The Early Days
The area of today’s Austria, that is the fertile Danube Valley and the Alpine valleys, were already settled in the Paleolithic Age (until approx. 8000 BC). Around 400 BC, Celtic peoples from Western Europe settled in the eastern Alps. A Celtic state, Noricum, developed around the region's ironworks in the second century BC. From the 7th century BC onwards one of the main regions of Celtic occupation was in modern-day Austria, centered around Hallstatt, a large prehistoric salt-mining area. The Hallstatt period, 750 - c.450 BC, is named after this region.
The Romans arrived 200 BC and by 15 BC they dominated the entire area. The most important Roman settlement in Austria was Carnuntum (capital of the Roman province of Pannonia in today’s Lower Austria) which became the center of the Roman fortifications along the Danube. Visit the Archaeology Park with a museum and an amphitheater.
From Ostarrichi to Austria
By the latter half of the second century AD, various German tribes were extending their territory making devastating incursions into Roman territories. By the mid-500s, the Bavarians controlled the territory between the eastern Alps and the Wienerwald region. Around 800 Charlemagne, the king of Franks and eventually Holy Roman Emperor, established a territory in the Danube valley known as the Ostmark (Eastern March). In 996 the Ostmark was first referred to as "Ostarrichi", a clear forerunner of the modern German word "Österreich".
The Babenbergs
Between 976, when Leopold von Babenberg became the margrave of the Ostmark, and 1246, the Duchy of Austria was one of extensive feudal possessions of the Babenberg family. The dynasty established their first residence in Pöchlarn before moving it to Melk in the scenic Wachau region. In the 12th century Henry II moved his residence to Vienna which has remained the capital of the country ever since. Also in the 12th century the Cathedral of Saint Stephan was completed, which became a visible landmark of the city, showing its prominence. Henry II also founded the Schottenstift monastaryin Vienna, in the courtyard of which there is a statue of him to this day.
Beginning of the Habsburg Rule
The Habsburgs
Some 100 years later Rudolf I emerged with the crown, beginning six centuries of Habsburg rule in Austria. The centerpiece of their realm was the Imperial Palace in Vienna, today accommodating several museums (Treasury, Sisi Museum) providing a good overview of the Habsburgs.
The Habsburgs increased their influence and power through strategic alliances ratified by marriages. Owing to premature deaths and/or childless marriages within the Burgundian and Spanish dynasties into which his grandfather, Maximilian I (1493-1519), and his father had married, Emperor Charles V (1519-56) inherited not only the Hereditary Lands but also the Franche-Comté and the Netherlands (both of which were French fiefs) and Spain and its empire in the Americas.
Turkish Wars
The Turkish threat, which included unsuccessful sieges of Vienna in 1529 and in 1683, prompted Poland, Venice, and Russia to join the Habsburg Empire in repelling the Turks. In the late 1690s, command of the imperial forces was entrusted to Prince Eugene of Savoy. Under his leadership, Habsburg forces won control of all but a small portion of Hungary by 1699.
Baroque Period
With the end of the Turkish threat, the arts and culture experienced a surge. Splendid edifices such as Schloss Schönbrunn (World Cultural Heritage) or the Salzburger Dom were built; architects like Johann Fischer v. Erlach, Lukas v. Hildebrandt, Jakob Prandtauer, Daniel Gran, Paul Troger, Franz Anton Maulbertsch created exceptional monuments. Under the rule of Empress Maria Theresia (1717-1780) the Habsburg holdings were reformed and united. Following Maria Theresa's death in 1780, her son Joseph II, one of the so-called enlightened monarchs, continued the reforms along the lines pursued by his mother.
From Biedermeier to Jugendstil (Art Nouveau)
The French revolution in 1789 and the rise of Napoleon, who secured French possession of many Austrian territories, proved to be a major threat to the Habsburgs. During the Congress of Vienna (1814/15), held with the purpose of redrawing the continent's political map after Napolen’s defeat, Austrian Chancellor Metternich tried to reconsolidate Austrian power. In 1848 the French philosophy of middle-class revolution reached Austria, but the rebellion was promptly squashed, and Emperor Franz I and Metternich responded by cutting down civil liberties and introducing a strict censorship. As a result the people retreated to their houses, concentrated on the domestic and the non-political; social life came to a halt. The second part of the Biedermeier period was marked by a growing urbanization and industrialization that lead to a new urban middle class. People started to meet again, and the arts were cherished. Artists of this time include painters like Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller and Friedrich Gauermann, the composer Franz Schubert, and the poets Adalbert Stifter, Ferdinand Raimund and Franz Grillparzer.
