Austria

==History==
{{Main|History of Austria}}

[[File:2011-07-09 gasometer 28.JPG|thumb|left|[[Venus of Willendorf]], 28,000 to 25,000 BC, at the [[Naturhistorisches Museum|Museum of Natural History Vienna]]]]

The Central European land that is now Austria was settled in pre-Roman times by various [[Celt]]ic tribes. The Celtic kingdom of [[Noricum]] was later claimed by the [[Roman Empire]] and made a province. Present-day Petronell-[[Carnuntum]] in eastern Austria was an important army camp turned capital city in what became known as the Upper Pannonia province. Carnuntum was home for 50,000 people for nearly 400 years.<ref name="Carnuntum Tourism">{{Cite web |title=Rome's metropolis on the Danube awakens to new life |url=http://www.carnuntum.co.at/content-en/tales-from-carnuntum |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116125751/http://www.carnuntum.co.at/content-en/tales-from-carnuntum |archive-date=16 January 2010 |access-date=20 February 2010 |website=Archäologischer Park Carnuntum |publisher=Archäologische Kulturpark Niederösterreich Betriebsgesellschaft m.b.H. }}</ref>

===Middle Ages===
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the area was invaded by [[Bavarians]], [[Slavs]], and [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]].<ref name="johnson 19"/> [[Charlemagne]], King of the Franks, conquered the area in AD 788, encouraged colonisation, and introduced Christianity.<ref name="johnson 19">Johnson 19</ref> As part of [[Eastern Francia]], the core areas that now encompass Austria were bequeathed to the house of [[Babenberg]]. The area was known as the ''[[March of Austria|marchia Orientalis]]'' and was given to [[Leopold I of Austria (Babenberg)|Leopold of Babenberg]] in 976.<ref name="johnson 20">Johnson 20–21</ref>

The first record showing the name Austria is from 996, where it is written as ''[[Ostarrîchi]]'', referring to the territory of the Babenberg March.<ref name="johnson 20"/> In 1156, the [[Privilegium Minus]] elevated Austria to the status of a duchy. In 1192, the Babenbergs also acquired the Duchy of [[Styria (duchy)|Styria]]. With the death of [[Frederick II of Austria|Frederick II]] in 1246, the line of the Babenbergs was extinguished.<ref name="johnson 21">Johnson 21</ref>

As a result, [[Ottokar II of Bohemia]] effectively assumed control of the duchies of Austria, Styria, and [[Carinthia (duchy)|Carinthia]].<ref name="johnson 21"/> His reign came to an end with his defeat at [[Dürnkrut]] at the hands of [[Rudolph I of Germany]] in 1278.<ref>Lonnie Johnson 23</ref> Thereafter, until World War I, Austria's history was largely that of its ruling dynasty, the [[Habsburgs]].

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburgs]] began to accumulate other provinces in the vicinity of the Duchy of Austria. In 1438, Duke [[Albert V of Austria]] was chosen as the successor to his father-in-law, Emperor [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund]]. Although Albert himself only reigned for a year, henceforth every emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was a Habsburg, with only one exception.

The Habsburgs began also to accumulate territory far from the hereditary lands. In 1477, Archduke [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian]], only son of Emperor [[Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick III]], married the heiress Maria of [[County of Burgundy|Burgundy]], thus acquiring most of the [[Netherlands]] for the family.<ref name="johnson 25">Lonnie Johnson 25</ref><ref name="brook 11">Brook-Shepherd 11</ref> In 1496, his son [[Philip I of Castile|Philip the Fair]] married [[Joanna the Mad]], the heiress of [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] and [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]], thus acquiring Spain and its Italian, African, [[Philippines|Asian]], and [[New World]] appendages for the Habsburgs.<ref name="johnson 25"/><ref name="brook 11"/>

In 1526, following the [[Battle of Mohács]], [[Bohemia]] and the part of [[Hungary]] not occupied by the Ottomans came under Austrian rule.<ref>Lonnie Johnson 26</ref> [[Ottoman–Hungarian Wars|Ottoman expansion]] into Hungary led to [[Ottoman–Habsburg wars|frequent conflicts]] between the two empires, particularly evident in the [[Long War (Ottoman wars)|Long War]] of 1593 to 1606. The Turks made incursions into [[Styria]] nearly 20 times,<ref>"'' The Catholic encyclopedia''". Charles George Herbermann (1913). Robert Appleton company.</ref> of which some are cited as "burning, pillaging, and taking thousands of slaves".<ref>"''[https://books.google.com/books?id=8-ARAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA560 Bentley's miscellany] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312192545/https://books.google.com/books?id=8-ARAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA560#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=12 March 2024 }}''". Charles Dickens, William Harrison Ainsworth, Albert Smith (1853).</ref> In late September 1529, [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] launched the first [[Siege of Vienna (1529)|siege of Vienna]], which unsuccessfully ended, according to Ottoman historians, with the snowfalls of an early beginning winter.

