When did Austria split?
Allied-occupied Austria
In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Austria was divided into four occupation zones and jointly occupied by the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France. Vienna was similarly subdivided but the central district was collectively administered by the Allied Control Council.
Austria
Following a referendum in 1994, at which consent reached a majority of two-thirds, the country became a member of the European Union on 1 January 1995.
Austrian Association of Hiking, Sports and Society
At the end of World War II, Austria was divided into four Allied occupation zones. Rivalry between the Western Allies (the United States, the United Kingdom and France) and the Soviet Union over the future of the newly founded Republic of Austria was increasing. When the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) received only 5.5 percent of the votes in the Austrian parliamentary elections of November 1945, the fear that Austria might become a communist ruled nation was lessened. However, Austria's economic status remained doubtful and there remained the risk of workers' strikes and demonstrations that might lead to a communist coup.
History of Vienna
Only a few days after the war, a provisional city government and administration was created. Also, the political parties were recreated. On April 29, 1945, the parliament building passed from the occupation force to the new Austrian government, and Karl Renner announced the reinstitution of the democratic Republic of Austria. Vienna was divided into five occupation zones between the Soviet Union, the United States, the UK, France, and with the first district (city centre) being patrolled by all four.
States of Austria
In terms of boundaries, the present-day states arose from the crown lands of Austria-Hungary, an extensive multiethnic realm whose German-speaking nucleus emerged as the Republic of Austria after the dissolution of the Dual Monarchy at the end of World War I.
Austrians
The end of World War II in 1945 saw the re-establishment of an independent Austria, although the Allied Powers remained in occupation until 1955, when the Austrian State Treaty between Austria and them was signed to end occupation and to regain Austrian sovereignty.
Immediately after 1945 the majority of Austrians still saw themselves as Germans, as a broader Austrian national identity took time to develop. In a 1956 survey, 46% of Austrians still considered themselves to be Germans. Another survey carried out in 1964 revealed that only 15% of Austrians still considered themselves to be Germans.
Austria
As a federal republic, Austria is divided into nine states (). These states are then divided into districts () and statutory cities (). Districts are subdivided into municipalities (). Statutory Cities have the competencies otherwise granted to both districts and municipalities. The states are not mere administrative divisions but have some legislative authority distinct from the federal government, e.g. in matters of culture, social care, youth and nature protection, hunting, building, and zoning ordinances. In recent years, it has been discussed whether today it is appropriate for a small country to maintain ten parliaments.
Austrians
The creation of the Czecho-Slovak and South Slav states, the dissolution of the real union with Hungary, and the post-war treaties imposed by the victorious Allies combined to see the newly established Austrian republic both with the boundaries it has today, and a largely homogeneous German-speaking population. In the Treaty of Saint-Germain, in September 1919 the union with Germany was prohibited, and the new republic's name "Deutschösterreich" was prohibited by the treaty; instead the term "Republic of Austria" was used. The westernmost province Vorarlberg's wish to unite with Switzerland was also ignored. On October 21, 1919, the state changed its name accordingly. Many German Austrian communities were left scattered throughout the other new states, especially in Czechoslovakia, where more than 3 million German Bohemians had not been allowed to become part of the new Austrian state, as well as in the southern part of Tyrol which now found itself part of Italy. In total, more than 3.5 million German-speaking Austrians were forced to remain outside the Austrian state.
History of Austria
The Austrian lands finally came under one archduchy in 1620, but Ferdinand II quickly redivided them in 1623 in the Habsburg tradition by parcelling out "Upper Austria" (Further Austria and Tirol) to his younger brother Leopold V (1623–1632) who was already governor there. Upper Austria would remain under Leopold's successors till 1665 when it reverted to the senior line under Leopold I.
History of Austria
The defeat meant the end of the old Holy Roman Empire. Napoleon's satellite states in southern and Western Germany seceded from the Empire in the summer of 1806, forming the Confederation of the Rhine, and a few days later Francis proclaimed the Empire dissolved, and renounced the old imperial crown on 6 August 1806.
Communist Party of Austria
Talks between party leader Johann Koplenig and Stalin ("Sondermappe" Codename: Gen. Filipof(f)) resulted in proposals of a possible division of Austria between East and West, similar to Germany. Since the KPÖ was constantly losing votes in parliamentary elections, a division and establishment of a communist-led East Austria would have been a practical way to consolidate at least a part of their dwindling power. The Soviet authorities in Moscow showed little interest for such a division for various reasons, namely because the size of a newly established East Austria would have been quite small and may not have been capable of existing without significant Soviet assistance. Already, the situation in the Soviet sector of Austria was difficult as the Soviets confiscated all industries, factories, and goods and transported anything of economic value back to the Soviet Union as part of war-reparations. Strategically, a division of Austria would have ultimately meant that a West Austria, closely linked to NATO, would have provided a connection between West Germany and Italy. A united, neutral Austria however could act as a barrier, together with Switzerland, thereby securing a part of the Central European front for the Soviets. The proposals by the Austrian communists were therefore brushed aside.
History of Austria
The First World War effectively ended for Austria on 3 November 1918, when the defeated army signed the Armistice of Villa Giusti at Padua following the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. (Technically this applied to Austria-Hungary, but Hungary had withdrawn from the conflict on 31 October 1918, and most other states within the empire, such as Czechoslovakia and the South Slavs, had also done so.) Austria was forced to cede all territory occupied since 1914, plus a considerable amount of other territory, and the allies were given access to Austria. The empire was thus dissolved.
Austria–Germany relations
In late April 1945, the Allied Powers entered Austria and removed the country from the Third German Reich. A provisional Austrian government, led by Karl Renner, declared the country's regained independence. Austria's democratic constitution was reinstated and elections in late 1945 paved the way for a new federal government. Leopold Figl became the first Chancellor of Austria. Germany, however, was occupied by the Allied Powers and divided into four governing zones: British, French, American and the Soviet. Military occupation of Germany ended in 1949 when such zones were organised into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
Germans
Following the defeat in World War I, influence of German-speaking elites over Central and Eastern Europe was greatly limited. At the Treaty of Versailles Germany was substantially reduced in size. Austria-Hungary was split up. The former German-speaking areas of Austria-Hungary was reduced to a rump state called the "Republic of German-Austria" (German: "Deutschösterreich"). On November 12, the National Assembly declared the rump state a republic and Social Democrat Karl Renner as provisional chancellor. On the same day, it drafted a provisional constitution which stated that "German-Austria is a democratic republic" (Article 1) and "German-Austria is an integral part of the German reich" (Article 2) with the hope of joining Germany. The name "German-Austria" and union with Germany were forbidden by the Treaty of Saint-Germain and the Treaty of Versailles. German-Austria lost the territories of the Sudetenland and German Bohemia to Czechoslovakia, South Tyrol to Italy, and southern Carinthia and Styria to Yugoslavia and the rump state was renamed "Republic of Austria". With these changes, the era of the First Austrian Republic began. These events are sometimes considered to be a pre-"Anschluss" attempt.
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.
List of rulers of Austria
In 1918, following the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the [[First Austrian Republic|Republic of Austria]] was established, but ended with "[[Anschluß]]" into the Third Reich from 1938–1945. Following World War II, the current [[Austria|Republic of Austria]] was established in 1945, even though Austria remained under the control and protection of Allied and Soviet Forces between 1945–1955.
