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{{Short description|Rump state in Central Europe (1918–1919)}}
{{History of Austria}}
{{Redirect-distinguish-for|German Austria|Austrian German|Austria within ] from 1939 to 1945|Austria within Nazi Germany}}
{{otheruses2|Austria}}
{{Infobox former country
| conventional_long_name = German-Austria
| native_name = {{native name|de|Deutschösterreich}}
| common_name = German-Austria
| p1 = Cisleithania
| flag_p1 = Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy.svg
| s1 = First Austrian Republic
| flag_s1 = Flag of Austria (1230–1934).svg
| image_flag = Flag of Austria (1230–1934).svg
| image_coat = AustriaCoA-1918.svg
| symbol_type = ]<br/>(1918)<ref>The first state coat of arms of the Republic of German Austria, adopted by the State Council on 31 October 1918; design: Karl Renner </ref>
| flag = Flag of Austria
| other_symbol = ]
| other_symbol_type = Seal of the German-Austrian State Chancellery
| image_map = {{Switcher|]|Map of the territory ''claimed'' by the Republic of German-Austria in Europe|]|States of German-Austria|default=1}}
| image_map_caption = Territory claimed by German-Austria
| status = ] ]
| capital = ]
| common_languages = ]
| demonym = German-Austrian
| government_type = ] ] ] (1918–1919)<br/>Unitary ] republic (1919)
| title_leader = ]
| leader1 = ]
| year_leader1 = 1918–1919
| leader2 = ]
| year_leader2 = 1919
| title_deputy = ]
| deputy1 = ]
| year_deputy1 = 1918–1919
| legislature = {{plainlist|
* ] (1918–1919)
* ] (from 1919)
}}
| event_start = Proclaimed
| date_start = 12 November
| year_start = 1918
| event_end = Prohibited by ]
| date_end = 10 September
| year_end = 1919
| currency = ]
| today = ], ], ], and ]
}}


] in 1911]]
The '''Republic of German Austria''' (referred to, at the time, as the "'''German-Eastern Land'''"; {{lang-de|Republik Deutschösterreich ''or'' Deutsch-Österreich}}) was the initial ] successor to the ] following ] for areas with a predominantly ] population. It claimed an area of 118,311 ] with 10.4 million inhabitants including the current area of the Republic of Austria and other German-speaking areas of the former Austrian Imperial lands (]) of Austria-Hungary. These included ] and ] (Tarvisio), now in ], southern ] and southern ], now in ], and ] proper and ] (later also part of Sudetenland), now in the ].


The '''Republic of German-Austria''' ({{langx|de|Republik Deutschösterreich}}, alternatively spelt {{lang|de|Republik Deutsch-Österreich}}) and '''German-Austria''' ({{langx|de|Deutschösterreich|links=no}}) was an ] that was created following ] as an initial ] for areas with a predominantly ] and ] population within what had been the ], with plans for eventual unification with ]. The territories covered an area of {{cvt|118311|km²}}, with 10.4 million inhabitants.
] German Austrian ]s from 1920.]]

In practice, however, its authority was limited to the Danubian and Alpine provinces which had been the core of ]. Much of its claimed territory was ''de facto'' administered by the newly formed ], and internationally recognized as such.

Attempts to create German-Austria under these auspices were ultimately unsuccessful, especially since union with Germany was forbidden in the ], and the new state of the ] was created in 1920.

==Background==
The ] of the ] had been reconstituted as a ] by the ]. It comprised the ]-dominated "]", the core of which was the ] and was sometimes referred to as Transleithania,{{#tag:ref|The name, and its counterpart ''Cisleithania'', is derived from the ], which formed the boundary between Upper Austria and Hungary.{{sfn|Beller|2006|p=143}} |group="note"}} and the German-dominated remainder of the empire, informally called "Austria" but semi-officially given the name ].{{sfn|Beller|2006|p=143}}{{sfn|Brodbeck|2014|p=7}} Cisleithania included the core "Austrian" provinces,{{#tag:ref|The collection of Habsburg ]{{sfn|Barker|1973|p=4}} comprising ] and ], ], ], ], ] and ]{{sfn|Beller|2006|p=140}}{{sfn|Healy|2004|p=6}}|group="note"}} together with ], ], the ] (], ] and ]) to the south, and ], ], ], ] and ] to the north and east.{{sfn|Beller|2006|p=140}}{{sfn|Healy|2004|p=6}} The dual monarchy, or ] as it came to be known, was effectively two states with the Habsburg monarch as ] in Cisleithania and ] in Transleithania. For the most part, each had their own institutions. There were separate parliaments and separate governments and ministries for "imperial Austria" and "royal Hungary".{{sfn|Beller|2006|pp=143–4}}

Austria-Hungary was a multinational entity comprising Germans and Hungarians, as well as nine other major nationalities, who increasingly demanded the right to ]. Historically, the Germans had been dominant in the ], and their power and influence greatly outweighed their numbers.{{sfn|Motyl|2001|pp=32–33}} Even within Cisleithania the Germans represented only 37% of the population.{{sfn|Beller|2006|p=147}} However, ] and ], ], ], ] and most of ] and ] had a predominantly German population.{{sfn|Magocsi|2018|p=145}} These territories were the core "Austrian" provinces and had a population of 6.5 million.{{sfn|Barker|1973|p=10}} While Bohemia and Moravia were predominantly ], Germans constituted a majority in a strip of territories that edged their borders, recently self-proclaimed as provinces of the ] and ].{{sfn|Magocsi|2018|p=145}} The German population of Bohemia and Moravia was 3 million.{{sfn|Barker|1973|p=10}}

From 1914 to 1918, Austria-Hungary fought in the ] as one of the ] and an ally of Germany. By May 1918, the empire was facing increasing military failure and defeat, as well as domestic unrest caused by food and fuel shortages. Additionally, the demands of the empire's nationalities were becoming increasingly radicalised, encouraged by the American president ]'s commitment to self-determination in his ] published in January 1918. In October, the independence of ] and the ] (the latter unified with ] that December to form the ], later called Yugoslavia), Hungary withdrew from the dual monarchy and the ] surrendered to Italy at ]. With the empire collapsing, the Habsburg administration signed an ] on 3 November and the last Habsburg emperor, ], relinquished his powers on 11 November.{{#tag:ref|In fact, Karl never formally abdicated.{{sfn|Brennan|2018|p=116}} Instead, he simply declared in his statement of ] 1918: "I renounce every participation in the business of the state."{{sfn|Gulick|2021|p=60}} |group="note"}}{{sfn|Beller|2006|pp=190–1}}{{sfn|Brennan|2018|p=116}}


==History== ==History==
'''The Founding of the Dual Monarchy''' ===Declaration of the Republic===
Defeat in the Seven Weeks' War demonstrated that Austria was no longer a great power. Looking to the future, Franz Joseph set three foreign policy objectives designed to restore Austrian leadership in Germany: regain great-power status; counter Prussian moves in southern Germany; and avoid going to war for the foreseeable future. Because reconciliation with Hungary was a precondition for regaining great-power status, the new foreign minister, Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust, became a strong advocate of bringing the stalemated negotiations with the Hungarians to a successful conclusion. By the spring of 1867, a compromise had been reached and was enacted into law by the Hungarian Diet.