===17th and 18th centuries===
[[File:Anonym Entsatz Wien 1683.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Vienna]] in 1683 broke the advance of the [[Ottoman Empire]] into Europe.]]

During the long reign of [[Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor]] following the successful [[Battle of Vienna|defence of Vienna]] against the Turks in 1683, under the command of the King of Poland [[John III Sobieski]],<ref>Lonnie Johnson 26–28</ref> the [[Great Turkish War]] resulted in most of Hungary being controlled by Austria. This arrangement was formalized in the [[Treaty of Karlowitz]] in 1699.

Emperor [[Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor]] relinquished many of the gains the empire made in the previous years. He enjoyed the imminent extinction of the [[House of Habsburg]]. Charles VI was willing to offer concrete advantages in territory and authority in exchange for recognition of the [[Pragmatic Sanction of 1713]]. Therefore, his daughter [[Maria Theresa]] was recognized as his heir. With the rise of [[Prussia]], the [[Austria–Prussia rivalry]] began in Germany. Austria participated, together with Prussia and Russia, in the first and the third of the three [[Partitions of Poland]] in 1772 and 1795 respectively.

From that time, Austria became the birthplace of [[classical music]] and played host to different composers including [[Joseph Haydn]], [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]], [[Ludwig van Beethoven]], and [[Franz Schubert]].

===19th century===
{{See also|Austrian Empire|Austria-Hungary}}

[[File:Congress of Vienna.PNG|thumb|left|The [[Congress of Vienna]] met in 1814–15. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the [[French Revolutionary Wars]], the [[Napoleonic Wars]], and the dissolution of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]]]

Austria later became engaged in a war with [[Revolutionary France]], which was highly unsuccessful in the beginning, with successive defeats at the hands of [[Napoleon Bonaparte]], meaning the end of the old [[Holy Roman Empire]] in 1806. Two years earlier,<ref>Lonnie Johnson 34</ref> the [[Austrian Empire|Empire of Austria]] was founded. From 1792 to 1801, the Austrians had suffered 754,700 casualties.<ref>Clodfelter</ref> In 1814, Austria was part of the Allied forces that invaded France and brought to an end the [[Napoleonic Wars]].

It emerged from the [[Congress of Vienna]] in 1815 as one of the continent's four dominant powers and a recognised [[great power]]. The same year, the [[German Confederation]] ({{Lang|de|Deutscher Bund}}) was founded under the presidency of Austria. Because of unsolved social, political, and national conflicts, the German lands were shaken by the [[1848 revolutions]] aiming to create a unified Germany.<ref name="johnson 36">Johnson 36</ref>

[[File:Deutscher Bund.svg|thumb|Map of the [[German Confederation]] with its 39 member sovereign states]]

The various different possibilities for a united Germany were: a [[Kleindeutschland and Großdeutschland|Greater Germany]], or a [[United States of Greater Austria|Greater Austria]] or just the German Confederation without Austria at all. As Austria was not willing to relinquish its German-speaking territories to what would become the [[Unification of Germany|German Empire of 1848]], the crown of the newly formed empire was offered to the Prussian King [[Friedrich Wilhelm IV]]. In 1864, Austria and Prussia fought together against [[Denmark]] and secured the independence from Denmark of the duchies of [[Schleswig]] and [[Holstein]]. As they could not agree on how the two duchies should be administered, though, they fought the [[Austro-Prussian War]] in 1866. Defeated by Prussia in the [[Battle of Königgrätz]],<ref name="johnson 36"/> Austria had to leave the German Confederation and no longer took part in German politics.<ref name="johnson 55">Lonnie Johnson 55</ref><ref>Schulze 233</ref>

After the defeated [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848]], the [[Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867]], the ''Ausgleich'', provided for a dual sovereignty, the [[Austrian Empire]] and the [[Kingdom of Hungary]], under [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz Joseph I]].<ref>Lonnie Johnson 59</ref> The Austrian-Hungarian rule of this diverse empire included various groups, including [[Germans]], [[Hungarians]], Croats, Czechs, [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Rusyns]], Serbs, Slovaks, Slovenes, and Ukrainians, as well as large Italian and Romanian communities.

As a result, ruling Austria-Hungary became increasingly difficult in an age of emerging nationalist movements, requiring considerable reliance on an expanded secret police. Yet, the government of Austria tried its best to be accommodating in some respects: for example, the ''Reichsgesetzblatt'', publishing the laws and ordinances of [[Cisleithania]], was issued in eight languages; and all national groups were entitled to schools in their own language and to the use of their mother tongue at state offices.

