"[56], On the morning of 12 March 1938, the 8th Army of the German Wehrmacht crossed the border into Austria. For instance, in the village of Innervillgraten, a majority of 95% voted for Austria's independence. [23], When the Nazis, led by Adolf Hitler, rose to power in the Weimar Republic, the Austrian government withdrew from economic ties. Haider's coalition partner, former Chancellor Wolfgang Schssel, in a 2000 interview with The Jerusalem Post, reiterated the "first victim" theory. Surprised or not, Hitlers schoolboy dream of a "greater Germany" had come to fruition when Austria was incorporated into the Reich. From 788 to 843; Bavaria including present-day Austria was ruled under the West Germanic Franks as Francia. "From Red Vienna to the Anschluss: Ideological Competition among Viennese Newspapers during the Rise of National Socialism,", Rathkolb, Oliver. That looks more like the "All German Confederate". As a result, dualism within the German Confederation laid foundation to the diplomatic tension between Prussia and Austria, who had ambitions to create a unified Germany under their different proposals . Its membership was based on recommendations from various quarters, including Simon Wiesenthal and Yad Vashem. In 1934, Austrian Nazis attempted a coup d'etat and killed Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss. Lacking outside pressure for political reform, factions of Austrian society tried for a long time to advance the view that the Anschluss was only an annexation at the point of a bayonet. In the 1860's the The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the Ausgleich, provided for a dual sovereignty, the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, under Franz Joseph I. The Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck formed the North German Confederation, which included most of the remaining German states, aside from a few in the southwestern region of the German-inhabited lands, and further expanded the power of the Kingdom of Prussia. [46], On 20 February, Hitler made a speech before the Reichstag which was broadcast live and which for the first time was relayed also by the Austrian radio network. [4] Hitler held a plebiscite a month later, claiming a 99% vote in favor of the Anschluss and his rule. The Princes of most of the German states gathered there to proclaim King Wilhelm I of Prussia as German Emperor during the Franco-Prussian War. The last German emperor or Kaiser of Germany and Prussia. These events taken as a whole can be seen as a mimeograph of the Anschluss page in Hitler's playbook.[130][131]. Nevertheless, historians generally agree that it cannot be explained exclusively by simply either opportunism or the desire of socioeconomics and represented the genuine German nationalist feeling in Austria during the interwar period. Later, the Bavarian Austria came under East Francia (Kingdom of Germany) from 843 to 972. During the few weeks between the Anschluss and the plebiscite, authorities rounded up Social Democrats, Communists, other potential political dissenters, and Austrian Jews, and imprisoned them or sent them to concentration camps. 1914-1918 - World War I. [41] On 5 November 1937, Hitler called a meeting with the Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath, the War Minister Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg, the Army commander General Werner von Fritsch, the Kriegsmarine commander Admiral Erich Raeder and the Luftwaffe commander Hermann Gring recorded in the Hossbach Memorandum. info), English: Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 12 March 1938.[2]. However, Austrian Chancellor Ignaz Seipel, an Anschluss opponent, rejected the offer. The idea of grouping all Germans into one nation-state had been the subject of debate in the 19th century from the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 until the break-up of the German Confederation in 1866. Police actions under Schuschnigg included gathering Nazis (and Social Democrats) and holding them in internment camps. Staff (28 March 1938) "Austria: 'Spring Cleaning'", League of Nations. The German Confederation lacked a monarch or a central government with real unifying force. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The decline of Austria Austria had long been opposed to unification of the German states. Within a seven-year period Denmark, the Habsburg monarchy, and France were vanquished in short, decisive conflicts. A provisional Austrian government, led by Karl Renner, declared the country's regained independence in the context of after the fall of Third Reich. The Austrofascism of Austria between 19341938 focused on the history of Austria and opposed the absorption of Austria into Nazi Germany (according to the philosophy Austrians were "superior Germans"). The Simon Wiesenthal Center continues to criticise Austria (as recently as June 2005) for its alleged historical and ongoing unwillingness aggressively to pursue investigations and trials against Nazis for war crimes and crimes against humanity from the 1970s onwards. The conflict emerged from tensions caused by German unification. In response to objections about Asner's continued freedom, Austria's federal government deferred to either extradition requests from Croatia or prosecutorial actions from Klagenfurt, claiming reason of dementia in 2008. It is said that after listening to Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, Hitler cried: "How can anyone say that Austria is not German! [44] On 25 January 1938, the Austrian police raided the Vienna headquarters of the Austrian Nazi Party, arresting Gauleiter Leopold Tavs, the deputy to Captain Josef Leopold, discovered a cache of arms and plans for a putsch. On 13 March Seyss-Inquart announced the abrogation of Article 88 of the Treaty of Saint-Germain, which prohibited the unification of Austria and