Austrians
Historically, Austrians were regarded as ethnic Germans and viewed themselves as such. Austria was part of the Holy Roman Empire and the German Confederation until the Austro-Prussian war in 1866 which resulted in Prussia expelling Austria from the Confederation. Thus, when Germany was founded as a nation-state in 1871, Austria was not a part of it. In 1867, Austria was reformed into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918 at the end of World War I, Austria was reduced to a rump state and adopted and briefly used the name the Republic of German-Austria ("Republik Deutschösterreich") in an attempt for union with the Republic of Germany, but was forbidden due to the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919). The First Austrian Republic was founded in 1919. The Third Reich annexed Austria with the "Anschluss" in 1938.
Constituent National Assembly (Austria)
The Constituent National Assembly (), elected on 16 February 1919, was the first parliament in Austria's history to be elected by women and men in free and equal elections. On 4 March 1919 it replaced the Provisional National Assembly based on the 1911 Imperial Council elections. The National Assembly adopted the Habsburg Act, ratified the Treaty of Saint-Germain, which sealed the collapse of Cisleithania and demanded Austria's independence from Germany. In its last meeting on 1 October 1920, the assembly created the until-now lasting Constitution of Austria.