Austria

In the Austrian hereditary lands, the first traces of an orderly and regular postal service can be detected under Emperor Frederick III. A postal centre had developed in Innsbruck. Demonstrable chains of posts were established in Linz and Vienna. Around 1508, postmasters established stations with horse changing through Tyrol and Styria. Regular provincial posts were established relatively quickly, which can be regarded as the basis of the later Austrian postal facilities.

After the division of the Austrian hereditary lands, various well-known families were responsible for individual postal regions.

Until the establishment of the independent Kingdom of Hungary on May 1, 1867, the postal administration of Hungary was under the control of the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Commerce in Vienna. Common stamps were issued.

As a result of the collapse in November 1918, only a part of the former Habsburg Empire remained as the Republic of Austria, and in the same year Austria joined the Universal Postal Union. Austria's postal system, from 1938 as part of the German Reichspost, was currently controlled from Berlin. After seven years of suppressed statehood, the badly damaged country was divided into four occupation zones. It was not until the State Treaty of 1953 that the postal and telecommunications system was freed from any paternalism.

Entry into the Universal Postal Union: 1 July 1875