Editing Conservatism (section)

==== Austria ====
{{Conservatism in Austria}}
Austrian conservatism originated with Prince [[Klemens von Metternich]], who was the architect behind the monarchist and imperialist [[Conservative Order]] that was enacted at the [[Congress of Vienna]] in the aftermath of the [[French Revolution]] and the [[Napoleonic Wars]].{{sfn|Encyclopædia Britannica}} The goal was to establish a [[European balance of power]] that could guarantee peace and suppress republican and nationalist movements.<ref>Gordon Craig, "The System of Alliances and the Balance of Power." in J.P.T. Bury, ed., ''The New Cambridge Modern History, Vol. 10: The Zenith of European Power, 1830–70'' (1960), p. 266.</ref> During its existence, the [[Austrian Empire]] was the third most populous monarchy in Europe after the [[Russian Empire]] and the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]. Following its defeat in the [[Austro-Prussian War]], it transformed into the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]], which was the most diverse state in Europe with twelve nationalities living under a unifying monarch.{{sfn|von Kuehnelt-Leddihn|1943|pp=139–140}} The Empire was fragmented in the aftermath of [[World War I]], ushering in the democratic [[First Austrian Republic]].

The [[Austrian Civil War]] in 1934 saw a series of skirmishes between the right-wing government and socialist forces. When the insurgents were defeated, the government declared [[martial law]] and held mass trials, forcing leading socialist politicians, such as [[Otto Bauer]], into exile.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brook-Shepherd |first=Gordon |year=1996 |title=The Austrians: A Thousand-Year Odyssey |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=0-00-638255-X |page=283}}</ref> The conservatives banned the [[Social Democratic Party of Austria|Social Democratic Party]] and replaced [[parliamentary democracy]] with a [[Conservative corporatism|corporatist]] and [[Clericalism|clerical]] constitution. The [[Patriotic Front (Austria)|Patriotic Front]], into which the paramilitary {{lang|de|[[Heimwehr]]}} and the [[Christian Social Party (Austria)|Christian Social Party]] were merged, became the only legal political party in the resulting authoritarian regime, the [[Federal State of Austria]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pyrah |first=Robert |date=2007 |title=Enacting Encyclicals? Cultural Politics and 'Clerical Fascism' in Austria, 1933–1938 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14690760701321338?journalCode=ftmp20 |journal=[[Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions]] |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=369–382 |doi=10.1080/14690760701321338 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

While having close ties to [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]], which was still a [[Kingdom of Italy|monarchy]] as well as a fellow Catholic nation, Austrian conservatives harbored strong anti-Prussian and anti-Nazi sentiment. Austria's most prominent conservative intellectual, the Catholic aristocrat [[Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn]], published several books in which he interpreted [[Nazism]] as a [[Left-wing politics|leftist]], [[Mob rule|ochlocratic]], and [[Demagogy|demagogic]] ideology opposed to the traditional rightist ideals of aristocracy, monarchy, and Christianity.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/kuehnelt-leddihn-and-american-conservatism |title=Kuehnelt-Leddihn and American Conservatism |last=Congdon |first=Lee |date=March 26, 2012 |website=Crisis Magazine |access-date=December 23, 2023}}</ref> Austria's dictator [[Engelbert Dollfuss]] saw Nazism as another form of totalitarian [[communism]], and he saw [[Adolf Hitler]] as the German version of [[Joseph Stalin]]. The conservatives banned the [[Austrian Nazi Party]] and arrested many of its activists, causing tens of thousands of Nazi sympathisers to flee to [[Nazi Germany]] in order to avoid persecution.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Binder |first=Dieter A. |title=The Christian Corporatist State |publisher=Routledge |year=2009 |isbn=9781351315203 |pages=73}}</ref> A few months later, Nazi forces initiated the [[July Putsch]] and managed to assassinate Chancellor Dollfuss in an attempt to overthrow the conservative government.{{sfn|Bischof|2003}} In response, [[Benito Mussolini]] mobilized a part of the Italian army on the Austrian border and threatened Hitler with war in the event of a German invasion of Austria. In 1938, when Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the {{lang|de|[[Anschluss]]}}, conservative groups were suppressed: members of the [[Austrian nobility]] and the [[Catholic clergy]] were arrested and their properties were confiscated.{{sfn|von Kuehnelt-Leddihn|1943|p=210}}<ref>{{cite news |last=Zoch |first=Irene |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/1455082/Habsburgs-demand-return-of-estates-seized-by-Nazis-in-1938.html  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/1455082/Habsburgs-demand-return-of-estates-seized-by-Nazis-in-1938.html  |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Habsburgs demand return of estates seized by Nazis in 1938 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=February 22, 2004 |access-date=August 18, 2024}}</ref> [[Otto von Hapsburg]], the last [[List of heirs to the Austrian throne|Crown Prince]] of Austria-Hungary, was a fervent anti-Nazi, for which reason the Nazi regime ordered that he was to be executed immediately if caught.<ref>{{cite news |author=Dan van der Vat |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/04/otto-von-habsburg-obituary |title=Otto von Habsburg obituary |work=The Guardian |date=July 4, 2011 |access-date=August 18, 2024 |archive-date=September 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930132055/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/04/otto-von-habsburg-obituary |url-status=live}}</ref>

Following [[World War II]] and the return to democracy, Austrian conservatives and socialists alike abandoned their extremism, believing in political compromise and seeking consensus in the middle.<ref>{{cite book |author=Jelavich, Barbara |year=1989 |title=Modern Austria: Empire & Republic 1815–1986 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-31625-1}}</ref> The conservatives formed the [[Austrian People's Party]], which has been the major conservative party in Austria ever since. In contemporary politics, the party was led by [[Sebastian Kurz]], whom the {{lang|de|[[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]]}} nicknamed the "young [[Klemens von Metternich|Metternich]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://kurier.at/politik/inland/aussenminister-in-deutschen-medien-sebastian-kurz-der-junge-metternich/46.313.665 |website=kurier.at |title=Sebastian Kurz, der "junge Metternich" |date=January 16, 2014 |language=de |access-date=December 15, 2023 |archive-date=May 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518092627/https://kurier.at/politik/inland/aussenminister-in-deutschen-medien-sebastian-kurz-der-junge-metternich/46.313.665 |url-status=live}}</ref>