Bilateral relations
The
U.S. Embassy in Austria
is located in
Vienna
. Since 2023, the
United States Ambassador to Austria
is
Victoria Reggie Kennedy
.
The
Austrian Embassy in the U.S.
is located in
Washington, D.C.
Currently, the position of the
Austrian Ambassador to the United States
is
Petra Schneebauer
.
[1]
History
[
edit
]
History of relations prior to World War I
[
edit
]
The
Archduchy of Austria
never held any colonies in the Americas. Nevertheless, a few Austrians did settle in what would become the United States prior to the 19th Century, including a group of fifty families from
Salzburg
, exiled for being
Lutherans
in a predominantly
Catholic
state, who established their own community in
Ebenezer, Georgia
in 1734.
[2]
Austria stayed neutral during the
American Revolutionary War
, eventually joining the
First League of Armed Neutrality
, a league of European states organized by
Catherine the Great
of
Russia
during the war to protect neutral shipping, which was often under the threat of being seized or interrupted by the
Royal Navy
.
Austria,
as the epicenter of an empire ruled by a monarch
, was initially reluctant to support the American Revolution, given that the goal of the revolution was to liberate a group of colonies from the tyrannical rule of a foreign monarch.
[3]
The
Continental Congress
had tried to establish diplomatic relations in 1777 by sending
William Lee
to
Vienna
, but the Austrian government did not officially receive him.
[3]
Eventually, Austria did officially recognize the United States as an independent country when, in 1797, Conrad Frederick Wagner was accepted as U.S. Consul at
Trieste
.
[3]
U.S. diplomats to Austria served in the Habsburg-held cities of
Trieste
and
Venice
before an American consulate was established in Vienna on October 10, 1829 (followed by the establishment of a U.S. legation in Vienna headed by
Henry A.P. Muhlenberg
in 1838, with the elevation to embassy status occurring in 1902).
[3]
The United States and the
Austrian Empire
signed a treaty regarding commerce and navigation in 1829.
[3]
An Austrian legation headed by Baron de Mareschal arrived in
Washington, D.C.
in 1838.
[3]
Serious strains occurred in the relations between the two countries as a result of the
Revolutions of 1848
. Professor Stephen Tuffnell states:
- In its frequent and blundering breaches of etiquette with the Habsburgs, American domestic politics were, as ever, catalytic. Thus, as national-separatist revolutions broke open across the European continent in 1848, ebullient support of
Lajos Kossuth
and the Hungarian 48ers in the United States drove Washington and Vienna into conflict. Pro-Hungarian fervour in the Senate and Democratic press, stoked by
Lewis Cass
; State Department flirtation with the recognition of Hungarian independence in the Taylor and Fillmore Presidencies; and, finally, the latter's 1851 'rescue' of Kossuth from the Ottoman Empire on board the
USS Mississippi
precipitated a breach in relations. Only the death of
Daniel Webster
, a major opponent of reconciliation, averted the crisis.
[4]
Both Austria-Hungary and the United States were part of the
Eight-Nation Alliance
that intervened in the
Boxer Rebellion
in
China
from 1899 to 1901.
Over two million people from the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
immigrated to the United States throughout the 19th Century, though because of the empire's multi-ethnic status, it is difficult to determine how many of these immigrants were ethnic Austrians.
[2]
By 1900, over 275,000
Austrian Americans
lived in the United States, with most coming over during the latter half of the 19th Century, settling primarily in
New York
,
California
,
Pennsylvania
,
Florida
,
New Jersey
, and various
Midwestern
states like
Ohio
and
Illinois
. Over 60% of these immigrants came from
Burgenland
.
[2]
World War I and World War II
[
edit
]
In 1917, the United States declared war on the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
alongside the
German Empire
after being drawn into the
First World War
. The war caused diplomatic relations between the United States and the Austro-Hungarian Empire to be terminated on April 8, 1917
[3]
and caused a dramatic decrease in Austrian immigration to the United States.