[[File:Austria Hungary ethnic.svg|thumb|left|An ethnic map of [[Austria-Hungary]], 1910]]

Many Austrians of all different social circles such as [[Georg Ritter von Schönerer]] promoted strong [[German nationalism in Austria|pan-Germanism]] in hope of reinforcing an ethnic German identity and the annexation of Austria to Germany.<ref name="DPSO">{{Cite web |date=2000 |title=Das politische System in Österreich (The Political System in Austria) |url=http://www.politischebildung.at/upload/polsystem.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140423112116/http://www.politischebildung.at/upload/polsystem.pdf |archive-date=23 April 2014 |access-date=9 July 2014 |publisher=Austrian Federal Press Service |page=24 |language=de |location=Vienna }}</ref> Some Austrians such as [[Karl Lueger]] also used pan-Germanism as a form of populism to further their own political goals. Although Bismarck's policies excluded Austria and the German Austrians from Germany, many Austrian pan-Germans idolised him and wore blue cornflowers, known to be the favourite flower of German Emperor [[William I, German Emperor|William I]], in their buttonholes, along with cockades in the German national colours (black, red, and yellow), although they were both temporarily banned in Austrian schools, as a way to show discontent towards the multi-ethnic empire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Unowsky |first=Daniel L. |title=The Pomp and Politics of Patriotism: Imperial Celebrations in Habsburg Austria, 1848–1916 |publisher=Purdue University Press |date=2005 |page=157}}</ref>

Austria's exclusion from Germany caused many Austrians a problem with their national identity and prompted the Social Democratic Leader [[Otto Bauer]] to state that it was "the conflict between our Austrian and German character".<ref>Evan Burr Bukey, Hitler's Austria: Popular Sentiment in the Nazi Era, 1938–1945, p. 6</ref> The Austro-Hungarian Empire caused ethnic tension between the German Austrians and the other ethnic groups. Many Austrians, especially those involved with the pan-German movements, desired a reinforcement of an ethnic German identity and hoped that the empire would collapse, which would allow an [[Anschluss|annexation of Austria by Germany]].<ref>Brigitte Hamann, Hitler's Vienna: A Portrait of the Tyrant as a Young Man, p. 394</ref>

A lot of Austrian pan-German nationalists protested passionately against minister-president [[Count Kasimir Felix Badeni|Kasimir Count Badeni]]'s language decree of 1897, which made German and Czech co-official languages in Bohemia and required new government officials to be fluent in both languages. This meant in practice that the civil service would almost exclusively hire Czechs, because most middle-class Czechs spoke German but not the other way around. The support of [[ultramontanism|ultramontane]] Catholic politicians and clergy for this reform triggered the launch of the ''[[Away from Rome]]'' movement, which was initiated by supporters of Schönerer and called on "German" Christians to leave the Roman Catholic Church.<ref>{{cite news |last=Suppan |title='Germans' in the Habsburg Empire |publisher=The Germans and the East |date=2008 |pages=164, 172}}</ref>

===Early 20th century ===
{{See also|Republic of German-Austria|First Austrian Republic}}

As the [[Second Constitutional Era]] began in the [[Ottoman Empire]], Austria-Hungary took the opportunity to annex [[Bosnia and Herzegovina in Austria-Hungary|Bosnia and Herzegovina]] in 1908.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina 1908 |url=https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos127.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130323152047/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos127.htm |archive-date=23 March 2013 |access-date=25 March 2013 |publisher=Mtholyoke.edu }}</ref> The [[Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|assassination]] of Archduke [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|Franz Ferdinand]] in [[Sarajevo]] in 1914 by Bosnian Serb [[Gavrilo Princip]]<ref>Johnson 52–54</ref> was used by leading Austrian politicians and generals to persuade the emperor to declare war on Serbia, thereby risking and prompting the outbreak of World War I, which eventually led to the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Over one million Austro-Hungarian soldiers died in World War I.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Grebler |first1=Leo |title=The Cost of the World War to Germany and Austria-Hungary |last2=Winkler |first2=Wilhelm |publisher=Yale University Press |date=1940 |isbn=0-598-94106-1}}</ref>

[[File:GermanAustriaMap.png|thumb|left|upright=1.4|German-speaking provinces claimed by [[German-Austria]] in 1918: The border of the subsequent Second Republic of Austria is outlined in red]]

