History
| Part of a series on the |
| History of Austria |
|---|
| Early history |
|
| Habsburg era |
|
| World War I |
|
| Interwar years |
|
| World War II |
|
| Post-war Austria |
|
| Austria portal |
In Habsburg Austria-Hungary, "German-Austria" was an unofficial term for the areas of the empire inhabited by Austrian Germans. With the impending collapse of the empire in late 1918, ethnic German deputies to the Cisleithanian Austrian parliament (Reichsrat) 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 Franz Dinghofer of the German National Movement, Jodok Fink of the Christian Social Party, and Karl Seitz of the Social Democratic Workers' Party as assembly presidents. The assembly included representatives from Bohemia, Moravia, and Austrian Silesia who refused to adhere to the new state of Czechoslovakia which had been declared on October 28, 1918.
On November 11, 1918, Emperor Charles I relinquished his right to take part in Austrian affairs of state. The next day, November 12, the National Assembly officially declared German-Austria a republic, and named Karl Renner as provisional chancellor. It drafted a provisional constitution that stated that "German-Austria is a democratic republic" (Article 1) and "German-Austria is a component of the German Republic" (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 November 22, the national assembly officially laid claim to all ethnic German areas of Cisleithania. However, the Allies of World War I opposed such a move and German-Austria was largely powerless to resist the forces of Italy, Czechoslovakia, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes from seizing territory.
On September 10, 1919, Renner signed the Treaty of Saint Germain and it was ratified by the national assembly on October 21. According to its provisions, the country had to change its name from "German Austria" to Austria. Article 88 of the treaty, sometimes called a "pre-Anschluss attempt", states that "the independence of Austria is inalienable otherwise than with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations"--in effect, barring any attempt by Austria to unite with Germany. Likewise, in the Treaty of Versailles 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 First Republic of Austria began.
Read more about this topic: German Austria
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“In history the great moment is, when the savage is just ceasing to be a savage, with all his hairy Pelasgic strength directed on his opening sense of beauty;—and you have Pericles and Phidias,—and not yet passed over into the Corinthian civility. Everything good in nature and in the world is in that moment of transition, when the swarthy juices still flow plentifully from nature, but their astrigency or acridity is got out by ethics and humanity.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry becomes more necessary than ever: it keeps the underground aquifers flowing; it is the liquid voice that can wear through stone.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more”
—John Adams (1735–1826)