Austria

Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in Central Europe. Formed after the collapse of Austria-Hungary, it borders the German Socialist Republic, and was one of the main countries for exiled German democrats and monarchists, alongside the German Free State. It is one of the small list of countries to recognise the Freistaat as the legitimate Germany. The President of Austria is Wilhelm Miklas, and its Chancellor is Karl Buresch, representing conservative ideals.

While technically a democracy, Austria has seen a rise in authoritarian democratic ideals and a rise in Fascism as a direct response to German Spartacism on its borders. Although a resident of the Freistaat, Adolf Hitler was born in Austria and is a potential leader if he is cast out of East Prussia. However, Austria has also seen its rise in pan-Germanism, and Austrian socialists have stated that unification with the DSR would be favourable for the establishment of a true socialist Germanic state.

The German Reaction
Austria was formed out of the Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles, and survived waves of revolution as a reaction to the formation of the DSR. When the Spartacist revolution destroyed the potential of a democratic German government in 1920, German democrats were split as to where to go; the Three Generals of Hindenburg, Lettow-Vorbeck and Ludendorff urged the German government to flee to East Prussia, with the company of Friedrich Ebert. Other staunch German nationalists, such as Hitler and members of the NSDAP went with them. Other German nationals who were pessimistic about the survival of a nation in East Prussia took a safer route and fled to Austria, who opened its borders to those who needed it.

The opening of Austria's borders to German migrants also welcomed disguised German socialist radicals who believed that a revolution in Austria could be mounted, and in 1922, the April Uprising (der Aprilaufstand) was launched in Vienna. The government responded in panic, but volunteers from Poland and Italy arrived to quench the uprising. The DSR, weak in its position diplomatically and without the backing of Vladimir Lenin to intervene, refrained from being involved, which the revolutionaries believed would be crucial for the uprising to survive. Within three days, the uprising was shut down, and revolutionaries went into hiding.

July Revolt 1927
The purported 'second attempt' at revolution came in the July Revolt 1927. Although the revolt was centred around social democrats against the wealthy elite and the Catholic Church, Spartacist revolutionaries believed that if the revolt worked, it could act as a hotbed for a revolution. Furthermore, they believed that with Walter Ulbricht in charge, and with new ideas of pan-Germanism circulating, the DSR might actually intervene and help the revolution. Once again, their hopes were in vain.

The Roterspaltung had left the DSR isolated in its position as a socialist superpower. Furthermore, with Austria as a member of the Council of Allies, Ulbricht believed intervening would put Germany at war with the Council, specifically France and the United Kingdom, who he believed were ready to dismantle Spartacism at a moment's notice. Therefore, Germany did not intervene in the revolt, but the Austrian government themselves were panicked once again.

The Austrian government believed that if the revolution survived for as long as it could, Germany might have actually intervened. Ulbricht's decision not to publicise German neutrality had left the government largely in the grey and paranoid. They finally came to the conclusion that the revolution had to be shut down as soon as possible, and they ordered their troops to fire on the crowd.

Aftermath: Austria in Question
While Austrian democracy survived after the revolt, Austria's government was put into question, and many saw that radical ideas would eventually flourish. Despite the rise of Wilhelm Miklas and Karl Buresch as conservative leaders, socialism remained high in Austria, and to counter this ominous and opaque layer of socialism, Fascism began to rise in Austria.

Coming into the 1930s, Austria maintains its democracy but with little hope of survival. All it would take is one more revolution or coup to dismantle the democracy forever; whether that be a socialist revolution backed by Germany, or a Fascist coup backed by Italy. Austrian socialists also began to discuss the idea of unification with Germany, as per the tenets of pan-Germanism under German Spartacism; if Austria sees itself following that path, then the dream of pan-Germanism may not be a fantasy anymore.

Way Forward
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