Summary: On the Nature and Importance of National Military Defense in the Center of Europe
Christian Stadler
If we look at the history of the 20th century, Austria had hastened ahead of the European fate at almost dizzying speed. While the European powers of Russia, Great Britain, France, and Germany left the world stage only slowly and under diverse conditions, Austria - the 5th great power in the 19th century - already beat its comrades in fate in 1918 like in a free fall, exiting the stage of world history to sink into small-state insignificance.
One might say without exaggeration that Austria resurfaced from the rubble of the second 30-year war (1914-1945). It was not only a question of maintaining continuity but also of reestablishing republican structures. The Austrian Armed Forces and neutrality stood side by side at the cradle of Austria’s freedom and independence. But since neither of the two factors could guarantee Austria’s security directly, Austria decided to pursue a passive military niche-neutrality during the time of the Cold War.
This phase lasted roughly until 1975 and was replaced by the active political intervention neutrality during the détente era until 1995. Austria acted very sensitively to its security-political environment which was marked by détente, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, today’s OSCE, and the Charta 77.
During this second phase of the period in question Austria reacted by transforming its military from a territorial defense force into an at least structurally intervention capable force ("Blue Helmet” missions). Also with that phase Austria was ahead of Europe, as for the Austrian Armed Forces Petersberg only represented a structural and mental continuation of the 1970s and 1980s with different means, while other Central-European armies are experiencing severe transformation difficulties.
The ensuing third phase Austria entered into with its accession to the EU in 1995 is marked by non-alignment within the framework of European political integration. Thereby the tracks were switched from nation-state neutrality (20th century model) to European solidarity (21st century model). Also the latest concepts of the Austrian Armed Forces Reform Commission (AAF 2010) have to be seen under this aspect - possibly the last nationally necessary reform of the Austrian Armed Forces.
If, in the current transformation phase, one may use the Reform Commission Report as orientation frame for Austria’s future positioning within the framework of a European security architecture, it becomes obvious that Austria, once again, is half a step ahead of its time - as it was with its neutrality in 1955 and its concept of comprehensive national defense in 1975 - a luxury one can probably only afford as of a certain level of power-political marginality.
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