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After WW1 Austria lacked an identity because before they were basically Germans who were loyal to the Hapsburgs. Austria wanted to merge with Germany but the treaty of St Germain prevented it. I was thinking that maybe instead they could have merged with Switzerland
I mean they are both mountainous and Switzerland is majority German speaking. I guess the French and Italian parts might not like to be an even smaller minority but the cantons in Switzerland have a lot of autonomy so it shouldn't effect them too much and they are legally allowed to leave anyway so they can if they want.
I guess the Allies would probably not have expected this and I guess there might be a formal protest. But with their economies in ruins I doubt they would want a war with Switzerland which would be a very hard nut to crack and it would be hard to justify since Austria hasn't broken any treaties.
In fact they might come to support this compromise somewhat because it allows them to be less hypocritical in regards to self determination and I'm sure they would be worried that down the line Germany might end up annexing Austria somehow whereas this keeps it from happening.
I guess Lichtenstein would be in an odd position as it would be a land locked enclave with the surrounding country speaking the same language as it but San Marino manages surrounded by Italy so I guess it should be ok.
I guess the political cultures of the two countries would need to merge somewhat but Austria was now a republic anyway so in theory there should be no insurmountable problems there. And obviously Austria would be broken up into cantons.