[2]
The
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
, negotiated between the
Allies
and Austria following the war, officially dissolved the Austro-Hungarian Empire and created the
First Austrian Republic
. The United States never ratified the Treaty of Saint-Germaine-en-Laye. Instead, the United States negotiated
its own peace treaty
with Austria in 1921. The United States officially recognized the independence of the First Austrian Republic on August 24, 1921.
[5]
Nazi Germany
annexed the First Austrian Republic in March 1938 in an event known as the
Anschluss
. The United States closed its legation to Austria on April 30, 1938.
[5]
During
World War II
, American prisoners of war were among
Allied
POWs held in the Stalag XVII-A, Stalag XVII-B, Stalag 317/XVIII-C and Stalag 398
German POW camps
operated in German-annexed Austria.
[6]
Following the war, the United States and the Allies
occupied Austria
from 1945 to 1955. The occupation ended when the Allies signed the
Austrian State Treaty
, which re-established Austria as a sovereign state, creating the modern-day country of the
Second Austrian Republic
.
The U.S. played an important role in Austria's reconstruction after World War II, via the
Marshall Plan
.
History of relations since World War II
[
edit
]
Vienna has frequently been chosen as the venue of key superpower summit meetings, like the
Vienna summit
in June 1961, with
U.S. President
John F. Kennedy
and
Soviet Premier
Nikita Khrushchev
, or the
SALT II
agreement in June 1979, with
U.S. President
Jimmy Carter
and
Soviet General Secretary
Leonid Brezhnev
.
In February 1984, the
President of Austria
Rudolf Kirchschlager
paid a
state visit
to the United States.
[7]
It was the first state visit of an Austrian President to the United States.
[8]
In September 1995,
U.S. President
Bill Clinton
invited the
President of Austria
Thomas Klestil
for a working visit to
Washington, D.C.
,
[9]
which took place on October 19.
[10]
On June 21, 2006,
U.S. President
George W. Bush
held bilateral talks with the
President of Austria
Heinz Fischer
at the
Hofburg Imperial Palace
in
Vienna
, together with
U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice
and
Foreign Minister of Austria
Ursula Plassnik
, shortly before a US-European Union summit.
[11]
[12]
President
Barack Obama
met Chancellor
Werner Faymann
when Obama visited
Prague
on April 5, 2009.
President
Donald Trump
met with Chancellor
Sebastian Kurz
for a bilateral meeting in February 2019 with the aim of "revitalizing the bilateral relationship between the United States and exploring new avenues for transatlantic cooperation...look[ing] to address both global conflicts and those in the European neighborhood, promote economic prosperity, and strengthen energy security."
[13]
U.S. and Austrian troops fought side by side during the
NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina
and
in Kosovo
(despite the fact that Austria is not a part of
NATO
).
[14]
Both the United States and Austria were involved in the
War in Afghanistan
.
According to the 2012 U.S. Global Leadership Report, 31% of
Austrians
approve of U.S. leadership, with 40% disapproving and 29% uncertain.
[15]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Petra Schneebauer Tweeter profile
[
better source needed
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Building the Relationship: Immigration"
.
Austrian Embassy Washington
. Retrieved
26 June
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
"A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country, since 1776: Austrian Empire"
.
Office of the Historian
. Retrieved
26 June
2020
.
- ^
Stephen Tuffnell, review of Sovereignty Transformed: U.S.-Habsburg Relations from 1815 to the Paris Peace Conference, (review no. 1556)
online
- ^
a
b
"A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country, since 1776: Austria (The Republic of)"
.
Office of the Historian
. Retrieved
26 June
2020
.
- ^
Megargee, Geoffrey P.; Overmans, Rudiger; Vogt, Wolfgang (2022).
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933?1945. Volume IV
. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. pp. 307, 386, 484?487.
ISBN
978-0-253-06089-1
.
- ^
"Visits to the U.S. by Foreign Heads of State and Government--1984"
. Bureau of Public Affairs
. Retrieved
22 November
2008
.