Alemannic separatism
Alemannic Separatism is a historical movement of separatism of the Alemannic-German-speaking areas of Germany, France and Austria (viz., South Baden, Swabia (viz. most of Württemberg and all of Bavarian Swabia), Alsace and Vorarlberg), aiming at a unification with the Swiss Confederacy (later Switzerland). The historic origins of the movement lay in the Napoleonic era (ca. 1805–1815) and it was briefly revived both after the end of World War I (1919) and after the end of World War II (1946–1952).
Anschluss
Hitler's journey through Austria became a triumphal tour that climaxed in Vienna on 15 March 1938, when around 200,000 cheering German Austrians gathered around the "Heldenplatz" (Square of Heroes) to hear Hitler say that "The oldest eastern province of the German people shall be, from this point on, the newest bastion of the German Reich" followed by his "greatest accomplishment" (completing the annexing of Austria to form a Greater German Reich) by saying "As leader and chancellor of the German nation and Reich I announce to German history now the entry of my homeland into the German Reich." Hitler later commented: "Certain foreign newspapers have said that we fell on Austria with brutal methods. I can only say: even in death they cannot stop lying. I have in the course of my political struggle won much love from my people, but when I crossed the former frontier (into Austria) there met me such a stream of love as I have never experienced. Not as tyrants have we come, but as liberators."
Partition Sejm
Already by 1769–71, both Austria and Prussia had annexed some border territories belonging to the Commonwealth. On 19 February 1772, the agreement of partition was signed in Vienna. A previous agreement between Prussia and Russia had been made in Saint Petersburg on 6 February 1772. Early in August Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops simultaneously entered the Commonwealth and occupied the provinces agreed upon among themselves. On 5 August, the three parties signed the treaty on their respective territorial gains at the Commonwealth's expense. The partition treaty was ratified by its signatories on 22 September 1772.
Austrian State Treaty
The Austrian State Treaty (German: ) or Austrian Independence Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state. It was signed on 15 May 1955 in Vienna, at the Schloss Belvedere among the Allied occupying powers (France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union) and the Austrian government. It officially came into force on 27 July 1955.
Communist Party of Austria
During the 10-year allied occupation from 1945–55, the threat of national division similar to that which befell post-war Germany loomed large. The Iron Curtain was dividing the European continent into two halves. During this period, the KPÖ was in constant contact with the Soviet authorities and Moscow. Following the party's poor results in the parliamentary elections on 25 November 1945 (St. Catherine's Day, therefore the elections became known as the "Katharinen-Wahl"), the KPÖ representative in Moscow, Friedrich Hexmann, had to present a report to the Politburo with proposals on how to improve the situation for the party. The problem with the strategy of the communists was identified as being their goal to build a future coalition ("Volksfront") with the SPÖ. This required a right-wing shift to the extent that ideological differences between the KPÖ and the SPÖ were not readily apparent.
President of Austria
Prior to the collapse of the multinational Austro-Hungarian Empire towards the end of World War I, what now is the Republic of Austria had been part of a monarchy with an emperor as its head of state and chief executive. The empire noticeably began to fracture in late 1917 and manifestly disintegrated into a number of independent states over the course of the following year.
Austrian Partition
The territories acquired by Austrian Empire (later the Austro-Hungarian Empire) during the First Partition included the Polish Duchy of Zator and Duchy of Oświęcim, as well as part of Little Poland with the counties of Kraków, Sandomierz and Galicia, less the city of Kraków. In the Third Partition, the annexed lands included Western Galicia and Southern Masovia. Major historical events of the Austrian Partition included: the formation of the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw in 1807, which was followed by the 1809 Polish–Austrian War aided by the French, and the victorious Battle of Raszyn resulting in Austrian temporary defeat (1809) marked by the recapture of Kraków and Lwów by the Duchy. However, the fall of Napoleon, leading to abolition of the Duchy at the Congress of Vienna (1815) allowed Austria to regain control. The "Congress" created the Free City of Kraków protectorate of Austria, Prussia and Russia, which lasted for a decade. It was abolished by Austria, after the crushing of Kraków Uprising in 1846. The formation of the Polish Legions by Piłsudski initially to fight alongside the Austro-Hungarian Army, helped Poland regain its sovereignty in aftermath of World War I.
Austria–Prussia rivalry
Austria and Prussia both would fight France in the Napoleonic Wars; after their conclusion, the German states were reorganized into a more unified 37 separate states of the German Confederation. German nationalists began to demand a unified Germany, especially by 1848 and its revolutions. They were conflicted over the best nation-state to accomplish this, a question that became known as the German question. The "Little Germany" ("Kleindeutschland") solution favored Protestant Prussia annexing all the German states except Austria, while "Big Germany" ("Grossdeutschland") favored Catholic Austria taking control of the separate German states. The Schleswig-Holstein Question also became tied up in the debate; the Second Schleswig War saw Denmark lose to the combined forces of Austria and Prussia, but Prussia would later gain full control of the province after the Austro-Prussian War, thus saw Austria being excluded from Germany. After the Franco-Prussian War, Germany was unified under Prussia to become the German Empire in 1871, and the rivalry is often seen as subsiding after the Congress of Berlin in 1878. Germany, led by Prussia, had become the superior power to Austria-Hungary.
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (, modern spelling "") was a Central European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, it was the third most populous empire after the Russian Empire and the United Kingdom in Europe. Along with Prussia, it was one of the two major powers of the German Confederation. Geographically, it was the third largest empire in Europe after the Russian Empire and the First French Empire (621,538 square kilometres; 239,977 sq mi). Proclaimed in response to the First French Empire, it partially overlapped with the Holy Roman Empire until the latter's dissolution in 1806.
Austria – the Nazis' first victim
The Allies started to discuss the postwar destiny of Austria in 1941. On December 16 Stalin reported to Anthony Eden his plan of German break up: Austria should have become an independent state again. British, having no plans for such a distant future, had nothing against. During 1942–1943 the attitude of the Allies to the Austrian question changed: leaders of the USSR have not suggested any new schemes, while British seriously took Austrian future. On September 26, 1942 Eden read out Churchill's plan of creation of a "Danube confederation" composed of former Austria, Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia – a vast buffer state that would have separated Western Europe from the USSR. In the Spring of 1943 a 34 year old analyst of the Foreign office Geoffrey Harrison made a project of the post war organisation of Austria, which became an official British policy in the Austrian question. As Harrison thought, recreation of an independent but weak Austria within the borders of the First Republic was only possible with the readiness of the Western allies to support the new state for many years long. Harrison have not believed in the ability of Austrians to self-organization as well as in the probability to rise them to an armed resistance against the regime. The best solution according to British point of view would have been a strong confederation of Danube states with Austria included de jure as an equal member, but de facto as a cultural and political leader. It was not possible to create such a union in the post war Europe immediately; an independent Austria should have been created first, and it should have been provided political guarantees and financial support. Only afterwards a political union could have been developed step-by-step.
Austria–Germany relations
Austria proposed to unite the German states in a union centered on, and dominated by, the Habsburgs; Prussia, however, hoped to become the central forces in unifying the German states and to exclude Austria out of its affairs. In 1834, Prussia succeeded in creating a German Customs Union with northern German states with the hope of political union as its next step. The tension eventually gave rise to the 1866 Austro-Prussian War (Fraternal War of the Germans). Otto von Bismarck, chancellor of Prussia, sided with Italy to surround Austria and bring about the latter's defeat. The Austrian Empire was dissolved into the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, with the loss of their influence over southern German states (Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria).