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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shepard |first=Gordon |title=The Austrians |date=1996 |publisher=Avalon Publishing Group Inc. |isbn=978-0-7867-3066-7}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Austria: notes |url=http://www.archontology.org/nations/austria/au_rep1/01_laws.php |access-date=4 February 2021 |website=Archontology |archive-date=16 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416090109/http://www.archontology.org/nations/austria/au_rep1/01_laws.php |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Treaty of Saint-Germain]] of 1919 (for Hungary the [[Treaty of Trianon]] of 1920) confirmed and consolidated the new order of Central Europe which to a great extent had been established in November 1918, creating new states and altering others. The German-speaking parts of Austria which had been part of Austria-Hungary were reduced to a rump state named the Republic of German-Austria (German: ''Republik Deutschösterreich''), though excluding the predominantly German-speaking [[South Tyrol]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Moos |first=Carlo |title=A Land on the Threshold. South Tyrolean Transformations, 1915–2015 |pages=27–39 |date=2017 |editor-last=Georg Grote and Hannes Obermair |contribution=Südtirol im St. Germain-Kontext |place=Oxford-Berne-New York |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-3-0343-2240-9}}</ref><ref>In Habsburg Austria-Hungary, "German-Austria" was an unofficial term for the areas of the empire inhabited by Austrian Germans.</ref><ref>Alfred D. Low, ''The Anschluss Movement, 1918–1919, and the Paris Peace Conference'', pp. 135–138.</ref> The desire for the annexation of Austria to Germany was a popular opinion shared by all social circles in both Austria and Germany.<ref>Alfred D. Low, ''The Anschluss Movement, 1918–1919, and the Paris Peace Conference'', pp. 3–4</ref> On 12 November, German-Austria was declared 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 reich" (Article 2).<ref>Mary Margaret Ball, ''Post-war German-Austrian Relations: The Anschluss Movement, 1918–1936'', pp. 11–15</ref> The Treaty of Saint Germain and the [[Treaty of Versailles]] explicitly forbade union between Austria and Germany.<ref>Roderick Stackelberg, ''Hitler's Germany: Origins, Interpretations, Legacies'', pp. 161–162</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Treaty of Peace between the Allied and Associated Powers and Austria; Protocol, Declaration and Special Declaration [1920&#93; ATS 3 |url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1920/3.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000917221810/http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1920/3.html |archive-date=17 September 2000 |access-date=15 June 2011 |publisher=Austlii.edu.au }}</ref> The treaties also forced German-Austria to rename itself as "Republic of Austria" which consequently led to the first [[First Austrian Republic|Austrian Republic]].<ref>Mary Margaret Ball, ''Post-war German-Austrian Relations: The Anschluss Movement, 1918–1936'', pp. 18-19</ref><ref>Montserrat Guibernau, ''The Identity of Nations'', pp. 70–75</ref>

Over three million German-speaking Austrians found themselves living outside the new Austrian Republic as minorities in the newly formed or enlarged states of [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Yugoslavia]], [[Hungary]], and Italy.<ref>Brook-Shepherd 246</ref> These included the provinces of [[South Tyrol]], and [[German Bohemia]]. The status of German Bohemia and [[Sudetenland]] later played a role in World War II.<ref name="a1">Brook-Shepherd 245</ref>

The border between Austria and the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]] was settled with the [[Carinthian Plebiscite]] in October 1920 and allocated the major part of the territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Crownland of [[Carinthia]] to Austria. This set the border on the [[Karavanke]] mountain range, with many Slovenes remaining in Austria.

===Interwar period and World War II===
{{See also|First Austrian Republic|Federal State of Austria|Anschluss|Austria within Nazi Germany|History of the Jews in Austria#The Holocaust in Austria}}

After the war, inflation began to devalue the Krone, which was still Austria's currency. In autumn 1922, Austria was granted an international loan supervised by the [[League of Nations]].<ref>Brook-Shepherd 257–258</ref> The purpose of the loan was to avert bankruptcy, stabilise the currency, and improve Austria's general economic condition. The loan meant that Austria passed from an independent state to the control exercised by the League of Nations. In 1925, the ''[[Austrian schilling]]'' was introduced, replacing the Krone at a rate of 10,000:1. Later, it was nicknamed the "Alpine dollar" due to its stability. From 1925 to 1929 the economy enjoyed a short high before nearly crashing after [[Wall Street Crash of 1929|Black Tuesday]].

