Editing History of Austria (section)

==== 1919 ====
On [[1919 Austrian Constitutional Assembly election|19 February elections]] were held for what was now called the Constituent National Assembly. Although the Social Democrats won the most seats (41%) they did not have an absolute majority and formed a [[grand coalition]] with the second-largest party, the Christian Socialists. On 12 March the National Assembly declared "German Austria" to be part of the "German Republic".

Large sections of the population and most representatives of political parties were of the opinion that this "residual" or "[[rump state]]"&nbsp;– without Hungary's agriculture sector and Bohemia's industry – would not be economically viable. The journalist [[Hellmut Andics]] (1922–1998) expressed this sentiment in his book entitled ''Der Staat, den keiner wollte'' (The state that nobody wanted) in 1962.

Austria's exact future remained uncertain until formal treaties were signed and ratified. This process began with the opening of the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Peace Conference in Paris]] on 18 January 1919 and culminated in the signing of the [[Treaty of Saint Germain]] on 10 September that year, although the National Assembly initially rejected the draft treaty on 7 June.