On 21 October 1918, the deputies representing German-speaking areas in the '']'', the lower chamber of the ], the imperial Parliament of ], declared that they were the new ] for German-Austria.{{sfn|Boyer|1995|p=439}} With the impending collapse of the empire becoming apparent earlier in the month, the three main political groupings representing German-speakers in the lower chamber began negotiations on the way forward. The largest group was the German nationalists, a collection of smaller parties, with a total of 109 deputies elected in the last ]. Their primary objective was '']'' or union with Germany. The conservative monarchist ] was the next largest with 65 deputies and the ], who favoured a democratic republic, had a representation of 37 deputies.{{sfn|Barker|1973|pp=27–8}}
The Compromise Ausgleich of 1867 divided the Habsburg Empire into two separate states with equal rights under a common ruler, hence the term "Dual Monarchy." Officially, these states were Hungary and the "Kingdoms and Lands represented in the Parliament," the latter being an awkward designation necessitated by the lack of a historical name encompassing all non-Hungarian lands (see fig. 4). Unofficially, the western half was called either Austria or Cis-Leithania, after the Leitha River, which separated the two states. The officially accepted name of the Dual Monarchy was Austria-Hungary, also seen as the AustroHungarian Empire.


In early October 1918, the Social Democrats were the first to call for all "German-Austrians" to be united in a German-Austrian state. They had recognised the right of all nationalities of the empire to self-determination and they said this should equally apply to German-Austrians. The German nationalists were willing to accept the Social Democrat position to allow further negotiation to take place. The Christian Social Party accepted it as well, but said they had reservations because of their "religious and dynastic convictions".{{sfn|Barker|1973|p=27}} Calling themselves "the Germans of the Alps and ]",{{sfn|Magocsi|2018|p=145}} all 208 deputies met on 21 October, and unanimously voted that they now constituted the "Provisional National Assembly" for German-Austria.{{sfn|Barker|1973|p=28}} They declared that:
The two national governments and their legislatures in Vienna and Budapest shared a common government consisting of a monarch with almost unlimited powers in the conduct of foreign and military affairs, a ministry of foreign affairs, a ministry of defense, and a finance ministry for diplomatic and military establishments. In the absence of a shared parliament, discussion of the empire's common affairs was conducted by parallel meetings of delegates from the two national legislatures communicating with each other through written notes. A key topic of these meetings was the common commercial policy and customs union that had to be renegotiated every ten years.


{{Quotation|the German people in Austria are resolved to determine their own future political organization to form an independent German-Austrian state, and to regulate their relations with other nations through free agreements with them.{{sfn|Barker|1973|p=28}}}}
The Austrian parliament passed legislation implementing the Ausgleich in late 1867. This "December Constitution" was the product of German-speaking Liberals, who were able to dominate parliament because of a boycott by Czech delegates. The December Constitution closely followed the constitution of 1849 and placed no significant restrictions on the emperor with regard to foreign and military affairs but did add a list of fundamental rights enjoyed by Austrians. The lower house of the Austrian parliament was elected through a highly restricted franchise (about 6 percent of the male population). Seats were apportioned both by province and by curiae, that is, four socioeconomic groups representing the great landowners, towns, chambers of commerce, and peasant communities.


They also elected three Presidents of the Assembly, one from each of the three political groupings: ] (]) of the German National Movement, ] of the Christian Social Party, and the Social Democrat ].{{sfn|Kriechbaumer|2001|p=439}} A 20-member executive committee was appointed to make constitutional recommendations to the Assembly and, on the committee's subsequent recommendation, a ] was created as an executive body on 30 October. The Council immediately nominated 14 State Secretaries to head up an administrative structure that mirrored the imperial ministries. As at the end of October, therefore, the German-speaking part of the empire effectively had two governments: the new administration created by the Provisional National Assembly and the imperial government appointed by the emperor under ], last ]. The monarchy was still formally in existence and, in fact, the imperial government was pleased with the constitutional measures brought in on 30 October, believing that they did not assume a republican form and preserved the potential for the continuation of the monarchy.{{sfn|Boyer|1995|p=439}}
By building on the two dominant nationalities in the empire, German and Hungarian, dualism enabled Austria-Hungary to achieve relative financial and political stability. It did not, however, provide a framework for other nationalities, in particular the Slavs, to achieve equivalent political stature. Indeed, the Hungarian state used its power to preclude such an outcome. Hungary interpreted provisions in the Ausgleich as requiring Austria to retain its basic constitutional structure as a unitary state, so that any federalist accommodation with the Czechs would invalidate the Ausgleich and dissolve the Dual Monarchy.
'''Final Defeat in Germany and Reconciliation with Prussia'''Because Russia was aligned with Prussia and because Britain had retreated into isolationism, Austria-Hungary turned to France as an ally in its bid to regain leadership in Germany. France wanted gains in Germany at Prussia's expense and was receptive to an alliance. Open cooperation with French expansionist ambitions, however, was inconsistent with Austria-Hungary's efforts to be the leader and defender of the German nation. The success of the alliance thus depended on France's position as the defender of the south German states against Prussia--which France failed to do.


On 25 October, the Provisional Assembly called on all German-inhabited Lands to form their own provisional assemblies.{{sfn|Barker|1973|p=28}}
France declared war on Prussia and invaded German territory in July 1870. The south German states rallied to Prussia's side in the Franco-Prussian War, and Beust's patient effort to detach those states from Prussia lay in ruins. Austria watched helplessly as Prussia, the presumed underdog, quickly and soundly defeated France. In January 1871, Prussia founded the Second German Empire, uniting the German states without Austria.


On 11 November 1918, Charles I gave up his right to take part in Austrian affairs of state. He deliberately avoided using the term "abdication", as he wanted to retain his freedom of action in the event that his Austrian subjects recalled him. Nevertheless, this decision effectively ended 700 years of Habsburg rule.
Unable to undo what Prussian military prowess had wrought in Germany, Austria-Hungary trimmed its sails accordingly. Count Gyula Andrแssy, a Hungarian, replaced Beust as foreign minister, and the empire's foreign policy began to reflect the anti-Russian mentality of the Hungarians. Before 1871 ended, Austria-Hungary and Germany were working toward a united foreign policy.


The next day, 12 November, the National Assembly officially declared ] a republic and named Social Democrat ] as provisional ].{{sfn|Jelavich|1987|p=151}} On the same day it drafted a provisional constitution that stated that "German-Austria is a democratic republic" (Article 1) and "German-Austria is an integral part of the German republic" (Article 2).<ref>http://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?apm=0&aid=sgb&datum=19180000&page=26 Gesetz über die Staatsform. StGBl. Nr. 484/1919</ref> The latter provision reflected the deputies' view that felt that Austria would lose so much territory in any peace settlement that it would no longer be economically and politically viable as a separate state, and the only course was union with Germany. This was enforced by the refusal of Hungary to sell grain and of Czechoslovakia to sell coal to Austria-Germany.
This diplomatic cooperation with Prussian-dominated Germany contributed to the internal political stability of Austria-Hungary. Exclusion from a united Germany was a psychological shock for German Austrians because their claim to leadership in the Habsburg Empire had rested in part on their leadership of the German nation. Cut off from Germany, they became just one of many national groups in the Habsburg Empire and constituted only slightly more than one-third of Austria's population. Had Prussia remained hostile, Austria-Hungary's German population might have been the excuse for Prussian territorial ambitions similar to those harbored by the other nation-states that surrounded Austria-Hungary. Aligned with Austria-Hungary, however, Prussia distanced itself from German nationalists in Austria-Hungary, and the annexation movement remained politically insignificant. But, because German Austrians no longer had their majority status guaranteed by participation in the larger German nation, many felt increasingly vulnerable and threatened. German Austrians thus became open to a nationalism based on ethnic fear and hostility that contrasted with the self-confident Liberal nationalism of earlier decades.

