First World War, Anschluss & Second World War

On June 28, 1914, the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip shot the Austrian heir to the throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo. Austria-Hungary's harsh ultimatum to Serbia and the fatal alliance mechanics plunged Europe into the First World War — the "original catastrophe of the 20th century."

Four years of war cost millions of lives. On November 11, 1918, Emperor Charles I. abdicated — the end of the Habsburg monarchy after 640 years. National states emerged from the multi-ethnic empire: Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, an enlarged Romania. What remained was a small "German Austria", which hardly anyone considered viable. The Treaty of Saint-Germain (1919) even prohibited the Anschluss with Germany.

The First Republic (1918–1938) was marked by political instability, economic crisis, and growing radicalization. Social Democrats and Christian Socials faced each other irreconcilably. The Civil War of February 1934 ended with the defeat of the labor movement. Engelbert Dollfuss established an Austrofascist regime — the Corporate State — and was murdered the same year by Austrian Nazis.

On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria. The "Anschluss" to Hitler's Third Reich was enthusiastically welcomed by large parts of the population — an uncomfortable fact that Austria long repressed. The consequences were devastating: Over 65,000 Austrian Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, countless others expelled. Austrians were disproportionately involved as perpetrators — Adolf Eichmann, organizer of the deportations, and Ernst Kaltenbrunner, head of the Reich Main Security Office, were Austrians.

In the Second World War, Vienna was particularly heavily bombed. The St. Stephen's Cathedral burned in April 1945. Liberation by the Allies came in May 1945 — and with it a ten-year occupation by the four victorious powers.