Period of Austrian statehood
The
First Austrian Republic
(
German
:
Erste Osterreichische Republik
), officially the
Republic of Austria
, was created after the signing of the
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
on 10 September 1919?the settlement after the end of
World War I
which ended the
Habsburg
rump state
of
Republic of German-Austria
?and ended with the establishment of the Austrofascist
Federal State of Austria
based upon a dictatorship of
Engelbert Dollfuss
and the
Fatherland's Front
in 1934. The
Republic's constitution
was enacted on 1 October 1920 and amended on 7 December 1929. The republican period was increasingly marked by violent strife between those with
left-wing
and
right-wing
views, leading to the
July Revolt of 1927
and the
Austrian Civil War
of 1934.
Foundation
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In September 1919, the rump state of
German-Austria
? now effectively reduced to the Alpine and Danubian crownlands of the Austrian Empire ? was given reduced borders by the
Treaty of Saint Germain
, which ceded German-populated regions in
Sudetenland
to
Czechoslovakia
,
German-populated South Tyrol
to Italy and a portion of the Alpine provinces to the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
(
Kraljevina Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca
, or SHS, also known as Yugoslavia). Despite Austrian protests this treaty also forbade
Anschluss
, or union of Austria with
Germany
, without
League of Nations
consent. The Allies were not willing to allow a defeated Germany to expand its borders by absorbing what remained of Austria. With this route closed, German-Austria changed its official name to the
Republic of Austria.
The new state managed to block two land claims by its neighbours. The first was the south-eastern part of
Carinthia
, which was inhabited partly by
Slovenians
. It was prevented from being taken over by the new SHS-state through a
Carinthian plebiscite
on October 10, 1920, in which the majority of the population chose to remain with Austria. The second prevented land-claim was Hungary's claim to
Burgenland
, which, under the name "Western Hungary", had been part of the Hungarian kingdom since 907.
[1]
It was inhabited mostly by a German-speaking population, but had also Croat- and Hungarian-speaking minorities. Through the Treaty of St. Germain it became part of the Austrian Republic in 1921. However, after a
plebiscite
which was disputed by Austria, the provincial capital city of
Sopron
(German Odenburg) remained in Hungary.
The Treaty of Saint Germain angered the German population in Austria who claimed that it violated the
Fourteen Points
laid out by United States President
Woodrow Wilson
during peace talks, specifically the right to "self-determination" of all nations. Many of them felt that with the loss of over 70% of the
cisleithanian territory of the prewar empire
, Austria was no longer economically and politically viable as a separate state without union with Germany. Austria now found itself a small, landlocked country of about 6.5 million people, with 4 million Austrian Germans excluded from the new state and instead being placed against their
declared will
under Czechoslovak, Italian, and Yugoslav rule.
Vienna
, with its population of almost 2 million, was left as an imperial capital without an empire to feed it. Only 17.8 percent of Austria's land was arable; the vast majority of arable land in the former Austrian half of the empire was now part of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.
Government and politics, 1920?1934
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The new constitution created a bi-cameral legislature with the upper house ? the
Federal Council
? formed by representatives from federal states and the lower house ? the
National Council
? to which deputies were elected in universal elections. The Federal President was elected for a four-year term in a full session of both houses, while the Chancellor was elected by the National Council. As no political party ever gained a parliamentary majority, Austria was governed by coalitions of the conservative
Christian Social Party
and the right-wing
Greater German People's Party
or
Landbund
which were more conservative than the first government of Social Democrat
Karl Renner
of 1919?20, which had established a number of progressive socioeconomic and labour legislations.
After 1920, Austria's government was dominated by the anti-Anschluss
[2]
Christian Social Party
which retained close ties to the
Roman Catholic Church
. The party's first Chancellor
Ignaz Seipel
came to power in May 1922 and attempted to forge a political alliance between wealthy industrialists and the Roman Catholic Church.
After the
legislative elections
of October 17, 1920, the Social Democrats lost the parliamentary majority and remained in the opposition until 1934, when they were banned by Dollfuss. The Christian Socials won 85, Social Democrats 69, Greater Germany Party 20 and Peasants Union 8 seats.
Michael Hainisch
was elected Federal President. After the
October 1923 elections
Ignaz Seipel stayed in power and resigned in November 1924 when he was succeeded by
Rudolf Ramek
.
In December 1928 the Christian Social
Wilhelm Miklas
was elected to the post of Federal President and on 7 December 1929 the Constitution was amended, reducing the rights of the Parliament, making the Federal President electable by a popular vote and giving him the right to appoint the federal government and to issue emergency laws.
After the
1930 legislative elections
the Social Democrats emerged as the largest party with 72 seats, but Christian Social Chancellor
Otto Ender
created a coalition government without them.
Left?right clashes
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Despite the nation having a steady political party in power, the politics of the nation were fractious and violent, with both Social Democrat (
Republikanischer Schutzbund
) and right-wing (
Heimwehr
) political
paramilitary
forces clashing with each other. The country was divided between the conservative countryside population and
Red Vienna
controlled by the Social Democrats.
