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.
History of Austria
The Provisional National Assembly ("Provisorische Nationalversammlung für Deutschösterreich") met in Vienna from 21 October 1918 to 19 February 1919, as the first parliament of the new Austria, in the Lower Austria parliamentary buildings ("Niederösterreichische Landhaus"). It consisted of those members of the "Reichsrat" (Imperial Council) elected in 1911 from German speaking territories with three presidents, Franz Dinghofer (German National Movement, GDVP), Jodok Fink (Christian Social Party, CS) and Karl Seitz (Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria, SDAPÖ). The National Assembly continued its work till 16 February 1919 when elections were held. On 30 October it adopted a provisional constitution and on 12 November it adopted German Austria ("Deutschösterreich") as the name of the new state. Since the Emperor, Charles I (Karl I) had stated on 11 November that he no longer had ""auf jeden Anteil an den Staatsgeschäften"" (any share in the affairs of state), although he always said that he never abdicated. Austria was now a republic.
However the provisional constitution stated that it was to be part of the new German Republic proclaimed three days earlier. Article 2 stated: "Deutschösterreich ist ein Bestandteil der Deutschen Republik" (German Austria is part of the German Republic).