Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The German Confederation was also led by Austria from 1815 to 1866. In 1866 Austria was firstly separated from Germany and German Confederation was dissolved. In 1867, the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire was established and led by Austria; it was rivaled by the North German Confederation from 1866 to 1871 and German Empire led by the Kingdom of Prussia rivaled Austria.
The idea of an Anschluss (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "Greater Germany") [b] arose after the 1871 unification of Germany excluded Austria and the German Austrians from the Prussian-dominated German Empire. It gained support after the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell in 1918.
A sham referendum on the Anschluss with Germany was held in German-occupied Austria on 10 April 1938, [1] alongside one in Germany. [2] German troops had already occupied Austria one month earlier, on 12 March 1938. The official result was reported as 99.73% in favour, [3] with a 99.71% turnout. [4]
The liberal-nationalist concept of a united Germany had also become unpopular following the fall of the Frankfurt Parliament in 1849. [13] One of the strongest social forces in Germany at the time was religion, which provided Germans with common confessional values and identities that transcended national boundaries.
This German dualism presented two solutions to the problem of unification: Kleindeutsche Lösung, the small Germany solution (Germany without Austria), or Großdeutsche Lösung, the greater Germany solution (Germany with Austria or its German-speaking part), ultimately settled in favor of the former solution in the Peace of Prague.
Whereas Germany was divided into East and West Germany in 1949, Austria remained under joint occupation of the Western Allies and the Soviet Union until 1955; its status became a controversial subject in the Cold War until the warming of relations known as the Khrushchev Thaw. After Austrian promises of perpetual neutrality, Austria was ...
The two peace treaties, the one imposed on Germany and the one initialed by Austria, prevented in principle the absorption of the latter by the former (). [4] Article 80 of the Treaty of Versailles obliged Germany to respect Austrian independence; Article 88 of the Treaty of Saint-Germain committed Austria to remain independent and not to take any action that would jeopardize this without the ...
At the time of the Erfurt Union in 1849/1850 it already looked like the Kingdom of Prussia could only unite the north of Germany. The large kingdoms of Bavaria and Württemberg, as well as Saxony, which finally had to join the North German Confederation after 1866 as a result of its defeat on the side of Austria, vehemently rejected the attempt at unification under Prussian leadership.