Brenner Pass in the context of "Grossglockner"

Tyrol (/tɪˈroʊl, taɪˈroʊl, ˈtaɪroʊl/ tih-ROHL, ty-ROHL, TY-rohl; German: Tirol [tiˈroːl] ; Italian: Tirolo [tiˈrɔːlo]) is an Austrian state. It consists of two non-contiguous parts, North Tyrol and East Tyrol, separated by the Austrian state of Salzburg and the Italian province of South Tyrol, which was part of Tyrol until 1919. It is a constituent part of the present-day Euroregion Tyrol–South Tyrol–Trentino (together with South Tyrol and Trentino in Italy). The capital of Tyrol is Innsbruck.

Tyrol is dominated by high mountain ranges, including the Ötztal Alps, the Zillertal Alps, and the Kitzbühel Alps, with the Grossglockner and other major Alpine peaks nearby. The region is traversed by important rivers such as the Inn and the Isel, and is noted for its valleys, glaciers, and alpine passes. Its strategic location has historically made Tyrol a key transit region between northern and southern Europe, with the Brenner Pass serving as one of the most important north–south routes across the Alps since Roman times.

The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (German: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 (Austro-Bavarian: Innschbruck 1964), were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from January 29 to February 9, 1964. The city was already an Olympic candidate, unsuccessfully bidding to host the 1960 Games. Innsbruck won the 1964 Games bid, defeating the cities of Calgary in Canada and Lahti in Finland. The sports venues, many of which were built for the Games, were located within a radius of 20 km (12 mi) around Innsbruck. The Games included 1,091 athletes from 36 nations, which was a record for the Winter Games at the time. Athletes participated in six sports and ten disciplines which bring together a total of thirty-four official events, seven more than the 1960 Winter Olympic Games. The luge made its debut on the Olympic program. Three Asian nations made their Winter Games debut: North Korea, India and Mongolia.

The Soviet Union broke the record for the most gold and overall medals at a single Winter Olympics, with eleven and twenty five respectively, and finished first in the medal table. The USSR was followed by Austria, the host country, which won twelve medals, four of which were gold. Soviet athletes Lidia Skoblikova won all four women's races of speed skating and Klavdiya Boyarskikh won all three events of cross-country skiing. The Swedish cross-country skier Sixten Jernberg, a three-time medalist at these Games, became the first athlete to collect nine medals at the Winter Games. In alpine skiing, the French sisters Christine and Marielle Goitschel each obtained a gold and a silver medal. Before the Games, the Austrian army was mobilized to deal with the lack of snow. They brought thousands of cubic meters of it from Brenner Pass, close to the Italian border. The Olympic Winter Games was held for a second time at Innsbruck in 1976.

Innsbruck (German: [ˈɪnsbʁʊk] ; Bavarian: Innschbruck [ˈɪnʃprʊk]) is the capital of the Austrian state of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. It is located on the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass 30 km (19 mi) to the south. The city had a population of 132,188 in 2024.

Innsbruck originated in the Middle Ages as a strategic crossing point over the Inn River. The name means "bridge over the Inn". In 1363, Innsbruck came under Habsburg control and later became an important residence of Emperor Maximilian I, who enriched the city with landmark buildings like the Golden Roof. During the Early Modern Era, it served as a key political and cultural hub of Tyrol, also playing a role as a center of Catholic reform. In the early 19th century, following the Treaty of Pressburg, the city was temporarily incorporated into the Kingdom of Bavaria, before returning to Austrian rule after the Congress of Vienna.

Via Imperii (Imperial Road) was one of the most important of a class of roads known collectively as imperial roads (German: Reichsstraßen) of the Holy Roman Empire. This old trade route ran in a south–north direction from Venice on the Adriatic Sea and Verona in the Kingdom of Italy across the Brenner Pass through Germany to the Baltic coast passing the following cities:

• Innsbruck in the County of Tyrol
• Augsburg in the Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg
• the Imperial city of Nuremberg
• Bayreuth, Berneck, Münchberg and Hof in the Principality of Bayreuth
• Plauen, Mylau and Reichenbach in the Vogtland region
• Zwickau, Altenburg, Regis, Borna, Markkleeberg and Connewitz in the Margraviate of Meissen
• Leipzig – intersection with east–west Via Regia
• Wittenberg in Saxe-Wittenberg
• Cölln/Berlin, capital of Brandenburg
• Bernau bei Berlin
• Stettin in the Duchy of Pomerania

The cities on the route held the privilege of staple right, merchants were obliged to use the toll road and in turn enjoyed protection by the Imperial authority under the terms of the Landfrieden.

The High Tauern (pl.; German: Hohe Tauern, Italian: Alti Tauri) are a mountain range on the main chain of the Central Eastern Alps, comprising the highest peaks east of the Brenner Pass. The crest forms the southern border of the Austrian states of Salzburg, Carinthia and East Tyrol, with a small part in the southwest belongs to the Italian province of South Tyrol. The range includes Austria's highest mountain, the Grossglockner at 3,798 metres (12,461 ft) above the Adriatic.

In the east, the range is adjoined by the Lower Tauern. For the etymology of the name, see Tauern.

The 6th United States Army Group (also referred to as the Southern Group of Armies) was an Allied army group that fought in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. Made up of field armies from both the United States Army and the French Army, it fought in France, Germany, Austria, and, briefly, Italy. It was established in July 1944 and commanded throughout its duration by General Jacob L. Devers.

In a lead role in Operation Undertone, its Seventh Army fought its way across the Rhine into Germany, captured Nuremberg and then Munich. Finally it crossed the Brenner Pass and made contact with the US Fifth Army at Vipiteno, Italy.