Austria, 1918-1972

Between 1918 and 1972 Austrians experienced stranger reversals of fortune than most Europeans. Until the end of World War I they had formed the kernel and governing elite of a multi-national empire, for centuries one of the great European Powers. When the empire collapsed they found themselves the unenthusiastic and sceptical citizens of a small, defenceless state, arbitrarily created by the victors, apparently incapable of survival unless constantly injected with foreign financial aid, and torn by internal strife between the Catholic, traditionalist countryfolk and the 'red' Viennese. Following the world economic crisis and the rise of Hitler, the Austrians became pawns in the unequal rivalry between the German and Italian dictators and, abandoned by Britain and France, were eventually swallowed up in Hitler's Reich-to their own apparent relief and satisfaction.
But this painful, humiliating experience taught them that they wanted and needed an independent Austria; and their wishes coincided with the strategic interests of the victors of World War 11. Yet it was only after ten years of conflict between the victors-Russia and the Western allies-that Austrians were freed from occupation and won full independence. They then moved quickly ahead to achieve a level of social and political stability and economic prosperity which were outstanding in the Europe of the early 1970s-in spite of Austria's exposed position as a small neutral sandwiched between the NATO alliance and the Warsaw Pact bloc.
The theme of this book is that the Austrians, in spite of their weakness, their bitter internal quarrels, and their uncertainty about their national identity, have always striven to manipulate or even control the far stronger outside forces pressing upon them. It seeks the reasons-internal and external, political, social and economic-for their failures and their brilliant successes.