It cannot be said that a young American arriving in Europe in 1925 could foresee what lay ahead. To be sure, Mussolini had established himself in Italy, and the tyrannical grip of the Communist Party on Russia was complete. But both countries seemed, for the moment at least, to lie outside of the main stream of European history . . . .
The Europe one saw at the beginning of the second quarter of the century was dominated by the two great Western democracies, Great Britain and France. Victorious allies and (with American help) conquerors of Germany, with immense overseas empires as sources of wealth and strength, their power was . . . dominant throughout the world. It was Great Britain and France who had largely made the peace and who had the means to maintain it. How and why they failed to keep it, and what the consequences were, I was to see for myself in the years that followed. [Emphasis added—m.o.]
— William L. Shirer, Midcentury Journey (1952)*
Nor can it be said that a young person living in the United States in 2024 can foresee what lies ahead. But if Americans reflect on (and learn from) the experiences of their compatriot of the last century, perhaps they (we) can avoid the worst.
I grabbed the Shirer book from our condo laundry room library to stuff in my carry-on so I would have something to read on the plane. The author’s name was familiar because my Dad had the original two-volume hardcover edition of Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I never read it—I was twelve and those were my Dad’s books. (Too bad we donated them . . . they are now worth $200 on the fine books market.) The first chapter of Shirer’s Midcentury Journey is “Thoughts in a Plane over the Ocean.” I read the book in a plane over the ocean and I, too, had thoughts.
Cradled in so much early beauty and looking out on all of Europe from its center, Vienna took naturally to the cultivation of the arts which reflected what was beautiful . . . . Here beneath the Vienna Woods, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Johan Strauss, and many lesser men composed, having found in this place some of the deep wells of their inspiration.
Bill Shirer arrived in Vienna in 1925 as Austria was recovering from wartime defeat, the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and mass starvation that persisted for years after the First World War. A republican revolution replaced the Hapsburg monarchy with democracy, but transitioning from an imperial center to a viable nation-state was slow and arduous. In 1922, Austria’s economy was near collapse; a last-minute $130 million loan from the League of Nations ultimately prevented the government’s fall.
The youthful Shirer experienced Vienna at its high point of democratic hopefulness. Dominated by Social Democrats, the municipal government was enacting ambitious democratic reforms. During this so-called “Red Vienna” period, the city government took on new responsibilities and became more responsive to local concerns.
Budget reforms allowed the Viennese to tackle long-standing problems: the housing shortage, a deficient sanitation and public health infrastructure, and an unresponsive municipal bureaucracy. Local government proceeded to build apartments, hospitals, schools, and parks.
“Red Vienna” also supported the arts. The city subsidized music festivals that expanded the audience beyond the elites. The atmosphere of progressive change nurtured communities of artists. Towering figures of modern music emerged from Vienna in the twenties. Arnold Schönberg and his students, Alban Berg and Anton Webern—the Second Viennese school—initiated a new era of modern orchestral music. Vienna also fostered a resurgence in political cabaret—popular music infused with biting satire.
Such was the intoxicating Vienna that greeted 21-year-old Bill Shirer in 1925. But within Austria, tensions were mounting. Vienna’s socialist bubble was viewed with disgust by the traditionalists—especially Catholic conservatives and rural peasantry—outside the capital. Nationally, political power was split fifty-fifty between the Social Democrats and the conservative Christian Socialists. But that uneasy balance was not to last.
In these days when we are struggling to preserve democracy in the face of the deadly threats from the Communists, it may be instructive to recall the technique by which the dictators of the Right destroyed democracy between the wars; for our memories are short, and many, obsessed with today’s menace from the Left, seem to have forgotten.
The preservation of democracy is the core task— and it is not easy. Bill Shirer could attest to that fact because he witnessed the failure of democracy in Central Europe twice.
The young Central European democracies were progressively (and mortally) strangled by fascists between 1934 - 1939. Then Nazis invaded and hobbled that giant, France. When Central European states regained their sovereignty and attempted to restore democracy after World War II (1945), they were constrained by the presence of victorious occupying armies. By 1949, democratic efforts in the areas dominated by the Soviets had collapsed. The unfortunate “People’s Republics” nevertheless survived until 1989.
Shirer traveled back to Europe in 1950 to reflect on the contingencies and consequences of the momentous events he had witnessed. Even then, his beloved Austria was not rid of the Soviet tanks.
I wanted, if I could, to find out where we stood at the midcentury mark. If one could travel back and forth not only in space but in time, perhaps some perspective would develop and some bit of understanding. It might be easier to perceive where we were if one could recall honestly and accurately the road we had taken, the wrong turnings as well as the right ones, and what of significance—for good or evil—had happened along that wearying, tortuous route soaked with so much blood after such cruelty and suffering.