In the end the Emperor Ferdinand I was eventually pressured to abdicate in favor of his nephew Emperor Franz Joseph I, whose 68-year reign was one of Austria’s longest. Together with his wife Elisabeth, the legendary "Sisi", he shaped the image of the Austrian imperial rule. Under his rule Vienna became of the Europe’s most important metropolises and the center of a multinational state extending from Hungary to North Italy and deep into southern Europe.
Johann Strauß, the King of Waltz, was celebrated all over the world for his wonderful musical compositions. Sigmund Freud was the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, a movement that popularized the theory that unconscious motives control much behavior. Around 1900 the Vienna Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) peaked during which forward-looking artists and designers seceded from the mainstream salon exhibitions, to exhibit on their own in more congenial surroundings. Noted Jugendstil artists include the painters Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, and the architects Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos. A walk along the Vienna Ringstraße boulevard with its splendid buildings, a visit to the Sisi or Sigmund Freud Museum or the Österreichischen Galerie Belvedere provide a good overview of this epoch.
The 20th Century
Moving Times
Brimming with ethnic tensions and locked into a rigid system of alliances from the 19th century wars, the Austro-Hungarian monarchy was a catastrophe waiting to happen. The necessary spark was the assassination of the Austrian archduke and heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand in June 1914 in Sarajevo. Austria’s declaration of war against Serbia marked the beginning of World War I. Emperor Franz Joseph dies in 1916 and after the end of the war in 1918 the first Republic of Austria was established, ending the 640-year old Habsburg dynasty. The young republic suffered massive inflation, unemployment, and near economic collapse. In 1933, the weak coalition government between the Christian-Social and the Social-Democratic parties gave way when Engelbert Dollfuss became Chancellor in 1932 as head of a right-wing coalition government, designed to tackle the problems caused by the Depression. In May 1934 Doffluss declared martial law in order to protect Austria from Hitler. In July Dollfuss was shot and killed by Nazis in an attempted coup.
On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria and the country was incorporated into the German Reich ruled by Adolf Hitler. After the end of World War II in 1945, Austria was restored to its 1937 frontiers and occupied by the victorious allies – the USA, the Soviet Union, the UK, and France – for a decade.
The 21st Century
On May 15, 1955, the Austrian State Treaty was ratified, with Austria declaring its permanent neutrality. Thanks to its location near the “Iron Curtain”, Austria soon developed into a nerve center between the West and the East. After the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the 1968 Prague Spring Invasion, Austria grants asylum to the refugees. Austria is also host country of many international organizations (UNO, OPEC) as well as host of many important conference and summit meetings. The Iron Curtain fell in 1989/90; in 1995 Austria becomes a member of the European Union.
Although Austria’s territorial heartland has always been modest in size, its monarchy ruled an empire that spanned continents and was once the last word in politics and high culture. How did it happen and how did it all change over time? To really understand this, it’s useful to know more about the civilisations and empires that figure in its colourful past. Civilisations & Empires is therefore where this history starts. Afterwards we take a trail through themes of post-WWII neutrality (Neutral, Nice & Not Guilty), uprisings (To the Barricades), Jewry (Jewish History in Austria) and foreign invasion of its territory (The Enemy at the Gate), culminating in one of the world’s most enduring family dynasties (Keeping it in the Family – the Habsburgs).
The Austrian Alps once formed the boundary between the more-established southern Roman territories and their newer, less stable conquests to the north. The main trade
route for pack animals ran along the pass at the end of the Tauern
Valley, but few settlements were established due to the Romans’ distrust
of the treacherous climate (tales of malevolent, snowy spirits
abounded) and difficult mountainous topography.In 1971 the provinces of Carinthia, Salzburg and Tyrol agreed to the creation of a national park; regions were added in stages between 1981 and 1991 until it became Europe’s largest national park. Today it’s widely regarded as one of Europe’s biggest conservation success stories, an example of an approach where the needs of the local population are addressed right from the start.
Nineteen months would elapse from the day Hitler grabbed control of the German Army until the actual start of World War II. During those months, Hitler engaged in a kind of gangster diplomacy in which he bluffed, bullied, threatened, and lied to various European leaders in order to expand the borders of his Reich.
His very first victim was Dr. Kurt von Schuschnigg, Chancellor of Austria, a country being torn apart from within by Nazi agitators and also feeling threatened from the outside by Germany's newfound military strength. Hoping for some sort of peaceful settlement with Hitler, Schuschnigg agreed to a face-to-face meeting at Berchtesgaden. The meeting was arraigned by Franz von Papen, the former ambassador to Austria.
