History. 1  In 1817, the first edition of the Peso was introduced and was valued against the Spanish Real. 2  In 1851, the Peso equaled 5 French francs. 3  In 1960, the Peso was replaced by the Escudo at a rate of 1,000 Pesos = 1 Escudo. 4  In 1975, the second edition of the Peso was introduced to replace the escudo. 1,000 escudos = 1 peso.
In 1889, Johann Strauss II composed the Emperor Waltz (originally called âHand in Handâ) as a symbolic toast to friendship from the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef to the German Kaiser Willhelm II. The waltz was first performed in Berlin on 21 October 1889.
Strauss recalled a poem by Karl Isidor Beck (1817-79). Each stanza ends with the line: âBy the Danube, beautiful blue Danubeâ. It gave him the inspiration and the title for his new work â although the Danube could never be described as blue and, at the time the waltz was written, it did not flow through Vienna.