Damon Mcknight
Austrian nationalism first arose during the Napoleonic Wars, with Joseph von Hormayr as a prominent Austrian nationalist political leader. The dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I brought about the rise of nationalism in Austria, with three major political groups competing in the young republic: the Social Democratic Party of Austria, the Christian Social Party, and the nationalist Great German Union. The idea of uniting all ethnic Germans into one state was challenged by Austrian nationalism, which identified Austrians by their predominantly Catholic religious identity. After World War II, Austrian nationalism took on a new dimension, with the success of nation-building attributed to the nationalist and pro-Austrian attitudes of the political and social elites. The ''victim doctrine'' became a crucial aspect of Austrian national identity, positioning the country as the first victim of National Socialism and fascism.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date | 19th century, 1848, 1866, 1871, 1879, 1880, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1934, 1938, 1945 |
| Place | Austria, Vienna, Styria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol, Prussia, Bavaria, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Poland, Galicia |
| People | Joseph von Hormayr, Engelbert Dollfuss, Dollfuß, Arthur Seyß-Inquart, Schuschnigg, Anton Rintelen, Karl Renner, Joseph August, Miklós Horthy, Emperor Karl I, Baron István Burián von Rajecz, Kossuth, Jelačić, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler |
| Political Parties/Groups | Austrian nationalism, German nationalism, Bavarian nationalism, Christian Social Party, Austrian Republican Protection League, Fatherland Front, Austrian Nazi Party, German-Liberal Party, German School League, Social Democratic Party of Austria, Communist Party of Austria, Austrian National Socialists, German National Socialist Workers' Party, Czechoslovakian Party, German Workers' Party, National Socialist German Workers' Party, Freedom Party of Austria |
| Events | Napoleonic Wars, Austrian Civil War, February Uprising, First World War, Second World War, Austrian Revolution, Battle of Königgrätz, Unification of "Lesser Germany", Austrian-Hungarian Dissolution, Anschluss |
| Other | Habsburgs, Habsburg monarchy, Austro-Hungarian Empire, German Holy Roman Empire, Habsburg dynasty, Austrian Empire, Austrian Republic, German Unification, National Socialism, Nazism, Fascism, Anti-Semitism, Anti-Clericalism, Pan-Germanism |
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What You'll Learn
Austrian nationalism arose during the Napoleonic Wars
Austrian nationalism first arose during the Napoleonic Wars, with Joseph von Hormayr as a prominent Austrian nationalist political leader. The Napoleonic Wars were the cause of the final dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, and ultimately the cause for the quest for a German nation-state in 19th-century German nationalism. German nationalism began to rise rapidly within the German Confederation, and the idea of uniting all ethnic Germans into one state began to be challenged with the rise of Austrian nationalism.
The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a multinational European great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, it was the third most populous monarchy in Europe after the Russian Empire and the United Kingdom. It was the third-largest empire in Europe geographically. The empire was proclaimed by Francis II in 1804 in response to Napoleon's declaration of the First French Empire, unifying all Habsburg possessions under one central government. It remained part of the Holy Roman Empire until the latter's dissolution in 1806.
The Napoleonic Wars saw Austria take the field against the French in 1805, with the Austrian army inadequately equipped, insufficiently trained, under strength, and indifferently led. The war had come about due to miscalculations by Austrian foreign ministers, who believed that an alliance with Russia in 1804 would deter Napoleon from attacking either of the eastern empires. Napoleon, however, marched his army quickly into Germany and surrounded an Austrian army at Ulm, compelling its surrender. He then advanced to Vienna, which he took in November 1805, before moving into Moravia, where he defeated the Austrians and Russians at the Battle of Austerlitz on December 2, 1805. Austria concluded peace immediately (Treaty of Pressburg, December 26, 1805).
In the latter period of the Napoleonic Wars, Metternich exerted a large degree of influence over foreign policy in the Austrian Empire. Initially supporting an alliance with France, arranging the marriage between Napoleon and Francis I's daughter, Marie-Louise, by the 1812 campaign, he realized the inevitability of Napoleon's downfall and took Austria to war against France. Metternich's influence at the Congress of Vienna was remarkable, and he became the premier statesman in Europe and the virtual ruler of the Empire until 1848, when he was overthrown due to the rise of liberalism.