The [[First Austrian Republic]] lasted until 1933, when Chancellor [[Engelbert Dollfuss]], using what he called [[Selbstausschaltung des Parlaments|"self-switch-off of Parliament"]], established an autocratic regime tending towards [[Italian fascism]].<ref name="johnson 104">Lonnie Johnson 104</ref><ref name="brook 269">Brook-Shepherd 269–270</ref> The two big parties at this time, the Social Democrats and the Conservatives, had paramilitary armies;<ref name="Brook-Shepherd 261">Brook-Shepherd 261</ref> the Social Democrats' ''[[Republikanischer Schutzbund]]'' was now declared illegal, but was still operative<ref name="Brook-Shepherd 261"/> as the 12–15 February 1934 [[Austrian Civil War]] broke out.<ref name="johnson 104"/><ref name="brook 269"/><ref name="johnson 107">Johnson 107</ref>

In February 1934, several members of the ''Schutzbund'' were executed,<ref>Brook-Shepherd 283</ref> the Social Democratic party was outlawed, and many of its members were imprisoned or emigrated.<ref name="johnson 107"/> On 1 May 1934, the [[Austrofascism|Austrofascists]] imposed a new constitution ("Maiverfassung") which cemented Dollfuss's power, but on 25 July he was assassinated in an [[Austrian Nazi]] [[July Putsch|coup attempt]].<ref>Lonnie Johnson 109</ref><ref>Brook-Shepherd 292</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-0922-500, Wien, Heldenplatz, Rede Adolf Hitler.jpg|thumb|[[Adolf Hitler]] speaking at [[Heldenplatz]], Vienna, 1938]]
His successor [[Kurt Schuschnigg]] acknowledged the fact that Austria was a "German state" and he also believed that Austrians were "better Germans" but he wished that Austria would remain independent.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ryschka |first=Birgit |title=Constructing and Deconstructing National Identity: Dramatic Discourse in Tom Murphy's The Patriot Game and Felix Mitterer's In Der Löwengrube |date=1 January 2008 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-3-631-58111-7 }}</ref> He announced a [[referendum]] on 9 March 1938, to be held on 13 March, concerning Austria's independence from Germany.

==== Nazi rule ====
On 12 March 1938, Austrian Nazis took over the government, while German troops occupied the country, which prevented Schuschnigg's referendum from taking place.<ref name="johnson 112">Lonnie Johnson 112-113</ref> On 13 March 1938, the ''[[Anschluss]]'' ({{literal translation|joining|connection}}) of Austria was officially declared. Two days later, Austrian-born [[Adolf Hitler]] announced what he called the "reunification" of his home country with the "rest of the [[Nazi Germany|German Reich]]" on Vienna's [[Heldenplatz]]. He established a referendum which confirmed the union with Germany in April 1938.

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 they 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, Roma and Sinti were not allowed to vote.<ref>Robert Gellately, Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany, (2001), p. 216</ref> Turnout in the election was officially 99.5 percent, with 98.9 percent voting "yes". In the case of Austria, Adolf Hitler's native soil, 99.71 percent of an electorate of 4,484,475 officially went to the ballots, with a positive tally of 99.73 percent.<ref name="test">[[1938 German election and referendum]]</ref> Although most Austrians favored 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.<ref>Evan Burr Bukey, Hitler's Austria: Popular Sentiment in the Nazi Era, 1938–1945, p. 33</ref> 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'',<ref>Ian Kershaw (2001) Hitler 1936-1945" Nemesis, p.83</ref> since many Germans from both Austria and Germany saw it as completing the long overdue unification of all Germans into one state.<ref>Roderick Stackelberg, Hitler's Germany: Origins, Interpretations, Legacies, p.170</ref>

