BUILDING AN UNWANTED NATION: THE ANGLO-AMERICAN PARTNERSHIP AND AUSTRIAN ...

401 Pages·2007·1.41 MB·English

BUILDING AN UNWANTED NATION: THE ANGLO-AMERICAN PARTNERSHIP
AND AUSTRIAN PROPONENTS OF A SEPARATE NATIONHOOD, 1918-1934

Kevin Mason

A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in the Department of History.

Chapel Hill
2007

Approved by:

Advisor: Dr. Christopher Browning

Reader: Dr. Konrad Jarausch

Reader: Dr. Lloyd Kramer

Reader: Dr. Michael Hunt

Reader: Dr. Terence McIntosh
©2007
Kevin Mason
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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ABSTRACT

Kevin Mason: Building an Unwanted Nation: The Anglo-American Partnership and
Austrian Proponents of a Separate Nationhood, 1918-1934
(Under the direction of Dr. Christopher Browning)

This project focuses on American and British economic, diplomatic, and cultural
ties with Austria, and particularly with internal proponents of Austrian independence.
Primarily through loans to build up the economy and diplomatic pressure, the United States
and Great Britain helped to maintain an independent Austrian state and prevent an Anschluss
or union with Germany from 1918 to 1934. In addition, this study examines the minority of
Austrians who opposed an Anschluss. The three main groups of Austrians that supported
independence were the Christian Social Party, monarchists, and some industries and
industrialists. These Austrian nationalists cooperated with the Americans and British in
sustaining an unwilling Austrian nation. Ultimately, the global depression weakened
American and British capacity to practice dollar and pound diplomacy, and the popular
appeal of Hitler combined with Nazi Germany’s aggression led to the realization of the
Anschluss. Other works on the Anschluss have not given adequate attention to the years
1918 to 1934, the critical American and British role in Austrian affairs, and the Anschluss
opponents. The study of cooperation between the United States and Great Britain in terms of
nation-building and economic aid has taken on renewed significance in recent years.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………….1

PART I: CONTESTED BEGINNINGS
I) AMERICAN AND BRITISH DIPLOMACY, 1918-1919 …………………….....30
II) AUSTRIAN CHOICES, 1918-1919: INDEPENDENCE
OR ANSCHLUSS? ……………………………………………………..........60

PART II: EMERGING INDEPENDENCE
III) ANGLO-AMERICAN SUPPORT, 1920-1929………………………………….91
IV) THE CHRISTIAN SOCIAL PARTY, 1920-1929……………………..............150
V) THE LEGITIMISTS, 1920-1929 ……………………………………................191
VI) THE ANTI-ANSCHLUSS INDUSTRIES AND INDUSTRIALISTS,
1920-1929……………………………………………………....…….......... 211

PART III: INCREASING CRISIS
VII) THE DOLLAR AND POUND DIPLOMACY DURING THE
DEPRESSION AND THE DOLLFUSS ERA, 1930-1934…………………238
VIII) THE CHRISTIAN SOCIAL PARTY, 1930-1934…………………………....301
IX) THE LEGITIMISTS, 1930-1934 ……………………………………………....334
X) THE ANTI-ANSCHLUSS INDUSTRIES AND INDUSTRIALISTS,
1930-1934………………………………………………………………….. 355

CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………………….376
REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………...384

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ADÖ Außenpolitische Dokumente der Republik Österreich, 1918-1938

AdR Archiv der Republik, in Vienna

BDFA British Documents on Foreign Affairs. Reports and Papers from the
Foreign Office. Confidential Print. Part II. From the First to the Second
World War

FRUS Foreign Relations of the United States

NPA NPA (Neues Politisches Archiv) Austwärtige Angelengenheiten, 1918-
1934. (New Political Archive, Foreign Affairs, 1918-1934). Archiv der
Republik, (Archive of the Republic), Vienna

ÖVP Politische Akademie der ÖVP (österreichischen Volkspartei).
Parteiarchiv. Christlichsoziale Partei in Vienna

WWA Wiener Wirtschaftskammer Archiv

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INTRODUCTION

Building an Unwanted Nation examines American and British political, economic,
financial, diplomatic, and cultural relations with Austria in the time period 1918 to 1934,
with specific emphasis on the British and American policy to secure Austrian independence.
This dissertation also investigates those Austrians who supported an independent Austria,
worked with the Americans and British, and opposed an Anschluss movement that sought a
union between Austria and Germany in this period. Scholars have addressed the question of
Austria’s internal situation in the inter-war period, primarily from 1934 to 1938, and have
focused on the majority of Austrians who supported an Anschluss. However, the significant
roles of Anglo-American diplomacy and the anti-Anschluss Austrians who along with the
Americans and British maintained the Austrian state and encouraged the development of
Austrian national identity into the mid 1930s have been overlooked. My project hopes to fill
this gap in the historiography. Drawing on aspects of the “new diplomatic history,” it
explores the interrelationship of diplomacy, economy, domestic politics, nation-building,
and culture.
Austrian independence from 1918 to 1934 was maintained by the combined efforts
of the United States and Britain, as well as the minority of Austrians who also pushed for
Austrian sovereignty. The Anglo-American loans for Austrian economic reconstruction and
diplomatic pressure helped prevent an Anschluss. At the same time, Austrian patriots-- in
particular the Christian Social Party that led the government, the legitimists (monarchists),
and some industries and industrialists-- resisted German nationalism and regional separatist
movements and instead embraced Austro-nationalism. Without British and American aid,
the anti-Anschluss forces in Austria would have had much greater difficulty resisting
Anschluss, and in particular the Christian Social Party would have had far greater difficulty
in maintaining its pivotal position in Austrian domestic politics. And without a receptive
anti-Anschluss government, international aid—if received at all—would have been far less
effective in restoring economic stability and lessening Anschluss pressures. Therefore, these
dual domestic and foreign forces formed the pillars holding up Austria—a state that survived
severe economic crises, a horrible global depression, and an attempted Nazi coup in this
period.
After World War I, the Allies created independent Polish, Czechoslovak, and
Yugoslav states, based on the principle of self-determination and in response to the
perceived national aspirations of these peoples. In contrast, to invert Benedict Anderson’s
concept of nationalism, Austria was an “unimagined community” upon which the victorious
Allies imposed statehood.1 Although ethnically the population of Austria was mostly
German, the Allies forbade Austria from joining Germany after World War I. American and
British diplomacy combined self-determination and balance of power politics in Europe.
Britain, the United States, and other Allies did not want to add territory to and thereby
strengthen a defeated Germany.
During the inter-war period the United States and Great Britain were the top two
creditor nations, and their foreign policies were the most similar and most moderate. Anglo-
American policies were neither as punitive nor as strict in the enforcement of the peace

1Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of
Nationalism (Revised Edition, London and New York: Verso, 1991).
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treaty as those of France and other European countries. Although they wanted to preserve
Austrian independence, the position of the United States and Britain toward an Anschluss
prohibition was not absolute. At times they left the door open to a possible Anschluss in the
future as long as it took place peacefully and with the consent of an international body.
The Anglo-American friendship has been one of the most enduring relationships.
The efforts of the British-American alliance in seeking local partners in order to create and
sustain a nation and political culture as they imagined and desired it have renewed
significance. Examples of American and British nation-building after September 11, 2001,
include Afghanistan and Iraq. The Austrian case offers a window onto earlier and at least
partially similar attempts by the same powers in Austria after World War I.
The Anschluss movement during the inter-war period was predominately fuelled by
both nationalism and economic forces. Despite its picturesque Alpine scenery, Austria had
few natural resources and industries. In fact, Austria had been fully dependent on the other
parts of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire for its survival, in particular on agricultural
products from Hungary and industrial products from Bohemia, a region which was now
incorporated into the state of Czechoslovakia. During the inter-war period, the Austrians
questioned the viability of their new country and sought a variety of solutions, ranging from
economic unions with neighboring states, to a political union with Germany, to a Habsburg
restoration. Most Austrians wanted to align with either the successor states of Austria-
Hungary or Germany. However, embittered political memories and ethnic tensions in the
non-German areas of the former Habsburg territories continually blocked the former option.
Because it emerged out of a hated and imposed treaty, the new and independent
Republic of Austria remained unwanted by most Austrians. The inter-war Anschluss
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movement existed as part of a much larger unresolved German question whose origins went
back to the early nineteenth century prior to the Kleindeutschland unification of Germany.
Loyalty to the Habsburgs had given the German Austrians a sense of unity and identity as
part of the larger Empire. The dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and end of
the monarchy after World War I intensified the desire for a Grossdeutschland in Austria,
which had previously only been supported by a minority. From 1918 to1934 the Anschluss
in Austria was supported by not only Greater Germans but also most socialists and many
conservatives, making it a majority movement, especially in the years 1918 and 1919.
In response to the strong Anschluss movement, the United States and Britain
continually sent money to stimulate the Austrian economy. The infusion of international
money, much of which came with the condition that Austria remain independent, allowed
the Austrian economy in the mid and late-1920s to improve from a state of near collapse.
British and American diplomats reported that the desire for Anschluss had decreased.
However, in the early and mid- 1930s uncertainty over the fate of Austria resurfaced
because of the global depression. For example, in 1931 Austria requested a customs union
with Germany, thus expressing a pro-Anschluss sentiment that the majority of Austrians
held. Perceiving the customs union as a step towards an actual Anschluss, French opposition
brought about the collapse of the Austro-German customs union. Consequently, Britain and
the United States encouraged other options, such as a trade union among the Habsburg
successor states, which also failed. Moreover, due to the magnitude of the world economic
crisis, and their own financial problems, the American and British dollar and pound
diplomacy in Austria lessened but did not end.
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This key economic relationship was supported by amicable cultural relations. In
particular American movies and jazz disseminated throughout Austria in the 1920s and early
and mid- 1930s. There were many exchanges of students and art exhibits between Austria,
Britain, and the United States. Austrian music concert tours in Britain and the United States
were especially well-received. These exchanges of people and art strengthened international
bonds. In particular Americans and Britons had positive perceptions of Austrians during this
time period, which facilitated their governments’ providing economic support.
Alongside Anglo-American diplomacy in Austria, this dissertation also looks at the
Austrian advocates of independence from 1918 to 1934. Regardless of the majority support
of an Anschluss, there were still those Austrians who partnered with the Americans and
British in sustaining an unwanted nation. The Austrian anti-Anschluss supporters were
Austrian nationalists rather than Greater German nationalists. The three main groups of
Austrian nationalists were a majority faction within the Christian Social Party, the
monarchists, and some industrialists and industries. The Christian Social Party was anti-
Anschluss, anti-socialist, anti-Prussian, and anti-Protestant. Meanwhile it supported Austrian
nationalism and Catholicism and was generally sympathetic to monarchist sentiments. The
party also had a pro-Anschluss faction within it. Although the Christian Social Party
represented only a minority of Austrians, it led the government from 1920 to 1934 because it
formed a coalition with other rightwing parties, especially the Greater German People’s
Party, with the socialists in opposition. The coalition subordinated the Anschluss issue to
anti-socialism. The failed Austro-German customs union plan and the rise of Nazism
brought about a decline in the Greater German People’s Party. In 1932 Engelbert Dollfuss
formed a new rightwing coalition without the Greater Germans People’s Party, and then in
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