Abstract
Austria’s threat perceptions have grown out of the traumatic experiences it has had during this century. Austria was a main actor in the First World War. Later, in 1938, it was occupied by Germany and subsequently incorporated into the Third Reich. Allied planning in the Second World War affected Austria in two ways. On the one hand, Austria’s independence was to be re-established. On the other hand, the allies envisaged a quadripartite military occupation by the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the USA and France, similar to that of Germany. Liberation from German occupation in 1945 thus meant allied occupation for Austria. In contrast to Germany, however, Austria could establish a central government and held democratic elections as early as 1945.
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Notes and References
See for example, W. F. Bader, Austria between East and West, 1945–1955 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1966)
G. Stourzh, Kleine Geschichte des österreichischen Staatsvertrages (Graz: Styria, 1975)
M. Rauchensteiner, Der Sonderfall (Graz: Styria, 1979).
NATO was founded in reaction to the establishing of communist proxy governments in Eastern Europe by the Soviet Union; see: V. Mastny, ‘Europe in US-USSR Relations: A Topical Legacy’, Problems of Communism, vol. XXXVII (1988) pp. 16–29.
See also: V. Mastny, ‘Kremlin Politics and the Austrian Settlement’, Problems of Communism, vol. XXXI (1982) pp. 37–51.
See also: H. Vetschera and J. Rocca, ‘Österreich in den Ost—West—Beziehungen’, parts I and II, Österreichische Militärische Zeitschrift, vol. XXIII (1985) pp. 229–35
See also F. Freistetter, ‘Die strategische Lage Österreichs’, Allgemeine Schweizerìsche Militärische Zeitschrift, vol. XIL (1983), no. 5, p. 237
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See also A. Verdross], The Permanent Neutrality of Austria (Vienna: Verlag für Wissenschaft und Politik, 1978) p. 75.
See in detail: H. Neuhold and H. Vetschera, Austria’s Security Policy (Geneva: United Nations Institute of Disarmament Research 1984) pp. 23–6
See in detail, R. Eger], Krisen an Österreichs Grenzen (Vienna/Munich: Herold, 1981) pp. 15–72.
See in detail, R. Benda and I. Gabriel, Terror Rot-Weiβ-Rot (Zürich: Presdok, 1989).
On the perceptions of Austria’s foreign policy elite in general see H. Neuhold, ‘atDe Internationale Entwicklungen bis zur Jahrtausendwende aus der Sicht eines Teils der “außenpolitischen Elite” in Österreich’, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Auβenpolitik, vol. XX (1980), no. 3 pp. 208–11.
See in detail, E. Gehmacher, ‘Das Sicherheitsbewußtsein der Österreicher’, opening statement of the 13th Foreign Policy Colloquium of the Austrian Foreign Policy Association, Hernstein, 1979; quoted in F. Trauttmansdorff, ‘Österreichs Außenpolitik als Sicherheitspolitik’, in R. Kicker, A. Khol and H. Neuhold (eds), Auβenpolitik und Demokratie in Österreich (Salzburg: Wolfgang Neugebauer, 1983) pp. 235–58.
H. Vetschera, ‘Austria’, in R. E. Bissell and C. Gasteyger (eds), The Missing Link: West European Neutrals and Regional Security (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1990).
For a comprehensive analysis see R. de Nevers, The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe: the End of an Era, Adelphi Paper no. 249 (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1990).
See: G. Wettig, ‘The Soviet “New Thinking” on Security and East-West—Relations’, in Problems of Communism, vol. XXXVIII (1988), March–April, pp. 1–14
B. Parrott, ‘Soviet Security Policy under Gorbachev’, in Problems of Communism, vol. XXXVIII (1988), November–December 1988, pp. 1–36.
See J. J. Mearsheimer, ‘Back to the Future: Instability in Europe After the Cold War’, International Security, vol. XV (Summer 1990) pp. 5–56.
Some numerical ‘reductions’ in the Soviet armed forces also result from mere organisational changes. Since the fall of 1989, Border Troops, MVD forces, KGB formations and Railroad Troops are no longer part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union; W. E. Odom, ‘The Soviet Military in Transition’, Problems of Communism, vol. XXXIX (1990), May–June, pp. 51–71.
In addition, changing from a divisional towards a brigade structure would increase the flexibility of the Soviet forces, facilitating their employment in Central Europe and requiring less efforts in logistics; see in detail, H. Pleiner, ‘Aktuelle militärstrategische Entwicklungen und mögliche Auswirkungen auf das Bundesheer der neunziger Jahre’, in Österreichische Militärische Zeitschrift (ÖMZ), vol. XXVIII (1990), no. 5, pp. 369–79.
As to the scope of ‘low intensity conflicts’, see US Army, Field Manual (FM) 100–20, 1981; see also: Proceedings of the Low-Intensity Warfare Conference (Fort McNair and Washington, DC: National Defense University, 1986); S. C. Sarkesian and W. L. Scully (Eds), US Policy and Low Intensity Conflict (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 1987) pp. 135–6.
See also H. Vetschera, ‘Recent Trends in European Terrorism’; Defence Analysis, I (1985) pp. 286–9.
For the concept of low-intensity operations, see F. Kitson, Low-Intensity Operations: Subversion, Insurgency, Peace-Keeping (London: Faber & Faber, 1971).
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© 1992 László Valki
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Vetschera, H. (1992). Do Neutrals Perceive any Threat? The Case of Austria. In: Valki, L. (eds) Changing Threat Perceptions and Military Doctrines. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12060-4_11
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