Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Battle of Aspern was fought on the 21st and the 22nd of May, 1809, during the War of the Fifth Coalition. It was Napoleon Bonaparte's first military defeat and resulted in the death of Marshal Jean Lannes. Napoleon withdrew to the Lobau after the battle and later used it as the staging point for the Battle of Wagram.
The Lobau was designated a protected area in 1905 and became a formal nature reserve in 1978. The Lower Lobau received Ramsar Wetland designation in 1983, and in 1996 the Lobau was incorporated into the Danube-Auen National Park. It held UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status from 1977 to 2016.
The Lobau supports more than 30 mammal species, including the Eurasian beaver, which was reintroduced in the 1970s after being extirpated from Austria. Reptiles include the European pond turtle and the Aesculapian snake, while birds such as the white-tailed eagle and common kingfisher rely on its waterways. Endangered invertebrates include the green snaketail dragonfly and the southern festoon butterfly.
Construction of the Danube-Oder Canal through the Lobau began in 1939, and the Lobau Oil Harbor was established with a refinery and tank storage facilities. Forced laborers, primarily Soviet prisoners and Jews, worked on the refinery, which was later targeted in bombing raids. Work on the canal was halted after 4.2 kilometers had been completed.
Emperor Charles I of Austria gave the Upper Lobau to the city of Vienna in 1918, ending its status as an imperial holding. The area had previously served as a royal hunting reserve, visited by Crown Prince Rudolf and, in 1903, by Emperor Franz Joseph I together with King Edward VII of Britain.
The Lobau is connected to the European long-distance trails E4 and E8 as well as the Ostösterreichischer Grenzlandweg. A dedicated nature trail called Obere Lobau runs from the park entrance at Saltenstraße to the entrance at Dechantweg. The landscape protection zone around the Lobau extends to Aspern and covers a quarter of Donaustadt.