History of Austria (Central Victory)

1918
The First World War effectively ended on November 3, 1918, when the army signed the Armistice of Buonconsiglio Castle at Trient following the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. Austria was on the verge of collapse, however the manifesto of October 16, 1918 gave the nationalities in Austria the autonomy to convine a parliament. The empire was thus saved.

The Provisional National Assembly (Provisorische Nationalversammlung für österreich) met in Vienna from October 21, 1918 to February 19, 1919, as the first parliament of the new federal Austria. It consisted of those members of the Reichsrat (Imperial Council) elected in 1911 from German speaking territories with three presidents. The National Assembly continued its work till February 16, 1919 when elections were held. On October 30 it adopted a provisional constitution. Charles I had ben advised to focus on Austria as the Hungarians were threatening to leave the union, although he made one attempt in January 1919. The Austrian half of the empire was now a confederation united by only the crown and military.



Karl Renner was proclaimed Chancellor of Austria, succeeding Heinrich Lammasch and led the first three cabinets (February 20, 1919 – July 7, 1920) as a grand coalition of the SDAPÖ, CS, and GDVP. The latter was composed of a large number of splinter groups of the German National and German Liberal movements, and were numerically the largest group in the assembly.

1919
On February 19 elections were held for the Imperial Council. Although the Social Democrats won the most seats (41%) they did not have an absolute majority and formed a grand coalition with the second largest party, the Christian Socialists. Thus, in the aftermath of the war the Empire was subdivided up based loosely on national grounds. "German Austria", with its modern borders, was created out of the main German speaking areas.

End of grand coalition and new constitution 1920–1933
By September 1920, Hungary was on the verge of civil war which would have spread throughout the rest of the empire. On November 16, with the consent of the Imperial Council, Charles I led an army into Budapest. He gradually restored security, stopped terror, and set up authorities, but thousands of sympathizers to keeping Hungary seperate were imprisoned. Radical political movements were suppressed. In March the parliament of Hungary agreed to submit to the will of the emperor.

The grand coalition was dissolved on June 10, 1920, being replaced by a CS- SDAPÖ coalition under Michael Mayr as Chancellor (July 7, 1920 – June 21, 1921), necessitating new elections which were held on October 17, under the new constitution of October 1. This resulted in the Christian Socialists now emerging as the strongest party, with 42% of the votes and subsequently forming Mayr's second government on October 22 as a CS minority government (with the support of the GDVP) without the Social Democrats. The CS were to continue in power till end of the rise of authoritarian rule, in various combinations of coalitions with the GDVP and Landbund (founded 1919).

The borders continued to be somewhat uncertain because of plebiscites in the tradition of Woodrow Wilson. Plebiscites in the regions of Tyrol and Salzburg between 1919–21 (Tyrol April 24, 1921, Salzburg May 29, 1921) yielded majorities of 98 and 99% in favour of a unification with Germany, fearing that Austria was not economically viable.

Despite the victory and salvation of the empire, Austria under the coalition suffered hyperinflation similar to that of Germany, destroying some of the financial assets of the middle and upper classes, and disrupting the economy. Adam Ferguson attributes hyperinflation to the existence of far too many people on the government payroll, failure to tax the working class, and numerous money losing government enterprises. The fascists blamed the left for the hyperinflation; Ferguson blames policies associated with the left. Massive riots ensued in Vienna in which the rioters demanded higher taxes on the rich and reduced subsidies to the poor. In response to the riots, the government increased taxes but failed to reduce subsidies.

The terms of Mitteleuropa underlined by the Geneva Protocols (which Austria joined on December 16, 1920) on October 4, 1922. Austria was given a guarantee of sovereignty provided it remained part of the Central Powers. Austria also received a loan of 650 million Goldkronen which was successful in halting hyperinflation, but required major restructuring of the Austrian economy. The Goldkrone was replaced by the more stable Schilling, but resulted in unemployment and new taxes, loss of social benefits and major attrition of the public service.

Politics and government
Emerging from the war, Austria had two main political parties on the right and one on the left. The right was split between clericalism and nationalism. The Christian Socialist Party, (Christlichsoziale Partei, CS), had been founded in 1891 and achieved plurality from 1907–1911 before losing it to the socialists. Their influence had been waning in the capital, even before 1914, but became the dominant party of the early years of Greater Austria, and the party of government from 1920 onwards. The CS had close ties to the Roman Catholic Church and was headed by a Catholic priest named Ignaz Seipel (1876–1932), who served twice as Chancellor (1922–1924 and 1926–1929). While in power, Seipel was working for an alliance between wealthy industrialists and the Roman Catholic Church. The CS drew its political support from conservative rural Catholics.

On the left the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) founded in 1898, which pursued a fairly left-wing course known as Austromarxism at that time, could count on a secure majority in "Red Vienna" (as the capital was known from 1918–1934), while right-wing parties controlled all other states. The SDAPÖ were the strongest voting bloc from 1911–1918.

Between 1918 and 1920, there was a grand coalition government including both left and right-wing parties, the CS and the Social Democratic Workers' Party (Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ). This gave the Social Democrats their first opportunity to influence Austrian politics. The coalition enacted progressive socio-economic and labour legislation such as the vote for women on November 27, 1918 but collapsed on October 22, 1920. In 1920, the modern Constitution of Austria was enacted, but from 1920 onwards Austrian politics were characterized by intense and sometimes violent conflict between left and right. The bourgeois parties maintained their dominance but formed unstable governments while socialists remained the largest elected party numerically.

Both right-wing and left-wing paramilitary forces were created during the 20s. The Heimwehr (Home Resistance) first appeared on May 12, 1920 and became progressively organised over the next three years and the Republikanischer Schutzbund was formed in response to this on February 19, 1923. From April 2, 1923 to September 30 there were violent clashes between Socialists and Nationalists in Vienna. That on April 2, referred to as Schlacht auf dem Exelberg (Battle of Exelberg), involved 300 Nationalists against 90 Socialists. Further episodes occurred on May 4 and September 30, 1923. A clash between those groups in Schattendorf, Burgenland, on January 30, 1927 led to the death of a man and a child. Right-wing veterans were indicted at a court in Vienna, but acquitted in a jury trial. This led to massive protests and a fire at the Justizpalast in Vienna. In the July Revolt of 1927, 89 protesters were killed by the Austrian police forces.

Political conflict escalated until the early 1930s. The elections of 1930 which returned the Social Democrats as the largest bloc turned out to be the last. On May 20, 1932 Engelbert Dollfuß Christian Social Party Agriculture Minister became Chancellor, with a majority of one.