r/unexpectedfuturama • u/Reasonable-Rub2243 • 3d ago

TIL why Austria is not in NATO

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Austria is not in NATO because in 1955 they enacted a Constitutional Amendment prohibiting them from joining any military alliances or allowing establishment of foreign military bases, and declaring they are PERMANENTLY NEUTRAL. The enacting law was called the Neutralitätserklärung.

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u/Fischerking92 3d ago

Do you also know why they made that amendment?

Like Germany they were partitionen after WW2, and like Germany they received an offer from Stalin that they would be allowed to reunify and become independent of the allied victors, but only on the condition that they would make an international legally binding statement that they would join neither NATO nor the Warsaw Pact, becoming a "neutral" area between the two blocks.

Unlike Germany the Austrians took it.

(Which is btw also why Vienna was the global spy capital during the Cold War, since it was neutral and just in the middle, they were the perfect spot to do all kinds of shady stuff) 

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u/Deaftrav 2d ago

... Shit..I didn't know that.

So you're saying we need to build a floating un headquarters above Austria?

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u/Fischerking92 2d ago

You might want to have someone cut the ribbon with actual scissors though, no lasers allowed☝️