Remember, reflect, and understand—to preserve democracy. This prime directive is as significant today as it was for Bill Shirer in 1950. Learning this history may be more important for us—armed with knowledge, we may make the right turn and avoid the “wearying, tortuous route soaked with so much blood . . . cruelty and suffering.”
In Austria . . . democracy was murdered not by the Nazis but by a group of men who were rabidly anti-Nazi, who called themselves Christians, who said prayers in the Cathedral even as they prepared to turn their cannon on the people for whom the democratic way had become a deeply felt and cherished pattern of life.
Democracy and the freedoms it gave to men were wiped out in Austria by devout clerico-fascists.
Federal Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Englebert Dollfuss was offered the chancellorship by President Wilhelm Miklas, a fellow member of the Christian-Social Party in 1931. After a night of prayer and fasting, Dollfuss agreed. The new chancellor’s vision for Austria was conservative, traditional, and virulently anti-secular.
Since the fall of the Hapsburgs and the end of the First World War, Austria’s internal politics had been dominated by a struggle between the “Reds” [Communists] and the ‘Blacks” [Ultramontane Catholics]. It was a battle between Vienna, which was socialist, anticlerical, democratic, and highly sophisticated, and the provinces, which were conservative, Catholic authoritarian, and backward. The capital drew its main strength from the workers and the lower middle class, and from the intellectuals, many of whom were Jews. The hinterland’s strength came from its peasants, mostly Alpine mountaineers, who had a deep suspicion of intellectuals and who were anti-Semitic.
Dollfuss’ first blow against democracy “began with a trivial incident which struck most people . . . as little more than a joke,” according to Shirer. On March 4, 1933, the National Council (lower house of parliament) voted on a routine government motion to discipline striking railroad workers. The government lost the vote, 81 - 80. One of the socialist deputies “noted for his weak bladder” had asked a colleague to hand in his vote while he ran to the bathroom. Dollfuss, as head of the government, disputed the outcome and refused to abide by the vote. The President of the lower chamber resigned his chair in protest. Then two conservative deputy presidents did as well. The calculating Chancellor saw his opportunity and dissolved the Parliament, claiming it was without a speaker. When deputies tried to gather in defiance of Dollfuss, he called in the police to arrest them. After suppressing the democratically elected Parliament, Dollfuss drew up a new constitution modeled on the fascist principles of his friend, Benito Mussolini.
The Chancellor’s next move was to bring Prince von Starhemberg and Major Fey, organizers of a right-wing paramilitary force (Heimwehr), into his government. Then they planned a decisive strike against the opposition Social Democrats.
And that meant Vienna. On February 10, Dollfuss and his henchmen stripped Vienna’s mayor of his political authority and put the Heimwehr in charge of the municipal police force.
Major Fey spoke clearly about their intentions:
‘Tomorrow we start to clean up, and we shall make a full job of it.’
The next day, February 12, 1934, they did. They wiped out the last vestiges of democracy in Austria with field artillery. In doing so in the name of one form of authoritarianism, they dug their own graves (Dollfuss would be murdered by a Nazi assassin within five months) and made inevitable the coming of another, and even sterner, authoritarianism from across the German border.
Dismantling democracy often ends badly for the tyrants. But it usually takes longer than five months.
To be continued . . .
*All quotations in this essay are from William L. Shirer, Midcentury Journey: The Western World Through Its Years of Conflict.
And now, your moment of . . . coming down the mountain.
Writing—and reading—about serious subjects can be fairly depressing. Grounded concludes each week with an upbeat piece so you may leave with a bit of joy in your heart.
Hiker Rescues Frightened Dog Stuck 1,000 Feet Up On Dangerous Mountain Trail
Physical therapist and avid hiker Sergio Florian drew on his strength and training to reunite this pup with her owner . . .
Found this sweet girl 1000 feet up on one of the most precarious sections, of one of the most dangerous trails on the island. Sheer cliffs and drop offs in all directions. Luckily she let me carry her down. My arms are hurting tonight, but my heart is overjoyed.
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Notes:
Bill Moyers, Eye Witness to History: William L. Shirer. (Free clip).
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. T
William L. Shirer, Midcentury Journey: The Western World Through Its Years of Conflict.
City of Vienna, From "Red Vienna" to the "Ständestaat" (1918 to 1938).
City of Vienna, Arts and Culture in the Interwar period.
No repeats for sure. Looking forward to part two.
The names change, and it would be easy to identify the anti science, anti secular party today-but it is certainly not conservative.