the overall Austrian GDP in 2004 rose by a mere 2. 0% in real terms, Vorarlberg recorded an increase of 2. 9%. This came as a surprise, particularly as the trading partners in Germany
Roman legion
A Roman legion was the largest unit of the Roman army involving from 3000 men in early times to over 5200 men in imperial times, consisting of centuries as the basic units. Until the middle of the first century,10 cohorts made up a Roman Legion and this was changed to nine cohorts of standard size and one cohort, the first cohort, of double strength. In the early Roman Kingdom the legion may have meant the entire Roman army but sources on this period are few, Legions included a small ala or cavalry unit. By the third century AD, the legion was a smaller unit of about 1,000 to 1,500 men. In the fourth century AD, East Roman border guard legions may have even smaller. The Roman army, for most of the Imperial period, consisted mostly of auxiliaries rather than legions, because legions were not permanent units until the Marian reforms, and were instead created and disbanded again, several hundred legions were named and numbered throughout Roman history. To date, about 50 have been identified, toward the end of the 2nd Century BC, Rome started to experience manpower shortages brought about by property and financial qualifications to join the army.
In the time of Augustus, there were nearly 50 upon his succession but this was reduced to about 25–35 permanent standing legions, a legion consisted of several cohorts of heavy infantry known as legionaries. The recruitment of non-citizens was rare but appears to have occurred in times of great need, For example, Caesar appears to have recruited the Legio V Alaudae mostly from non-citizen Gauls. In the period before the raising of the legio and the years of the Roman Kingdom. These centuries were grouped together as required and answered to the leader who had hired or raised them, the roles of century leader, second in command and standard bearer are referenced in this early period. Much Roman history of the era is shrouded in legend, but it is believed that during the reign of Servius Tullius, the census was introduced. Joining the army was both a duty and a mark of Roman citizenship, during the entire pre-Marian period the wealthiest land owners performed the most years of military service.
These individuals would have had the most to lose should the state have fallen. The first and wealthiest common class was armed in the fashion of the hoplite with spear, helmet, breast plate and round shield, there were 82 centuries of these, Roman soldiers had to purchase their own equipment. The second and third class acted as spearmen but were heavily armoured and carried a larger oval or rectangular shield. The fourth class could afford no armour, perhaps bearing a shield and armed with spear. All three of the latter made up about 26 centuries
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Austria, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France and Austria.
Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned by Aristotle and Thucydides.
The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
.svg)
Austria
Germany
Switzerland
Italy
Liechtenstein
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 812–813.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the 
