!!!Nation

Nation (from Latin "natio" and "nasci" = to be 
born), originally meant geographic or social origin or the place of 
birth, and sometimes designated collective properties (e.g. the 
"nations" of a council or of a university) or historical and political 
entities and their members (the concept of "aristocratic nations" was 
used in respect of Hungary and Poland up to the 19th century). Natural 
law and the ideas of Enlightenment and the French Revolution with its 
call for equality and the right to participate in the political 
process then broadened the concept to include not only the Estates but 
all citizens ("state nationality"). Economic, political and social 
developments required a standard language. As a result, the concept of 
"nation" has since then been linked with the idea of a common language 
(and hence a common origin, history and culture). In the Habsburg 
Monarchy, resistance to revolutionary France and the trend towards 
"reformed absolutism" resulted in attempts to promote a "society of 
citizens" and thus the concept of an Austrian Nation, which was to 
comprise all linguistic groups. These attempts were, however, 
frustrated by the resistance of the Court and the traditionalist 
Estates in the lands of the Monarchy and by the emergence of 
nationalist thought. Accordingly, the nations that took shape in the 
Monarchy consisted of individual language groups, a development that 
was both due to the distinct characteristics of the old-established 
realms (Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, Croatia etc.) and the attitude of 
the educated citizenry. The German-speaking parts of the Monarchy 
developed a kind of national consciousness that associated itself with 
the Austrian empire on the one hand and "German culture" on the other 
(i.e. the concept of a "German-Austrian" nation). At the same time, a 
German Nation began to take shape within the German Confederation ( 
Deutscher Bund), which excluded the German-speaking Austrians 
(Deutscher Zollverein, Frankfurt 1849, Koeniggraetz 1866). From the 
1880s onwards, the radical German Nationalist groups in Austria 
(G. von  Schoenerer) were hostile to the Monarchy, and the 
Austrian component of the German-Austrian national consciousness 
received a fatal blow through the end of Austria-Hungary, which may 
explain why the remainder of Austria expressed the wish to join 
Germany on November 12, 1918. Despite a number of attempts to 
strengthen the national pride of Austrians from 1933 onwards, this 
lack of national identity greatly contributed to internal strife and 
ultimately to the surrender of Austria in 1938. Union with 
National-Socialist Germany ( Anschluss) then caused Austrians to 
become more aware of their specific identity, and the collapse of Nazi 
Germany in 1945 decisively weakened the "German" component of the 
Austrians' national consciousness. In fact, Austrian resistance to 
National Socialism was in many cases due to a strong feeling of 
Austrian identity.

\\
In its party platform of 1945, the Austrian People's Party (OeVP) 
embraced the idea of an Austrian nation, as did the Government 
Declaration of the Figl government in December 1945. Since the 1960s, 
the idea that the Austrian people constitutes a nation in its own 
right has steadily gained popular support: In 1993 80% of Austrians 
felt that Austria was a nation and 12% stated that they were beginning 
to feel that way.

!Literature
F. Kreissler, Der Oesterreicher und seine Nation, 1984; G. 
Stourzh, Vom Reich zur Republik, 1990; E. Bruckmueller, 
Oesterreich-Bewusstsein im Wandel, 1994.


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