ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

German nationalism in Austria

So, imagine you and your friends love playing together, and you live in a big house with lots of rooms. Everyone in your house speaks a different language, but you all get along just fine. But sometimes, some of your friends start saying that they are better than the others because of their language, and they want everyone to only speak their language and follow their rules.

That's kind of like what happened in Austria in the past, but with grown-ups and countries instead of friends. The Austrian Empire was made up of many different groups of people who spoke different languages and had different cultures, including German-speaking people. But some of those German-speaking people started to think that they were better than the others and should be in charge. That's called nationalism - when you believe that your country or culture is better than others.

These German nationalists in Austria believed that all the German-speaking people should be united in one big country just for them, called "Greater Germany." They didn't care that this would mean kicking out or pushing aside all the other cultural groups living in Austria.

Eventually, these German nationalists in Austria got their way, sort of. Austria became part of Germany for a while during World War II, but it didn't last long and it caused a lot of harm and suffering for many people. Nowadays, Austria is its own country again, but they are still trying to make sure that all the people living there are treated fairly and equally, no matter what language they speak or where they come from.