History Of Bad Radkersburg
South-east Austria’s historical town of Bad Radkersburg is close to the Slovenian border. The turbulent past, Renaissance architecture, and thermal spa are its most well-known features. Starting in the Middle Ages as a vital outpost in the wars between the Habsburgs and the Hungarians and then the Austrians and the Ottomans, the town has a lengthy and complicated history. The town suffered from the divide and isolation from its surrounding area brought about by the political and national upheavals of the 19th and 20th centuries. Bad Radkersburg is a well-liked tourist resort and a representation of peace and cooperation across borders these days.
Origins and Development
When Radkersburg was established as a settlement, its location, and its founders are all unclear. It is likewise unknown when Radkersburg came under sovereign control. First recorded as “Rakersburg” in 1182 (the older form “Rategoyspurch” is still attested in 1211; the underlying word is the Slavic personal name Radigoj), it appears as a market in the Ottocarian land register from 1265/67. Probably a private property at first, Radkersburg belonged to a nobleman who had received a gift from the monarch personally rather than the sovereign.
Current study indicates that Habsburg King Albrecht I (1255–1308) rebuilt Radkersburg as a city rather than the Bohemian King Ottokar II (1232–1278), as was long thought. The modern metropolis is built according to a specific construction design. Towers encircled the city as early as the end of the 13th century. First recorded as a city in 1299.
Conflicts and Fortifications
Radkersburg has been embroiled in violent wars since the 13th century because of its border position with Hungary. Presumably, the purported Turkish battle of Radkersburg is a later recreation of the Hungarian invasion in 1418. Generally speaking, the populace escaped the so-called Baumkircher Feud (1469) and the 10 years of Hungarian control (1480–1490) rather well.
The 16th-century battles with the Ottoman Empire compelled the castle structure to be modernized and renovated. The great expertise of Italian builders in fortress building led to their immigration to Austria. The province of Como native Domenico dell’Allio was assigned to oversee the building, much as in Graz. Renaissance defenses mostly consisted of curtain walls, a deep ditch, and bastions. In 1582 the Reichstag in Augsburg declared Radkersburg an imperial stronghold.
Over the ensuing centuries, the stronghold showed its value as Radkersburg withstood multiple Turkish sieges, most notably in 1532, 1605, and 1664. Additionally involved in the Napoleonic Wars, the Thirty Years’ War, and the War of the Spanish Succession was the town. At last, in 1878, the stronghold was demolished because it was no longer useful military.
Nationality and Politics
A national struggle that mostly focused on the language issue in schools, offices, courts, and political representation started to take shape in the 1880s. Citizens of Radkersburg spoke German most of the time. Their servants, however, and the rural residents of the nearby villages downstream from the Mur spoke Slovenian most of the time. The First World War saw an intensification of the nationality dispute both militarily and politically. Based here in 1914 was the second squadron of the Hussar Regiment No. 16, a garrison town for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Troops of the SHS state (Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes) captured Radkersburg and the other villages on the left bank of the Mur after the First World War ended. The German-speaking populace led by Johann Mickl staged a betrayed and abortive rebellion on February 4, 1919. Only in July 1920, the SHS forces evacuated the region in return for the Abstaller Basin, which was likewise largely German-speaking. The right bank of the Mur became a part of Slovenia or the SHS state, while the district of Oberradkersburg (Gornja Radgona) on the opposite side split off from the city. Finally, Radkersburg became a split border town with the Saint-Germain Peace Treaty.
The nationality issue came to a peak during World War II thanks to National Socialism. The violent expulsion and numerous murders of the German-speaking population from the surrounding area to the right of the Mur (e.g. Abstaller Becken) after 1945 by Yugoslav partisans destroyed relationships across the Mur for generations; the Greater German Reich’s policies not only destroyed the city (only 4 of 321 houses remained undamaged) but also created a climate of mistrust for the time that followed, which characterized the population on both sides of the border.
Reopening of the Mur Bridge on October 12, 1969, brought to a little rapprochement between Austria and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Further enhancing cross-border collaboration and integration were the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 and Slovenia’s 2004 admission to the European Union. The twin cities of Bad Radkersburg and Gornja Radgona today share a lot of social, cultural, and economic activities.
