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
Freedom Party of Austria narrow third place, and entered government as a junior partner in a coalition with the ÖVP, with ÖVP leader Sebastian Kurz as chancellor. Among other things, the party supports the unification of South Tyrol (Italy) with Tyrol (Austria), and, therefore, the South Tyrolean secessionist movement, which notably includes its South Tyrolean sister party Die Freiheitlichen. The FPÖ is a descendant of the pan-German and national liberal camp ("Lager") dating back to the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas. During the interwar era, the national liberal camp (gathered in the Greater German People's Party) fought against the mutually-hostile Christian Social