Austria–Germany relations
Relations between Austria and Germany are close due to their shared history, with German being the official language and Germans being the ethnic group of both nations, and bordering each other.
Among the ancestors of Austrians were the Germanic Baiuvarii.
In early history the Baiuvarii established the Duchy of Bavaria ruled by Francia of West Germanic Franks from 555 to 843 and including the March of Pannonia that would become Austria in c. 970. Later, the Bavarian Austria came under East Francia from 843 to 962. It then separated from the Duchy of Bavaria to become a sovereign state in 1156, and from 1156 to 1806 Austria and other German-speaking states were part of the Holy Roman Empire, which was officially designated a German polity from 1512 and predominantly led by Austria itself. Austria was part of the German Confederation from 1815 to 1866 and led it.
From 1938 to 1945 under the Nazi regime, Austria was annexed into Germany in the Anschluss.
History
The German Confederation was also led by Austria from 1815 to 1866. In 1866 Austria was firstly separated from Germany and German Confederation was dissolved. In 1867, the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire was established and led by Austria; it was rivaled by the North German Confederation from 1866 to 1871 and German Empire led by the Kingdom of Prussia rivaled Austria. Militarily, Austria and Germany were allies of each other at the time.In 1918, after the end of World War I and with the fall of Austro-Hungarian and German Empires, Austria briefly renamed itself the Republic of German-Austria in a bid for union with Germany; an action forbidden by the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye created by the winners of World War I against both Germany and Austria and as a result; throughout much of the Interwar period, Austria and Germany continued to remain as separate and distinct entities.
However, in 1938, Nazi Germany led by Austrian-born Adolf Hitler annexed Austria into Germany in what would come to be called the Anschluss. Following the fact that Austria under Allied control claimed independence to be secondly separated from Germany on 27 April 1945, the German identity in Austria has been weakened. The 1955 Austrian State Treaty to let Austria gain power from the Allied occupying the country also banned the reunification of Germany and Austria. The first victim theory was very popular in Austria from its start in 1949 to 1988 that Austria was the first victim of Nazi Germany and therefore had nothing to do with the Nazi German crimes, but this theory has been disproved by Austrians themselves since 1988. In 1990, West Germany and East Germany were reunited.
After Austria's entry into the European Union in 1995, both are member-states of the EU and have same currency and free border; however whereas Germany is a member nation of NATO from 1955, Austria in accordance with its strict constitutional requirement of neutrality is not a NATO member.
Since 2004, meetings of German-speaking countries have been held annually with six participants, including Germany and Austria.
Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe and the European Union.
Holy Roman Empire
At various times, throughout the Middle and Early-modern Ages, the Holy Roman Empire encompassed the bulk of present territories of Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Slovenia, northern Italy and western Poland. The House of Habsburg became the ruling family of the Empire in 1440; the family would remain so until the dissolution of the Empire in 1806.Austria has been the Habsburg's seat of power and the dominant state within the realm. The numerous German states constantly jostled for power and influence; they often warred against each other. In the 18th century, the Kingdom of Prussia rose as another influential power within the HRE; therefore, Prussia became Austria's main rival for dominance over their neighbouring German states. Prussia and Austria fought a series of wars over the province of Silesia between 1740 and 1763. Austria and Prussia co-operated in the Partitions of Poland and the Second Schleswig War, which resulted in annexations of Polish and Danish territory.
Napoleonic Wars and German Confederation
The Holy Roman Empire came to an end during the Napoleonic Wars in the 1790s and 1800s, Austria and Prussia allied with each other but fought unsuccessfully against the French Empire. In 1804, Francis II, the Holy Roman Emperor, proclaimed the Austrian Empire, as the remaining German States had become clients of Napoleon's French Empire under the Confederation of the Rhine.After Napoleon's defeat in 1815, Austria created the German Confederation as a new organisation among the German States, in which Prussia and Austria became reunited. It was during this period that the ideology of Pan-Germanism started to rise. The German Confederation lacked a monarch or a central government with real unifying force. As a result, dualism within the German Confederation laid foundation to the diplomatic tension between Prussia and Austria, who had ambitions to create a unified Germany under their different proposals.