Federal State of Austria
The Federal State of Austria (Austrian German: ' ; colloquially known as the ', "Corporate State") was a continuation of the First Austrian Republic between 1934 and 1938 when it was a one-party state led by the clerico-fascist Fatherland Front. The ' concept, derived from the notion of ' ("estates" or "corporations"), was propaganda advocated by leading regime politicians such as Engelbert Dollfuss and Kurt Schuschnigg. The result was an authoritarian government based on a mix of conservative Catholic and Italian Fascist influences.
First Partition of Poland
Despite token criticism of the partition from the Austrian archduchess, Empress Maria Theresa, Austrian statesman Wenzel Anton Graf Kaunitz considered the Austrian share an ample compensation; despite Austria being the least interested in the partition, it received the largest share of formerly Polish population, and second largest land share (83,000 km and 2,650,000 people). Austria gained Zator and Auschwitz (Oświęcim), part of Little Poland embracing parts of the counties of Kraków and Sandomierz (with the rich salt mines of Bochnia and Wieliczka), and the whole of Galicia, less the city of Kraków.
Austrian nationalism
German nationalism began to rise rapidly within the German Confederation, in 1866 the feud between the two most powerful German states Austria and Prussia finally came to a head in the German war in 1866. The Austrians favoured the Greater Germany unification but were not willing to give up any of the non-German-speaking land inside of the Austrian Empire and take second place to Prussia. The Prussians however wanted to unify Germany as Little Germany primarily by the Kingdom of Prussia, whilst excluding Austria. In the final battle of the German war ("Battle of Königgrätz") the Prussians successfully defeated the Austrians and succeeded in creating the North German Confederation. In 1871, Germany was unified as a nation-state as the German Empire that was Prussian-led and without Austria. Nevertheless, the integration of the Austrians remained a strong desire for many people of both Austria and Germany, especially among the liberals, the social democrats and also the Catholics who were a minority within the Protestant Germany.
Austria
This left the responsibility for the end of the war, on 3 November 1918, solely to the emperor and his government. On 11 November, the emperor, advised by ministers of the old and the new governments, declared he would not take part in state business any more; on 12 November, German Austria, by law, declared itself to be a democratic republic and part of the new German republic. The constitution, renaming the "Staatsrat" as "Bundesregierung" (federal government) and "Nationalversammlung" as "Nationalrat" (national council) was passed on 10 November 1920.
History of the Social Democratic Party of Austria
Chancellor Vranitzky tried to repair the damage to Austria's international image caused by the presidential election of the controversial Kurt Waldheim. He was the first chancellor who, in a speech in front of parliament, clearly spoke of the guilt Austrians carried during the Second World War, something that was until then a topic that was taboo at home. He undertook a number of steps towards reconciliation with victims, his state visit to Israel in 1983 was highly regarded. The SPÖ also endorsed an entry of the country into the European Union during negotiations with Brussels. In the national referendum of 12 June 1994, over 66% percent of all voters voted "yes", Austria duly became a member of the European Union on 1 January 1995.
Austria
Phytogeographically, Austria belongs to the Central European province of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. According to the WWF, the territory of Austria can be subdivided into four ecoregions: the Central European mixed forests, Pannonian mixed forests, Alps conifer and mixed forests and Western European broadleaf forests.
History of Austria
Almost the entire 15th Century was a confusion of estate and family disputes, which considerably weakened the political and economic importance of the Habsburg lands. It was not until 1453 in the reign of Frederick V the Peaceful (1457–1493) that the country (at least the core territories) would be finally united again. Rudolph IV's brothers Albert III the Pigtail and Leopold III the Just quarreled ceaselessly and eventually agreed to split the realm in the Treaty of Neuberg in 1379, which was to result in further schisms later. Altogether this resulted in three separate jurisdictions.
1938 Austrian Anschluss referendum
After the end of World War I, the newly founded Austria, which claimed sovereignty over the majority-German territory of the former Habsburg empire. According to its provisional constitution it declared to be part of the also newly founded German Republic. Later plebiscites in Tyrol and Salzburg in 1921, where majorities of 98,77% and 99,11% voted for a unification with Germany, showed that it was also backed by the population.
Anschluss
Austria remained part of Germany until the end of World War II. A provisional Austrian government declared the "Anschluss" "null und nichtig" (null and void) on 27 April 1945. Henceforth, Austria was recognized as a separate country, although it remained divided into occupation zones and controlled by the Allied Commission until 1955, when the Austrian State Treaty restored its sovereignty.
Austria
Historically Austrians were regarded as ethnic Germans and viewed themselves as such, although this national identity was challenged by Austrian nationalism in the decades after the end of World War I and even more so after World War II. Austria was part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation until its ending in 1806 and had been part of the German Confederation, a loose association of 39 separate German-speaking countries, until the Austro-Prussian war in 1866, which resulted in the exclusion of Austria from the German Confederation and the creation of the North German Confederation led by Prussia. In 1871, Germany was founded as a nation-state, Austria was not a part of it. After World War I and the breakup of the Austrian monarchy, politicians of the new republic declared its name to be "Deutschösterreich" (Republic of German-Austria) and that it was part of the German Republic. A unification of the two countries was forbidden by the treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye as one of the conditions imposed by the victorious Allies of World War I upon the vanquished nation, to prevent the creation of a territorially extensive German state. After the events of World War II and Nazism, Austria as a country has made efforts to develop an Austrian national identity among its populace, and nowadays most do not consider themselves Germans. However, a minority of Austrians still consider themselves to be Germans and advocate for a "Greater Germany", arguing that the historic boundaries of the German people goes beyond the boundaries of modern-day countries, especially Austria and Germany.
District (Austria)
Austria had been divided into four occupation zones and jointly occupied by the United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and France. Lower Austria, the region surrounding Vienna, was part of the Soviet zone. The capital itself was considered too valuable to be left to any one power and was, just like Berlin, separately divided into four sectors. In drafting their plans, the allies worked from the city's pre-1938 borders.
The Nazi expansion of Vienna, however, had made some sense. A number of rural areas incorporated into Greater Vienna were inimical. Most of Lower Austria had been leaning conservative to nationalist for a century; Vienna had been a bastion of Social Democracy for decades. The bureaucracy steering Vienna, a city of industry and finance, was sociologically distant from the agricultural countryside. Some of the suburbs affected, however, had long had much closer ties to the capital than to the rest of their former province, both socially and in terms of infrastructure.
Permanently ejecting these suburbs from Vienna would have been inadvisable. Reaffirming the Nazi border changes either entirely or in part, on the other hand, would have led to demarcation discrepancies between Austrian and allied administrative divisions. Disputes regarding communal debt added to the problem.
Austria–Italy border
The Austrian–Italian border is a 404 km long land border along the Alps between the Republic of Italy and the Republic of Austria. It has existed since 1861, and has been an EU internal border since 1 January 1995. The border was last changed in 1947. A large older change was in 1919 when South Tyrol was made part of Italy instead of Austria.
The main artery over this border go over the Brenner Pass. It has:
Landlocked country
With the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918 and creation of an independent, landlocked Austria, Liechtenstein became the sole doubly landlocked country until 1938. In the Nazi Anschluss that year, Austria was absorbed into the Third Reich, which possessed a border on the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. After World War II, Austria regained its independence and Liechtenstein once again became doubly landlocked.
Geography of Austria
Austria may be divided into three unequal geographical areas. The largest part of Austria (62%) is occupied by the relatively young mountains of the Alps, but in the east, these give way to a part of the Pannonian plain, and north of the Danube River lies the Bohemian Forest, an older, but lower, granite mountain range.