Germany, and approved the replacement of the Austrian states with Reichsgaue. After 1936, Hitler and Mussolini forged a closer relationship in preparation for Germany's expansionist ambitions. The remaining Austrian Nazis continued terrorist attacks against Austrian governmental institutions, causing a death toll of more than 800 between 1934 and 1938. The party had combined elements of the pan-German right with free-market liberalism since its foundation in 1955, but after Haider ascended to the party chairmanship in 1986, the liberal elements became increasingly marginalized. After the Second World War, there has been no serious effort among the citizens or political parties to unite Germany and Austria. [citation needed], The plan went awry when it became apparent that Hitler would not stand by while Austria declared its independence by public vote. In contrast, the German word Annektierung (military annexation) was not used, and is not commonly used now, to describe the union of Austria and Germany in 1938. The Holy Roman Empire came to an end during the Napoleonic Wars in the 1790s and 1800s, Austria and Prussia allied with each other but fought unsuccessfully against the French Empire. Not only were those registered for the Nationalrat elections of October 1920 permitted to vote, but also those who registered themselves as living in Tyrol before April 1921, that is, less than a fortnight before going to the polls, as were all those Tyroleans who lived outside of the state; a train was even chartered from Bavaria to mitigate the financial burden of travelling home. All synagogues and prayer houses in Vienna were destroyed, as well as in other Austrian cities such as Salzburg. German Minister of Foreign Affairs Gustav Stresemann opposed it, as he saw it as an attempt to re-form the Austro-Hungarian Empire and offered to form a customs union with Austria. Count Camillo Cavour. [10] The empire caused tensions between the various ethnic groups. In March 1939, Hitler then dismantled Czechoslovakia by recognising the independence of Slovakia and making the rest of the nation a protectorate. [105], On 18 March 1938, the German government communicated to the Secretary General of the League of Nations about the inclusion of Austria. However, Mussolini needed German support in Ethiopia (see Second Italo-Abyssinian War). Austria had wanted a Grodeutsche Lsung (greater Germany solution), whereby the German states would unite under the leadership of German Austrians (Habsburgs). It did not exist in 1836, nor in 1861, when the game begins. Jews were gradually robbed of their freedoms, blocked from almost all professions, shut out of schools and universities, and forced to wear the Yellow badge from September 1941. Prior to annexing Austria in 1938, Nazi Germany had remilitarized the Rhineland, and the Saar region was returned to Germany after 15 years of occupation through a plebiscite. However, the overwhelming reception caused him to change course and absorb Austria directly into the Reich. [34], When Germany permitted residents of Austria to vote[clarification needed] on 5 March 1933, three special trains, boats and trucks brought such masses to Passau that the SS staged a ceremonial welcome. C.101.M.53.1938.VII; 19 March 1938, GermanPolish Convention regarding Upper Silesia, Polish and Danziger areas annexed by Nazi Germany, GermanSoviet Border and Commercial Agreement, Moscow Conference and Declaration on Austria, United Nations Security Council Resolution 335, Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, Proclamation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, GermanPolish declaration of non-aggression, Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance, SovietCzechoslovakia Treaty of Mutual Assistance, SovietBritishFrench Moscow negotiations, Article 88 of the Treaty of Saint-Germain, Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, "Austria's president says Nazi past can't be forgotten", "Austria at the Crossroads: The Anschluss and its Opponents", "Die Volksabstimmung in Tirol 1921 und ihre Vorgeschichte in: Ackerl, Isabella/Neck, Rudolf (Hrsg. [79] According to some Gestapo reports, only a quarter to a third of Austrian voters in Vienna were in favour of the Anschluss. "[64][65] Hitler later commented: "Certain foreign newspapers have said that we fell on Austria with brutal methods. On 9 March 1938, in the face of rioting by the small, but virulent, Austrian Nazi Party and ever-expanding German demands on Austria, Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg called a referendum (plebiscite) on the issue, to be held on 13 March. Q2. [49] This support led Schuschnigg to announce the referendum. Franco-German War, also called Franco-Prussian War, (July 19, 1870-May 10, 1871), war in which a coalition of German states led by Prussia defeated France. During its existence an estimated 200,000 people died, half of whom were directly killed. [17], In the aftermath of a prohibition of an Anschluss, Germans in both Austria and Germany pointed to a contradiction in the national self-determination principle because the treaties failed to grant self-determination to the ethnic Germans (such as German Austrians and Sudeten Germans) outside of the German Reich. 1938 annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany, Toggle End of an independent Austria subsection, Austrian identity and the "victim theory", Historical Commission and outstanding legal issues, Austrian political and military leaders in Nazi Germany, David Walker, "Industrial Location in Turbulent Times: Austria through Anschluss and Occupation,", Messerschmidt, Manfred "Foreign Policy and Preparation for War" from, John A. Leopold, "Seyss-Inquart and the Austrian Anschluss,", CBS World Roundup Broadcast 13 March 1938 Columbia Broadcasting System retrieved from, Nazis Take Austria, The History Place, retrieved from.