AUSTRIA 



497 



AUSTRIA 



it is with a significance never before attached to 

 that country, for the Austria of former and 

 sometimes glorious periods is no more. In 1914, 

 when it and its powerful German ally plunged 

 the world into a war lasting almost five years, 



AUSTRIA IX 1914 



The form of Austria was more irregular than 

 th;it of any other country In the world. It is 

 shown in solid black in the illustration. 



Austria, exclusive of Hungary, which 'was an 

 integral part of the dual monarchy, contained 

 115,831 square miles. When the War of the 

 Nations ended with complete disaster to Ger- 

 manic arms Austria was dismembered, its do- 

 main was reduced to less than 50,000 square 

 miles by the formation of new independent 

 states based on racial lines, and its young em- 

 peror was a fugitive. It may be described now 

 as a small inland state, outranked in population 

 and wealth by the states that have been formed 

 out of, or enlarged by, its former dominions (see 

 map of new states, in article AUSTRIA-HUNGARY). 



The Austria of the past included Upper Aus- 

 r Austria as its principal divisions, 

 but attached to the empire were Salzburg, 

 Styria, CanntliKi. Carniola, Trieste, Istria, Ty- 

 rol, Vorarlburg, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Ga- 

 licia, Bukowina and Dalmatia. The racial map 

 in the article AIMKI \-IIi NGARY shows how 

 loosely the parts of the country were held to- 

 gether. There was no common language ; there 

 were no common interests; there was littie 

 national patriotism. 



Wh D i'irc crumbled the Tyrol and 



Istria were returned to victorious Italy ; Trieste 

 was claimed by Italy, but that disposition of it 

 was strongly contested by the new Jugo-Slav 

 state. Eastern Galicia, in which Ruthcnians 

 were most numerous, joined tl I- I new 



Russian state not yet w.-ll e-taMi-he.1; W. 



ia, composed largely of Poles, d< 

 mission to the new republic of Poland. Dal- 

 ia became a subject of dispute between 

 32 



Italy and Jugo-Slavia. Bukowina was desired 

 by Rumania as a part of its reorganized and 

 enlarged state. The Jugo-Slav state, recog- 

 nized as an independent nation by the powers 

 at the peace conference in 1919, took but little 

 Austrian territory ; it greatly reduced Hungary. 

 Bohemia, Slovakia and Moravia united to form 

 the new Czecho-Slovak Republic, possibly the 

 most ambitious of all the n formed in 



Central Europe. 



Territorially, the treaty of peace presented to 

 Austria to sign did little more than to record 

 facts already accomplished. Two grievances 

 were voiced by the stricken nation. The first 

 was that the treaty did not permit Austria to 

 join Germany as German Austria; such action 

 was denied because the strengthening of Ger- 

 many which would result from such a union 

 might prove dangerous in the future and there- 

 fore was not desired; there was also a deter- 

 mined feeling among the allies that Germany, 

 itself shorn of territory, should not be allowed 

 to think it had won anything out of the war as 

 compensation for defeat. The second griev- 

 ance related to the great loss of territory. Aus- 

 tria is now no larger than Illinois, and is reduced 

 from over 28,000,000 people to a population of 

 about 6,000,000. Divisions along racial lines 

 and new nationalistic aspirations made this 

 shrinkage inevitable. 



A concrete statement of Austria's losses and 

 penalties arising from its defeat in the war are 

 best considered in connection with the entire 

 former empire, and it will be found in the article 



A USTRIA-H U N GARY. 



The physical features of Austria are in part 

 described in the articles dealing with the newly- 

 formed states, but a better understanding of 

 that part of the continent will be derived from 

 a general summary covering all of former AUS- 

 TRIA-HUNGARY; therefore in the article on the 

 former dual monarchy this broader view is 

 nted. 



The New Government. The dynasty of Aus- 

 tria boasted descent from the days of imj 

 Rome, and its aristocracy rrfl.rt.,1 with pride 

 on its long line of powerful Hapsburg monarch*. 

 The country had been held together by the 

 military power of its strong rulers and astute 

 statesmen. The sudden transition to a v, 

 republic plunged the country into a chaotic 

 condition; political equality had been the cen- 

 turies-old hope of the people, but this was 

 difficult to put into effect when they found 

 themselves suddenly without a strong, cent : 

 ized and militaristic government. 