Austrians
The territory of what is today Austria in the Roman era was divided into Raetia, Noricum and Pannonia.
Noricum was a Celtic kingdom, while the "Pannonii" were of Illyrian stock. The Raetians were an ancient alpine people probably akin to the Etruscans. During the Migration period (c. 6th century), these territories were settled by the Bavarians and other Germanic groups in the west (Alemanni in Vorarlberg, Lombards in Tyrol), and by Slavic groups, Huns and Avars in the east. In the 8th century, the former territories of Raetia and Noricum fell under Carolingian rule, and were divided into the duchies of Swabia, Bavaria and Carinthia. Pannonia until the end of the 8th century was part of the Avar Khaganate. The "East March" ("Ostmark") during the 9th century was the boundary region separating East Francia from the Avars and the Magyars. The site of Vienna had been settled since Celtic times (as "Vindobona"), but the city only rose to importance in the High Middle Ages as the chief settlement of the March of Austria (the March river just east of Vienna marks the ancient border between Francia and the Avars).
Austria
On 21 October 1918, the elected German members of the "Reichsrat" (parliament of Imperial Austria) met in Vienna as the Provisional National Assembly for German Austria ("Provisorische Nationalversammlung für Deutschösterreich"). On 30 October the assembly founded the Republic of German Austria by appointing a government, called "Staatsrat". This new government was invited by the Emperor to take part in the decision on the planned armistice with Italy, but refrained from this business.
Ostmark (Austria)
According to the "Ostmarkgesetz" with effect from 1 May 1939 the former States of Austria were reorganized into seven "Reichsgaue", each under the rule of a government official holding the dual offices of "Reichsstatthalter" (governor) and "Gauleiter" (Nazi Party leader):
A "Reichsgau" was a new, simple administrative sub-division institution which replaced the federal states in the otherwise completely centralized Third Reich. From 1942, as the term "Ostmark" was still too reminiscent of the old, independent state of Austria, the chosen official name for the seven entities was Donau- und Alpenreichsgaue ("Danubian and Alpine Reichsgaue"). In the course of the Allied occupation after World War II, the Austrian state was restored in its pre-1938 borders according to the 1943 Moscow Declaration.
Austrian Partition
The Austrian Empire divided the former territories of the Commonwealth it obtained into:
Two important and major cities of the Austrian partition were Kraków (German: ') and Lwów (German: ').
Administrative division of Polish–Lithuanian territories after Partitions
The Austrian Empire, known from second half of the 19th century as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, annexed Polish territories in the First (1772) and the Third Partition (1795) of Poland. Austria divided the former territories of the Commonwealth it obtained into:
Two important and major cities of the Austrian partition were Kraków (Cracow) and Lwów (Lviv).
First Austrian Republic
The First Austrian Republic () was created after the signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 10 September 1919—the settlement after the end of World War I which ended the Habsburg rump state of Republic of German-Austria—and ended with the establishment of the Austrofascist Federal State of Austria based upon a dictatorship of Engelbert Dollfuss and the Fatherland's Front in 1934. The Republic's constitution was enacted in 1 October 1920 and amended on 7 December 1929. The republican period was increasingly marked by violent strife between those with left-wing and right-wing views, leading to the July Revolt of 1927 and the Austrian Civil War of 1934.
Federal Constitutional Law (Austrian act)
When the 1919 Treaty of Saint Germain prohibited the union of Germany and Austria, Austria had to go to work on a permanent constitution in earnest, but was deeply divided on numerous issues. General elections on February 16, 1919 replaced the Provisional Assembly with a Constitutional Assembly ("Konstituierende Nationalversammlung"). The new parliament was dominated by Social Democrats, who favored a unitary state with a strong central government, and the Christian Social Party, who fought for a federation devolving significant authority to regional governments. Unable to reach consensus, the parties chose to defer the decision. The new constitution, passed on October 1 and formally published on October 5, 1920, stipulated that Austria was to be a parliamentary federal republic consisting of eight (at the time) federal states, but did not state which powers and duties would lie with the national government and which ones with the states.
Secession
After being liberated by the Red Army and the U.S. Army, Austria seceded from Nazi Germany on April 27, 1945. This took place after seven years of Austria's being part of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich due to the Anschluss annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in March 1938, and could not have taken place without the Third Reich being defeated by the Allies.
Compendium of postage stamp issuers (Ar–Az)
Before 1913, the individual states had their own issues.
The Austrian Empire was formed in 1804 to anticipate the dissolution in 1806 of the ancient and
maligned Holy Roman Empire by Napoleon. Austria, home of the Habsburg dynasty, had been the
central part of the Holy Roman Empire. In the aftermath of Waterloo, Austria was one of the
strongest nations in Europe and its foreign minister Metternich became the architect of the
Concert of Europe which was able to maintain peace in a divided continent for several decades.
Hungary, the land of the Magyars that lies to the east of Austria, was part of the Austrian
Empire at that time but it constantly sought control of its own affairs.
Austria faced a crisis after its defeat by Prussia in the Seven Weeks War of 1866. To
consolidate his power, the Emperor Franz Josef negotiated in March 1867 the Ausgleich
(Compromise) with the Magyar ruling classes. As a result, Hungary gained control of its
internal affairs and the two states of Austria and Hungary were federated into what became
commonly known as the Dual Monarchy. The words Kaiserliche und Königliche on Austrian stamps
refer to the Empire of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary, both titles being held by Franz
Josef. The Dual Monarchy endured until the end of WWI.
Austria and Hungary had separate postal administration from the time of the Ausgleich although
it was not until May 1871 that Hungary could issue its first stamps. In the meantime, a set of
"neutral" stamps were issued that showed a profile of Franz Josef and a value.
The fact of the Dual Monarchy was emphasised in stamps issued abroad by Austro-Hungarian post
offices or military forces. Hence, reference should be made to Austria and Hungary separately
re home issues and to the various Austro-Hungarian entries for overseas issues.
Alemannic separatism
After World War I, on 11 May 1919, the population of Vorarlberg within the short-lived state of "Deutschösterreich" (German Austria) voted for secession to Switzerland with 81% of the popular vote. The request was denied both by the government in Vienna and by Switzerland. Similar tendencies in Baden and Württemberg were repressed before a vote was taken.
Austria–Germany relations
Modern-day Austria and Germany were united until 1866: their predecessors were part of the Holy Roman Empire and the German Confederation until the unification of German states under Prussia in 1871, which excluded Austria. In 1918 after the end of World War I, Austria renamed itself the Republic of German-Austria in an attempt for union with Germany but this was forbidden by the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919). In 1938, the Third Reich, led by Austrian-born Adolf Hitler, annexed Austria in the "Anschluss".
Austria
The status of South Tyrol was a lingering problem between Austria and Italy until it was officially settled by the 1980s with a great degree of autonomy being granted to it by the Italian national government. Between 1918 and 1919, Austria was known as the State of German Austria (). Not only did the Entente powers forbid German Austria to unite with Germany, but they also rejected the name German Austria in the peace treaty to be signed; it was, therefore, changed to Republic of Austria in late 1919.
Federal State of Austria
Hitler had originally intended to retain Austria as a puppet state headed by Seyss-Inquart. However, the enthusiastic support for Hitler led him to change his stance and support a full "Anschluss" between Austria and Nazi Germany. On 13 March Seyss-Inquart formally decreed the "Anschluss", though President Miklas avoided signing the law by resigning immediately. Seyss-Inquart then took over most of Miklas' duties and signed the Anschluss bill into law. Two days later in his speech at the Vienna Heldenplatz, Hitler proclaimed the "accession of my homeland to the German Reich" (see Austria in the time of National Socialism).
