BACKGROUND NOTES SERIES Background Notes are short, factual pamphlets about various countries and territories, In making up the collected volume, Background Notes on the Countries of the World, the Updated Background Notes and occasional new releases can be obtained on a regular basis A list of the more than 150 Background Notes comprising the series is included with each How To Obtain Background Notes Write to the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1) Complete set of all currently in stock Background Notes on the Countries of the World 2) One-year subscription service for approximately 75 updated or new Background Notes 3) Hidden-hinge binder for Background Notes... $1.50 each, plus 40 cents for foreign 4) Individual Background Notes... $0.10 each, plus 25 percent for foreign mailing. (Or- LIST OF COUNTRIES Write to the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402, for any item, or Afghanistan (pub. 7795) Albania (pub. 8217) Algeria (pub. 7821) Angola (pub. 7962) Bhutan (pub. 8334) Bolivia (pub. 8032) Botswana (pub. 8046) British Honduras (pub. 8332) Bulgaria (pub. 7882) Burma (pub. 7931) Burundi (pub. 8084) Cambodia (pub. 7747) Cameroon (pub. 8010) Canada (pub. 7769) Central African Republic (pub. 7970) Ceylon (pub. 7757) Chad (pub. 7669) Chile (pub. 7998) China, Communist (pub. 7751) Congo, Brazzaville (pub. 7896) Cuba (pub. 8347) Cyprus (pub. 7932) Czechoslovakia (pub. 7758) Dahomey (pub. 8308) Denmark (pub. 8298) Dominican Republic (pub. 7759) El Salvador (pub. 7794) Finland (pub. 8262) France (pub. 8209) French Guiana (pub. 8321) Gabon (pub. 7968) The Gambia (pub. 8014) Germany, Federal Republic of (pub. 7834) Germany, Soviet Zone of (pub. 7957) Available September 1968 Greece (pub. 8198) Guadeloupe (pub. 8319) Guatemala (pub. 7798) Guinea (pub. 8057) Ivory Coast (pub. 8119) Korea (North) (pub. 8396) Korea (South) (pub. 7782) Libya (pub. 7815) Luxembourg (pub. 7856) Malagasy Republic (pub. 8015) Muscat and Oman (pub. 8070) Nepal (pub. 7904) Nigeria (pub. 7953) Norway (pub. 8228) Pakistan (pub. 7748) Panama (pub. 7903) Spanish Sahara (pub. 7905) Surinam (pub. 8268) Trinidad and Tobago (pub. 8306) Turkey (pub. 7850) Uganda (pub. 7958) United Arab Republic (pub. 8152) United Kingdom (pub. 8099) Upper Volta (pub. 8201) Uruguay (pub. 7857) U.S.S.R. (pub. 7842) Vatican City (pub. 8258) Venezuela (pub. 7749) Viet-Nam, Republic of (pub. 7933) Yugoslavia (pub. 7773) Zambia (pub. 7841) Austria is located in Central Europe and encompasses an area of 32,369 square miles (about the size of West Virginia). It shares a common border with three Communist-controlled countries-Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslaviaand three democratically governed countriesthe Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. Austria is primarily a mountainous country, with the Alps and their approaches dominating the western and southern Provinces. The eastern Provinces and Vienna are located in the Danube basin. The old Austro-Hungarian Empire played a decisive role in the history of Central Europe, partly because of its strategic postition astride the southeastern approaches to Western Europe and the north-south routes between Germany and Italy. Although present-day Austria is only a tiny remnant of the old Empire, it still holds this strategic position. The Austrian climate is not extreme. The summers are relatively cool and the winters normally mild with a great deal of rain in the lowlands and snow in the mountains. The Austrian flag consists of three horizontal bands-red, white, and red. THE PEOPLE Austria has a population of approximately 7.3 million, of whom about 1.7 million live in Vienna. The annual population growth rate is roughly 0.5 percent. The population of the old Empire, about 58 million, was ethnically as diverse as that of any modern state. Today there is only one significant minority group-approximately 70,000 Slovenes in Carinthia. The Slovenes form a closely knit community whose rights are protected by law and respected by custom. Austria's present boundaries were set by the Treaty of Saint-Germain in 1919. A considerable number of Austrians, particularly in the Vienna area, still have relatives in neighboring Czechoslovakia and Hungary. German is the native language of about 95 percent of the people. About 90 percent of the population are Roman Catholic. In contrast to the clericalism which exerted such a strong influence on Austrian affairs as late as the 1930's, the church hierarchy now abstains from political activity. There are, however, lay Catholic action organizations which align with the conservative People's Party and interest themselves in public policy. The Socialist Party, formerly strongly anticlerical, in recent years has stressed that it has no quarrel with the church, and it has made a considerable effort to attract the Catholic vote. In turn, the church has sought peaceful relations with the Socialists. There is a small Protestant minority, principally in Vienna and the mountains of Carinthia. HISTORY The new Republic of some 6 million people established at the end of World War I soon went through a catastrophic inflation. There were also great difficulties in adjusting an economic system and bureaucracy which had been geared to serve a great empire to the needs of a small state. Coming on top of these fundamental adjustments, the depression of the early 1930's and the accompanying unemployment had a shattering effect on the young Republic. In 1933 economic and political conditions led to the establishment of a dictatorship under Engelbert Dollfuss, and in February 1934 a civil war broke out which led to the suppression of the Social Democratic Party. In July of that same year Chancellor Dollfuss was assassinated by National Socialists in an unsuccessful attempt to seize power. These difficult years still color political and social attitudes in Austria. In March 1938 Austria was invaded and defeated by Hitler, who incorporated the territory into his German Reich. At the Moscow conference in 1943 the Allies publicly declared it to be their intention and purpose to liberate Austria and reconstitute it as a free and independent nation. Forces of both East and West liberated Austria in April 1945. The country subsequently was divided into zones of occupation in somewhat the same pattern as Germany but with the important difference that the avowed purpose of the occupation of Austria was only to maintain control in order to permit the establishment of a representative and democratic Austrian government which would have full authority throughout the whole of the country. The organization of an Austrian administration was undertaken with remarkable success by a Socialist elder statesman, Dr. Karl Renner. General elections were held in November 1945 in which the conservative People's Party obtained 50 percent of the vote and 85 seats in the Nationalrat (lower house of |