What is "austrians"

Austrians are a Germanic ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria, who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent and history.For the distinction of and overlap between the terms "nation", "nationality" and "ethnic group" in Europe see peoples of Europe. Austrians are classified as an "ethnic group" in some English language sources, including the The CIA World Factbook. See also:

• Franz A. J. Szabo: Austrian Immigration to Canada. Pg. 41 et seq.
• Alfred Connor Browman: Zones of Strain: A Memoir of the Early Cold War. Pg. 73
• Ilija Sutalo: Croatians in Austria. Pg. 21
• Donald G. Daviau, Herbert Arlt: Geschichte der österreichischen Literatur. Pg. 318
• Deirdre N. McCloskey: The Bourgeois Virtues - ethnics for an age of commerce. Pg. 190
• Bruce M. Mitchell, Robert E. Salsbury: Multicultural Education - An international guiede to research, policies and programs. p. 19.

The term "ethnic Austrians" is sometimes used in the context of the population movements after World War II, e.g. in a BBC News article of 11 February 2000. The English term Austrians was applied to the population of Habsburg Austria from the 17th or 18th century. Subsequently, during the 19th century, it referred to the citizens of the Empire of Austria (1804–1867), and from 1867 until 1918 to the citizens of Cisleithania. In the closest sense, the term Austria originally referred to the historical March of Austria, corresponding roughly to the Vienna Basin in what is today Lower Austria.

Historically, Austrians were considered to be Germans and viewed themselves as such. Austria had been a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, and was a member of the German Confederation, but after the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, Austria was effectively expelled from the Confederation by Prussia. Thus, when the German Empire was founded in 1871, Austria was not a part of it. The Third Reich annexed Austria ( Anschluss) in 1938, but since the events of World War II, Austrians have developed their own distinct national identity and mostly do not consider themselves to be Germans. However, Austrians are better described as a nationality, rather than a homogeneous ethnic group.