[[File:OstmarkMap.png|thumb|upright=1.25|Austria in 1941 when it was known as the "Ostmark"]]
On 13 March 1938, Austria was annexed by the [[Third Reich]] and ceased to exist as an independent country (the ''Anschluss''). The [[Aryanization (Nazism)|Aryanisation]] of the wealth of Jewish Austrians started immediately in mid-March, with a so-called "wild" (i.e. extra-legal) phase, but it was soon structured legally and bureaucratically so the assets which Jewish citizens possessed could be stripped from them. At that time, [[Adolf Eichmann]], who grew up in Austria, was transferred to Vienna and ordered to persecute the Jews. During the November pogrom in 1938 ("Reichskristallnacht"), Jews and Jewish institutions such as synagogues were subjected to violent attacks in Vienna, Klagenfurt, Linz, Graz, Salzburg, Innsbruck and several cities in Lower Austria.<ref>{{Cite web |title=DÖW – Erkennen – Ausstellung – 1938 – Die Verfolgung der österreichischen Juden |url=https://www.doew.at/erkennen/ausstellung/1938/die-verfolgung-der-oesterreichischen-juden |website=www.doew.at |access-date=21 February 2021 |archive-date=6 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706103854/https://www.doew.at/erkennen/ausstellung/1938/die-verfolgung-der-oesterreichischen-juden |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Jüdische Gemeinde – Wien (Österreich) |url=https://www.xn--jdische-gemeinden-22b.de/index.php/gemeinden/u-z/2087-wien-oesterreich |website=www.xn—jdische-gemeinden-22b.de |access-date=21 February 2021 |archive-date=10 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220610035119/https://www.xn--jdische-gemeinden-22b.de/index.php/gemeinden/u-z/2087-wien-oesterreich |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Jewish Vienna |url=https://www.wien.gv.at/english/culture/jewishvienna |website=www.wien.gv.at |access-date=21 February 2021 |archive-date=16 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416073430/https://www.wien.gv.at/english/culture/jewishvienna/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.zeit.de/2018/11/nationalsozialismus-oesterreich-anschluss-antisemitismus-adolf-eichmann/komplettansicht |title=Hitlers willige Vasallen |newspaper=Die Zeit |date=12 March 2018 |access-date=21 February 2021 |archive-date=5 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505105703/https://www.zeit.de/2018/11/nationalsozialismus-oesterreich-anschluss-antisemitismus-adolf-eichmann/komplettansicht |url-status=live |last1=Riedl |first1=Joachim }}</ref><ref>Wolfgang Häusler, ''Das Jahr 1938 und die österreichischen Juden.'' In: Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstandes: "Anschluß" 1938. Vienna, 1988.</ref> [[Otto von Habsburg]], a vehement opponent of the Nazis, the last Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, an honorary citizen of hundreds of places in Austria and partly envisaged by Schuschnigg as a monarchical option, was in Belgium at the time. He spoke out against the Anschluss and was then wanted by the Nazi regime and his property would have been expropriated and he would have been shot immediately if he were caught.<ref>Elisabeth Boeckl-Klamper, Thomas Mang, Wolfgang Neugebauer, ''Gestapo-Leitstelle Wien 1938–1945.'' Vienna 2018, {{ISBN|978-3-9024-9483-2}}, pp. 299–305; James Longo, ''Hitler and the Habsburgs: The Fuhrer's Vendetta Against the Austrian Royals'' (2018); Stephan Baier, Eva Demmerle, ''Otto von Habsburg. Die Biografie.'' Amalthea, Wien 2002, {{ISBN|978-3-8500-2486-0}}, p. 122.</ref> In 1938, the Nazis renamed Austria the "[[Ostmark (Austria)|Ostmark]]",<ref name="johnson 112"/> a name which it had until 1942, when it was renamed the "Alpine and Danubian Gaue" (Alpen-und Donau-Reichsgaue).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jelavich |first=Barbara |title=Modern Austria: Empire and Republic, 1815–1986 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-521-31625-5 |page=227}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schmitz-Berning |first=Cornelia |title=Vokabular des Nationalsozialismus |publisher=de Gruyter |date=2007 |isbn=978-3-11-019549-1 |page=24 |language=de}}</ref>

Though Austrians made up only 8 percent of the population of the Third Reich,<ref name="dav_art_nazi_past"/> some of the most prominent Nazis were native Austrians, including [[Adolf Hitler]], [[Ernst Kaltenbrunner]], [[Arthur Seyss-Inquart]], [[Franz Stangl]], [[Alois Brunner]], [[Friedrich Rainer]], and [[Odilo Globocnik]],<ref>Ian Wallace (1999) "German-speaking exiles in Great Britain" Rodopi p.81 ISBN 9789042004153</ref> as were over 13 percent of the members of the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] and 40 percent of the staff at the Nazi [[extermination camp]]s.<ref name="dav_art_nazi_past">David Art (2006) "The politics of the Nazi past in Germany and Austria" Cambridge University Press p.43 ISBN 9780521856836</ref> In the [[Austria under National Socialism|Reichsgau]], besides the main camp [[Mauthausen concentration camp|KZ-Mauthausen]], there were numerous sub-camps in all provinces where Jews and other prisoners were killed, tortured and exploited.<ref>Österreichische Historikerkommission, ''Schlussbericht der Historikerkommission der Republik Österreich.'' Volume 1, 2003, pp 85.</ref> At this time, because the territory was outside the operational radius of Allied aircraft, the armaments industry was greatly expanded through the forced labor of concentration camp prisoners, this was especially the case with regard to the manufacture of fighter planes, tanks and missiles.<ref>Norbert Schausberger, ''Rüstung in Österreich 1938–1945'', Vienna (1970).</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=26 July 2010 |title=Hitlers Schuldendiktat: Wie Hitlers Kriegswirtschaft wirklich lief |url=https://profil.at/home/hitlers-schuldendiktat-wie-hitlers-kriegswirtschaft-273933 |publisher=profil.at |access-date=1 April 2021 |archive-date=15 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415232658/https://www.profil.at/home/hitlers-schuldendiktat-wie-hitlers-kriegswirtschaft-273933 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Zwangsarbeit für die Rüstungsindustrie |publisher=KZ-Gedenkstätte Mauthausen |url=https://www.mauthausen-memorial.org/de/Wissen/Das-Konzentrationslager-Mauthausen-1938-1945/Zwangsarbeit-fuer-die-Ruestungsindustrie |website=www.mauthausen-memorial.org |access-date=21 February 2021 |archive-date=16 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416090110/https://www.mauthausen-memorial.org/de/Wissen/Das-Konzentrationslager-Mauthausen-1938-1945/Zwangsarbeit-fuer-die-Ruestungsindustrie |url-status=live }}</ref>

