Building an Unwanted Nation: the Anglo-American Partnership and Austrian Proponents of a Separate Nationhood, 1918-1934

View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Carolina Digital Repository 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 ii 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. iii 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 iv 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 v 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). 2 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 3 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

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