Vorarlberg In a referendum held in Vorarlberg on 11 May 1919, over 80% of those voting supported a proposal for the state to join the Swiss Confederation. However this was prevented by the opposition of the Austrian government, the Allies, Swiss liberals, the Swiss-Italians and the Swiss-French. Following the Second World War Vorarlberg found itself occupied by French troops from 1945 to 1955, along with most of the federal state of Tyrol. Vorarlberg Vorarlberg () is the westernmost federal state ("Bundesland") of Austria. It has the second-smallest area after Vienna, and although it has the second-smallest population, it also has the
Vorarlberg are also spoken in Liechtenstein, Switzerland (as Swiss German), Baden-Württemberg, the south west of Bavaria and the Alsace region of France. The Vorarlberg dialect is further divided into a number of regional sub-dialects (e.g. that of the Montafon, the Bregenz Forest and Lustenau are some of the most distinct) which tend to differ considerably from each other. In fact even within these regions the dialects may vary from one town or village to the next. Traditional costumes ("Tracht") have a long history in Vorarlberg. Many valleys and villages have their own kind of garb, each with special characteristics from certain