As the Empire collapsed and a ceasefire was announced, the Provisional Assembly sought to forestall socialist revolution by organizing a coalition government led by the minority Social Democrats. Karl Renner became Chancellor and ] became Foreign Minister. The Social Democrats co-opted newly created soldier and worker councils and used their control over labour unions to implement social policies that blunted the socialist appeal.

Charles went into exile in Switzerland on 24 March 1919. Angered that he had left without a formal abdication, Parliament passed the ], which dethroned the Habsburgs and confiscated their property. Charles was permanently banished from Austria, while other male Habsburgs could return only if they gave up all claims to the throne.

===Constitutional Assembly===

{{History of Austria}}
]
]


] were held on 16 February 1919 and for the first time women were allowed to vote.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.onb.ac.at/ariadne/projekte/frauen_waehlet/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110306075818/http://www.onb.ac.at/ariadne/projekte/frauen_waehlet/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-03-06|title=85 Jahre allgemeines Frauenwahlrecht in Österreich|date=2011-03-06|access-date=2019-06-14}}</ref> Out of the 38 German inhabited constituencies only 25 participated and 159 deputies were elected to the 170 seats with Social Democrats as the largest party. Social Democrats won 72 seats, Christians Socials 69 and German Nationalists 26. The Constituent National Assembly first met on 4 March 1919 and on 15 March a new government was formed, once again led by Karl Renner. Austrian Social Democrats, despite being one of the leading Marxist parties with its ] current, did not attempt to seize power or to institute socialism. However, the majority of conservative, Catholic politicians still distrusted them and this led to the fatal left–right split that plagued the First Republic and led to its downfall by 1934.
'''The Eastern Question'''
Having reconciled itself to exclusion from Germany and Italy, Austria-Hungary turned to the east, where declining Turkish power made the Balkans the focus of international rivalries. Foreign Minister Andrแssy was opposed to any annexation of Balkan territories because that would have increased the empire's Slavic population. Ideally, he favored maintenance of Turkish authority in order to check the expansion of Russian influence. This option, however, was not viable. To prevent either Russia from replacing Turkey as the dominant power in the region or the already independent Balkan states (Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Romania) from dividing up the remaining Turkish territory, Austria-Hungary was forced to seek a partition of the Balkans with Russia.


Social Democrat leader ] wrote: <blockquote>German-Austria is not an organism which has followed the laws of historical growth. It is nothing but the remnant of what remained of the old Empire after other nations had broken away from it. It remained as a loose bundle of divergent Lands.{{sfn|Barker|1973|p=4}}</blockquote>
Because Germany was aligned with both Russia and Austria-Hungary, it acted as a moderating force on Russia to prevent war between its partners in the 1870s. So successful was Germany at limiting Russian gains after the costly Russo-Turkish War (1877-78), that Russia's relations with Germany cooled considerably. With Germany's support, Austria-Hungary acquired Bosnia and Hercegovina as part of the settlement to that war. Andrแssy, however, did not directly annex Bosnia and Hercegovina but obtained the right of an Austro-Hungarian occupation, while Turkey retained sovereignty.


===Failed union with Germany===
With relations strained between Russia and Germany, Austria-Hungary exploited Germany's need to strengthen its position against France and obtained an anti-Russian alliance. Under the resulting Dual Alliance, Austria-Hungary and Germany pledged to help defend the other against an attack by Russia. In the event of war between Germany and France, however, Austria-Hungary promised nothing more than neutrality unless Russia were also involved. As favorable as the Dual Alliance appeared, it drew Austria-Hungary into Otto von Bismarck's web of alliances and diplomatic maneuverings. Austria-Hungary thus became party to conflicts with France and Britain, countries with which it had no directly conflicting interests. The Triple Alliance signed by Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary in 1882, for example, mainly protected Italian and German interests against France and did nothing to resolve outstanding issues between Austria-Hungary and Italy.
On 13 November 1918, German-Austria asked Germany to start negotiations of union and on 15 November sent a telegram to President Wilson to support union of Germany and Austria.


On 12 March 1919, the Constituent Assembly re-confirmed an earlier declaration that German-Austria was a constituent part of the German republic. Pan-Germans and Social Democrats supported the union with Germany, while ] were less supportive.
Great-power tensions in the Balkans eased in the 1890s, as Africa and the colonial territories in the Far East became the focus of competition among European powers. Although Austria-Hungary was not involved in this colonial competition, Russia was. Its interests in the Far East paved the way for an accommodation with Austria-Hungary to maintain the status quo in the Balkans. In 1903, however, Serbia, a Balkan country that European powers had assigned to the Austro-Hungarian sphere of influence, launched an expansionistic program directed against Austria-Hungary. Without Russian support, however, Serbia's threat was not a major concern.


During spring and summer of 1919, unity talk meetings between German and Austrian representatives continued. All this changed after 2 June 1919 when the draft peace treaty with Austria was presented, which demonstrated that the Western Allies were opposed to any union between Germany and Austria.
'''Internal Developments in Austria'''
The Czech boycott of the Austrian parliament enabled the German Austrian Liberals to dominate the government of Austria until the late 1870s. They used their position to block concessions to Czechs and Poles in the early days of the Dual Monarchy, and they further protected their interests in 1873 by altering the franchise law to increase the representation in parliament of their constituency--the urban, ethnically German population and assimilated Jews. The Liberals' legislative program focused on anticlerical measures, but conflict over foreign policy issues, not religious ones, caused the Liberals' fall from power in 1879. The Liberals opposed the annexation of Bosnia and Hercegovina--which was favored by the emperor--and claimed certain powers in the conduct of foreign policy that Franz Joseph saw as an infringement on his sovereign authority.


===Treaty of Saint Germain===
After the fall of the Liberals, a nonparty government known as the Iron Ring was formed under Eduard Taaffe. Intended to encircle and limit the influence of the Liberals, the Iron Ring represented court interests and enjoyed broad support from clerical parties, German Austrian conservatives, Poles, and Czech representatives, who had decided to end their boycott. Backed by this comfortable parliamentary majority, the executive branch was able to operate smoothly. Although the concessions given the Czechs in return for their support were linguistic and cultural rather than political, the concessions raised sensitive issues because the expanded use of the Czech language in Bohemian public life weighed heavily on the ethnic German minority.
After submitting a formal note of protest to the Allies against blocking German-Austrian union, on 10 September 1919 Renner signed the ] and it was ratified by the Constituent National Assembly on 17 October. According to its provisions, on 21 October the country changed its official name from "Republic of German-Austria" to "Republic of Austria". It also lost the ] and ] to ], ]{{sfn|Moos|2017|pp=27–39}} and ] (including the Adriatic port of ]) to the ], and ], ] and ] to the ].{{Citation needed|date=October 2020|reason=Unsourced}}


Article 88 of the treaty, sometimes called a "pre-'']'' attempt"{{by whom|date=November 2020}}, stated:
The major legislative initiative of the Taaffe government was the 1883 franchise reform. This measure broadened the ocioeconomic base of the electorate and thus weakened the support of the Liberals while strengthening the conservatives. An even broader franchise reform was proposed in 1893 after the election of 1891, which had been conducted in an atmosphere of heightened ethnic tensions in Bohemia. The proposed reform would have given the vote to all male citizens over the age of twenty-five and thus diluted still further the middle-class urban vote that the court associated with fervid nationalism. The bill, however, was widely rejected by the conservative backers of the Iron Ring, and Taaffe resigned.


