ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that the more conventional political and economic aspects of French-Austrian relations have been underpinned by manifold cultural connections. It focuses more narrowly on how scholars and officials have conceptualized and evaluated the process of culture transfer between France and Austria. The chapter shows that French-Austrian relations cannot be fully understood without taking into account the weight of cultural influences. Nicole Pietri delivers a commentary on Austrian foreign policy vis-a-vis the other successor states of the Habsburg Empire as seen by the French foreign office. In a brilliant piece Thomas Angerer reconstructs the basic principles underlying the French-Austrian political relationships since 1938/45. He points to the Anschlusstrauma as the essential constant factor of French policy toward Austria. French and Austrian foreign policy can be understood only if one takes the relation of both countries with Germany into account. Desintoxication from things German and desolidarisation vis-a-vis Germany were the mottos for the strong engagement of France in Austria.
