History
Main article: Military history of Austria See also: Imperial and Royal Army during the Napoleonic WarsBundesarchiv Bild 102-00805, Wien, Februarkämpfe, Bundesheer 2.jpg
Between 1918 and 1921, the Austrian semi-regular army was called Volkswehr ("People's Defence"), and fought against Yugoslavian army units occupying parts of Carinthia. It has been known as "Bundesheer" since then, except when Austria was a part of Nazi Germany (1938–1945; see Anschluss). The Austrian Army did develop a defense plan in 1938 against Germany, but politics prevented it from being implemented.
In 1955, Austria declared its Everlasting Neutrality and made neutrality a constitutional law. The Austrian Military's main purpose since then has been the protection of Austria's neutrality.
With the end of the Cold War, the Austrian military have increasingly assisted the border police in controlling the influx of illegal immigrants through Austrian borders. The war in the neighbouring Balkans resulted in the lifting of the restrictions on the range of weaponry of the Austrian military that had been imposed by a 1955 international treaty.
Read more about this topic: Austrian Armed Forces
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“If usually the “present age” is no very long time, still, at our pleasure, or in the service of some such unity of meaning as the history of civilization, or the study of geology, may suggest, we may conceive the present as extending over many centuries, or over a hundred thousand years.”
—Josiah Royce (1855–1916)
“The only history is a mere question of one’s struggle inside oneself. But that is the joy of it. One need neither discover Americas nor conquer nations, and yet one has as great a work as Columbus or Alexander, to do.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“What we call National-Socialism is the poisonous perversion of ideas which have a long history in German intellectual life.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)