{{blockquote|The independence of Austria is inalienable otherwise than with the consent of the Council of the ]. Consequently Austria undertakes in the absence of the consent of the said Council to abstain from any act which might directly or indirectly or by any means whatsoever compromise her independence, particularly, and until her admission to membership of the League of Nations, by participation in the affairs of another Power.}}
Ethnic tensions, however, did not subside, even though a modified version of the franchise legislation proposed in 1893 was ultimately enacted. With the parliament highly fragmented both nationally and politically, Minister-President Count Kasimir Badeni offered new concessions to the Czechs in 1897 to forge the majority coalition he needed to conduct customs and trade policy negotiations with the Hungarians. These concessions, which dealt with the use of the Czech language by the bureaucracy, inflamed German-speaking Austrians. Violent rioting on a nearrevolutionary scale erupted not only in Bohemia but also in Vienna and Graz. The Badeni government fell. Because no effective majority could be assembled in the polarized parliament, the government increasingly used emergency provisions that allowed the emperor to enact laws when parliament was not in session.


This clause effectively foreclosed any attempt by Austria to unite with Germany.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1920/3.html |title=Treaty of Peace between the Allied and Associated Powers and Austria; Protocol, Declaration and Special Declaration [1920&#93; ATS 3 |publisher=Austlii.edu.au |access-date=2011-06-15}}</ref>
The political stalemate in parliament was a reflection of socioeconomic changes in the empire that were heightening tensions among social classes and nationalities. Although the economic and psychological impact of the economic crash of 1873 endured for some time, Austria experienced steady industrialization and urbanization in the late nineteenth century. By 1890 Austria stood midway between the rural societies that bordered it on the east and south and the industrially advanced societies of Western Europe.


Likewise, the ], dictating the terms of peace for Germany, forbade any union between Austria and Germany. With these changes and the settling of Austria's frontiers, the era of the ] began.<ref>], "Austria and Germany", ''International Affairs'' – Vol. 12, No. 5 (Sep., 1933), pp. 575–92 (18 pages), Oxford University Press</ref>
The German-speaking middle class, including assimilated Jews, had been the first group to translate growing numerical and economic power into political leverage. Even after the 1879 fall of the Liberal government, which had represented this group's interests, the government had to consider the concerns of the German-speaking middle class in order to maintain political stability.


==Borders==
In contrast to that of the middle class, the positions of the aristocracy and the Roman Catholic Church weakened. Individual aristocrats played prominent roles in the government, but the bureaucracy was assuming many functions once played by the aristocracy as a whole. For the church, the 1855 concordat between the empire and the Vatican had been a high-water mark for its formal role in political life. The Liberals' anticlerical legislation and abrogation of the concordat in 1870 curtailed the church's public presence and influence. Nonetheless, popular support for the church remained strong, and a new form of Catholic political participation was beginning to take shape based on a socially progressive platform endorsed by the 1891 papal encycylical Rerum Novarum. This largely urban movement coalesced into the Christian Social Party (Christlichsoziale Partei--CSP). Papal support was not sufficient to win the new party the approval of the conservative Austrian bishops, who continued to work through the older clerical-oriented parties.


{{main|Republic of German-Austria}}
Initially, the CSP found strong support in Vienna and controlled the city administration at the turn of the century. Nonetheless, the party was unable to hold its desired base among industrial workers in the face of competition from the Social Democratic Workers' Party (Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei-- SDAP). Founded in 1889 at a unity conference of moderate and radical socialists, the SDAP adhered to a revisionist Marxist program. The SDAP became a political home for many Austrian Jews uncomfortable with the growing anti-Semitism of the German nationalist movement, the other major political current of the time.
]


{{See also|Austro-Slovene conflict in Carinthia}}
Rising ethnic tensions made it difficult for political parties to ignore the influence of German nationalism in the closing decades of the nineteenth century. The Liberal movement faded, largely because of its resistance to becoming a specifically German party, and dissatisfied Liberals were key figures in the formation of new nationalist movements and parties. Even though the CSP and SDAP were based on political ideologies that transcended national identity, they too were obliged to make concessions in their program to German nationalism. In the late 1890s, all German-oriented parties, with the exceptions of the SDAP and the Catholic People's Party, united in the German Front. The specific demands of the German Front were modest, but by calling for recognition of a special position for Germans in light of their historic role in the empire, German Austrians were on a collision course with other national groups.


On 22 November, the national assembly officially claimed sovereignty over all the majority-German territory of the former Habsburg realm: a total area of {{convert|118311|km2|abbr=on}} with 10.4 million inhabitants. This included nearly all the territory of present-day Austria, plus ] and the town of ], both now in Italy; southern ] and southern ], now in ]; the recently proclaimed provinces of ] and ] (which later became parts of ] ]), now in the ]; and ] (now divided between ] and Czech Republic). In practice, however, its authority was limited to the Danubian and Alpine provinces of the old Habsburg realm—with few exceptions, most of present-day Austria.


However, the ] opposed such a move. They had committed themselves to the cause of the Habsburg realm's minorities, and assumed almost without question that they wished to leave Austria and Hungary. German-Austria was largely powerless to prevent the forces of Italy, ], and the ] from seizing some of its territory.


Countries on the winning side of the war took many territories with German majorities. The Czechs insisted on the historic borders of the ]; thus, three million Germans became Czechoslovak citizens, an indirect precipitant of the ] crisis 20 years later. A victor nation, Italy occupied and was awarded ], of which South Tyrol is still majority German-speaking. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) was given parts of ] and ]. The Klagenfurt region was retained after a ], when three-fifths of voters voted to remain with Austria.
In ] ], "German Austria" was an unofficial term used to describe areas of the empire inhabited by ethnic Germans. With the impending collapse of the empire in late 1918, ethnic German deputies to the Cisleithanian Austrian parliament ('']'') last elected in 1911 sought to form a new rump state of German Austria. It declared a "provisional national assembly of the independent German Austrian state" and elected ] of the ], ] of the ], and ] of the ] as assembly presidents. ] was chosen as ]. The assembly included representatives from ], ], and ] who refused to adhere to the new state of ] which had been declared on ] 1918.


Later ]s in the provinces of Tyrol and Salzburg yielded majorities of 98 and 99% in favor of a unification with Germany whereas ] in May 1919 held a plebiscite where 81% supported accession to Switzerland.
] ] ] with "''Deutschösterreich''" (German Austria) in 1919.]]