Germany
In 1772, then again in 1793 and 1795, the two dominant German states of Prussia and Austria, along with the Russian Empire, agreed to the Partitions of Poland; dividing among themselves the lands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. As a result of the partitions, millions of Polish speaking inhabitants fell under the rule of the two German monarchies. However, the annexed territories though incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia and the Habsburg Realm, were not legally considered as a part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the period of the French Revolutionary Wars, along with the arrival of the Napoleonic era and the subsequent final meeting of the Imperial Diet, most of the secular Free Imperial Cities were annexed by dynastic territories; the ecclesiastical territories were secularised and annexed. In 1806 the "Imperium" was dissolved; many German states, particularly the Rhineland states, fell under the influence of France. Until 1815, France, Russia, Prussia and the Habsburgs (Austria) competed for hegemony in the German states during the Napoleonic Wars.
Following the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna (convened in 1814) founded the German Confederation ("Deutscher Bund"), a loose league of 39 sovereign states. The appointment of the Emperor of Austria as the permanent president of the Confederation reflected the Congress's failure to accept Prussia's rising influence among the German states, and acerbated the long-standing competition between the Hohenzollern and Habsburg interests. Disagreement within restoration politics partly led to the rise of liberal movements, followed by new measures of repression by Austrian statesman Metternich. The "Zollverein", a tariff union, furthered economic unity in the German states.
Austrians
Austrians () are a Germanic nation and ethnic group, native to modern Austria and South Tyrol that share a common Austrian culture, Austrian descent and Austrian history. The English term "Austrians" was applied to the population of Habsburg Austria from the 17th or 18th century. Subsequently, during the 19th century, it referred to the citizens of the Empire of Austria (1804–1867), and from 1867 until 1918 to the citizens of Cisleithania. In the closest sense, the term "Austria" originally referred to the historical March of Austria, corresponding roughly to the Vienna Basin in what is today Lower Austria.
Social Democratic Party of Austria
The crushing of the Social Democratic opposition by the conservatives however meant a further weakening of Austria, as infighting within the "Heimwehr" and the conservatives continued. Chancellor Dollfuß himself was assassinated 10 weeks after the end of the civil war by National socialists. Adolf Hitler was increasingly influencing political affairs in Austria. Nazi Germany was increasing the pressure by scheming and manipulating political events, as well as planning and carrying out terrorist attacks on infrastructure within Austria. The successor of Dollfuß, the conservative chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg tried a new round of talks with the outlawed social-democrats and even the monarchists, in order to stabilise the situation again. The Socialist favoured democracy, but were lukewarm to the concept of an independent Austria. The majority of conservatives wanted to keep an independent Austria, however in the form of an Austro-fascist regime. The extreme fighting and enmity between the two parties resulted in both the abolition of democracy and the end of Austria as an independent entity. On 12 March 1938, the weakened Austrian government under Chancellor Schuschnigg was forced to step down by Hitler under the threat of war, and Austria was annexed into Nazi Germany.
History of Austria
Once again, there were initial successes against the disorganized armies of the French Republic in 1793, and the Netherlands were recovered. But in 1794 the tide turned once more, and Austrian forces were driven out of the Netherlands again—this time for good. Meanwhile, the Polish Crisis again became critical, resulting in a Third Partition (1795), in which Austria managed to secure important gains. The war in the west continued to go badly, as most of the coalition made peace, leaving Austria with only Britain and Piedmont-Sardinia as allies. In 1796, the French Directory planned a two-pronged campaign in Germany to force the Austrians to make peace, with a secondary thrust planned into Italy. French forces entered Bavaria and the edge of the Tyrol, before encountering Austrian forces under Archduke Charles, the Emperor's brother, at Amberg (24 August 1796) who was successful in driving the French back in Germany. Meanwhile, the French Army of Italy, under the command of the young Corsican General Napoleon Bonaparte, was brilliantly successful, forcing Piedmont out of the war, driving the Austrians out of Lombardy and besieging Mantua. Following the capture of Mantua in early 1797, Bonaparte advanced north through the Alps against Vienna, while new French armies moved again into Germany. Austria sued for peace. By the terms of the Treaty of Campo Formio of 1797, Austria renounced its claims to the Netherlands and Lombardy, in exchange for which it was granted the territories of the Republic of Venice with the French. The Austrians also provisionally recognized the French annexation of the Left Bank of the Rhine, and agreed in principle that the German princes of the region should be compensated with ecclesiastical lands on the other side of the Rhine.
List of Presidents of Austria
Austria annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938 (see Austria under National Socialism for details). Independence restored in 1945.
Austrian Civil War
Though small in scale in an international comparison (and small in scale indeed in the light of the events of the Second World War which soon followed), the Austrian Civil War nevertheless proved a decisive moment in the history of the Republic. After the Second World War, when Austria re-emerged on the political landscape as a sovereign nation, politics again fell under the domination of the Social Democrats and the conservatives, who now formed a party called the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). However, so as to avoid a repeat of the bitter divisions of the First Republic, the leaders of the Second Republic were determined to put the idea of broad consensus at the heart of the new political system. The concept of the 'Grand Coalition' was introduced, in which the two major parties (Social Democrats and People's Party) shared in the government and avoided open confrontation. This system brought with it stability and continuity, but ultimately led to other political repercussions (also see "Proporz"). But the events of the Austrian Civil War had persuaded many in the political establishment (and, indeed, the population at large) that a slow pace of political reform was a small price to pay for social calm.
German Question
In 1938, Adolf Hitler, an Austrian German by birth, completed his long desired union between his birthplace Austria and Germany (), which violated the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. This was met with an overwhelming approval of the German-Austrian people. Unlike the political situation in the 19th century, Austria was a shadow of its former power in 1938, and became by far the subordinate partner in the new unified German-speaking state. In a reference to the 19th century "Greater German solution", the enlarged state was referred to as the ("Greater German Reich") and colloquially as . The names were informal at first, but the change to became official in 1943. As well as Germany (pre-World War II borders), Austria, and Alsace-Lorraine, the included the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Sudetenland, Bohemia and Moravia, the Memel Territory, the Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, the Free State of Danzig, and the "General Government" territories (territories of Poland under German military occupation).
This unification lasted only until the end of World War II. With the defeat of the Nazi regime in 1945, "Greater Germany" was separated into West Germany, East Germany, and Austria by the Allied Powers. In addition, Germany was stripped of much of historic eastern Germany (i.e. the bulk of Prussia), which was annexed in mostly Poland and a small portion the Soviet Union. Luxembourg, the Czech (via Czechoslovakia), and the Slovenian lands (via Yugoslavia) regained their independence from Germany.
Anschluss
The "Anschluss" was among the first major steps in Austrian-born Hitler's desire to create a Greater German Reich that was to include all ethnic Germans and all the lands and territories that the German Empire had lost after the First World War. Although Austria was predominantly ethnically German and had been part of the Holy Roman Empire until it dissolved in 1806 and the German Confederation until 1866 after the defeat in the Austro-Prussian War, it had never been a part of the German Empire. The unification of Germany brought about by Otto von Bismarck created that Prussian-dominated entity in 1871, with Austria, Prussia's rival for dominance of the German states, explicitly excluded.
