Having read a little about the Spanish Republican government-in-exile from 1939 to 1977, I have over the past couple of days asked what if there had been an analogous Social Democratic Austrian government-in-exile formed in the aftermath of the Austrian Civil War and the First of May Constitution in 1934? The Social Democrats lost that war, but still had substantial support that the Dollfuss regime had to suppress. Moreover, as the working classes of Europe hated the Catholic Church more than the Nazis, most workers within the remaining democracies of Europe would likely have viewed even an exiled Social Democratic government as more legitimate than the authoritarian, Catholic state under Dollfuss and Schuschnigg.
Such a government-in-exile might have been a useful negotiating tool in the aftermath of World War II, at least if it maintained itself as the rightful government of Austria.
How different an Austrian Civil War would be required for a Social Democratic Austrian government-in-exile to form if the Fatherland Front still wins?
Would this government-in-exile be influential in later Austrian history?
Such a government-in-exile might have been a useful negotiating tool in the aftermath of World War II, at least if it maintained itself as the rightful government of Austria.
How different an Austrian Civil War would be required for a Social Democratic Austrian government-in-exile to form if the Fatherland Front still wins?
Would this government-in-exile be influential in later Austrian history?