Several German minority populations in ], including German populations in ] (Brünn), ] (Iglau) and ] (Olmütz), as well as the German enclave of ] in ] also attempted to proclaim their union with German-Austria, but failed. The areas now outside of the current Republic of Austria often had significant non-German minorities and occasionally non-German majorities and were quickly taken by troops of the respective countries they were to eventually join.
On ] 1918, Emperor ] relinquished power and, on ], German Austria was officially declared a republic. The provisional national assembly drafted provisional constitution that stated that "German Austria is a democratic republic" (Article 1) and "German Austria is a component of the ]" (Article 2). Later plebiscites in the provinces of Tyrol and Salzburg yielded majorities of 98 and 99% in favor of a unification with Germany. On ], the national assembly officially laid claim to all ethnic German areas of Cisleithania. However, the ] opposed such a move and German Austria was largely powerless to resist the forces of Italy, Czechoslovakia, and the ] from seizing territory.


Regarding ], plans for a plebiscite fell through, and the area was divided between Czechoslovakia and Poland.
On ] 1919, Chancellor ], signed the ] and it was ratified by the national assembly on ]. According to its provisions, the name of the republic was changed from "German Austria" to "Austria" and any efforts for the country to unify with Germany were banned. Article 88 of the treaty, sometimes called the ] prohibition, states that "the independence of Austria is inalienable otherwise than with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations." Likewise, in the ] dictating the terms of peace for Germany, there was a prohibition of unification. With these changes and the settling of Austria's frontiers, the era of the ] began.


On the other hand, ethnic Germans in the western part of the ] that formed a majority in the area known as ] and agitated to join to Austria were successful and the area became the state of ], with the notable exception of the region around the city of ] (Sopron) which was also intended to be the state capital, but due to a very contentious{{by whom|date=September 2021}} plebiscite, remained part of Hungary. The only other part of the former German counties of Burgenland in the Kingdom of Hungary also not to become part of the Austrian Republic due to the treaty was Preßburg (]) which went to Czechoslovakia (now the capital of ]).
==Subdivisions==
]
German Austria originally consisted of nine provinces (''Provinzen'') including:


=== Subdivisions ===
#] (''Oberösterreich''), all of the current Austrian state of Upper Austria plus the ] (''Böhmerwaldgau'') now in the ] of the Czech Republic
German-Austria originally consisted of nine provinces ({{lang|de|Provinzen}}):
#] (''Niederösterreich''), all of the current Austrian state of Lower Austria plus ] (''Deutschsüdmähren''), now divided between the Czech regions of South Bohemia, ], and ]
#] (''Deutschböhmen''), areas of western Bohemia that were later part of Sudetenland from 1938-45, now part of the Czech Republic #] ({{lang|de|Oberösterreich}}), all of the current Austrian state of Upper Austria plus the ] ({{lang|de|Böhmerwaldgau}}) now in the ] of the Czech Republic;
#] ({{lang|de|Niederösterreich}}), all of the current Austrian state of Lower Austria and the city-state of Vienna, plus ] ({{lang|de|Deutschsüdmähren}}), now divided between the Czech regions of South Bohemia, ], and ];
#] proper, i.e. the historical Czech regions of northern ] and ] (Austrian Silesia)
#] ({{lang|de|Deutschböhmen}}), areas of western Bohemia that were later part of ] from 1938 to 1945, now part of the Czech Republic;
#] (''Steiermark''), all of historical ] including the current Austrian ] and the Slovenian informal region of ].
#], parts of the historical regions of ] and ]. Boundaries do not correspond to later use of the term ''Sudetenland''.
#], all of the current Austrian state of Salzburg
#] (''Kärnten''), all of historical ] including the current Austrian ], the Slovenian informal ] #] ({{lang|de|Steiermark}}), most of historical ] including the current Austrian ] and the north-eastern part of the Slovenian informal region of ];
#], all of the current Austrian state of Salzburg;
#] (''Deutschtirol''), most of historical ] including the current Austrian state of ] and the Italian province of ] but not the province ]
#] ({{lang|de|Kärnten}}), all of historical ] including the current Austrian ], the ]n unofficial ], the Slovenian municipality of ] and the now Italian municipalities of ], ] and ];
#], all of the current Austrian state of Vorarlberg
#] ({{lang|de|Deutschtirol}}), most of historical ] including the current Austrian state of ] and the present-day Italian province of ], but not the current Italian province of ];
#], all of the current Austrian state of Vorarlberg.


== National anthem ==
Several German minority populations in Moravia, including German populations in ] (Brünn), ] (Iglau), and ] (Olmütz) also attempted to proclaim their union with German Austria but failed. The areas now outside of the current Republic of Austria often had significant non-German minorities and occasionally non-German majorities and were quickly taken by troops of the respective countries they were to eventually join. On the other hand, ethnic Germans in the western part of the ] that formed a majority in the area known as ] and agitated to join to Austria were successful and the area became the state of ].
Despite the prohibition of the use of the term "German-Austria", the republic's unofficial national anthem between 1920 and 1929 was "German Austria, you wonderful country" ({{lang|de|]}}). Its words were penned by then-Chancellor ], a signatory of the ].
] German Austrian ]s from 1920.]]


==Trivia== == See also ==
* ]
Despite the prohibition on the use of the term German Austria, the republic's unofficial national anthem from 1920-1929 was "German Austria, you wonderful country" ("'']''") with words penned by then Chancellor ], signer of the ].
* ]


==See also== ==Notes==
{{reflist|group="note"}}
*]
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
== References ==
{{reflist}}


