Anschluss

Anschluss
source
Name	Anschluss
Caption	Adolf Hitler addressing a crowd on the Heldenplatz in Vienna following the annexation.
Date	12 March 1938
Place	Federal State of Austria
Participants	Nazi Germany, Federal State of Austria, Austrian Nazi Party
Outcome	Annexation of Austria by Germany

Anschluss. The term refers to the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The event was the culmination of longstanding pan-German nationalist aspirations but was executed as a military occupation under threat of force by the regime of Adolf Hitler. It marked a pivotal and audacious step in Hitler's expansionist policies, directly violating the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and significantly emboldened further German aggression leading to the Second World War.

Background and historical context

The concept of a political union between Germany and Austria had deep roots in the 19th century, fueled by the Pan-Germanism movement that sought to unite all German-speaking peoples. Following the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after the First World War, the newly formed Republic of German-Austria initially sought union with the Weimar Republic, but this was expressly forbidden by the victorious Allies of World War I in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and the Treaty of Versailles. During the interwar period, Austria was governed under a system known as Austrofascism, led by Engelbert Dollfuss and later Kurt Schuschnigg of the Fatherland Front, which fiercely opposed both Nazism and Marxism. The rise of Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP in neighboring Germany provided a powerful catalyst for the illegal Austrian Nazi Party, which engaged in a campaign of terrorism and subversion, including the July Putsch of 1934 that resulted in the assassination of Engelbert Dollfuss.

Events leading to the Anschluss

Mounting pressure from Berlin intensified throughout 1937 and early 1938. In February 1938, Kurt Schuschnigg was summoned to Berchtesgaden where Hitler, flanked by senior Wehrmacht officers including Wilhelm Keitel, presented an ultimatum demanding key concessions. This Berchtesgaden Agreement forced the appointment of the Austrian Nazi Arthur Seyss-Inquart as Minister of the Interior and granted amnesty to imprisoned Nazis. In a desperate countermove, Schuschnigg scheduled a plebiscite on Austrian independence for 13 March. Hitler, determined to prevent this vote, demanded its cancellation. When Schuschnigg resigned under duress on 11 March, Seyss-Inquart, in a pre-arranged maneuver, invited German troops to cross the border under the pretext of restoring order, an action later falsely justified as responding to a fraudulent appeal for help.

Annexation and immediate aftermath

On the morning of 12 March 1938, the 8th Army of the Wehrmacht crossed the Austrian border, meeting no resistance and being greeted by cheering crowds organized by Nazi sympathizers. Adolf Hitler himself entered his native Austria, proceeding to Linz and then to Vienna, where he delivered a triumphant speech to hundreds of thousands on the Heldenplatz. A subsequent April plebiscite, held under widespread Nazi propaganda and intimidation, officially ratified the union with a reported 99.7% approval. The annexation was swiftly followed by the systematic Gleichschaltung of all Austrian institutions, the immediate onset of Nazi persecution, and the looting of assets in what was termed Aryanization. Prominent opponents, including Schuschnigg, were arrested and sent to concentration camps like Dachau.

International reaction and consequences

The international response was characterized by appeasement and ineffective protest. The United Kingdom under Neville Chamberlain and France under Léon Blum issued formal diplomatic protests but took no concrete action, accepting the *fait accompli*. The League of Nations proved utterly powerless. Fascist Italy, once a guarantor of Austrian independence under the Stresa Front, had by this time moved into the German orbit through the Axis alliance and raised no objection. The United States followed an isolationist policy. This tepid reaction convinced Hitler that the Western powers would not resist further expansion, directly encouraging his subsequent moves against the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia. The annexation also provided Nazi Germany with Austria's economic resources, gold reserves, and military personnel, while significantly worsening the strategic position of Czechoslovakia, which was now surrounded on three sides.

Legacy and historical assessment

The Anschluss remains a defining and traumatic event in modern Austrian history, fundamentally shaping the nation's Second Republic and its post-war identity. For decades, the prevailing victim theory posited Austria as the first victim of Nazi aggression, a narrative formally endorsed by the Allies in the Moscow Declaration of 1943. This facilitated a delayed and often inadequate confrontation with widespread Austrian complicity in the Nazi regime, the Holocaust, and war crimes. It was not until the 1980s and 1990s, highlighted by the Waldheim affair and official speeches by figures like Franz Vranitzky, that Austria began a more critical examination of its role. The event is universally condemned by historians as an aggressive act of expansion that was a major milestone on the road to the Second World War and the Shoah, demonstrating the catastrophic failure of appeasement and the fragility of the post-World War I order. Category:Anschluss Category:1938 in Austria Category:1938 in Germany Category:20th century in Vienna