History of Austria
On 19 February elections were held for what was now called the Constituent National Assembly ("Konstituierende Nationalversammlung"). Although the Social Democrats won the most seats (41%) they did not have an absolute majority and formed a grand coalition with the second-largest party, the Christian Socialists. On 12 March the National Assembly declared "German Austria" to the part of the "German Republic".
History of the Social Democratic Party of Austria
The battle of Vienna between Soviet and Nazi forces was over on 13 April 1945. Immediately the party was refounded as the "Socialist Party of Austria" ("Sozialistische Partei Österreichs", SPÖ). The first party chairman was Adolf Schärf. After tyranny, war and destruction, the country had to be reconstructed while enduring hunger and deprivation. The traumatic experience under German rule brought a swing in domestic opinion away from Pan-Germanism and towards the idea of Austria as an independent, sovereign and democratic country. The two former enemies, the conservatives and the Socialists, put aside their differences in order to work towards the prosperity and renewed sovereignty of the country. Both sides entered into a grand coalition government that would last for the next 21 years until 1966.
Austrian Partition
In the first partition, Austria received the largest share of the formerly Polish population, and the second largest land share (83,000 km² and over 2.65 million people). Austria did not participate in the second partition, and in the third, it received 47,000 km² with 1.2 million people. Overall, Austria gained about 18 percent of the former Commonwealth territory (130,000 km²) and about 32 percent of the population (3.85 million people). From the geographical perspective, much of the Austrian partition corresponded to the Galicia region.
History of Austria
The end of the war saw Austria, poorly prepared at its start, exhausted. Austria continued the alliance with France (cemented in 1770 with the marriage of Maria Theresa's daughter Archduchess Maria Antonia to the Dauphin), but also facing a dangerous situation in Central Europe, faced with the alliance of Frederick the Great of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia. The Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 caused a serious crisis in east-central Europe, with Prussia and Austria demanding compensation for Russia's gains in the Balkans, ultimately leading to the First Partition of Poland in 1772, in which Maria Theresa took Galicia from Austria's traditional ally.
Frankfurt Parliament
The court camarilla surrounding the incapacitated Austrian emperor Ferdinand was not, however, willing to break up the state. On 27 November 1848, only a few days before the coronation of Ferdinand's designated successor, Franz Joseph I, Prime Minister Prince Felix von Schwarzenberg declared the indivisibility of Austria. Thus, it became clear that, at most, the National Assembly could achieve national unity within the smaller German solution, with Prussia as the sole major power. Although Schwarzenberg demanded the incorporation of the whole of Austria into the new state once more in March 1849, the dice had fallen in favor of a Smaller German Empire by December 1848, when the irreconcilable differences between the position of Austria and that of the National Assembly had forced the Austrian, Schmerling, to resign from his role as "Ministerpräsident" of the provisional government. He was succeeded by Heinrich von Gagern.
Sudetenland
Austria-Hungary broke apart at the end of World War I. Late in October 1918, an independent Czechoslovak state, consisting of the lands of the Bohemian kingdom and areas belonging to the Kingdom of Hungary, was proclaimed. The German deputies of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia in the Imperial Council ("Reichsrat") referred to the Fourteen Points of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and the right proposed therein to self-determination, and attempted to negotiate the union of the German-speaking territories with the new Republic of German Austria, which itself aimed at joining Weimar Germany.
War of the Austrian Succession
The War of Austrian Succession concluded with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748). Maria Theresa and Austria survived nearly "status quo ante bellum", sacrificing only the territory of Silesia, which Austria conceded to Prussia, and a few minor territorial losses to Spain in northern Italy. While Austria was far from crippled, the loss of Silesia was, in great measure, a humiliating defeat for Austria's leadership of the German states within the Holy Roman Empire. By contrast, Prussian gains nearly doubled the size of its economy, territory and population, while Frederick II's success as a commander soon earned him the epithet "Frederick the Great". This marked the beginning of the German dualism between Prussia and Austria, which would ultimately fuel German nationalism and the drive to unify Germany as a single entity.
Anschluss
The idea of grouping all Germans into one nation-state had been the subject of debate in the 19th century from the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 until the break-up of the German Confederation in 1866. Austria had wanted a "Großdeutsche Lösung" (greater Germany solution), whereby the German states would unite under the leadership of the German Austrians (Habsburgs). This solution would have included all the German states (including the non-German regions of Austria), but Prussia would have had to take second place. This controversy, called dualism, dominated Prusso-Austrian diplomacy and the politics of the German states in the mid-nineteenth century.
List of Austrian consorts
Lower Austria (Austria proper) passed to Ferdinand's 1st son Maximilian:
Upper Austria (Tyrol, Further Austria) passed to Emperor Ferdinand's 2nd son Ferdinand:
Inner Austria ("Inner-Österreich") (Styria, Carinthia and Carniola) passed to Emperor Ferdinand's 3rd son Charles:
The Austrian territories were reunited again by inheritance in 1619 under Ferdinand III, Archduke of Inner Austria, but in 1623 five years into the Thirty Years' War he had so much to do with, Ferdinand divided them yet again, when he made his younger brother Leopold, who had been governor over Upper Austria, Archduke of those territories.
Austria–Germany relations
After 1936, Hitler and Mussolini forged a closer relationship in preparation for Germany's expansionist ambitions. Hitler used the Nazi Party of Austria to influence public opinions and staged a coup against the Austrian Fascist government in 1938. When Hitler decided to refrain from reclaiming South Tyrol, Mussolini abandoned his pledge to protect Austria's independence. Subsequently, the "Anschluss" of the Third German Reich and Germany-Austria occurred in 1938, reuniting both countries for the first time since the 1870s. Austria became "Ostmark" (Eastern Region) under Hitler's regime.
Austrian literature
Austrian literature is the literature written in Austria, which is mostly, but not exclusively, written in the German language. Some scholars speak about Austrian literature in a strict sense from the year 1806 on when Francis II disbanded the Holy Roman Empire and established the Austrian Empire. A more liberal definition incorporates all the literary works written on the territory of today's and historical Austria, especially when it comes to authors who wrote in German. Thus, the seven volume history of Austrian literature by the editors Herbert Zeman and Fritz Peter Knapp is titled "History of the Literature in Austria". The Austrian literature must be considered in close connection with German literature in general, and the borderline between proper German literature and the Austrian one is porous, due to rich and complex cultural exchanges.
World War II by country
Austria became a full part of Nazi Germany in 1938 among popular acclaim during the Anschluss. About 1.2 million Austrians served in all branches of the German armed forces during World War II. After the defeat of the Axis Powers, the Allies occupied Austria in four occupation zones set up at the end of World War II until 1955, when the country again became a fully independent republic under the condition that it remained neutral. The four occupations zones were French, American, British, and Soviet, with Vienna also divided among the four powers. This paralleled the situation in post-war Germany.
Rybnik
At the beginning of the War of the Austrian Succession between Frederick II of Prussia (the Great) and the Habsburg empress Maria Theresa of Austria, the greatest part of Silesia, including Rybnik, was annexed by Prussia in 1740, which Austria eventually recognized in 1763. Coal mining gained importance for Rybnik's economy as early as the 18th century. In 1871, Prussia, including Rybnik, merged into the German Empire, the first modern German nation state. At this point, Poland had already ceased to exist as an independent state, having been divided between Prussia, Austria and Russia in the Third Partition of Poland of 1795.