==Bibliography==
]
* {{cite book |last= Barker|first=Elisabeth |title= Austria 1918–1972 |year= 1973|isbn= 978-0-333-13369-9 |publisher= Palgrave Macmillan|pages= 27–28|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=elGuCwAAQBAJ&q=%22the+German+people+in+Austria+are+resolved+to+determine+their+own+future+political+organization+to+form+an+independent+German-Austrian+state,+and+to+regulate+their+relations+with+other+nations+through+free+agreements+with+them%22}}
]
* {{cite book |last=Beller |first= Steven|title= A Concise History of Austria |year=2006 |isbn= 978-0-52147-886-1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0DT7eLFsw2AC&dq=%22Republic+of+German-Austria%22&pg=PA198}}
]
* {{cite book |last= Boyer|first=John W. |title= Culture and Political Crisis in Vienna: Christian Socialism in Power, 1897-1918 |year=1995 |isbn= 978-0-22606-961-6 |publisher= University Of Chicago Press|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Fv37uAeAvZQC&dq=%22Provisional+National+Assembly%22+empire&pg=PA439}}
]
* {{cite book|last=Brennan |first=Christopher |editor-last1=Glencross |editor-first1=Matthew |editor-last2=Rowbotham |editor-first2=Judith|chapter= ‘Hesitant Heir and Reluctant Ruler’: Karl I/IV of Austria-Hungary During the Great War|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=D3FyDwAAQBAJ&dq=11+November+2018+Karl+abdicated&pg=PA116 |title= Monarchies and the Great War |year=2018 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn= 978-3-319-89514-7}}
]
* {{cite book |last=Brodbeck |first=David Lee |title= Defining Deutschtum: Political Ideology, German Identity, and Music-critical Discourse in Liberal Vienna |year=2014 |isbn= 978-0-19-936270-7 |publisher=Oxford University Press |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=D85LBAAAQBAJ&dq=%22habsburg%22+monarchy%22+Cisleithania+1867&pg=PA7}}
]
* {{cite book |last=Gerwath |first=Robert |title= November 1918: The German Revolution |year= 2020|isbn= 978-0-19954-647-3 |publisher= Oxford University Press|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=uyrtDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Republic+of+German-Austria%22&pg=PA167}}
* {{cite book |last= Gulick |first= Charles A. |title= Austria from Habsburg to Hitler: Volume 1 – Labor's Workshop of Democracy |year=2021 |isbn= 978-0-52032-762-7 |publisher= University of California Press|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NG3tDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Republic+of+German-Austria%22&pg=PA62}}
* {{cite book |last= Healy|first=Maureen |title= Vienna and the Fall of the Habsburg Empire: Total War and Everyday Life in World War I |year= 2004|isbn= 978-0-521-83124-6 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=r2UXfqz0mgoC&dq=cisleithania+Austria,+Bohemia,+galicia,+moravia&pg=PA6}}
* {{cite book |last= Kriechbaumer |first=Robert |title= Die grossen Erzählungen der Politik: Politische Kultur und Parteien in Österreich von der Jahrhundertwende bis 1945 |year=2001 |isbn= 978-3-20599-400-8 |publisher= Böhlau |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yheSqWHjExYC&dq=Fink+Seitz+Dinghofer&pg=PA439}}
* {{cite book |title= Modern Austria: Empire and Republic, 1815–1986 |last= Jelavich |first= Barbara |year= 1987 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn= 978-0-521-31625-5 |page= |url= https://archive.org/details/modernaustria00barb}}
* {{cite book|last=Johnson |first=Lonnie R. |editor-first1= David H. |editor-last1= Kaplan |editor-first2= Guntram H. |editor-last2=Herb |chapter=Austria |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2UoQ-ueHjdEC&dq=%22Republic+of+German-Austria%22&pg=PA544 |title= Nations and Nationalism: A Global Historical Overview, vol. 2|year=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn= 978-1-85109-907-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Magocsi |first=Paul Robert |title= Historical Atlas of Central Europe |year=2018|edition=3rd |isbn= 978-1-4875-2331-2|page=145 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=p-d_DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Republic+of+German-Austria%22&pg=PA145|publisher= University of Washington Press}}
* {{cite book |last= Moos |first= Carlo |contribution= Südtirol im St. Germain-Kontext |editor= Georg Grote and Hannes Obermair |title= A Land on the Threshold. South Tyrolean Transformations, 1915–2015 |pages= 27–39 |publisher= Peter Lang |place= Oxford-Berne-New York|year= 2017 |isbn= 978-3-0343-2240-9}}</ref>
* {{cite book|editor-last= Motyl |editor-first= Alexander J.|chapter=Austro-Hungarian Empire |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=pvHRNNk9hHEC&dq=The+Austro-Hungarian+Empire,+which+met+is+demise%22&pg=PA32 |title= Encyclopedia of Nationalism, vol. 2 |year=2001|publisher=Academic Press|isbn= 978-0-12227-230-1}}
* {{cite book|last= Pelinka|first=Anton |editor-last1= Eberlein|editor-first1= Burkard |editor-last2= Schneider |editor-first2= Volker| chapter=A Delicate Relationship: Austria’s Oversensitivity - Germany’s Undersensitivity? |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=n6a4CQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Republic+of+German-Austria%22&pg=PA84 |title= Complex Democracy: Varieties, Crises, and Transformations |year= 2015|publisher=Springer|isbn= 978-3-319-15849-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Thaler |first=Peter |title= The Ambivalence of Identity: The Austrian Experience of Nation-building in a Modern Society |year=2001 |isbn= 978-1-55753-201-5 |publisher= Purdue University Press|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NcjUA1kQk54C&dq=%22Republic+of+German-Austria%22&pg=PA68}}
* {{cite book | last=Strong | first=David F. | title=Austria. (October 1918–March 1919). Transition from Empire to Republic | publisher=Columbia University Press | date=1939 | doi=10.7312/stro90430 | isbn=9780231878708 | url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/stro90430/html | access-date=2023-08-07}}
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==External links==
*Peter Diem: (in German)
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{{Austria topics}}
{{Dissolution of Austria–Hungary}}
{{Authority control}}


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Latest revision as of 17:04, 31 October 2024

Rump state in Central Europe (1918–1919) "German Austria" redirects here. Not to be confused with Austrian German. For Austria within Germany from 1939 to 1945, see Austria within Nazi Germany.
German-AustriaDeutschösterreich (German)
1918–1919
Flag of German-Austria Flag Proposed Coat of arms (1918) of German-Austria Proposed Coat of arms
(1918)
Seal of the German-Austrian State Chancellery
Map of the territory claimed by the Republic of German-Austria in EuropeStates of German-AustriaTerritory claimed by German-Austria
StatusUnrecognized rump state
CapitalVienna
Common languagesGerman
Demonym(s)German-Austrian
GovernmentUnitary directorial republic (1918–1919)
Unitary parliamentary republic (1919)
Head of state 
• 1918–1919 State Council
• 1919 Karl Seitz
Chancellor 
• 1918–1919 Karl Renner
Legislature
History 
• Proclaimed 12 November 1918
• Prohibited by Treaty of St Germain 10 September 1919
CurrencyKrone
Preceded by Succeeded by
Cisleithania
First Austrian Republic
Today part ofAustria, Czech Republic, Italy, and Slovenia
Map indicating German-speaking areas (red) within the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1911

The Republic of German-Austria (German: Republik Deutschösterreich, alternatively spelt Republik Deutsch-Österreich) and German-Austria (German: Deutschösterreich) was an unrecognised state that was created following World War I as an initial rump state for areas with a predominantly German-speaking and ethnic German population within what had been the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with plans for eventual unification with Germany. The territories covered an area of 118,311 km (45,680 sq mi), with 10.4 million inhabitants.

In practice, however, its authority was limited to the Danubian and Alpine provinces which had been the core of Cisleithania. Much of its claimed territory was de facto administered by the newly formed Czechoslovakia, and internationally recognized as such.

Attempts to create German-Austria under these auspices were ultimately unsuccessful, especially since union with Germany was forbidden in the Treaty of Versailles, and the new state of the First Austrian Republic was created in 1920.

Background

The Austrian Empire of the Habsburgs had been reconstituted as a dual monarchy by the Compromise of 1867. It comprised the Magyar-dominated "lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen", the core of which was the Kingdom of Hungary and was sometimes referred to as Transleithania, and the German-dominated remainder of the empire, informally called "Austria" but semi-officially given the name Cisleithania. Cisleithania included the core "Austrian" provinces, together with Carniola, Dalmatia, the Austrian Littoral (Gorizia and Gradisca, Trieste and Istria) to the south, and Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Galicia and Bukovina to the north and east. The dual monarchy, or Austria-Hungary as it came to be known, was effectively two states with the Habsburg monarch as Emperor of Austria in Cisleithania and King of Hungary in Transleithania. For the most part, each had their own institutions. There were separate parliaments and separate governments and ministries for "imperial Austria" and "royal Hungary".

