ABSTRACT
The interwar Austrian Republic constantly depended on foreign credit. In 1923, the first of two large, internationally guaranteed reconstruction loans was floated under the auspices of the League of Nations. Austrian public opinion, influenced by press campaigns from both left and right papers against what was dubbed "western financial colonialism", could not be expected to warmly welcome League of Nations interference. Many Austrians would grudgingly accept financial dependence on their ex-enemies of World War I and even the presence of a League "controller" in Vienna, but they felt deeply humiliated by the Geneva Protocol's first paragraph vetoing Austro-German unification. In an attempt to neutralize Richard Reisch's strategy, League commissioner Alfred R. Zimmerman, acting more or less upon Norman's orders, tightened his grip on both Austrian credit policies and the budget. Surprisingly little attention was payed not only by Austrian economic decision makers, but also by the League of Nations to the foreseeable political effects of Ludwig Draxler's fiscal restraint program.