- ^
"Remarks of President Reagan and President Rudolf Kirchschlager of Austria at the State Dinner"
. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. 28 February 1984. Archived from
the original
on 24 September 2015
. Retrieved
22 November
2008
.
- ^
Woolley, John T.; Peters, Gerhard (15 September 1995).
"Digest of Other White House Announcements, September 11"
.
The American Presidency Project
.
University of California
. Archived from
the original
on 3 March 2016
. Retrieved
14 December
2008
.
- ^
Woolley, John T.; Peters, Gerhard (20 October 1995).
"Digest of Other White House Announcements, October 19"
.
The American Presidency Project
.
University of California
. Archived from
the original
on 3 March 2016
. Retrieved
14 December
2008
.
- ^
Stolberg, Sheryl Gay (25 June 2006).
"In Europe, Bush Hears a Tale of 2 Prisons"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
17 December
2008
.
- ^
"Gutes und sachliches Gesprach zwischen Bundesprasident Heinz Fischer und US-Prasident George W. Bush"
(in German). Federal President of the Republic of Austria. 21 June 2006. Archived from
the original
on 11 June 2011
. Retrieved
17 December
2008
.
- ^
"Statement by the Press Secretary on the Visit of His Excellency Sebastian Kurz, Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria"
.
whitehouse.gov
. 8 February 2019
. Retrieved
27 June
2020
– via
National Archives
.
- ^
"Relations with Austria"
.
NATO
. 27 November 2018
. Retrieved
26 June
2020
.
- ^
U.S. Global Leadership Project Report - 2012
Gallup
This article incorporates
public domain material
from
U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets
.
United States Department of State
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Frank, Allison. "The Petroleum War of 1910: Standard Oil, Austria, and the Limits of the Multinational Corporation,"
American Historical Review
(2009) 114#1 pp. 16?41
in JSTOR
- Frank, Tibor.
Ethnicity, propaganda, myth-making: Studies on Hungarian connections to Britain and America, 1848-1945
(Akademiai Kiads, 1999)
- Horcicka, Vaclav. "On the Brink of War: The Crisis Year of 1915 in Relations Between the US and Austria-Hungary,"
Diplomacy & Statecraft
(2008) 19#2 pp 187?209. Online. DOI: 10.1080/09592290802096216.3
- Nugent, Walter. "Migration from the German and Austro-Hungarian empires to North America." in
The Cambridge survey of world migration
(1995) pp: 103?108.
- Phelps, Nicole M.
U.S.-Habsburg Relations from 1815 to the Paris Peace Conference
(2013)
online review
- Schmidl, Erwin A. "Lukewarm Neutrality in a Cold War? The Case of Austria."
Journal of Cold War Studies
18.4 (2016): 36-50.
online
- Spaulding, Ernest Wilder.
The quiet invaders: The story of the Austrian impact upon America
(Osterreichischer Bundesverlag, 1968)
- Steidl, Annemarie et al.
From a Multiethnic Empire to a Nation of Nations: Austro-Hungarian Migrants in the US, 1870?1940
(Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2017). 354 pp.
- Trommler, Frank. "Austria Past, Austria Present: Stages of Scholarship in the American University."
Monatshefte
111.1 (2019): 1-18.
online
- Wagnleitner, Reinhold, and Diana M. Wolf.
Coca-colonization and the Cold War: the cultural mission of the United States in Austria after the Second World War
(University of North Carolina Press, 1994)
- Zivojinovic, Dragan R. "The Vatican, Woodrow Wilson, And The Dissolution Of The Hapsburg Monarchy 1914-1918,"
East European Quarterly
(1969) 3#1 pp 31?70.
Primary sources
[
edit
]
- U.S. Department of State.
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955-1957. Vol. 5: Austrian State Treaty; Summit and Foreign Ministers Meetings, 1955
(1992)
External links
[
edit
]
Media related to
Relations of Austria and the United States
at Wikimedia Commons
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