Map of Austria Immediately After WW1 – Brilliant Maps

The
map
above
shows
a
map
of
Austria
in
the
immediate
aftermath
of
World
War
1.
Basically,
all
the
German
speaking
bits
of
the
former
Austro-Hungarian
Empire.

Here’s
what
the
map
legend
says:

• 
  Gebiete,
  die
  1919
  Teile
  des
  heutigen
  österreichischen
  Bundeslandes
  waren:
  “Territories
  that,
  in
  1919,
  were
  part
  of
  what
  are
  now
  
  Austrian
  federal
  states”
• 
  andere
  vom
  deutsch‐österreichischen
  Staat
  1919
  geforderte
  Gebiete:
  “Other
  territories
  demanded
  by
  the
  German‐Austrian
  state
  in
  1919”
• 
  vom
  deutsch‐österreichischen
  Staatsrat
  1919
  geforderte
  österreichische
  Grenze:
  “Austrian
  border
  demanded
  by
  the
  German‐Austrian
  State
  Council
  in
  1919”
• 
  Volksabstimmungen
  1920:
  “Referendums
  (plebiscites)
  in
  1920”
• 
  1921
  von
  Österreich
  an
  Ungarn
  abgetretene
  Gebiete:
  “Territories
  ceded
  by
  Austria
  to
  Hungary
  in
  1921”
• 
  Gebiete
  mit
  deutschsprachiger
  Bevölkerung:
  bei
  Ungarn:
  “Territories
  with
  a
  German‐speaking
  population:
  part
  of
  Hungary”
• 
  neu
  österreichische
  Staatsgrenze
  seit
  1923:
  “New
  Austrian
  national
  border
  since
  1923”
• 
  weitere
  Staatsgrenzen
  1923:
  “Other
  national
  borders
  in
  1923”
• 
  Staatsgrenzen
  der
  Nachbarstaaten
  nach
  1921:
  “National
  borders
  of
  neighboring
  states
  after
  1921”

Dissolution
of
Austro-Hungary

Collapse
of
the
Empire
(1918):

Austria-Hungary
was
made
up
of
various
nationalities,
and
wartime
losses,
together
with
growing
nationalist
movements,
led
to
its
collapse.

By
late
1918,
many
regions
declared
independence—such
as
Czechoslovakia
and
the
Kingdom
of
Serbs,
Croats,
and
Slovenes.
This
left
only
the
predominantly
German-speaking
provinces
(around
Vienna,
Salzburg,
Tyrol,
Styria,
Carinthia,
and
Upper
and
Lower
Austria).

Establishment
of
“German-Austria”:

A
new
republic,
initially
called

Deutschösterreich
(“German-Austria”), 
was
proclaimed
in
November
1918,
intending
to
unite
all
the
German-speaking
regions
of
the
former
Habsburg
Empire
into
a
single
state.

Territorial
Demands

Claims
to
German-Speaking
Lands:

The
new
German-Austrian
state
demanded
territories
where
ethnic
Germans
made
up
a
significant
majority
(for
instance,
parts
of
Bohemia
and
Moravia,
and
South
Tyrol
in
the
south).

They
also
looked
to
include
border
regions
of
what
became
Hungary
that
had
German-speaking
communities.

Allied
Intervention
and
Redrawing
of
Borders:

The
Allied
powers—Britain,
France,
the
United
States,
and
others—opposed
many
of
these
claims.
Under
the

Treaty
of
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
(1919),
Austria
was
compelled
to
cede
most
of
these
contested
regions:

–
South
Tyrol
went
to
Italy,
–
other
territories
went
to
Czechoslovakia,

Yugoslavia,
and
Hungary.

Why
Austria
Did
Not
Simply
Join
Germany

Desire
for
Unification:

Many
Austrians,
seeing
themselves
as
culturally
and
ethnically
German,
favored
immediate

Anschluss
(unification)
with
the
Weimar
Republic.
This
idea
had
substantial
popular
support
in
the
upheaval
following
WWI.

Prohibition
in
the
Peace
Treaties:

Despite
this
public
support,
the
Treaty
of
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
(1919)
explicitly
forbade
Austria
from
uniting
with
Germany
without
League
of
Nations
approval.
The
victorious
Allied
powers
wanted
to
prevent
the
emergence
of
a
larger,
more
powerful
German
state
that
might
destabilize
the
region
once
again.

Long-Term
Impact:

As
a
result,
Austria
continued
as
an
independent
(and
significantly
smaller)
republic
than
it
had
been
under
the
Habsburgs.
The
formal
prohibition
on
unification
with
Germany
remained
until

Austria
was
annexed
by
Nazi
Germany
in
1938—an
event
driven
by
entirely
different
political
forces.

What
do
you
think?

Go to Source
Author: Brilliant Maps