Austria proposed to unite the German states in a union centered on, and dominated by, the Habsburgs; Prussia, however, hoped to become the central forces in unifying the German states and to exclude Austria out of its affairs. In 1834, Prussia succeeded in creating a German Customs Union with northern German states with the hope of political union as its next step. The tension eventually gave rise to the 1866 Austro-Prussian War. Otto von Bismarck, chancellor of Prussia, sided with Italy to surround Austria and bring about the latter's defeat. The Austrian Empire was dissolved into the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, with the loss of their influence over southern German states.
German Empire without Austria
In 1867, the new North German Confederation was declared by Bismarck. After Prussia's victory in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, in which Prussian army entered and marched over Paris, Bismarck announced the creation of the German Empire and excluded Austria-Hungary solely in this unified Germany. Austria-Hungary then turned its imperial ambitions to the Balkan Peninsula; whereas the German Empire focused on building armaments in a race against the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, both the German Empire and Austria-Hungary forged a military alliance with the Kingdom of Italy, forming the Triple Alliance.In the 1910s, Austria-Hungary's ambition of turning Serbia into its protectorate facilitated the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austria-Hungary's throne. When Austria-Hungary stirred up excuses for a war against Serbia, Germany, claiming the Alliance's terms of passive military defence instead of downright aggression, reluctantly entered the war on Austria-Hungary's side.
The 1914 Septemberprogramm authorized by German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg proposed the creation of a Central European Economic Union, comprising a number of European countries, including Germany and Austria-Hungary, in which, as the Chancellor secretly stressed, there was to be a semblance of equality among the member states, but in fact it was to be under German leadership to stabilize Germany's economic predominance in Central Europe, with co-author Kurt Riezler admitting that the union would be a veiled form of German domination in Europe.
Inter-war period
After losing the war, the Habsburgs of Austria-Hungary were overthrown and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicated in 1918. Both Germany and Austria became republics and were heavily punished in the Treaty of Versailles and Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye. Austria lost over 60% of its pre-war territory and was hugely reduced to a rump state, The Republic of German-Austria. The majority in both countries wanted unification with Germany into a Greater German nation, but this was strictly forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles to avoid a dominant German state.On 1 September 1920, the Weimar Republic and Austria concluded an economic agreement. Both countries, however, faced severe economic hardships, hyperinflation, mass unemployment and constant riots after the war. After Austrian-born Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, he demanded the right to Anschluss between Austria and Germany. This was initially blocked by the Italian Fascist government under Benito Mussolini, who cooperated with his Austrian counterparts Engelbert Dollfuss and Kurt Schuschnigg, fearing retrospective territorial demands from Hitler on Südtirol . Mussolini successfully forced Hitler to renounce all claims to Austria on 11 July 1936.
Germany absorbs Austria in Anschluss in 1938
After 1936, Hitler and Mussolini forged a closer relationship in preparation for Germany's expansionist ambitions. Hitler used the Nazi Party of Austria to influence public opinions and staged a coup against the Austrian Fascist government in 1938. When Hitler decided to refrain from reclaiming South Tyrol, Mussolini abandoned his pledge to protect Austria's independence.Berlin forcibly joined Austria and Germany in March 1938, despite it being prohibited by the Versailles and St. Germain treaties. France had blocked an attempt to establish a customs union between the two countries in 1931. In 1934, Austrian Nazis attempted a coup d'etat and killed Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss. However, the coup failed: it was foiled by loyal police and army units, as well as Italian support for Austrian independence. After 1936, Austria was isolated as a result of strategic collaboration between Italy and Germany. Kurt Schuschnigg, the Chancellor of Austria, was pressured by Hitler into accepting Nazi ministers into his government. Despite calling for a plebiscite on Anschluss, Schuschnigg canceled the vote. Arthur Seyss-Inquart was an Austrian Nazi politician who served as minister of police. He did nothing when Nazi supporters sparked anti-Jewish pogroms and political riots in favor of Anschluss. On March 11, Schuschnigg resigned, Seyss-Inquart became chancellor and he invited the German Army to cross the border. Anschluss was declared the next day as Austria became part of Germany.
Britain and France followed Appeasement and did not intervene. Hitler held a plebiscite a month later, claiming a 99% vote in favor of the Anschluss and his rule. Austria's Jews fell under Nazi control. Some managed to escape; the rest were later murdered in the Holocaust. The Anschluss was reversed in 1945, and Austria was occupied by the Allies separately from Germany until 1955. Seyss-Inquart was hanged after being tried at Nuremberg.