Origins , the prominent Austrian nationalist political leader during the
Napoleonic Wars. in 1936. The Napoleonic Wars were the cause of the final dissolution of the
Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, and ultimately the cause for the quest for a German nation state in 19th-century German nationalism. German nationalism began to rise rapidly within the
German Confederation, in 1866 the feud between the two most powerful German states Austria and Prussia finally came to a head in the
German war in 1866. The Austrians favoured the Greater Germany unification but were not willing to give up any of the non-German-speaking land inside of the
Austrian Empire and take second place to Prussia. The Prussians however wanted to unify Germany as Little Germany primarily by the
Kingdom of Prussia, whilst excluding Austria. In the final battle of the German war (
Battle of Königgrätz) the Prussians successfully defeated the Austrians and succeeded in creating the
North German Confederation. In 1871, Germany was
unified as a nation-state as the
German Empire that was Prussian-led and without Austria. Nevertheless, the integration of the Austrians remained a strong desire for many people of both Austria and Germany, especially among the liberals, the social democrats and also the Catholics who were a minority within the Protestant Germany.
Post-World War One The idea of uniting all ethnic Germans into one state began to be challenged with the rise of Austrian nationalism within the
Christian Social Party that identified Austrians on the basis of their predominantly Catholic religious identity as opposed to the predominantly Protestant religious identity of the Prussians. More than 90 % of
interbellum Austrians identified as Catholic. Following the end of
World War I in the rump state of
German-Austria, many Austrians desired to be united with Germany. However, less than 50 % of Austrians desired unification with Germany in the 1920s, and this sentiment further declined with the fall of the pan-Germanist Social Democrat government under
Karl Renner. The
Fatherland Front (VF) was the
right-wing conservative,
authoritarian,
nationalist, and
corporatist ruling political organisation of the
Federal State of Austria. It claimed to be a
nonpartisan movement, and aimed to unite all the people of Austria, overcoming political and social divisions. Established on 20 May 1933 by
Christian Social Chancellor
Engelbert Dollfuss as the
only legally permitted party in the country, it was organised along the lines of
Italian Fascism, was fully aligned with the
Catholic Church, and did not advocate any
racial ideology, as
Italian Fascism later did. It advocated
Austrian nationalism and independence from
Germany on the basis of protecting
Austria's Catholic religious identity from what they considered a
Protestant-dominated German state. With the rise of
Engelbert Dollfuss to power in Austria in 1932 and the creation of the Fatherland's Front, the Dollfuss government promoted Austrian nationalism and claimed that Catholic Austria would not accept joining a Protestant Germany or "heathen" Nazi-led Germany. After the
Wehrmacht troops entered Austria to enforce the
Anschluss, the Nazis held a controlled plebiscite (
Volksabstimmung) in the whole Reich within the following month, asking the people to ratify the
fait accompli, and claimed that 99.75 % of the votes cast in Austria were in favor. In case of a fair plebiscite, the Anschluss would have been supported only by 20 % of the Austrian population. The relationship between Austrian Catholicism, national identity, and fascism has been a source of controversy. After the fall of
Nazi Germany and the events from this and
World War II, Austrians began to develop a more distinct
national identity. Unlike earlier in the 20th century, in 1987 only 6 % of the Austrians identified themselves as "Germans". In 2008, over 90 % of the Austrians saw themselves as an independent nation. ==Nationalist parties==