Austrian People's Party
The Austrian People's Party (; ÖVP) is a Christian-democratic and conservative political party in Austria. A successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was founded immediately following the reestablishment of the Republic of Austria in 1945 and since then has been one of the two largest Austrian political parties with the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). In federal governance, the ÖVP has spent most of the postwar era in a grand coalition with the SPÖ. Most recently, it has been junior partner in a coalition government with the SPÖ since 2007. However, the ÖVP won the 2017 election, having the greatest number of seats and formed a coalition with the national-conservative Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). Its chairman Sebastian Kurz is the youngest Chancellor in Austrian history.
Austrian Empire
After Austria was defeated in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the German Confederation was dissolved, the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 was adopted. By this act, the Kingdom of Hungary and the Empire of Austria as two separate entities joined together on an equal basis to form the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary.
Austria
Karl Renner and Adolf Schärf (Socialist Party of Austria [Social Democrats and Revolutionary Socialists]), Leopold Kunschak (Austria's People's Party [former Christian Social People's Party]), and Johann Koplenig (Communist Party of Austria) declared Austria's secession from the Third Reich by the Declaration of Independence on 27 April 1945 and set up a provisional government in Vienna under state Chancellor Renner the same day, with the approval of the victorious Red Army and backed by Joseph Stalin. (The date is officially named the birthday of the second republic.) At the end of April, most of western and southern Austria were still under Nazi rule. On 1 May 1945, the federal constitution of 1929, which had been terminated by dictator Dollfuss on 1 May 1934, was declared valid again.
Austria
Parliamentary elections were held in Germany (including recently annexed Austria) on 10 April 1938. They were the final elections to the Reichstag during Nazi rule, and took the form of a single-question referendum asking whether voters approved of a single Nazi-party list for the 813-member Reichstag, as well as the recent annexation of Austria (the Anschluss). Jews and Gypsies were not allowed to vote. Turnout in the election was officially 99.5%, with 98.9% voting "yes". In the case of Austria, Adolf Hitler's native soil, 99.71% of an electorate of 4,484,475 officially went to the ballots, with a positive tally of 99.73%. Although most Austrians favoured the "Anschluss", in certain parts of Austria the German soldiers were not always welcomed with flowers and joy, especially in Vienna which had Austria's largest Jewish population. Nevertheless, despite the propaganda and the manipulation and rigging which surrounded the ballot box result, there was massive genuine support for Hitler for fulfilling the "Anschluss", since many Germans from both Austria and Germany saw it as completing the long overdue German unification of all Germans united into one-state.
Salzburg (state)
In 1918 after World War I, the Duchy of Salzburg was dissolved and replaced with the State of Salzburg, as a component part initially of German Austria and subsequently of the First Republic of Austria, the separate state which was mandated by the Allied powers. (However, in the November Plebiscite 99% of Salzburgers voted in favor of union with Germany.)
Freedom Party of Austria
The FPÖ is a descendant of the pan-German and national liberal camp ("Lager") dating back to the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas. During the interwar era, the national liberal camp (gathered in the Greater German People's Party) fought against the mutually-hostile Christian Social and Marxist camps in their struggles to structure the new republic according to their respective ideologies. After a short civil war, the Federal State of Austria, an authoritarian Christian Social dictatorship, was established in 1934. By 1938, with the "Anschluss" of Austria into Nazi Germany, the national liberal camp (which had always striven for an inclusion of Austria into a Greater Germany) had been swallowed whole by Austrian National Socialism and all other parties were eventually absorbed into Nazi totalitarianism. Both Socialists and Christian Socials were persecuted under the Nazi regime, and the national liberal camp was scarred after the war due to guilt by association with National Socialism.
Austria
His successor Kurt Schuschnigg acknowledged Austria as a "German state" and that Austrians were "better Germans" but wished for Austria to remain independent. He announced a referendum on 9 March 1938, to be held on 13 March, concerning Austria's independence from Germany. On 12 March 1938, Austrian Nazis took over government, while German troops occupied the country, which prevented Schuschnigg's referendum from taking place. On 13 March 1938, the "Anschluss" of Austria was officially declared. Two days later, Austrian-born Hitler announced what he called the "reunification" of his home country with the "rest of the German Reich" on Vienna's Heldenplatz. He established a plebiscite confirming the union with Germany in April 1938.
History of Austria
On the foreign policy front, Austria with its non-German constituencies, was faced with a dilemma in 1848 when Germany's Constituent National Assembly ("Deutsche Konstituierende Nationalversammlung"), of which Austria was a member, stated that members could not have a state connection with non-German states, leaving Austria to decide between Germany or its Empire and Hungarian union. However these plans came to nothing for the time being, but the concept of a smaller Germany that excluded Austria ("Kleindeutschland") was to re-emerge as the solution in 1866. Austria's neutrality during the Crimean War (1853–1856), while the emperor was preoccupied with his wedding, antagonized both sides and left Austria dangerously isolated, as subsequent events proved (Hamann 1986).
Austrian Partition
The Austrian Partition () comprise the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth acquired by the Habsburg Monarchy during the Partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. The three partitions were conducted jointly by the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and Habsburg Austria, resulting in the complete elimination of the Polish Crown. Austria acquired Polish lands during the First Partition of 1772, and Third Partition of Poland in 1795. In the end, the Austrian sector encompassed the second-largest share of the Commonwealth's population after Russia; over 2.65 million people living on 128,900 km (49,800 sq mi) of land constituting formerly south-central part of the Republic.
History of Austria
The borders continued to be somewhat uncertain because of plebiscites in the tradition of Woodrow Wilson. Plebiscites in the regions of Tyrol and Salzburg between 1919–21 (Tyrol 24 April 1921, Salzburg 29 May 1921) yielded majorities of 98 and 99% in favour of a unification with Germany, fearing that small Austria was not economically viable. However such mergers were not possible under the treaty.
Austria under National Socialism
In 1918, at the end of World War I, with the breakup of the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire, and with the abolition of the Habsburg monarchy, there were three major political groups competing with one another in the young republic of Austria: the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SDAP), Christian Social Party (CS), and the nationalist Great German Union ("Großdeutsche Vereinigung"), which became the Greater German People's Party ("Großdeutsche Volkspartei", or GVP) in 1920. At the time, smaller parties such as the Communist Party of Austria ("Kommunistische Partei Österreichs", or KPÖ) and the Austrian National Socialists ("Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei", or DNSAP) were neither present in the Reichsrat (Imperial Council) nor the Nationalrat (National Council).
States of the Weimar Republic
After the "Anschluss" ("union") with Germany, Austria , renamed Ostmark, became the first of a new type of administrative subdivision called a "Reichsgau" (not to be confused with Nazi Party "Gaue"). Austria's last pre-war chancellor Arthur Seyss-Inquart became its first "Reichsstatthalter". However, with the promulgation of the "Ostmarkgesetz" on 1 May 1939, the former States of Austria were reorganized into seven new "Reichsgaue", each under the rule of a government official holding the dual offices of "Reichsstatthalter" (governor) and "Gauleiter" (Nazi Party leader). Generally, these positions were occupied by the last state premier.
Austria
Much like Germany, Austria was divided into American, British, French, and Soviet zones and governed by the Allied Commission for Austria. As forecast in the Moscow Declaration in 1943, a subtle difference was seen in the treatment of Austria by the Allies. The Austrian government, consisting of Social Democrats, Conservatives, and Communists (until 1947), and residing in Vienna, which was surrounded by the Soviet zone, was recognised by the Western Allies in October 1945 after some doubts that Renner could be Stalin's puppet. Thus, the creation of a separate Western Austrian government and the division of the country was avoidable. Austria, in general, was treated as though it had been originally invaded by Germany and liberated by the Allies.
