Date of Award

1-1-2014

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

College/School/Department

Department of History

Content Description

1 online resource (ix, 155 pages) : color illustrations, color maps.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Peter Krosby

Committee Members

Dan White

Keywords

Anschluss, Austria, Osterreich, Austrians

Subject Categories

History

Abstract

Austria (Österreich) has played a significant role in history for centuries, and its inhabitants have determined to be leaders in European affairs. Austrians fought wars, hosted councils, produced monarchs, and were energetic enough to build an empire that stretched from Switzerland to Serbia. As the empire grew territorially, the proportion of ruling German Austrians to non-Germans dwindled. An uneasy restlessness began to manifest itself within the German Austrian population as the nineteenth century inched along. Concurrently, a pan-German nationalism developed throughout Central Europe that proved very inviting to the Germans of Austria. Their simultaneous participation in the Austrian Empire and pan-German movement proved to be very problematic. Consequently, for 100 years (1848-1948) the German Austrians wrestled intellectually and philosophically as to their role in the German world of Central Europe. Polarization was inevitable between loyalties. Loyalty to Austria and its Habsburg dynasty battled loyalty to a greater German brotherhood. Like no other issue, Anschluss (union with Germany) brought tensions and questions to the surface, and produced the history of a people who suffered inadvertently an unmitigating series of crises of self-perception, group identity, and collective future.

Download

Included in

History Commons

Share

COinS