Progress in Eastern Europe: Effects on Austria/Hungary

With the fall of communism came a whole new era of reform and rebuilding in eastern Europe. Countries were no longer divided by ideological competition and the cold war, and as the situation progressed, more and more independent states sprouted up. The transitions from communism to nationalism were tough, but many observers have agreed that Hungary, along with Poland and the Czech Republic, were most successful in the transition. Each of these three countries me the critical challenge of economic reconstruction more successfully than Russia, and each could claim to be the economic leader in easter Europe. The causes for these successes were considerable experience with limited market reforms before 1989, flexibility and lack of dogmatism in government policy, and an enthusiastic embrace of capitalism by a new entrepreneurial class.

WWII Effect on Austria

Austria was effected in WWII in a crucial and rather tyrannical way. Hitler and the Nazi's essentially demanded Austria to join Germany and with little resistance the job was done. Hitler gave Austria an ultimatum to be annexed or be invaded and fearing this invasion Austria succumbed. In 1938 one year before WWII, Germany officially annexed Austria as part of the anschluss. This led to the Austrian people becoming assimilated into the German society and the Nazi way of life where Hitler converted thousands of Austrians into Nazi soldiers. Numerous concentration camps were also set up that led to the deaths of a vast amount of innocent Jews. As the war progressed Austrian cities were obliterated by the Allied forces and thousands of lives were lost in the gruesome process. All in all, after the war Austria disbanded from Germany and began to rebuild its way of life after suffering

The Cold War's Effect On Austria

After WWII ended, Austria's ally, Germany, had to accept and unconditional surrender and was taken over by the allied powers. This obviously had negative effects on Austria because their strongest ally had been destroyed. Soon after WWII had subsided, Russia (under Stalin) began to spread communism onto its eastern bordering/neighboring countries. After the fall of countries such as Poland, Eastern Germany, Czechoslovakia, etc. to Communism, Austria (as one of these close/bordering countries) must have been weary of being taken over. Stalin, in an effort to spread communism by any costs, could have made Austria communist in two ways. One was to take over Austria by force and make them submit to communism or they could have brought/left people there to teach and spread communism in a peaceful manner. When this did not work, Austria ended becoming a "Nonallied Western Country."

Impact of Physics on Austria/Hungary

With the efforts of people like Marie Curie, Max Planck, Ernest Rutherford, and Albert Einstein, a new age of physics was thrust upon all of Europe. These people formed a whole new field of science known as physics, and the effects of these discoveries were tremendous. People began to see the universe in a whole new way, coming to a realization that the universe was very uncertain and undetermined. Very quickly, physics became the queen of science and many Europeans felt compelled to delve deeper into the great potential of physics. A whole new age of anxiety began to form, as millions of men and women were puzzled at the a universe that completely lacked any absolute objective reality.