Most of the [[Austrian resistance|resistance groups]] were soon crushed by the [[Gestapo]]. While the plans of the group around [[Karl Burian]] to blow up the Gestapo's headquarters in Vienna were uncovered,<ref>Karl Glanz (2020) ''Die Sozialdemokratie'' p 28</ref> the important group around the later executed priest [[Heinrich Maier]] managed to contact the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. This so-called Maier-Messner group was able to send the Allies information about armaments factories where [[V-1 flying bomb]]s, [[V-2 rocket]]s, [[Tiger I|Tiger tanks]] and aircraft ([[Messerschmitt Bf 109]], [[Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet]], etc.) were manufactured, information which was important to the success of [[Operation Crossbow]] and [[Operation Hydra (1943)|Operation Hydra]], both of which were preliminary missions before the launch of [[Operation Overlord]]. This resistance group, which was in contact with the American secret service ([[Office of Strategic Services|OSS]]), soon provided information about mass executions and [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]] such as [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]]. The group's aim was to cause Nazi Germany to lose the war as quickly as possible and re-establish an independent Austria.<ref>Christoph Thurner (2017) ''The CASSIA Spy Ring in World War II Austria: A History of the OSS's Maier-Messner Group'' p. 35.</ref><ref>Elisabeth Boeckl-Klamper, Thomas Mang, Wolfgang Neugebauer, (2018) ''Gestapo-Leitstelle Wien 1938–1945'' ISBN 9783902494832 p 299-305</ref><ref>Hansjakob Stehle, "Die Spione aus dem Pfarrhaus (German: The spies from the rectory)". In: Die Zeit, 5 January 1996</ref>

[[File:KZ Mauthausen.jpg|thumb|left|The liberation of [[Mauthausen concentration camp]], 1945]]

=== Allied occupation ===
Vienna fell on 13 April 1945, during the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[Vienna offensive]], just before the total collapse of the Third Reich. The invading Allied powers, in particular the Americans, planned for the supposed "Alpine Fortress Operation" of a national redoubt, that was largely to have taken place on Austrian soil in the mountains of the [[Eastern Alps]]. However, it never materialised because of the rapid collapse of the Reich.

[[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]].<ref name="johnson 135">Lonnie Johnson 135-136</ref> (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 Constitutional Law]] of 1920, which had been terminated by dictator Dollfuss on 1 May 1934, was declared valid again. The total number of [[World War II casualties#endnote Austria|Austrian military deaths]] from 1939 to 1945 was 260,000.<ref>Rüdiger Overmans (2000) ''Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg'' Oldenbourg</ref> The total number of Jewish [[The Holocaust in Austria|Austrian Holocaust]] victims was 65,000.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/44183/Austria/33382/Anschluss-and-World-War-II Anschluss and World War II] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090820033236/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/44183/Austria/33382/Anschluss-and-World-War-II |date=20 August 2009 }}. Britannica Online Encyclopedia.</ref> About 140,000 Jewish Austrians had fled from the country in 1938–39. Thousands of Austrians had taken part in serious Nazi crimes (hundreds of thousands of people died in the [[Mauthausen concentration camp|Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp]] alone), a fact which was officially acknowledged by Chancellor [[Franz Vranitzky]] in 1992.[[File:Uno City Kaiserwasser.jpg|thumb|right|The [[United Nations Office in Vienna]]]]
[[Allied-occupied Austria]] was after [[World War II]] divided into [[military occupation]] zones. Austria was governed by the [[Allied Commission for Austria]].<ref>Lonnie Johnson 137</ref> As stipulated in the [[Moscow Declaration]] of 1943 a subtle difference was seen in the treatment of Austria by the Allies.<ref name="johnson 135"/>