In 1927, during a political clash in
Schattendorf
, an old man and a child were shot and killed by the Heimwehr. On 14 July 1927 the shooters were acquitted and left-wing supporters began a massive protest during which the Ministry of Justice building was burned. To restore order, the police and army shot and killed 89 people and injured 600. The huge protest is known as the
July Revolt of 1927
. Social Democrats called for a general strike which lasted four days.
After the 1927 events, the conservative elements became stronger and the violence in Austria continued to escalate until the early 1930s when
Engelbert Dollfuss
became Chancellor.
Economy
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However the new state was difficult to control, as much of the former empire's important economic regions had been taken away with the foundation of new nation-states. The matter was further complicated by the fact that a number of these new nation-states were still dependent on Vienna's banks, but business was hampered by the newly erected borders and tariffs.
The landlocked Austria was barely able to support itself with food and lacked a developed industrial basis. In addition, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Italy had imposed a trade blockade and refused to sell food and coal to Austria, which eventually was saved by aid and support from the Western Allies. By 1922 one USA dollar was worth 19,000 kronen and half the population was unemployed.
[3]
In December 1921 the
Treaty of Lana
between Austria and Czechoslovakia was signed in which Austria recognized the new state borders and relinquished claims to represent ethnic Germans living on the territory of the newly created Czechoslovakia. In return Czechoslovakia provided a loan of 500 million Kronen to Austria.
[4]
In 1922, in an effort to deal with post-war inflation, Chancellor
Ignaz Seipel
asked for foreign loans and introduced austerity policies. In October 1922 Britain, France, Italy and Czechoslovakia provided a loan of 650 million gold kronen after Seipel promised not to attempt Anschluss with Germany for the next 20 years and allowed the League of Nations to control Austria's economy. During the next two years the state budget was stabilized and international supervision over finances ended in March 1926. Austria's central bank
Oesterreichische Nationalbank
was re-established in 1923, a sales tax was introduced in 1923, and the
Austrian Schilling
replaced the Krone in December 1924.
The Great Depression hit Austria hard and in May 1931 the largest bank in Austria,
Creditanstalt
Bank, collapsed.
[5]
To improve its economy, Austria wanted to conclude a
customs union with Germany
, but in 1931 this was denied by France and the countries of the
Little Entente
.
Austrofascism
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Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss of the Christian Social Party took power in Austria on 20 May 1932, and moved the party and Austria towards dictatorship, centralisation and
fascism
, in part because fascist Italy was its strongest international ally against Germany. In March 1933, Dollfuss
suspended the parliament
, which gave him the opportunity to establish an authoritarian government without a parliament. In May 1933 he created the
Fatherland Front
(
German
:
Vaterlandische Front
). While outwardly fascist, it was mostly Catholic and influenced by the papal encyclical
Quadragesimo anno
of 1931 which refuted liberalism and socialism in favour of
corporatism
.
The government was in competition with the growing
Austrian Nazi party
, which wanted Austria to join Germany. Dollfuss's
Austrofascism
tied Austrian identity to the
Roman Catholic Church
as an argument against a union of Austria with predominantly
Protestant
Germany.
Political violence escalated into the
Austrian Civil War
of February 1934, between Social Democrats and government forces. On 1 May 1934, Dollfuss created a
one-party state
, to be led by the Fatherland Front, with the proclamation of the authoritarian "May Constitution". The name of the country was changed from the "Republic of Austria" to the "
Federal State of Austria
". The flag, coat of arms and anthem were changed, too.
Federalism and the controlling powers of the
Federal Council
were curtailed, while elections for the
National Council
were abolished, its members nominated by four non-elective,
corporatist
-styled councils ? the State Council (
Staatsrat
), Federal Culture Council (
Bundeskulturrat
), Federal Economic Council (
Bundeswirtschaftsrat
) and the States' Council (
Landerrat
), supposedly providing their best opinions on respective areas. In practice all legislation and appointments were exercised from above by the Federal Chancellor's and President's decree.
The state took complete control of employer?employee relations, known as Standestaat, and began to crack down on pro-Nazi and pro?German-unification sympathizers. The Nazis responded by assassinating Engelbert Dollfuss during the
July Putsch
of 25 July 1934
[6]
(see
Maiverfassung
1934
).
This assassination by the Austrian Nazis infuriated Austria's neighbour
Fascist Italy
under dictator
Benito Mussolini
. Fascist Italy had good relations with Austria under Dollfuss and Mussolini suspected German involvement and promised the Austrofascist regime military support if Germany were to invade, as the Nazis had claims on Italian-administered Tyrol. Italy's support helped save Austria from potential annexation in 1934.
The successor to Dollfuss,
Kurt Schuschnigg
, maintained the ban on Nazi activities, but also banned Austria's national paramilitary force, the
Heimwehr
, in 1936.
References
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48°12′N
16°22′E
/
48.200°N 16.367°E
/
48.200; 16.367