Sigmund Freud was born in Austria in 1856. He studied medicine in Vienna and joined the staff of the Vienna General Hospital in 1882. Over the next few years he carried out research with Joseph Breuer into the treatment of hysteria by the recall of painful experience under hypnosis. He later published a book on the subject, Studies in Hysteria (1895).

During this period Freud developed the theory and practice of psychoanalysis. Freud believed that everyday actions are determined by motives which are far more numerous and complex than people realize. He claimed that the most basic and constant motives which influence our actions are unconscious and therefore are difficult to know or acknowledge.

In 1895 Freud published his controversial book, The Interpretation of Dreams. In the book Freud argued that dreams are disguised manifestations of repressed sexual desires. This was followed by The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1904) and Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905).

These books influenced the work of other people working in this field including Alfred Adler, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney and Carl Jung. In 1908 Freud and his followers established the International Psychoanalytical Association. Other books by Freud included Totem and Tabu (1913), Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1919), Ego and Id (1923) and a book on religion, The Future of an Illusion (1937).

Shocked by the slaughter of the First World War Freud became increasingly interested in political solutions to world problems and in 1926 joined the Pan-European Union. Other people who joined included Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, Rainer Maria Rilke, Ortega y Gasset and Konrad Adenauer. In 1933 Freud and Einstein wrote Why War?

On 13th March, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the leader of the Austrian Nazi Party invited the German Army to occupy Austria and proclaimed union with Germany. Freud, a strong opponent of Adolf Hitler, moved to London where he died of a cancer in 1939.