 Those plans however had never been carried out due to the lasting economic crisis that hit the country after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918, exacerbated by the Great Depression.The first autobahn on Austrian territory was the West Autobahn from Salzburg to Wien.Building started immediately after the Austrian Anschluss in 1938 [the annexation of Austria] on order of Adolf Hitler as extension of the German "Reichsautobahn-Strecke 26" from München (Munich) (the present-day Bundesautobahn 8).