AMD 3 - Emily Kaulius

Because this chapter is titled "Ein Praktikum in Wien," or "An Internship in Vienna," I decided to read up a little bit on some recent Austrian history.

Prior to World War I, Austria was part of a larger country named Austria-Hungary. The defeat of the Central Powers in World War I (Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire) also brought about the disintegration of Austria-Hungary into Austria, Hungary, Czecho-Slovakia, and other smaller countries. Following World War I, many Austrians wanted to unify Austria with Germany, but the Treaty of Versailles forbade such a unification. The Treaty of Versailles was incredibly harsh towards Germany, prohibiting any sort of act that could strengthen Germany. The victors of World War I (excluding Woodrow Wilson) wanted to keep Germany weak.

Adolf Hitler, originally born in Austria, became Chancellor of Germany in 1933. He thought that the Treaty of Versailles was incredibly unfair toward Germany and sought to undo it. One of his goals was to unite all German-speaking countries under one rule, including Austria. This came in March of 1938 when Nazi troops annexed Austria in an event called "Anschluss," or "connection." Austria remained part of Germany until the end of World War II in Europe in May of 1945.

Following Austria's independence from Germany, Austria wrote a new Constitution in 1955. There was some intragovernmental turmoil throughout the next 30 or so years that, to be perfectly honest, is pretty boring. Austria joined the European Union in 1995.

http://www.austria.info/us/about-austria/history-1140682.html