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Austria AUSTRIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY
The absence of an Austrian national identity was one of the
problems confronted when Austria became a country in November
1918
(see The End of the Habsburg Empire and the Birth of the Austrian Republic
, ch. 1). Before 1918 there had been no
tradition among German-speaking Austrians of striving for
national independence as a small German-speaking state separated
from Austria-Hungary or separated from Germany. Within the
context of the multiethnic and multilinguistic empire, the great
majority of the inhabitants of what was to become Austria
considered themselves "Germans" insofar as they spoke German and
identified with German culture.
Strong provincial identities that stemmed from the provinces'
histories as distinct political and administrative entities with
their own traditions existed for this reason. Tiroleans, for
example, identified more with their province than with the new
nation-state. As a result, the idea of an "Austrian nation" as a
cultural and political entity greater than the sum total of
provinces, yet smaller than the pan-German idea of the
unification of all German speakers into one state, virtually did
not exist in 1918. The Austrian historian Friedrich Heer
described the confusion surrounding Austrians' national identity
in the following manner: "Who were these Austrians after 1918?
Were they Germans in rump Austria, German-Austrians, AustrianGermans , Germans in a `second German state,' or an Austrian
nation?"
Furthermore, Austrians had serious doubts about the economic
and political viability of a small German-speaking state. Two
alternatives were envisioned for Austria: either membership in a
confederation of the states formed out of Austria-Hungary or
unification with Germany as a legitimate expression of Austrian
national self-determination. Neither alternative was realized.
Efforts to form a "Danube Confederation" failed, and the Allies
prohibited Austria's unification with Germany in the treaties
signed after World War I. As a compromise between these
alternatives, Austria was a "state which no one wanted."
After 1918 many Austrians identified themselves as being
members of a "German nation" based on shared linguistic,
cultural, and ethnic characteristics. Since unification with
Germany was forbidden, most Austrians regarded their new country
as a "second" German state arbitrarily created by the victorious
powers. During the troubled interwar period, unification with a
democratic Germany was seen by many, not only by those on the
political right but across the entire political spectrum, as a
solution for Austria's many problems.
Nazi Germany's annexation (Anschluss) of Austria into the
Third Reich in March 1938 proved to be an impetus for the
development of Austrian national consciousness
(see The Anschluss and World War II
, ch. 1). Austrians increasingly focused on the
historical and cultural differences between Austrian and German
traditions--or the uniqueness and singularity of an "Austrian
nation"--and on the idea of an independent Austrian state. It is
one of those quirks of history that the experience of being
"German" in the Third Reich was instrumental in awakening
feelings of Austrian nationalism for many Austrians, who, by the
end of World War II, wholeheartedly endorsed the idea of Austrian
independence from Germany. This idea involved rejecting the
concept of one "German linguistic and cultural nation" for the
sake of two German-speaking nations: one German and the other
Austrian.
The reestablishment of Austrian independence in 1945 set the
conditions for the development of a new Austrian national
identity
(see Restored Independence under Allied Occupation
, ch.
1). Allied policy, which formulated the reestablishment of an
independent Austrian state as a war objective and distinguished
between the treatment of Austrians and Germans and the Allied
occupation of Austria from 1945 until 1955 contributed to
promoting attitudes of national cohesiveness and a desire for
independence. After the State Treaty of 1955 arranged for the end
of the Allied occupation and a subsequent proclamation of
Austria's permanent neutrality, Austrians increasingly identified
themselves with their country and saw it as a state with
traditions and a history distinct from those of Germany. Although
a persistent right-wing minority in Austria continued to insist
on "Germanness" as being one of the attributes of being Austrian,
ever more Austrians came to identify with the Austrian nation in
the decades after World War II. Seventy-nine percent did so by
1990, compared with 47 percent in 1966. In this respect, Austria
is a "young nation."
Data as of December 1993
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