On the chilly winter morning of February 12, 1938, Schuschnigg's car was met at the German-Austrian border by Papen, who joined him for the ride up to Hitler's spectacular mountaintop retreat. Papen informed Schuschnigg that Hitler was in a very good mood this morning. But, Papen added, Hitler hoped that Schuschnigg wouldn't mind if three of Germany's top generals were also present during the day's discussion.
|
Hitler led Schuschnigg into his villa and up to the great hall on the second floor, a big room featuring a huge plate glass window with sweeping views of the Alps, and in the far distance, Austria itself. Schuschnigg, taking it all in, broke the ice with a little small talk about the view. But Hitler cut him right off. "We did not gather here to speak of the fine view or the weather!"
Thus began two hours of hell in which the quiet-spoken Austrian Chancellor was lambasted without mercy by the Führer. "You have done everything to avoid a friendly policy!" Hitler yelled. "The whole history of Austria is just one uninterrupted act of high treason...And I can tell you right now, Herr Schuschnigg, that I am absolutely determined to make an end of this. The German Reich is one of the great powers, and nobody will raise his voice if it settles its border problems."
After regaining his composure, Schuschnigg tried to settle down Hitler, telling him: "We will do everything to remove obstacles to a better understanding, as far as it is possible."
But Hitler didn't let up. "That is what you say!...But I am telling you that I am going to solve the so-called Austrian problem one way or the other...I have a historic mission, and this mission I will fulfill because Providence has destined me to do so...I have only to give an order and all your ridiculous defense mechanisms will be blown to bits. You don't seriously believe you can stop me or even delay me for half an hour, do you?"
Hitler pointed out that Austria was isolated diplomatically and could not halt a Nazi invasion. "Don't think for one moment that anybody on earth is going to thwart my decisions. Italy? I see eye to eye with Mussolini...England? England will not move one finger for Austria...And France?"
Hitler said France had the power to stop him during the Rhineland occupation but did nothing and that "now it is too late for France."
An exasperated Schuschnigg finally asked Hitler what his terms were. But Hitler cut him off again, rudely dismissing him now. "We can discuss that this afternoon."
By the afternoon, the 41-year-old Schuschnigg had aged about ten years. He was then introduced to Germany's new Foreign Minister, an amoral character named Joachim Ribbentrop who presented him with a two-page document containing Hitler's demands. All Nazis presently jailed in Austria were to be freed. The ban against the Austrian Nazi Party was to be lifted. Austrian lawyer, Dr. Arthur Seyss-Inquart, a staunch Nazi supporter, was to become the new Minister of the Interior with full control of the police. In addition, Nazis were to be appointed as Minister of War and Minister of Finance with preparations made for the assimilation of Austria's entire economy into the German Reich. This was, Schuschnigg was told, the Führer's final demands and there could be no discussion. He was to sign immediately, or else.
Under such pressure, the Austrian Chancellor wobbled and said he would consider signing, but first sought assurances that there would be no further interference in Austria's internal affairs by Hitler. Ribbentrop, joined by Papen, gave friendly assurances that Hitler would indeed respect Austria's sovereignty if all his demands were met.
At this point, Schuschnigg was ushered back in to see Hitler. "You will either sign it as it is and fulfill my demands within three days, or I will order the march into Austria," Hitler told him.
Schuschnigg gave in and agreed to sign, but informed Hitler that under Austrian law only the country's president could ratify such a document and carry out the terms. And, he added, there was no guarantee the agreement would be accepted by Austria's president, the stubborn-minded Wilhelm Miklas.
"You have to guarantee it!!" Hitler exploded. But Schuschnigg said he simply could not. Hitler then rushed to the doorway and hollered out for General Keitel. Then he turned to Schuschnigg and abruptly dismissed him. Schuschnigg was taken to a waiting room, left to ponder what Hitler was saying to Keitel.
Schuschnigg didn't know he had just been the victim of an outright bluff. When Keitel arrived to ask for orders, a grinning Hitler told him: "There are no orders. I just wanted to have you here."
A half-hour later, Schuschnigg was ushered back in to see Hitler. He was given three days to take the agreement back to Austria and get it signed by the president, or else.
Ad by pRicechop | Close
|
Thus ended the first of what would be several diplomatic coups at Berchtesgaden. Like Schuschnigg, all of the heads of state and various diplomats arriving there would be at a terrible disadvantage. They were dealing
with a man always willing to go the limit, willing to send
in the troops and shed blood in order to get what he wanted. Hitler knew that civilized men such as Schuschnigg, and those who followed, would readily compromise to prevent the loss of life. They would all learn too late that Hitler did not value life and that war was his ultimate goal.
