AUSTRIA’S FUTURE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 279, 7 September 1936, Page 8

AUSTRIA’S FUTURE

UNION WITH GERMANY.

COUP NEXT YEAR FORESEEN. UNLESS POWERS ACT. “Early this morning detachments of German troops crossed the Austrian border. . . . No: resistance was offered. . . . The German soldiers were greeted by cheering crowds.” This is what we shall read in our evening papers on our way back from work one day next year, unless the statesmen of Europe can learn to look ahead, writes Duncan Sandys, M.P., in the “Daily Telegraph.” Many of us for some time past urged that the demilitarisation of the Rhineland could not be indefinitely maintained, land that the time had come to remove the remaining restrictions upon German sovereignty. It was invariably argued in reply that this was a trump card which must be reserved as a bargaining counter to obtain some important concessions in the future. Our present embarrassments are due to our having committed the old mistake of being afraid to lead trumps. The Rhineland question is but the centre link in an unbreakable chain of German problems created by the Treaty of Versailles. The present crisis, like its predecessors—Reparations and German re-armament —has overtaken the Governments of the exAllied Powers before they had made up their minds how to deal with it. Events have forced their hands, and though the settlement which is being wrung from them is essentially a wise and a realist one, the manner of it? achievement can hardly be calculated to enhance the authority of International Law.

Dual Problem. We are faced with the dual problem of showing the world that the law cf nations cannot bo broken with impunity and at the same time of not precipitating a war for the sake of reimposing treaty restrictions which we recognise to have been ripe for revision. If we confine ourselves to the narrow scope of the present crisis, it is clear that no wholly satisfactory solution is possible. What is needed is a comprehensive European settlement to remove the outstanding causes cf future friction. A host of further difficulties are already looming up on the horizon, Austria, Memel, Danzig, the Corridor, and the colonies—each presents its special problem. The colonial question, for obvious geographical reasons, cannot force itself upon us overnight. On the other band, the solution of these other problems cannot safely be delayed. If we persist in ignoring them they will, one by one, beginning with Austria, solve themselves in the way we least desire. Ever since the war Austria has been wrestling vainly with a multitude of economic difficulties resulting from the dismemberment of the old AustroHungarian Empire. The conglomeration of races and territories under the Habsburg rule was not a mere dynastic coincidence. It was the political expression of a natural economic entity founded upon the community of complementary interests of the peoples of the Danube basin.

With its tiny population of six millions, nearly two millions of which are concentrated in the great metropolis of Vienna, cut off by artificial barriers both from the industrial centres of Czechoslovakia and from the rice plains of Hungary, the little State which to-day carries on the name of Austria has been left quite incapable of independent economic life. In 1931, toi find a way out of her difficulties, Austria concluded a Customs union with Germany. Her action, however, was declared illegal by a majority vote of The Hague Court.

A Revelation. Since then various attempts have been made to induce the other Central European nations toi afford Austria some modest facilities for the increased export of the products of her few basic industries. Unfortunately, however, the Conference of Stresa on Danubian affairs of 1932, and other lesser efforts of this kind, showed that she could count on little practical assistance- from her neighbours. In this atmosphere of growing despair is it surprising that a considerable section of Austrian opinion, in spite of an instinctive reluctance to entrust Austria’s destinies to a Government in Berlin, was readily attracted by the Pan-German idea? With the advent of National Socialism to power in Germany, the threat to Austrian independence became acute. Whilst high military circles in Berlin, for strategic and political reasons, view this policy with mixed feelings, the German Dictator, himself an Austrian, regards the union of all Germans within the frontiers of the Reich as a cardinal article of faith.

In most countries economic considerations are far outweighed by political ones, and any proposal to sacrifice the national identity for the sake of commercial advantage would be met by a storm of patriotic resentment. But this is not the case m Austria. No real sense of Austrian nationality exists When with the revolution the monarchy disappeared, Austrian patriotism disappeared with it, and the course of political events ever since has been the history of warring factions. Exasperated by internal discord, opinion in Austria has gradually turned with growing favour to the idea of recalling the Habsburg dynasty. It is felt that the restoration of the monarchy is ultimately the only practical means of creating some measure of real national unity, and offers the only hope of arousing a sufficient sense of Austrian patriotism to resist with success the powerful propaganda from Germany.

Awaiting a Call. Meanwhile the youthful head of the House of Habsburg, with the dignity and modesty which befits a- royal exile, is waiting in the medieval Flemish castle of Steencckerzeel for his country’s call. Day by day he applies his essentially modern mind to the study of each changing phase of the European situation, preparing himself to assume the great responsibilities whi.ch at any time may he his. In recent monthi the Austrian Government began more and more openly to support the movement for a restoration. This led to the inevitable result.

The Little Entente Powers, whose territories, either all or in part, had belonged to the old, Austro-Hungarian Empire, grew alarmed at the prospect of a Habsburg once again reigning in Vienna.

They made frantic protests, and even accompanied them with threats of invasion. The Austrian Government hastily offered some ambiguous reassurances and the whole issue lias one again become shrouded in dangerous uncertainty. Thus it is that Austria to-day, exhausted by her economic worries and deprived of any rallying point for local patriotism, lies an easy prey to a Germany that wishes to engulf her. In repeated declarations the British Government has expressed British interest in Austrian independence. But unless the countries of tire Little Entente play their part, any efforts to resist German ambitions in that quarter will in the long run be fruitless. Time for Action. But is it unreasonable for us to insist that they, too, shall make their contribution to Central European stability ? We should ask them to offer substantial economic concessions to Austria, in which connection we should no doubt be prepared to waive our advantages under the most-favoured-nation clause Likewise we should ask them to withdraw their objections to the restoration cf the Austrian monarchy. Those should be the clear conditions for our continued support of Austrian independence. And it can be confidently assumed that our influence, together with that of France, if vigorously exercised, is sufficient to ensure their acceptance. The Austrian question has got to be decided—and decided now. Let the statesmen of Europe learn from their own mistakes the fatal results of putting off decisions. Germany has taken the law into her own hands in the Rhineland, and no amount of searching for gestures will undo the damage to confidence.