Anglo-Austrian Diplomatic Backchannels from the Juliputsch to the Anschluss, 1934-38

My doctoral dissertation investigates backchannels of communication between British and Austrian diplomats stationed in Vienna and London between the July Putsch of 1934, which claimed the life of Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß, and the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938. My research demonstrates that in the face of increasingly stagnant and conciliatory official politics between the two states, impassioned diplomats on both sides relied on networks of personal and professional affiliation in an attempt to rally support for Austria during a period of mounting German antagonism and Austrian helplessness. Starting from the diplomatic record and then drawing upon personal correspondence and less official forms of diplomacy, I examine the inner turmoil which diplomats felt and the emotional and practical obstacles which they navigated, as expressed in letters to friends, to family, and to close professional partners. My PhD thus re-evaluates the well-trodden British appeasement narrative and argues that— contrary to scholarly consensus—there were multiple, conflicting cohorts within the British Foreign Office contending to shape policy towards Austria in the 1930s. In so doing, I illustrate how the pro-Austria camp, which was comprised mainly of diplomats stationed in Vienna, resorted to innovative, covert means to wage their battle beyond the walls of the Foreign Office. My doctoral research will accordingly make significant contribution to the historiography of interwar Austria by newly situating interactions that have traditionally been viewed only within an Austrian nationalist framework within a broader transnational context, thereby illuminating novel and complicated perspectives on the role of diplomacy during four years of diplomatic crises.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Schmalz, Timothy

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Roche, Helen
• Simms, Brendan
• Clark, Christopher

• Anschluss
• Cultural Diplomacy
• Anglo-Austrian Relations
• Interwar Austria
• Diplomats

Licence

• https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/875924f3-06be-4c0b-b833-e03f1fde3b71/download
• https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/

Language dc:language

eng

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.66045

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/318928