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German nationalism emerged as a rival to Austrian nationalism
Austrian nationalism first arose during the Napoleonic Wars, with Joseph von Hormayr as a prominent Austrian nationalist political leader at the time. However, Austrian nationalism has been challenged internally, with its main rival being German nationalism. German nationalism is a political ideology and historical current in Austrian politics. It first arose in the 19th century as a nationalist movement among the German-speaking population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The German National Movement sought the creation of a Greater Germany, along with the implementation of anti-Semitic and anti-clerical policies, to entrench the German ethnic identity. The German National Movement accused the German-Liberal Party of not fighting for the rights of German speakers within the Empire. In response, the "German School League" was formed in 1880 to protect German-language schools in parts of the Empire where German speakers were a minority.
After the Austrian defeat in the Battle of Königgrätz in 1866, and the unification of "Lesser Germany" under Prussian rule in 1871, the German Austrians in the Austro-Hungarian Empire felt excluded from the German nation-state. This exclusion was a source of tension, as German Austrians felt that they had been wrongly left out while other ethnicities within the Empire were tearing it apart. The desire for integration among Austrians remained strong, especially among liberals, social democrats, and Catholics, who were a minority within Protestant Germany.
In the 1930s, the Fatherland Front government of Engelbert Dollfuss and Kurt Schuschnigg rejected the idea of unification with a Protestant-dominated Germany, asserting that Austria needed to revive itself and recognize its greatness within the German Holy Roman Empire. After World War II, both pan-Germanism and the idea of political union with Germany became unpopular due to their association with Nazism and the rise of a civic Austrian national identity.
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Bavarian nationalism challenged the Austrian Republic
Bavarian nationalism has challenged the Austrian Republic on several occasions, particularly in the aftermath of World War I and World War II.
Post-World War I
After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire following World War I, Bavarian nationalism emerged as a rival to Austrian nationalism. Proposals were made for Austria to join Bavaria, particularly with regard to the regions of North Tyrol and Upper Austria, which the Bavarian government sought to incorporate into Bavaria. This proposal gained significant support among North Tyrolese, who wished to join Bavaria. This challenge to the Austrian Republic was serious enough to prompt the German government to propose the Anschluss, or the unification of Austria into Germany.
Post-World War II
During the Nazi takeover in Germany, the Bavarian government was overthrown, and Bavarian opposition was suppressed. Initially, many Bavarians supported Germany's war efforts, but this support declined as the end of the war neared. Bavarian nationalism re-emerged towards the end of the war, seeking Allied support for an independent Bavaria. After World War II, Bavarian nationalism continued to be a political force in Bavarian state politics, with the Bavaria Party polling up to 20% in state and federal elections.
Historical Context
Bavarian nationalism has its origins in the Austro-Prussian War, where Bavaria, politically and culturally closer to Catholic Austria, allied with Austria against Protestant Prussia. After their defeat, Bavaria joined the Prussian-founded German Empire in 1871, but Bavarian nationalists opposed Prussian domination and further integration into the German Empire. Bavarian nationalism grew in strength after World War I, becoming popular among revolutionary and reactionary movements, often associated with anti-Prussian and anti-Semitic tendencies.
Austrian Nationalism
Austrian nationalism, on the other hand, has emphasized the cultural unity of Austrians and their Catholic religious identity, which sets them apart from the predominantly Protestant religious identity of Prussia and Germany. Austrian nationalism first arose during the Napoleonic Wars, with Joseph von Hormayr as a prominent leader. In the 1930s, Engelbert Dollfuss, who became chancellor of Austria in 1932, promoted Austrian nationalism and rejected the idea of unification with a Protestant-dominated Germany. Instead, he envisioned a federal state where Austria would have a privileged status within a German Kulturnation.
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Austrian nationalism within the Christian Social Party
Austrian nationalism first arose during the Napoleonic Wars, with Joseph von Hormayr as a prominent Austrian nationalist leader at the time. However, the focus of this answer will be on Austrian nationalism within the Christian Social Party (CSP).
The CSP was a major conservative political party in the Cisleithanian crown lands of Austria-Hungary and under the First Austrian Republic, from 1891 to 1934. The party emerged in the run-up to the 1891 Imperial Council (Reichsrat) elections under the populist Vienna politician Karl Lueger. It was oriented towards the petit bourgeoisie and clerical-Catholic. The CSP was affiliated with Austrian nationalism, which sought to keep Catholic Austria out of the predominantly Protestant State of Germany founded in 1871. The party identified Austrians based on their predominantly Catholic religious identity, in contrast to the predominantly Protestant identity of the Prussians. More than 90% of interbellum Austrians identified as Catholic.