Austrians
The lands later called Cisleithania (except Galicia and Dalmatia) were members of the German Confederation since 1815 as they had been part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1806. Until 1848, Austria and its chancellor Prince Metternich unanimously dominated the confederation. The developing sense of a German nationality had been accelerated massively as a consequence of the political turmoil and wars that engulfed Central Europe following the French Revolution and the rise to power of Napoleon Bonaparte. Although the years of peace after Napoleon's fall quickly saw German nationalism largely pushed out of the public political arena by reactionary absolutism, the Revolutions of 1848 established it as a significant political issue for a period of nearly hundred years.
Deutschösterreich, du herrliches Land
The Republic of German Austria was formed in 1918 as the successor to the multinational Austro-Hungarian Empire in its predominantly German speaking part. The government and population was much in favour of a unification with Germany, the German nation-state that had been formed in 1871 but had excluded Austria. However, the victors of World War I demanded that Austria remained a separate country. In the Treaty of Versailles, there was a prohibition of unification. Under the provisions of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919), German Austria had to change its name to simply Austria.
Freedom Party of Austria
After an internal row had threatened to tear the FPÖ apart, former chairman Jörg Haider, then-chairwoman and his sister Ursula Haubner, vice chancellor Hubert Gorbach and all of the FPÖ ministers left the party and on 4 April 2005 founded a new political party called the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ). Austria's chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel followed, changing his coalition with the FPÖ into cooperation with the BZÖ. In Haider's stronghold of Carinthia, the local FPÖ branch became the Carinthia branch of the BZÖ.
District (Austria)
Reborn with the downfall of Nazi Germany in 1945, the Republic of Austria immediately restored the administrative structure torn down between 1938 and 1940, putting the districts back in place. The only exception were the districts that had been absorbed into Vienna.
Freedom Party of Austria
In 1949, the Federation of Independents (VdU) was founded as a national liberal alternative to the main Austrian parties—the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), successors to the interwar era Marxist and Christian Social parties. The VdU was founded by two liberal Salzburg journalists—former Nazi Germany prisoners—who wanted to stay clear of the mainstream socialist and Catholic camps and feared that hostility following the hastily devised postwar denazification policy (which did not distinguish between party members and actual war criminals) might stimulate a revival of Nazism. Aiming to become a political home to everyone not a member of the two main parties, the VdU incorporated an array of political movements—including free-market liberals, populists, former Nazis and German nationalists, all of whom had been unable to join either of the two main parties. The VdU won 12% of the vote in the 1949 general election, but saw its support beginning to decline soon afterward. It evolved into the FPÖ by 1955/56 after merging with the minor Freedom Party in 1955; a new party was formed on 17 October 1955, and its founding congress was held on 7 April 1956.
History of Austria
Even then by 1873 only six percent of the adult male population were franchised (Hacohen 2002). The initial divisions into Catholic, liberal, national, radical and agrarian parties differed across ethnic grounds further fragmenting the political culture. However, there was now emerging the presence of extra-parliamentary parties whereas previously parties were purely intra-parliamentary. This provided an opportunity for the disenfranchised to find a voice. These changes were taking place against a rapidly changing backdrop of an Austrian economy that was modernising and industrialising and economic crises such as that of 1873 and its resultant depression (1873–1879), and the traditional parties were slow to respond to the demands of the populace. By the election of 1901, the last election under the defined classes of franchisement ("Curia") extraparliamentary parties won 76 of the 118 seats.
History of Austria
Prussia and Denmark had already fought one war in 1848–51 over the territories that lined their common border, Schleswig-Holstein which resulted in Denmark retaining them. By 1864 Austria was at war again, this time allying itself with Prussia against Denmark in the Second Schleswig War, which although successful this time, turned out to be Austria's last military victory. The war concluded with the Treaty of Vienna by which Denmark ceded the territories. The following year the Gastein Convention resolved the control of the new territories, Holstein being allocated to Austria, after initial conflicts between the allies. However this did little to ease the Austria–Prussia rivalry over the German question. The ongoing efforts by Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian Minister President, to revoke the agreement and wrest control of the territories would soon lead to all out conflict between the two powers and achieve the desired weakening of Austria's position in central Europe.
Federal Constitutional Law (Austrian act)
Between 1867 and 1918, the territories that make up modern Austria were part of the Cisleithanian half of Austria-Hungary. As such, they were governed according to the December Constitution, a set of five "Basic Laws" ("Staatsgrundgesetze") characterizing Cisleithania as a constitutional monarchy. The monarchy collapsed in October 1918 as a result of long-standing disaffection between the ethnicities that made up the multi-national empire, exacerbated by the outcome of World War I. Breaking away from the empire, its former provinces were in the process of forming modern nation states.
On October 21, 1918, parliamentarians from the German-speaking regions of the exploding empire assembled to form a Provisional National Assembly ("Provisorische Nationalversammlung") to manage this transition for their collective constituencies.
History of Austria
Austria was dominated by the House of Habsburg and House of Habsburg-Lorraine ("Haus Österreich") from 1273 to 1918. In 1808, when Emperor Francis II of Austria dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, Austria became the Austrian Empire, and was also part of the German Confederation until the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. In 1867, Austria formed a dual monarchy with Hungary: the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867–1918). When this empire collapsed after the end of World War I in 1918, Austria was reduced to the main, mostly German-speaking areas of the empire (its current frontiers), and adopted the name The Republic of German-Austria. However the union and name were forbidden by the Allies at the Treaty of Versailles. This led to the creation of the First Austrian Republic (1918-1933).
Austria–Switzerland border
The current border is a product of the creation of the Helvetic Republic in 1798. During the 19th century it was part of the western border of the Austrian Empire and later Austria-Hungary, and in the 20th century of the First Austrian Republic, the Federal State of Austria, Nazi Germany and Allied-occupied Austria, and eventually of modern Austria since its formation in 1955. 
Liechtenstein was created as an independent principality under the Peace of Pressburg (1805), although it remained nominally a member of the Confederation of the Rhine until 1866).
Austria-Hungary
The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (called the "Ausgleich" in German and the "Kiegyezés" in Hungarian), which inaugurated the empire's dual structure in place of the former Austrian Empire (1804–1867), originated at a time when Austria had declined in strength and in power—both in the Italian Peninsula (as a result of the Second Italian War of Independence of 1859) and among the states of the German Confederation (it had been surpassed by Prussia as the dominant German-speaking power following the Austro-Prussian War of 1866). The Compromise re-established the full sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hungary, which was lost after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.
Austria under National Socialism
For 10 April a referendum was set for the already accomplished annexation. In those weeks leading to the referendum a kind of propaganda took place all over Austria in a way that had been never seen before. Hitler himself, Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess and many other leading figures of the Nazi regime had very squeamishly scheduled appearances in public to hold speeches. The controlled press and radio had no other topic than YES to the "Reunion of Germany and Austria". Prominent Austrians like Cardinal Theodor Innitzer, who signed a declaration of the bishops with "Heil Hitler", and the Social Democrat Karl Renner promoted the approval. According to official records 99.73% voted YES in Austria and in Germany 99.08 voted for the annexation.
Austria
On 15 May 1955, after talks which lasted for years and were influenced by the Cold War, Austria regained full independence by concluding the Austrian State Treaty with the Four Occupying Powers. On 26 October 1955, after all occupation troops had left, Austria declared its "permanent neutrality" by an act of parliament. This day is now Austria's National Day, a public holiday.