Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream

As the Ottoman threat receded, this second episode describes how Vienna's cultural life grew hand in hand with its military and diplomatic victories.

Vienna at this time became a magnet for musicians including Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. The spoils of war also saw the construction of great palaces like Schonbrunn, home to the Habsburg's first female ruler Maria Theresa - the mother of Marie Antoinette.

It was this French Queen's execution that spawned revolution in France, Napoleon's occupation of Vienna and the near-humiliation of the city's imperial dynasty. But the Habsburgs were survivors. After Napoleon's defeat, they reinvented both themselves and their right to rule in an attempt to keep their troubled and fragile empire together.