Austria is a remnant of a once - great empire in central Europe which controlled the economic, political and cultural life of most of the European continent. Vienna, the capital city for this earlier empire, is much too large to be supported by the present small state of Austria. To a lesser degree, the same thing is true of the agricultural and veterinary schools in Vienna. They were established to meet the needs of the great Austro-Hungarian empire previous to World War I. Since that time the buildings and the staff have been larger than necessary for the limited interests of Austria of today, and the inability of the nation to support these schools adequately has led to a more or less continual paring of activities.