Austrian History: From the Habsburg Monarchy to the Second Republic
Austrian history questions reward a clear chronological spine. Learn the decisive dates and what each one changed. The Habsburgs ruled for centuries, but the modern story begins with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise (Ausgleich) of 1867, which created the Dual Monarchy. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 triggered the First World War; the Treaty of Saint-Germain in 1919 dissolved the monarchy and forbade union with Germany. The First Republic (1918–1934) was followed by the authoritarian Ständestaat under Dollfuss and Schuschnigg, then the Anschluss of 12 March 1938, when Nazi Germany annexed Austria. Austria was liberated in 1945 and the Second Republic proclaimed; the State Treaty (Staatsvertrag) of 15 May 1955 restored sovereignty, and the Neutrality Act followed on 26 October 1955, now the national holiday.
Traps are mostly date and label confusions. Candidates mix up 1918 (republic declared) with 1919 (treaty signed), or 1934 (civil war and authoritarian turn) with 1938 (Anschluss). Another classic trap is the Moscow Declaration of 1943, in which the Allies called Austria the first victim of Nazi aggression - a framing that later complicated Austria's reckoning with its own perpetrators, an issue crystallised by the Waldheim affair in 1986.
Rule of thumb: anchor every event to a year and a one-line consequence. If a question offers two plausible dates, ask which one changed Austria's legal status rather than merely its government.
Worked example: "When did Austria regain full sovereignty?" The State Treaty entered into force in 1955, so 1955 is correct; 1945 marks liberation but not sovereignty, since Allied occupation continued until 1955.