Years earlier, Hitler had once confided to his friend Hermann Rauschning: "We must be prepared for the hardest struggle that a nation has ever had to face. Only through this test of endurance can we become ripe for the dominion to which we are called. It will be my duty to carry out this war regardless of losses. The sacrifice of lives will be immense. We all of us know what a world war means. As a people we shall be forged to the hardness of steel. All that is weakly will fall away from us. But the forged central block will last forever. I have no fear of annihilation. We shall have to abandon much that is dear to us and today seems irreplaceable. Cities will become heaps of ruins. Noble monuments of architecture will disappear forever. This time our sacred soil will not be spared. But I am not afraid of this."
Hitler's Germany was already well on the road to war. New weapons were being manufactured day and night. The whole economy had been placed on a war footing under Göring's Four Year Plan. Germany's youth, meanwhile, was being hardened like steel via the Hitler Youth paramilitary organization which elevated Hitler to god-like status and placed supreme value on duty and sacrifice. Young people were taught that the life of the individual, their life, was not important. Duty to the Führer and Fatherland was all that mattered.
Now, in mid-February 1938, Hitler had sent the Austrian Chancellor back home to convince President Miklas to ratify the ultimatum. But the stubborn Miklas refused to accept all of the demands. He was willing to amnesty the jailed Nazis but not to hand over the police to Nazi sympathizer Seyss-Inquart.
Meanwhile, Hitler ordered General Keitel to conduct military maneuvers near the Austrian border to make it appear an invasion was imminent. The bluff worked its magic and President Miklas soon caved in. He granted a general amnesty for all Nazis in Austria and appointed Seyss-Inquart as Minister of the Interior with full control of the police. Seyss immediately rushed off to Germany to see Hitler and receive his instructions.
On the night of February 20th, Hitler gave a speech in Berlin that was also broadcast throughout Austria. He depicted Austrian Nazis as a persecuted minority, saying it was "intolerable for a self-conscious world power to know that at its side are co-racials who are subjected to continuous suffering because of their sympathy and unity with the whole German race and ideology." After the speech, Nazis throughout Austria took to the streets amid wild shouts of 'Sieg Heil!' and 'Heil Hitler!'
Chancellor Schuschnigg, having regained his nerve to some degree, responded to Hitler four days later via a speech of his own in Vienna. He said Austria had conceded enough to the Nazis and would never give up its independence. "Thus far and no further," he declared. The line had been drawn.
But Austria was being eaten alive from within by the emboldened Nazi agitators. Mobs brazenly tore down the red-white-red Austrian flag and raised the swastika banner while police, under Seyss' control, stood by and watched.
The escalating political unrest soon caused economic panic. People rushed to banks and withdrew all of their money
. Overseas
orders for goods and services were abruptly canceled. Tourists stayed home.
A few outer provinces were even taken over by Austrian Nazis. In Vienna,
Schuschnigg's government was beginning to fold under the pressure – just
what Hitler and the Austrian Nazis had hoped for. In a desperate gamble to halt the demise and to stave off Hitler, Schuschnigg announced there would be a national plebiscite on Sunday, March 13, allowing Austrians to vote on whether or not their country should remain independent from Germany.
Hitler, on hearing of this surprise announcement, flew into a rage. He decided on the spot to send in the German Army to prevent the vote. Plans for the invasion of Austria were hastily drawn up by General Keitel and General von Manstein and involved three Army corps and the Air Force.
But there was still a big problem for Hitler. He wasn't sure how Italy's powerful Fascist leader, Benito Mussolini, would react to a German invasion of neighboring Austria. And so Hitler rushed off an emissary to Rome bearing a personal letter justifying the coming military action and pleading for Mussolini's approval. The letter included outrageously false claims that Austria and Czechoslovakia were both plotting to restore the old Hapsburg monarchy and attack Germany.
By Friday morning, March 11th, Chancellor Schuschnigg had become aware of the pending invasion. At 2 p.m. that afternoon, he informed Seyss-Inquart in Vienna that the plebiscite would indeed be canceled to avoid any bloodshed. A telephone call was then placed by Seyss to Göring in Berlin informing him of Schuschnigg's decision. The Chancellor's position was hopelessly weakened and Göring immediately pounced on him like a tiger.
A series of telephone calls, amounting to diplomatic extortion, now ensued. First, Göring successfully badgered Schuschnigg into resigning, then he demanded that President Miklas appoint Seyss as the new Chancellor of Austria. But Miklas refused. Göring then issued an ultimatum that Seyss must be appointed as Chancellor or German troops would invade that very night. But Miklas stubbornly held out.
