History of Austria wanting to annex the country to the German Third Reich, resulting in the assassination of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss. While the coup failed, Adolf Hitler succeeded in annexing Austria on 12 March 1938 as "Ostmark", until 1945. Austria was partitioned after the Second World War and then in 1955 became the independent sovereign state (Second Republic) that has existed to the present day. In 1995, Austria joined the European Union. The modern state of Austria is considered to have three geographic zones. The biggest third consists of the Alps, which covers 62.8% of the country's landmass. In the north, across the
Christian Party of Austria in Lower Austria. In the 2008 parliamentary election, the party received 0.64% of the vote. Rudolf Gehring, the party's chairman, announced he would run for president in the 2010 election. He received 5.44% of the vote for third place, the party's highest vote percentage in a national election to date. The party is oriented mainly on Christian politics, advocating, for example: Christian Party of Austria The Christian Party of Austria (, CPÖ; formerly the Christians – ) is a minor political party in Austria, founded on October 15, 2005. It changed its name under its new chairman Rudolf Gehring in