Austria and tourism — страница 4

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“Red” Vienna, under the moderate socialist government of Karl Seitz, became increasingly opposed by the “Black” (i.e., clericalist) rural faction, which won the elections of 1921. The cabinet of Social Democrat Karl Renner was succeeded by Christian Socialist and Pan-German coalitions under Schober, Seipel, and others. Unrest culminated, in 1927, in violent riots in Vienna; two rival private militias—the Heimwehr of the monarchist leader E. R. von Starhemberg and the Schutzbund of the socialists—posed a threat to the authority of the state. Economic crisis loomed again in the late 1920s. National Socialism, feeding in part on anti-Semitism, gained rapidly and soon absorbed the Pan-German party. Engelbert Dollfuss, who became chancellor in 1932, though irreconcilably

opposed to Anschluss and to National Socialism, tended increasingly toward corporative fascism and relied heavily on Italian support. His stern suppression of the socialists precipitated a serious revolt (1934), which was bloodily suppressed by the army. Soon afterward a totalitarian state was set up, and all independent political parties were outlawed. In July, 1934, the National Socialists assassinated Dollfuss but failed to seize the government. Kurt von Schuschnigg succeeded Dollfuss. German pressure on Austria increased; Schuschnigg was forced to legalize the operations of the National Socialists and to appoint members of that party to cabinet posts. Schuschnigg planned a last-minute effort to avoid Anschluss by holding a plebiscite, but Hitler forced him to resign. In Mar.,

1938, Austria was occupied by German troops and became part of the Reich. Arthur Seyss-Inquart became the Nazi governor. In 1943, the Allies agreed to reestablish an independent Austria at the end of World War II. In 1945, Austria was conquered by Soviet and American troops, and a provisional government was set up under Karl Renner. The pre-Dollfuss constitution was restored with revisions; the country was divided into separate occupation zones, each controlled by an Allied power. Economic recovery was hindered by the decline of trade between Western and Eastern Europe and by the division into zones. Austria was formally recognized by the Western powers in 1946, but because of Soviet disagreement with the West over reparations, the occupation continued. On May 15, 1955, a formal

treaty between Great Britain, France, the United States, the USSR, and Austria restored full sovereignty to the country. The treaty prohibited the possession of major offensive weapons and required Austria to pay heavy reparations to the USSR. Austria proclaimed its perpetual neutrality. In 1955 it was admitted to the United Nations. By the 1960s unprecedented prosperity had been attained. Austria had joined the European Free Trade Association in 1959, but association with the European Economic Community (Common Market) was held back by Soviet opposition. Politically, a nearly equal balance of power between the conservative People's party and the Socialist party resulted in successive coalition cabinets until 1966, when the People's party won a clear majority. They were ousted by

the Socialists in the 1970 elections, and Bruno Kreisky became chancellor. A long-standing dispute with Italy over the German-speaking population of the Trentino–Alto Adige region of Italy was dealt with in a treaty ratified in 1971. In 1983 the Socialist government fell, and Socialists were forced to form a coalition with the far-right Freedom party. In 1986 the Socialists (now the Social Democrats) and the People's party again joined together in a “grand coalition” that retained control of the government through the 1990s. Social Democrat Franz Vranitzky was chancellor from 1986 to 1997, when he resigned and was replaced by Viktor Klima. In the Oct., 1999, elections, the People's party placed third, just barely behind the far-right Freedom party, whose leader, Jörg

Haider, has been critized as demagogic. The results complicated the formation of a new government, which still was not achieved by Dec., 1999, when Klima sought to re-form the Social Democratic–People's party coalition. Austria captured world attention in 1986 when former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim was elected president despite allegations that he had been involved in atrocities as a German army staff officer in the Balkans during World War II. Waldheim was succeeded in 1992 by Thomas Klestil, the candidate of the People's party. Austria began a partial privatization of state-owned industries in the late 1980s and entered the European Union in 1995. 2. The tourism industry as a part of the Austrian economy The majestic Alps, plentiful forests, 88 lakes and a