The volume is the third of four on critically assessing the history of the University of Vienna since the mid-19th century. Starting with a reflection on the weaknesses of university history (as a sub-discipline of historiography of science), the five contributions look at very different aspects of impact of the university and the scientific practices that were established there. The university, it is widely acknowledged, played a crucial role in different political regimes during the past one and a half century. But what this resulted in, and how it reflected back on the university as a representative institution for science, research and higher education, has hardly been addressed so far. As case studies based on unique samples of sources, the indiviual contribution are ambitious attempts to tackle this gap.