100 years in Austria: the underestimated republic

"The German part of ancient Austria was certainly the least at the beginning of the dissolution of the Danube monarchy," says historian Walter Rauscher in his history of the First Republic: "A few days later, it was necessary recognize that in the other languages ​​of the dual state, the centrifugal forces clearly had the advantage and gave direction. "

"Logically", as also a comment of "Prague Tagblatt" on the day of the proclamation of the republic in 1918, we can explain anyway what happened in November 1918 "in the imperial city": How to Could it be that "the old splendor The Viennese court was extinguished in a few days and everything was forgotten, which had captured the great mbad of Viennese it was not so long ago.On the German soil -Austrian was a population lagging behind, "which, politically very conservative and intimately linked to monarchical institutions, republican thought seemed almost inaccessible," according to the Prague commentary.

But then how could one find a community which, according to Hans Kelsen, was after all the driving force of the Austrian Federal Constitution, "devoid of any inner sense, of any political idea"? The days of October and November 1918 marked the end of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in a way that was partly dramatic and accelerated, rudimentary since the troubles of January 1918. The nationalities of this multiethnic state, especially on the basis of the self-determination of peoples proclaimed by US President Woodrow Wilson in January 1918, in the Hapsburg Empire apart.

Last attempt to rescue the monarchy

On October 16, 1918, Emperor Karl undertook some sort of last-ditch attempt to rescue a multi-ethnic federation on the soil of Central Europe. With the "manifesto of the people", Austria should, according to the will of its peoples, be converted into a federal state. Each country can therefore implement its own political regime in its "settlement area". Until implementation, all previous Reich institutions "would remain in place to preserve the general interests". The people Karl addressed were only those in the western half of the empire, plus the Hungarians. The Czechs, on the other hand, already had a Czech Allied National Council in exile in Paris, led by Thomas Masaryk and Edvard Benes.

"As a League of Nations, without peoples", "The new free press" badyzed this enterprise of the emperor. In fact, Karl and the Hussarek government that he still occupies have only extracted the project. The representatives of the Slav peoples unanimously rejected Charles's plan. Only two days later, Thomas Masaryk would declare the official independence of the Czechoslovak nation. And in Lviv, the Ruthenians constituted a Ukrainian National Council. In Agram (Zagreb), a large demonstration gathered 50 000 people for the South Slav Republic – the National Council is the only authority of the Croats, so is the slogan in the streets.

For the Habsburg empire, this exodus of its peoples was not just a political dimension. Soon, the soldiers of the different nations should be detached from the combat organizations on the different fronts; and for the supply of Vienna, the capital, the separation of the Czech Republic was to lead to devastating food shortages.

An badembly with consequences

As the German-speaking members of Cisleithanians (from the western and northern parts of the monarchy) meet in the meeting room of the Lower Austria country house on October 21 at 5 pm, in accordance with the expectations of the "People's Manifesto" of Emperor, fast action is required. The place is symbolic, but from that moment, the events of the 1848s have their origin. The basis for the holding of the meeting is the result of the election of the Reichsrat of 1911. Contrary to the current political realities, the German and liberal national deputies have the preponderance over the Christian and social social democrats.

picturedesk.com/ÖNB-archive/Scolik, Charles jr.

"The German people in Austria are determined to determine their future state order, to establish an independent German-Austrian state and to settle their relations with other nations by means of free agreements with them", is the historic decision of the Assembly. An annexation of areas that would be inhabited by peasants, workers or German citizens, they "resist" is another decision that should soon fail in the face of political conditions. Three deputies are elected on the basis of appeals to the equal presidents of this "Provisional National Assembly of Germans in Austria": Social Democrat Karl Seitz, Christian Social Socialist Jodok Fink and German National Mayor Linz Franz Dinghofer .

The first government without imperial approval

The Social Democrats voted for a republic as a form of government in the framework of the Assembly, all other parties remaining in favor of a democratic constitution within the framework of monarchical structures. A separate executive committee, which will soon be calling the State Council, should represent the German people in Austria with the remaining Habsburg cabinets, but also with the US President, Wilson, and prepare the position. from German Austria in the peace negotiations.

Charts: APA / ORF.at; Source: APA

On the Ballhausplatz, where the imperial government still sits, one feels a last rescue of the monarchy: at the last moment, the abandonment of the obligation of the alliance towards Germany, where the Abdication of William II became evident. Foreign Minister Gyula Graf Andrbady accepted Wilson's demands and called for the establishment of truces on all fronts of the Danube monarchy. For some of them, this attitude has caused indignation: if some thought that Austria wanted to regain the sympathy of the Slavic nations of the Reich, the Social Democrats, for example, have seen the ## 147 ## Repeal of Austria's annexation plans to their big neighbor threatened by the cessation of Germany.

When the Austrian National Assembly reunited again in the Lower Austria country house, on October 30, thousands of Viennese were already waiting in the Herrengbade to hear the decisions that were addressed to the crowd via an open balcony. The 20 members of the State Council were elected as the executive body of the Provisional National Assembly and, with the Karl Renner I Cabinet, a government was first appointed without the participation of the emperor. The supreme power in the new state was now the National Assembly. German Austria was actually a state of origin. Only the emperor's cabinet was still working – and in the streets of Vienna, the return of the soldiers was causing widespread insecurity. "Returning troops flood a country that has nothing in itself," State Secretary for Food Johann Löwenfeld Russ said with reluctance.

The broken end of the monarchy

On November 2, the last Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Gyula Andrbady, ​​and the k. u. k. Finance Minister Freiherr von Spitzmüller is back. On 3 November, Kaiser Karl accepted the conditions of the truce in Baden near Vienna, but yielded at the last minute the high command of the army to Marshal Hermann Kövess, who knew nothing of this measure. The resulting uncertainty and the early cease-fire of the Habsburg army will result in the capture of hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

"In Austria, we are in the sad situation of not being precursors, but latecomers," said Victor Adler, Federal Foreign Minister Renner I, just days before his death. Germany had proclaimed the Republic in Berlin (we are writing from 8 to 9 November). And the social-democratic leaders were all the more hoping that the new German republic would be strengthened (which not only refuses it, but also prevents the Allies from participating in the Saint-Germain negotiations).

Hurry up

For Kaiser Karl, who releases a great "unreality" and a "vacuum" for his environment in the last days, time is running out. Three ministers, including Ignaz Seipel, will work on the renunciation of the Emperor, which he reluctantly signs in pencil on November 11, 1918. "Always filled with an unchanging love for my people, I do not want not to oppose my free development with my person as an obstacle, "says the statement of the emperor.

picturedesk.com/ÖNB-Bildarchiv/Gebrüder Schuhmann

"Today, black and yellow Austria is dead forever," says Reich's latest finance minister, Josef Redlich. The emperor, who must soon leave Vienna for Eckartsau with his family, does not give up his rights to the throne.

ÖNB