page_title: German nationalism in Austria
section_title: Dissolution of Austria-Hungary (1918–1919)
hierarchical_section_title: German nationalism in Austria / Dissolution of Austria-Hungary (1918–1919)
context_page_description: German nationalism is a political ideology and historical current in Austrian politics. It arose in the 19th century as a nationalist movement amongst the German-speaking population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It favours close ties with Germany, which it views as the nation-state for all ethnic Germans, and the possibility of the incorporation of Austria into a Greater Germany.
  Over the course of Austrian history, from the Austrian Empire, to Austria-Hungary, and the First and the Second Austrian Republics, several political parties and groups have expressed pan-German nationalist sentiment. National liberal and pan-Germanist parties have been termed the "Third Camp" of Austrian politics, as they have traditionally been ranked behind mainstream Catholic conservatives and socialists. The Freedom Party of Austria, a far-right political party with representation in the Austrian parliament, has pan-Germanist roots. After the Second World War, both pan-Germanism and the idea of political union with Germany became unpopular due to their association with Nazism, and by the rising tide of a civic Austrian national identity.
context_section_description: After the end of the First World War, which saw the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, German-speaking parts of the former Empire established a new republic under the name "German Austria" (German: Deutsch-Österreich). The republic was proclaimed on the principle of self-determination, which had been enshrined within American president Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points. A provisional national assembly was convened on 11 November, at which the Republic of German Austria was proclaimed. The assembly drafted a constitution that stated that "German Austria is a democratic republic" (Article 1) and "German Austria is a component of the German Republic" (Article 2). This phrase referenced the establishment of the Weimar Republic in the former lands of the German Empire, and intended to unite German-speaking Austrians with the German nation-state, completing the Greater Germany plan. Plebiscites held in Tyrol and Salzburg yielded majorities of 98% and 99% respectively in favour of unification with Germany.
  Despite this, the victors of the First World War, who drafted the Treaty of Versailles and the Saint-Germain-en-Laye, strictly forbade any attempt by German Austria to unify with Germany. They also gave some lands that had been claimed by German Austria to newly formed nation-states. An example of this was the giving of the provinces of German Bohemia and the Sudetenland to the Czecho-Slovak Republic. These lands, having German-speaking majorities, were prevented from being within their own nation-state. Instead, they were trapped in the nation-states of other ethnicities. This grievance would play a fundamental part in the rise of pan-Germanism during the Interwar period. Karl Renner, a member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party, served as chancellor of German Austria. Renner himself was a proponent of the idea of "Greater Germany", and penned the unofficial anthem Deutschösterreich, du herrliches Land ("German Austria, you wonderful country"). Renner was born in southern Moravia, which was one of the lands claimed by German Austria, but instead given to the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Despite his background, however, he signed the Treaty of Saint-Germain on 10 September 1919, which established the Allied-drawn borders of the new Austrian republic, and formally forbid any attempt to unify the German-speaking lands of the former Austria-Hungary with Germany. The name "German Austria" was changed to "Austria", removing any hint of pan-Germanist sentiment from the name of the state. Nevertheless, the Social Democrats would not forget their pan-Germanist roots. To them, the Weimar Republic was regarded with "exaggerated sympathy", whilst the Czecho-Slovak Republic was viewed with "exaggerated suspicion".
caption: Areas claimed by the Republic of German Austria. These represent areas of the former Empire with majority-German populations.
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