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
Social Democratic Party of Austria unification between Austria and Germany. The SDAPÖ nevertheless still advocated such a union during the existence of the First Republic, as they hoped for a strengthening of their position and the socialist cause within a Greater Germany. In the first elections for the constitutional national assembly on 16 February 1919, women were allowed to vote for the first time. The SDAPÖ became the strongest party and formed a grand coalition with the anti-"Anschluss" Christian Social Party (CS). In May, elections for the city council of Vienna followed: out of 165 mandates the social democrats won 100 seats. Jakob Reumann became