The Austrian monarchy began issuing stamps in 1850, while Hungary and other parts of Eastern Europe were under its control. (Why the country name doesn’t appear on its early stamps.) From 1867 to 1871, when Austria and Hungary became equal partners in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they used the same stamps. In 1874, stamps were issued for Austria only, and now bore an abbreviation of its name: Oesterr, short for “Osterreich” or Eastern Realm. The monarchy collapsed when Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated, which sparked World War I. Austria’s stamps were now imprinted “Deutschosterreich” (German Austria). From 1938 to its 1945 liberation by the Allies from German occupation, stamps of Germany were used in Austria. This included Hitler heads and semi-postals overprinted Osterreich.