Austria-Hungary was a multinational entity comprising Germans and Hungarians, as well as nine other major nationalities, who increasingly demanded the right to self-determination. Historically, the Germans had been dominant in the Habsburg monarchy, and their power and influence greatly outweighed their numbers. Even within Cisleithania the Germans represented only 37% of the population. However, Upper and Lower Austria, Salzburg, Carinthia, Vorarlberg and most of Styria and Tyrol had a predominantly German population. These territories were the core "Austrian" provinces and had a population of 6.5 million. While Bohemia and Moravia were predominantly Czech, Germans constituted a majority in a strip of territories that edged their borders, recently self-proclaimed as provinces of the Sudetenland and German Bohemia. The German population of Bohemia and Moravia was 3 million.

From 1914 to 1918, Austria-Hungary fought in the First World War as one of the Central Powers and an ally of Germany. By May 1918, the empire was facing increasing military failure and defeat, as well as domestic unrest caused by food and fuel shortages. Additionally, the demands of the empire's nationalities were becoming increasingly radicalised, encouraged by the American president Woodrow Wilson's commitment to self-determination in his Fourteen Points published in January 1918. In October, the independence of Czechoslovakia and the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (the latter unified with Serbia that December to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later called Yugoslavia), Hungary withdrew from the dual monarchy and the Austro-Hungarian army surrendered to Italy at Vittorio Veneto. With the empire collapsing, the Habsburg administration signed an armistice on 3 November and the last Habsburg emperor, Karl I, relinquished his powers on 11 November.

History

Declaration of the Republic

On 21 October 1918, the deputies representing German-speaking areas in the Abgeordnetenhaus, the lower chamber of the Reichsrat, the imperial Parliament of Cisleithania, declared that they were the new Provisional National Assembly for German-Austria. With the impending collapse of the empire becoming apparent earlier in the month, the three main political groupings representing German-speakers in the lower chamber began negotiations on the way forward. The largest group was the German nationalists, a collection of smaller parties, with a total of 109 deputies elected in the last imperial elections, in 1911. Their primary objective was Anschluss or union with Germany. The conservative monarchist Christian Social Party was the next largest with 65 deputies and the Social Democrats, who favoured a democratic republic, had a representation of 37 deputies.

In early October 1918, the Social Democrats were the first to call for all "German-Austrians" to be united in a German-Austrian state. They had recognised the right of all nationalities of the empire to self-determination and they said this should equally apply to German-Austrians. The German nationalists were willing to accept the Social Democrat position to allow further negotiation to take place. The Christian Social Party accepted it as well, but said they had reservations because of their "religious and dynastic convictions". Calling themselves "the Germans of the Alps and Sudetens", all 208 deputies met on 21 October, and unanimously voted that they now constituted the "Provisional National Assembly" for German-Austria. They declared that:

the German people in Austria are resolved to determine their own future political organization to form an independent German-Austrian state, and to regulate their relations with other nations through free agreements with them.

They also elected three Presidents of the Assembly, one from each of the three political groupings: Franz Dinghofer (de) of the German National Movement, Jodok Fink of the Christian Social Party, and the Social Democrat Karl Seitz. A 20-member executive committee was appointed to make constitutional recommendations to the Assembly and, on the committee's subsequent recommendation, a State Council was created as an executive body on 30 October. The Council immediately nominated 14 State Secretaries to head up an administrative structure that mirrored the imperial ministries. As at the end of October, therefore, the German-speaking part of the empire effectively had two governments: the new administration created by the Provisional National Assembly and the imperial government appointed by the emperor under Heinrich Lammasch, last minister-president of Cisleithania. The monarchy was still formally in existence and, in fact, the imperial government was pleased with the constitutional measures brought in on 30 October, believing that they did not assume a republican form and preserved the potential for the continuation of the monarchy.

On 25 October, the Provisional Assembly called on all German-inhabited Lands to form their own provisional assemblies.

On 11 November 1918, Charles I gave up his right to take part in Austrian affairs of state. He deliberately avoided using the term "abdication", as he wanted to retain his freedom of action in the event that his Austrian subjects recalled him. Nevertheless, this decision effectively ended 700 years of Habsburg rule.

The next day, 12 November, the National Assembly officially declared German-Austria a republic and named Social Democrat Karl Renner as provisional chancellor. On the same day it drafted a provisional constitution that stated that "German-Austria is a democratic republic" (Article 1) and "German-Austria is an integral part of the German republic" (Article 2). The latter provision reflected the deputies' view that felt that Austria would lose so much territory in any peace settlement that it would no longer be economically and politically viable as a separate state, and the only course was union with Germany. This was enforced by the refusal of Hungary to sell grain and of Czechoslovakia to sell coal to Austria-Germany.

As the Empire collapsed and a ceasefire was announced, the Provisional Assembly sought to forestall socialist revolution by organizing a coalition government led by the minority Social Democrats. Karl Renner became Chancellor and Victor Adler became Foreign Minister. The Social Democrats co-opted newly created soldier and worker councils and used their control over labour unions to implement social policies that blunted the socialist appeal.

Charles went into exile in Switzerland on 24 March 1919. Angered that he had left without a formal abdication, Parliament passed the Habsburg Law, which dethroned the Habsburgs and confiscated their property. Charles was permanently banished from Austria, while other male Habsburgs could return only if they gave up all claims to the throne.

Constitutional Assembly

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Austro-Hungarian postal stamp used in German-Austria
One-krone banknote, overprinted with the name Deutschösterreich ("German-Austria")

Elections to the Constituent Assembly were held on 16 February 1919 and for the first time women were allowed to vote. Out of the 38 German inhabited constituencies only 25 participated and 159 deputies were elected to the 170 seats with Social Democrats as the largest party. Social Democrats won 72 seats, Christians Socials 69 and German Nationalists 26. The Constituent National Assembly first met on 4 March 1919 and on 15 March a new government was formed, once again led by Karl Renner. Austrian Social Democrats, despite being one of the leading Marxist parties with its Austromarxism current, did not attempt to seize power or to institute socialism. However, the majority of conservative, Catholic politicians still distrusted them and this led to the fatal left–right split that plagued the First Republic and led to its downfall by 1934.

Social Democrat leader Otto Bauer wrote:

German-Austria is not an organism which has followed the laws of historical growth. It is nothing but the remnant of what remained of the old Empire after other nations had broken away from it. It remained as a loose bundle of divergent Lands.

Failed union with Germany

On 13 November 1918, German-Austria asked Germany to start negotiations of union and on 15 November sent a telegram to President Wilson to support union of Germany and Austria.

On 12 March 1919, the Constituent Assembly re-confirmed an earlier declaration that German-Austria was a constituent part of the German republic. Pan-Germans and Social Democrats supported the union with Germany, while Christian Socialists were less supportive.

During spring and summer of 1919, unity talk meetings between German and Austrian representatives continued. All this changed after 2 June 1919 when the draft peace treaty with Austria was presented, which demonstrated that the Western Allies were opposed to any union between Germany and Austria.

Treaty of Saint Germain

After submitting a formal note of protest to the Allies against blocking German-Austrian union, on 10 September 1919 Renner signed the Treaty of Saint Germain and it was ratified by the Constituent National Assembly on 17 October. According to its provisions, on 21 October the country changed its official name from "Republic of German-Austria" to "Republic of Austria". It also lost the Sudetenland and German Bohemia to Czechoslovakia, South Tyrol and Istria (including the Adriatic port of Trieste) to the Kingdom of Italy, and Carniola, Lower Styria and Dalmatia to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.

