{{short description|Agreement between Nazi Germany and Austria}} {{EngvarB|date=June 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}} {{italic title}} The '''''Juliabkommen''''' ("July Agreement") was an agreement—officially, a gentleman's agreement—between the Federal State of Austria and Nazi Germany signed on 11 July 1936. The agreement was not initially published. It was negotiated by the German ambassador, Franz von Papen, and the Austrian chancellor, Kurt von Schuschnigg.<ref name=ETR>Christian Zentner, Friedemann Bedürftig and Amy Hackett (eds.), ''The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'' (Macmillan, 1991), [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofth0001unse_x9h2/page/478 vol. 1, p. 478].</ref>
Austro-German relations had been strained since the German-backed putsch of 25 July 1934. The impetus for a rapprochement came from Fascist Italy, which, by 1936, was pursuing its own rapprochement with Germany over the latter's support for its invasion of Ethiopia.<ref name=ETR/> This left Austria diplomatically isolated. The agreement was the result of Italo-German pressure.<ref name=AEIOU>[https://austria-forum.org/af/AEIOU/Juliabkommen_1936/Juliabkommen_1936_english Juliabkommen 1936] in ''AEIOU: Das Lexikon aus Österreich'' (Austria-Forum, 2016). Translated from R. Bamberger, M. Bamberger, E. Bruckmüller and K. Gutkas (eds.), ''''Österreich-Lexikon'' (Verlagsgemeinschaft Österreich-Lexikon, 1995).</ref> Schuschnigg personally took over negotiations after a meeting with Benito Mussolini on 5–6 June 1936 at Rocca delle Caminate.<ref name=Zuber>Frederick R. Zuber, [https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/15192/7522080.PDF ''The Watch on the Brenner: A Study of Italian Involvement in Austrian Foreign and Domestic Affairs, 1928–1938''], PhD diss. (Rice University, 1975), pp. 199–206.</ref>
The agreement had ten articles.<ref name=ETR/> Germany recognized Austria's "full sovereignty".<ref name=Zuber/> It promised not to intervene in Austria's internal affairs and to cease support for Austrian National Socialism. In return, Austria promised amnesty to incarcerated National Socialists and to bring two into the government. Germany agreed to lift the thousand-mark ban, while Austria agreed to align its foreign policy to that of Germany—the ''deutsche Weg'' (German way).<ref name=AEIOU/> The agreement also covered joint administration of the press and common cultural goals.<ref name=ETR/> Austria agreed that it was a "German state".<ref name=Zuber/>
As a result of the agreement, Schuschnigg appointed the Nazis Edmund Glaise-Horstenau and Guido Schmidt as minister without portfolio and foreign minister, respectively. The Austrian National Socialist party remained illegal and Germany pursued its aims by less confrontational means.<ref name=AEIOU/> On 23 October 1936, the Italo-German rapprochement culminated in a nine-point protocol, which included Italian acceptance of the new Austro-German ''status quo''.<ref name=Goeschel>Christian Goeschel, ''Mussolini and Hitler: The Forging of the Fascist Alliance'' (Yale University Press, 2018), pp. 69–70.</ref> From the Austrian perspective, the agreement was a failure. Less than two years later, Germany annexed Austria.<ref name=ETR/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/ylbk001.asp French Yellow Book, No. 1: Austro-German Agreement of July 11, 1936] – at the Avalon Project
Category:July 1936 in Europe Category:1936 treaties Category:Treaties of Nazi Germany Category:Treaties of the First Austrian Republic Category:Austria–Germany relations Category:Interwar-period treaties Category:Nazi terminology Category:Franz von Papen