The Austrian government, consisting of Social Democrats, Conservatives, and Communists resided in [[Vienna]], which was surrounded by the Soviet zone. This Austrian government was recognised by the [[allies of World War II]] in October 1945 after concerns that [[Karl Renner]] could be Stalin's puppet.<ref>Manfried Rauchensteiner, ''Der Sonderfall. Die Besatzungszeit in Österreich 1945 bis 1955'' (The Special Case. The Time of Occupation in Austria 1945 to 1955), edited by Heeresgeschichtliches Museum / Militärwissenschaftliches Institut (Museum of Army History / Institute for Military Science), Vienna 1985</ref> On 26 July 1946 the Austrian Parliament passed its first [[nationalization]] law and approximately 70 mining and manufacturing companies were seized by the Austrian state. The Ministry of Property Protection and Economic Planning (''Ministerium für Vermögenssicherung und Wirtschaftsplanung'') was responsible for directing the nationalized industries under the directorship of Minister [[Peter Krauland]] (party ÖVP).<ref>{{cite book | editor1=Gunter Bischof |title=Austria in the Nineteen Fifties |publisher= Taylor & Francis |year=2020 |page= |isbn=978-1-000-67584-9 }}</ref>

=== Independence ===
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 allies of World War II. On 26 October 1955 all occupation troops had left and Austria declared its ''permanent neutrality'' by an act of parliament.<ref name="johnson 153">Lonnie Johnson 153</ref> This day is now Austria's [[National Day]], a public holiday.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Austrian National Day |url=https://www.austria.org/national-day |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025070927/https://www.austria.org/national-day |archive-date=25 October 2018 |access-date=24 October 2018 |publisher=Austrian Embassy, Washington |language=en-US }}</ref>

The status of [[Tyrol]] is a lingering problem between Austria and [[Italy]]. To this day, there are 20 different squares in Austrian cities called "Südtiroler Platz" (South Tyrolean Square) in memory of the supposed loss of the Austrian territories. Riots by the [[South Tyrolean independence movement]] have been documented in the 1950s and 1960s. A great degree of autonomy was granted to Tyrol by the Italian national government.

[[File:Tratado de Lisboa 13 12 2007 (081).jpg|thumb|right|Austria joined the [[European Union]] in 1995 and signed the [[Lisbon Treaty]] in 2007]]
The political system of the [[Second Austrian Republic|Second Republic]] is based on the constitution of 1920 and 1929, which was reintroduced in 1945. The system came to be characterised by ''[[Proporz]]'', whereby most posts of political importance were split proportionately between members of the [[Social Democratic Party of Austria]] (SPÖ) and the [[Austrian People's Party]] (ÖVP).<ref>Lonnie Johnson 139</ref> Interest group "chambers" with mandatory membership (e.g. for workers, business people, farmers) grew to considerable importance and were usually consulted in the legislative process, so hardly any legislation was passed that did not reflect widespread consensus.<ref>Lonnie Johnson 165</ref>

Since 1945, governing via a single-party government has occurred twice: 1966–1970 (ÖVP) and 1970-1983 (SPÖ). During all other legislative periods, either a [[grand coalition]] of SPÖ and ÖVP or a "small coalition" (one of these two and a smaller party) ruled the country.

[[Kurt Waldheim]], the former secretary-general of the [[United Nations]], was elected President of Austria from 1986 to 1992. He had been a Wehrmacht officer in the Second World War and was [[Austria — the Nazis' first victim#Waldheim Affair|accused of war crimes]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kurt Waldheim {{!}} president of Austria and secretary-general of the United Nations |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kurt-Waldheim |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926052356/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kurt-Waldheim |archive-date=26 September 2018 |access-date=25 September 2018 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en }}</ref>

Following a [[1994 Austrian European Union membership referendum|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.<ref>Brook-Shepherd 447,449</ref>

The major parties SPÖ and ÖVP have contrary opinions about the future status of Austria's military nonalignment: While the SPÖ in public supports a neutral role, the ÖVP argues for stronger integration into the EU's security policy; even a future NATO membership is not ruled out by some ÖVP politicians (ex. Werner Fasslabend (ÖVP) in 1997).{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}} In reality, Austria is taking part in the EU's [[Common Foreign and Security Policy]], participates in [[peacekeeping]] and peace creating tasks, and has become a member of [[NATO]]'s "[[Partnership for Peace]]"; the constitution has been amended accordingly.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=North Atlantic Treaty Organization |title=Signatures of Partnership for Peace Framework Document |date=October 5, 2006 |url=http://www.nato.int/pfp/sig-cntr.htm |access-date=February 17, 2024 |archive-date=29 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061129213256/http://www.nato.int/pfp/sig-cntr.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Since [[Liechtenstein]] joined the [[Schengen Area]] in 2011, none of Austria's neighbouring countries performs border controls towards it anymore.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Press corner |url=https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_11_1566 |website=European Commission – European Commission |language=en |access-date=9 December 2021 |archive-date=4 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204100203/https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_11_1566 |url-status=live }}</ref>