German Austria - History

History

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.