 | |
 Austria |  United States |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| Embassy of Austria, Washington, D.C. | Embassy of the United States, Vienna |
TheU.S. Embassy in Austria is located inVienna. Since 2023, theUnited States Ambassador to Austria isVictoria Reggie Kennedy.TheAustrian Embassy in the U.S. is located inWashington, D.C.
TheArchduchy of Austria never held any colonies in the Americas. Nevertheless, a few Austrians did settle in what would become the United States prior to the 19th Century, including a group of fifty families fromSalzburg, exiled for beingLutherans in a predominantlyCatholic state, who established their own community inEbenezer, Georgia in 1734.[1]
Austria stayed neutral during theAmerican Revolutionary War, eventually joining theFirst League of Armed Neutrality, a league of European states organized byCatherine the Great ofRussia during the war to protect neutral shipping, which was often under the threat of being seized or interrupted by theRoyal Navy.
Austria,as the epicenter of an empire ruled by a monarch, was initially reluctant to support the American Revolution, given that the goal of the revolution was to liberate a group of colonies from the tyrannical rule of a foreign monarch.[2] TheContinental Congress had tried to establish diplomatic relations in 1777 by sendingWilliam Lee toVienna, but the Austrian government did not officially receive him.[2] Eventually, Austria did officially recognize the United States as an independent country when, in 1797, Conrad Frederick Wagner was accepted as U.S. Consul atTrieste.[2]
U.S. diplomats to Austria served in the Habsburg-held cities ofTrieste andVenice before an American consulate was established in Vienna on October 10, 1829 (followed by the establishment of a U.S. legation in Vienna headed byHenry A.P. Muhlenberg in 1838, with the elevation to embassy status occurring in 1902).[2] The United States and theAustrian Empire signed a treaty regarding commerce and navigation in 1829.[2] An Austrian legation headed by Baron de Mareschal arrived inWashington, D.C. in 1838.[2]
Serious strains occurred in the relations between the two countries as a result of theRevolutions of 1848. Professor Stephen Tuffnell states:
Both Austria-Hungary and the United States were part of theEight-Nation Alliance that intervened in theBoxer Rebellion inChina from 1899 to 1901.
Over two million people from theAustro-Hungarian Empire immigrated to the United States throughout the 19th Century, though because of the empire's multi-ethnic status, it is difficult to determine how many of these immigrants were ethnic Austrians.[1] By 1900, over 275,000Austrian Americans lived in the United States, with most coming over during the latter half of the 19th Century, settling primarily inNew York,California,Pennsylvania,Florida,New Jersey, and variousMidwestern states likeOhio andIllinois. Over 60% of these immigrants came fromBurgenland.[1]
In 1917, the United States declared war on theAustro-Hungarian Empire alongside theGerman Empire after being drawn into theFirst World War. The war caused diplomatic relations between the United States and the Austro-Hungarian Empire to be terminated on April 8, 1917[2] and caused a dramatic decrease in Austrian immigration to the United States.[1]
TheTreaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, negotiated between theAllies and Austria following the war, officially dissolved the Austro-Hungarian Empire and created theFirst Austrian Republic. The United States never ratified the Treaty of Saint-Germaine-en-Laye. Instead, the United States negotiatedits own peace treaty with Austria in 1921. The United States officially recognized the independence of the First Austrian Republic on August 24, 1921.[4]
Nazi Germany annexed the First Austrian Republic in March 1938 in an event known as theAnschluss. The United States closed its legation to Austria on April 30, 1938.[4] DuringWorld War II, American prisoners of war were amongAllied POWs held in the Stalag XVII-A, Stalag XVII-B, Stalag 317/XVIII-C and Stalag 398German POW camps operated in German-annexed Austria,[5] and American prisoners were also noted in subcamps of theMauthausen concentration camp inAmstetten andMelk.[6] Following the war, the United States and the Alliesoccupied Austria from 1945 to 1955. The occupation ended when the Allies signed theAustrian State Treaty, which re-established Austria as a sovereign state, creating the modern-day country of theSecond Austrian Republic.
The U.S. played an important role in Austria's reconstruction after World War II, via theMarshall Plan.
_(3414107279).jpg)
.jpg)
Vienna has frequently been chosen as the venue of key superpower summit meetings, like theVienna summit in June 1961, withU.S. PresidentJohn F. Kennedy andSoviet PremierNikita Khrushchev, or theSALT II agreement in June 1979, withU.S. PresidentJimmy Carter andSoviet General SecretaryLeonid Brezhnev.
In February 1984, thePresident of AustriaRudolf Kirchschläger paid astate visit to the United States.[7] It was the first state visit of an Austrian President to the United States.[8]
In September 1995,U.S. PresidentBill Clinton invited thePresident of AustriaThomas Klestil for a working visit toWashington, D.C.,[9] which took place on October 19.[10]
On June 21, 2006,U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush held bilateral talks with thePresident of AustriaHeinz Fischer at theHofburg Imperial Palace inVienna, together withU.S. Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice andForeign Minister of AustriaUrsula Plassnik, shortly before a US-European Union summit.[11][12]
PresidentBarack Obama met ChancellorWerner Faymann when Obama visitedPrague on April 5, 2009.
PresidentDonald Trump met with ChancellorSebastian Kurz for a bilateral meeting in February 2019 with the aim of "revitalizing the bilateral relationship between the United States and exploring new avenues for transatlantic cooperation...look[ing] to address both global conflicts and those in the European neighborhood, promote economic prosperity, and strengthen energy security."[13]
U.S. and Austrian troops fought side by side during theNATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina andin Kosovo (despite the fact that Austria is not a part ofNATO).[14] Both the United States and Austria were involved in theWar in Afghanistan.
According to the 2012 U.S. Global Leadership Report, 31% ofAustrians approve of U.S. leadership, with 40% disapproving and 29% uncertain.[15]
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromU.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets.United States Department of State.
Media related toRelations of Austria and the United States at Wikimedia Commons
| Africa |  | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Americas | |||
| Asia | |||
| Europe |
| ||
| Multilateral | |||
| Diplomatic missions | |||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
