Austrian Anschluss

Austrian Anschluss
Name	Anschluss (1938)
Caption	Adolf Hitler in Vienna, March 1938
Date	March 1938
Location	Austria, Nazi Germany
Outcome	Annexation of Austria into the German Reich

Austrian Anschluss

The Anschluss was the 1938 annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, transforming the First Austrian Republic into a province of the Third Reich. It followed decades of political crisis involving the Austro-Hungarian Empire's dissolution, the rise of National Socialism, and the interplay of treaties such as the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and the Treaty of Versailles. Major diplomatic actors included the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and the League of Nations, while resistance and collaboration involved figures like Kurt Schuschnigg, Engelbert Dollfuss, and Arthur Seyss-Inquart.

Background and Interwar Austria

After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, the successor state became the First Austrian Republic, burdened by territorial losses under the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and constrained by postwar settlement terms from the Paris Peace Conference. The republic faced hyperinflation, political polarization, and street violence between factions including the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria, the Christian Social Party (Austria), and paramilitary groups such as the Heimwehren and the Republikanischer Schutzbund. The 1929 Great Depression exacerbated instability, while the rise of Benito Mussolini in Italy and Paul von Hindenburg's legacy in Germany shaped regional alignments. Austria’s political experiments included the authoritarian Austrofascism regime under Engelbert Dollfuss and later Kurt Schuschnigg, who outlawed the Austrian Nazi Party and clashed with domestic National Socialists.

Nazi Movement and German Relations

The Austrian branch of National Socialism maintained close ties with the NSDAP in Germany and figures like Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Göring, and Joseph Goebbels promoted pan-German ideology advocating Anschluss. Austrian Nazis, including Anton Rintelen-aligned cells and activists such as Franz Langoth, plotted coups and assassinations; Dollfuss was killed during the July 1934 putsch linked to Nazi operatives, provoking diplomatic crises involving Benito Mussolini who had supported Austrian independence. Bilateral relations were mediated through treaties like the Austro-German Agreement (1936) and diplomatic missions such as the Austrian Legation in Berlin and the German Embassy in Vienna, while propaganda networks connected to the Völkischer Beobachter and the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda expanded influence.

Political Maneuvers and Treaty Violations

Throughout the 1930s, Nazi Germany incrementally violated postwar arrangements and exerted pressure through diplomatic means, clandestine support for the Austrian Nazi Party, and economic leverage involving banking institutions such as the Creditanstalt aftermath and trade agreements. The 1936 Rome–Berlin Axis and the remilitarization of the Rhineland emboldened Adolf Hitler to press claims on Austria, while Austrian leaders negotiated with powers including the United Kingdom and France who adopted appeasement policies exemplified by the Stresa Front’s collapse. Covert operations by Abwehr agents and directives from the Reich Chancellery undermined Austrian sovereignty, culminating in forced resignations, legal manipulations, and the installation of sympathetic figures like Arthur Seyss-Inquart to facilitate annexation.

March 1938 Invasion and Annexation

In February–March 1938 the crisis peaked when Adolf Hitler demanded concessions; under threat of invasion, Kurt Schuschnigg agreed to a plebiscite but was forced to resign following a meeting at the Berghof and pressure from German diplomats. On 11 March 1938, German troops crossed the border in operations coordinated by units of the Wehrmacht and the Heer, encountering minimal organized military resistance due to prior orders from Austrian commanders and political paralysis. Arthur Seyss-Inquart was appointed Chancellor and requested incorporation into the German Reich, after which a staged referendum was held under the supervision of German authorities and the Gestapo. The annexation was formalized by legislation passed in Berlin and celebrated in mass rallies overseen by Nazi leaders including Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring.

Domestic Response and Opposition

Responses within Austria ranged from mass public demonstrations and jubilant crowds in Vienna to quiet, organized resistance by socialists, communists, conservative Catholics, and Jewish communities centered in neighborhoods like the Leopoldstadt. Prominent opponents included former chancellors and politicians such as Kurt Schuschnigg and activists from the Austrian Social Democrats and the Communist Party of Austria, many of whom fled to Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, and France or were arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in camps like Dachau and later Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp. Persecution intensified against Jews, intellectuals, and political dissidents—cultural institutions such as the University of Vienna and the Austrian National Library experienced purges, while artists and scientists including members linked to the Vienna Circle emigrated. Some conservative elites and industrialists, including figures associated with firms like Österreichische Industrie AG, collaborated, seeing opportunities for integration into the German economic sphere.

International Reaction and Consequences

Internationally, reactions varied: Italy shifted from supporting Austrian independence to acquiescence after the Pact of Steel precursor alignments; the United Kingdom and France issued formal protests but refrained from military intervention, reflecting policies of appeasement that also shaped subsequent crises such as the Sudetenland dispute. The annexation altered European balance-of-power calculations, encouraging aggressive moves by Adolf Hitler culminating in the Munich Agreement and eventually the Invasion of Poland that triggered World War II. Legal and diplomatic fallout included repudiation of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye stipulations in practice, postwar nullification efforts at the Yalta Conference and Potsdam Conference, and accountability measures during the Nuremberg Trials where Nazi expansionism was examined. The legacy influenced postwar reconstruction, the establishment of the Second Austrian Republic, debates at the United Nations, and processes of restitution and reconciliation reflected in documents like the Austrian State Treaty and subsequent European integration efforts involving the European Coal and Steel Community and later the European Union.

Category:1938 in Austria