Upon the implementation of universal male suffrage under minister-president Max Wladimir von Beck, the CSP gained a plurality in the 1907 Reichsrat elections, becoming the largest group in the Lower House. However, in the 1911 elections, it lost this position to the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP). Despite initially backing the Austrian government during World War I, the CSP began to oppose German annexation following the dissolution of the Monarchy in October 1918. In the 1919 Austrian Constitutional Assembly election, the CSP gained 35.9% of the votes, becoming the second-strongest party after the Social Democrats.
In the 1920 election, the CSP gained 41.8% of the votes, surpassing the Social Democrats. It formed a right-wing coalition with the nationalist Greater German People's Party (GDVP). All Chancellors of the First Austrian Republic from 1920 onwards were members of the CSP. In the 1930s, the CSP, led by Engelbert Dollfuss, founded the Fatherland Front (Vaterländische Front), merging with other conservative groups. The Fatherland Front was a right-wing conservative, authoritarian, nationalist, and corporatist ruling political organisation of the Federal State of Austria. Dollfuss promoted Austrian nationalism and rejected the idea of Catholic Austria submitting to a Protestant-dominated Germany, instead emphasising Austria's historical greatness, such as its role in the Holy Roman Empire.
Thus, Austrian nationalism within the CSP played a significant role in shaping the country's political landscape and identity, particularly in the early 20th century, and contributed to the rise of right-wing and nationalist sentiments in Austria.
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Austria's post-WWII national identity
Austrian nationalism has been challenged by German nationalism, which has sought to incorporate Austria into a Greater Germany. This rivalry between Austrian and German nationalism has been a recurring theme in Austrian politics, with several political parties expressing pan-German nationalist sentiments.
Following World War II, the idea of unification with Germany became unpopular due to its association with Nazism. The Soviet occupation of Austria, which began in June 1941, resulted in widespread looting, sexual assaults, robberies, and murders committed by Soviet soldiers. The Red Army recruited heavily from liberated prisoners of war, many of whom sought revenge against the Germans. The Austrian population suffered heavy casualties and devastation from American and British bombings, with over 20,000 killed and 67,000 wounded in aerial attacks. Food shortages also posed a critical issue, with daily calorie rations falling significantly in the spring and summer of 1945.
In the aftermath of World War II, Austria struggled with a difficult post-war situation, which many Austrians blamed on the Soviets. The country experienced serious economic problems, including hyperinflation and the loss of industrial areas and natural resources due to the independence of Czechoslovakia. There was also increasing tension between different political groups, such as the Social Democratic Party, the Christian Social Party, and the nationalist Great German Union.
During the Nazi era, Austria was an integral part of the Third Reich, with overwhelming support for the Anschluss among the Austrian population. Approximately 10% of the population, or 700,000 people, joined the Nazi Party, and more than 1.3 million Austrians were drafted into the Wehrmacht between 1938 and 1945. Despite this, Austrians tended to deny continuity with the Nazi regime and cultivated a conservative spirit of national unity. The "victim theory" became a fundamental myth, allowing former Nazis to reintegrate into society while deprecating the struggles for justice by the victims of Nazism, particularly Jews.
In conclusion, Austria's post-World War II national identity was shaped by the country's experience during the war, the Soviet occupation, and the subsequent economic and political challenges. Austrian nationalism emerged as a rival to German nationalism, and the idea of unification with Germany became unpopular due to its association with Nazism. The difficult post-war situation and the legacy of the Nazi regime further influenced Austria's national identity, with Austrians struggling to come to terms with their role in the war and seeking to foster a sense of national unity.
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Frequently asked questions
Austrian nationalism first arose during the Napoleonic Wars, with Joseph von Hormayr as a prominent Austrian nationalist political leader.
After the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, three major political groups competed with one another in the new Austrian republic: the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SDAP), Christian Social Party (CS), and the nationalist Great German Union (GVP). Many Austrians desired to be united with Germany, but this sentiment declined with the fall of the pan-Germanist Social Democrat government under Karl Renner.
The Austrian Civil War, also known as the "February Uprising", was a series of clashes between the right-wing government of Engelbert Dollfuss and the Republican Protection League. The conflict resulted in the death of Dollfuss and the suppression of the Austrian Nazi Party, which had attempted a coup.
After World War II, Austrian nationalism was characterized by a strict pro-Austrian and anti-German attitude. The idea of unification with Germany became unpopular due to its association with Nazism. Austrian national identity was constructed around the notion that Austria was the first victim of National Socialism.
The dissolution of Austria-Hungary resulted from internal social contradictions, the separation of Austrian and Hungarian interests, and external stressors like World War I, crop failures, starvation, and an economic crisis. It led to the rise of leftist and pacifist movements, strikes, and uprisings within the army, ultimately contributing to the fall of the Habsburg monarchy.