Article 88 of the treaty, sometimes called a "pre-Anschluss attempt", stated:

The independence of Austria is inalienable otherwise than with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations. Consequently Austria undertakes in the absence of the consent of the said Council to abstain from any act which might directly or indirectly or by any means whatsoever compromise her independence, particularly, and until her admission to membership of the League of Nations, by participation in the affairs of another Power.

This clause effectively foreclosed any attempt by Austria to unite with Germany.

Likewise, the Treaty of Versailles, dictating the terms of peace for Germany, forbade any union between Austria and Germany. With these changes and the settling of Austria's frontiers, the era of the First Republic of Austria began.

Borders

Main article: Republic of German-Austria
Lands claimed by German-Austria in 1918
See also: Austro-Slovene conflict in Carinthia

On 22 November, the national assembly officially claimed sovereignty over all the majority-German territory of the former Habsburg realm: a total area of 118,311 km (45,680 sq mi) with 10.4 million inhabitants. This included nearly all the territory of present-day Austria, plus South Tyrol and the town of Tarvisio, both now in Italy; southern Carinthia and southern Styria, now in Slovenia; the recently proclaimed provinces of Sudetenland and German Bohemia (which later became parts of Nazi Sudetenland), now in the Czech Republic; and East Silesia (now divided between Poland and Czech Republic). In practice, however, its authority was limited to the Danubian and Alpine provinces of the old Habsburg realm—with few exceptions, most of present-day Austria.

However, the Allies of World War I opposed such a move. They had committed themselves to the cause of the Habsburg realm's minorities, and assumed almost without question that they wished to leave Austria and Hungary. German-Austria was largely powerless to prevent the forces of Italy, Czechoslovakia, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes from seizing some of its territory.

Countries on the winning side of the war took many territories with German majorities. The Czechs insisted on the historic borders of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown; thus, three million Germans became Czechoslovak citizens, an indirect precipitant of the Sudetenland crisis 20 years later. A victor nation, Italy occupied and was awarded Trentino and South Tyrol, of which South Tyrol is still majority German-speaking. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) was given parts of Carinthia and Styria. The Klagenfurt region was retained after a plebiscite on 20 October 1920, when three-fifths of voters voted to remain with Austria.

Later plebiscites in the provinces of Tyrol and Salzburg yielded majorities of 98 and 99% in favor of a unification with Germany whereas Vorarlberg in May 1919 held a plebiscite where 81% supported accession to Switzerland.

Several German minority populations in Moravia, including German populations in Brno (Brünn), Jihlava (Iglau) and Olomouc (Olmütz), as well as the German enclave of Gottschee in Carniola also attempted to proclaim their union with German-Austria, but failed. The areas now outside of the current Republic of Austria often had significant non-German minorities and occasionally non-German majorities and were quickly taken by troops of the respective countries they were to eventually join.

Regarding East Silesia, plans for a plebiscite fell through, and the area was divided between Czechoslovakia and Poland.

On the other hand, ethnic Germans in the western part of the Kingdom of Hungary that formed a majority in the area known as German West Hungary and agitated to join to Austria were successful and the area became the state of Burgenland, with the notable exception of the region around the city of Ödenburg (Sopron) which was also intended to be the state capital, but due to a very contentious plebiscite, remained part of Hungary. The only other part of the former German counties of Burgenland in the Kingdom of Hungary also not to become part of the Austrian Republic due to the treaty was Preßburg (Bratislava) which went to Czechoslovakia (now the capital of Slovakia).

Subdivisions

German-Austria originally consisted of nine provinces (Provinzen):

  1. Upper Austria (Oberösterreich), all of the current Austrian state of Upper Austria plus the Bohemian Forest region (Böhmerwaldgau) now in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic;
  2. Lower Austria (Niederösterreich), all of the current Austrian state of Lower Austria and the city-state of Vienna, plus German South Moravia (Deutschsüdmähren), now divided between the Czech regions of South Bohemia, Vysočina, and South Moravia;
  3. German Bohemia (Deutschböhmen), areas of western Bohemia that were later part of Sudetenland from 1938 to 1945, now part of the Czech Republic;
  4. Sudetenland, parts of the historical regions of Moravia and Austrian Silesia. Boundaries do not correspond to later use of the term Sudetenland.
  5. Styria (Steiermark), most of historical Styria including the current Austrian state of Styria and the north-eastern part of the Slovenian informal region of Lower Styria;
  6. Salzburg, all of the current Austrian state of Salzburg;
  7. Carinthia (Kärnten), all of historical Carinthia including the current Austrian state of Carinthia, the Slovenian unofficial region of Carinthia, the Slovenian municipality of Jezersko and the now Italian municipalities of Tarvisio, Malborghetto Valbruna and Pontebba;
  8. German Tyrol (Deutschtirol), most of historical Tyrol including the current Austrian state of Tyrol and the present-day Italian province of South Tyrol, but not the current Italian province of Trentino;
  9. Vorarlberg, all of the current Austrian state of Vorarlberg.

National anthem

Despite the prohibition of the use of the term "German-Austria", the republic's unofficial national anthem between 1920 and 1929 was "German Austria, you wonderful country" (Deutschösterreich, du herrliches Land). Its words were penned by then-Chancellor Karl Renner, a signatory of the Treaty of Saint Germain.

See also

Notes

  1. The name, and its counterpart Cisleithania, is derived from the River Leitha, which formed the boundary between Upper Austria and Hungary.
  2. The collection of Habsburg Hereditary Lands comprising Upper and Lower Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol, Carinthia and Vorarlberg
  3. In fact, Karl never formally abdicated. Instead, he simply declared in his statement of 11 November 1918: "I renounce every participation in the business of the state."

References

  1. The first state coat of arms of the Republic of German Austria, adopted by the State Council on 31 October 1918; design: Karl Renner StGBl. 257/1919
  2. ^ Beller 2006, p. 143.
  3. Brodbeck 2014, p. 7.
  4. ^ Barker 1973, p. 4.
  5. ^ Beller 2006, p. 140.
  6. ^ Healy 2004, p. 6.
  7. Beller 2006, pp. 143–4.
  8. Motyl 2001, pp. 32–33.
  9. Beller 2006, p. 147.
  10. ^ Magocsi 2018, p. 145.
  11. ^ Barker 1973, p. 10.
  12. ^ Brennan 2018, p. 116.
  13. Gulick 2021, p. 60.
  14. Beller 2006, pp. 190–1.
  15. ^ Boyer 1995, p. 439.
  16. Barker 1973, pp. 27–8.
  17. Barker 1973, p. 27.
  18. ^ Barker 1973, p. 28.
  19. Kriechbaumer 2001, p. 439.
  20. Jelavich 1987, p. 151.
  21. http://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?apm=0&aid=sgb&datum=19180000&page=26 Gesetz über die Staatsform. StGBl. Nr. 484/1919
  22. "85 Jahre allgemeines Frauenwahlrecht in Österreich". 2011-03-06. Archived from the original on 2011-03-06. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  23. Moos 2017, pp. 27–39.
  24. "Treaty of Peace between the Allied and Associated Powers and Austria; Protocol, Declaration and Special Declaration [1920] ATS 3". Austlii.edu.au. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
  25. Karl Polanyi, "Austria and Germany", International Affairs – Vol. 12, No. 5 (Sep., 1933), pp. 575–92 (18 pages), Oxford University Press

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