Problem Anschlussu w polityce europejskiej 1919-1938

Abstract

The question of the incorporation of Austria in Germany as well as the evolution of the international situation of Austria in interwar period in connection with the social problems of the state have been a subject of many monographs and smaller dissertations. In the present paper the international problems are chiefly stressed on the ground that the position of forces in Europe to a great extent determined the independence of Austria. The author discusses the conceptions of incorporating Austria in Germany after the World War I as well as the favourable attitude of Austrian people towards them due to the general conviction according to which the national independence was impossible to maintain on economic reasons. The decisions of the treaties of peace which excluded a possibility of Anschluss obliged the victorious powers to aid the economics of Austria. The Viennese diplomacy skilfully availed itself of these decisions in order to secure international aid for the finances of the Republic. This aid depended chiefly upon the confirmation by the Viennese government of the decisions of peace treaties concerning the independence of Austria. The paper deals in detail with the attempt of the economical rapprochement of Austria to Germany in 1931 (the project of a tariff union) which was motivated in Vienna by the difficult economical situation of the country as well as the lack of financial aid from outside. This was blocked by the powers in the League of Nations on the ground of the international obligations of Austria. Adolf Hitler’s accession to power in 1933 changed the situation of Austria since Anschluss became one of the goals of German policy. The Germans wanted to attain this aim regardless of the attitude of both the authorities and the people of Austria. The growth of the popularity of the ideology of national socialists in Austria as well as the infavourable evolution of international situation and the policy of Germany which deepened the isolation of the Republic - such were the factors which helped to carry out the Anschluss by main force in 1938 while the Western Powers and Italy were passive. In the end of the paper the author discusses the consequences of the incorporation of Austria in Germany for Europe, especially for Chechoslovakia.