Wilhelm Miklas

Infobox President | name=Wilhelm Miklas
nationality=Austrian
small

order=3^rd Federal President of the Republic of Austria
term_start=December 10, 1928
term_end=March 13, 1938
vicepresident=
predecessor=Michael Hainisch
successor=vacant
Austria annexed by the Third Reich.
next title holder: Karl Renner (1945)
birth_date=birth date|1872|10|15|mf=y
birth_place=Krems an der Donau
death_date=death date and age|1956|3|20|1872|10|15|mf=y
death_place=Vienna
party=Christian Social Party
spouse=Leopoldine Miklas (1880-1960)
religion=Roman Catholic

Wilhelm Miklas (born October 15, 1872ndash March 20, 1956) was an Austrian politician who served as the third President of Austria from 1928 until its annexation by Nazi Germany in the Anschluss 1938.

Born as the son of a post office official in Krems an der Donau, Lower Austria, Wilhelm Miklas studied history and geography at the University of Vienna while serving in his role for the Christian Social Party.

On December 10, 1928 he was elected the President of Austria, a role he served in until the position ceased to exist ten years later when Austria was annexed by Germany in the Anschluss.

In 1930 Miklas appeared on a set of Austrian postage stamps. In 1936 he entertained Miklós Horthy at Lake Wörth.

Miklas originally offered amnesty to jailed Nazi members, but refused to turn over the national police force to Arthur Seyss-Inquart, though after Hitler ordered military operations along the border, Miklas was forced to concede to their demands and installed Seyss-Inquart as the Austrian Minister of the Interior.

Miklas was highly unpopular among Austrian Nazis because he refused to commute the death sentences imposed on assassins of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss after the failed putsch in 1934.

German demands grew, and on March 11th Hermann Göring demanded that Seyss-Inquart replace Kurt Schuschnigg as the Federal Chancellor of Austria, otherwise German forces would overrun Austria the following day. Miklas refused, and after Hitler received confirmation from Mussolini that he would not interfere, it was announced that German troops would invade at dawn the following day. Miklas capitulated at midnight, announcing that he had instated Seyss-Inquart as the new Chancellor, but it was too late. When German troops rolled over the border at dawn the next day, they were largely greeted as heroes.

who protected Miklas during the Anschluss.

He was placed under house arrest and abandoned the political sphere.

Miklas died on March 20, 1956 in Vienna.