Hitler by now had enough of Austria's defiance. At 8:45 p.m., he ordered his generals to commence the invasion beginning at dawn the next day. Then came the news Hitler had been waiting to hear from Mussolini. Hitler was informed by telephone that Austria was considered "immaterial" to the Italian dictator. There would be no interference with the Nazi invasion.
|
Around midnight, President Miklas, realizing his own position was hopeless, appointed Seyss as the new Chancellor of Austria. At dawn on Saturday, March 12, 1938, German soldiers in tanks and armored vehicles roared across the German-Austrian border on schedule. They met no resistance and in most places were welcomed like heroes. Many of Austria's seven million ethnic Germans had longed to attach themselves to the rising star of Germany and its dynamic Führer, a son of Austrian soil.
When news of the invasion reached Britain and France, they reacted just as they had when Hitler occupied the Rhineland a few years earlier. They did nothing. In France, internal political problems once again prevented any military response. Britain, now led by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, had already indicated it would pursue a policy of appeasement to preserve the peace. Making matters worse, Austria, proud and defiant in its hour of need, never formally requested any outside assistance.
In Germany, the Saturday editions of all Nazi newspapers printed a phony telegram supposedly sent by Chancellor Seyss to Berlin asking "the German government to send German troops as soon as possible" to restore order. There were also faked reports by Goebbels regarding rioting in Vienna and street fights involving Communists. This was the version of events Hitler presented to the world, that the Austrians themselves, desperate to restore order, had requested military assistance from Germany.
Aware that his troops were getting fantastic welcomes, Hitler decided to accompany his soldiers into his birthplace at Braunau am Inn and then on to Linz, where he had been a schoolboy. He also visited his parents' grave site at Leonding and laid a wreath.
At Linz he gave an emotional speech declaring: "If Providence once called me forth from this town to be the leader of the Reich, it must in doing so have charged me with a mission, and that mission could only be to restore my dear homeland to the German Reich."
Hitler thus ordered a law drafted providing for immediate Anschluss (union) of Austria with Germany. The next day, Sunday, March 13, the law was approved by the Austrian government led by Seyss. The formal announcement was then made to the world. Austria had ceased to exist. It was now a province of the German Reich. Hitler himself shed tears of joy when he was presented with the actual Anschluss document.
On Monday afternoon, he made his grand entry into Vienna, the city he had known so many years earlier as a down-and-out tramp. He stayed at the Hotel Imperial
, the same hotel where he once worked as
a half-starved day laborer, shoveling snow off the sidewalk outside the
entrance and respectfully removing his cap as wealthy guests came and went.
As a poor youth he could never go inside. Today he was the guest of honor.
Upon returning to Germany, Hitler scheduled another plebiscite, just as he had done after occupying the Rhineland. The people of Germany and Austria were now asked to approve the Anschluss. On April 10th, ninety-nine percent voted 'Ja,' with most afraid to ever vote no, knowing their vote might easily be discovered.
The Nazi occupation of Austria was marked by an outbreak of anti-Jewish violence, the likes of which had not even been seen in Germany. Vienna was home to about 180,000 Jews. Throughout the city, Jewish men and women were grabbed at random by Nazis and forced to scrub walls and sidewalks clean of any pro-independence slogans. Other humiliations including cleaning public toilets and the latrines in SS barracks with sacred Hebrew prayer cloths. Thousands were also jailed for no reason while police allowed open looting of Jewish homes and businesses.
SS Leader Heinrich Himmler, along with Reinhard Heydrich, had accompanied Hitler into Vienna. They quickly realized Jews there would pay just about anything to exit the country. Heydrich then set up an Office for Jewish Emigration run by an Austrian SS man named Adolf Eichmann which extorted money
and valuables from Jews in return for
their freedom. This office was so successful that it became the model for
one set up in Germany. Himmler also established the first concentration camp outside Germany at Mauthausen, located near Linz. About 120,000 persons would be worked to death there in the camp's granite quarry or 'shot while attempting escape.'
As for Dr. Kurt von Schuschnigg, the man who had defied Hitler, he was arrested by the Gestapo and spent several years in a variety of Nazi concentration camps including Dachau and Sachsenhausen.
Hitler had taken Austria without firing a single shot. Czechoslovakia next door now trembled at the thought that it was surrounded on three sides by the German Army. Hitler wasted no time in pressing his advantage. He began to consider plans for the occupation of the Sudetenland, the western portion of Czechoslovakia home to about three million ethnic Germans.
A month earlier, Hermann Göring had assured the nervous Czech government, "I give you my word of honor that Czechoslovakia has nothing to fear from the Reich."
No comments:
Post a Comment