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Anschluss

Austrian citizens gather on the Heldenplatz to hear Hitler's declaration of annexation.
Territory of the German Reich and Austria before the Anschluss
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 1910s
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The Anschluss (German: [ˈʔanʃlʊs] , or Anschluß,[1][a] lit. 'joining' or 'connection'), also known as the Anschluß Österreichs (, English: Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938.[2]

The idea of an Anschluss (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "Greater Germany")[b] arose after the 1871 unification of Germany excluded Austria and the German Austrians from the Prussian-dominated German Empire. It gained support after the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell in 1918. The new Republic of German-Austria attempted to form a union with Germany, but the 1919 Treaty of Saint Germain and Treaty of Versailles forbade both the union and the continued use of the name "German-Austria" (Deutschösterreich); they also stripped Austria of some of its territories, such as the Sudetenland. This left Austria without most of the territories it had ruled for centuries and amid economic crisis.

By the 1920s, the Anschluss proposal had strong support in both Austria and Germany,[4] particularly to many Austrian citizens of the political left and center. One vehement supporter was Otto Bauer, the prominent Social Democrat leader who served as Austria's Foreign Minister after the war. Support for unification with Germany came mainly from the belief that Austria, stripped of its imperial land, was not viable economically.[5] Popular support for the unification faded with time, although it remained as a concept in the contemporary Austrian political discourse.[6]

After 1933, when Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany, desire for unification could be identified with the Nazis, for whom it was an integral part of the Nazi "Heim ins Reich" ("back home to the realm") concept, which sought to incorporate as many Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans outside Germany) as possible into a "Greater Germany".[7] Nazi Germany's agents cultivated pro-unification tendencies in Austria, and sought to undermine the Austrian government, which was controlled by the Austrofascist Fatherland Front, which opposed unification. During an attempted coup in 1934, Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss was assassinated by Austrian Nazis. The defeat of the coup prompted many leading Austrian Nazis to go into exile in Germany, where they continued their efforts to unify the two countries.

In early 1938, under increasing pressure from pro-unification activists, Austrian chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg announced that there would be a referendum on a possible union with Germany versus maintaining Austria's sovereignty to be held on 13 March. Portraying this as defying the popular will in Austria and Germany, Hitler threatened an invasion and secretly pressured Schuschnigg to resign. A day before the planned referendum, the German Army crossed the border into Austria on 12 March, unopposed by the Austrian military. A plebiscite was held on 10 April, in which the ballot was not secret, and threats and coercion were employed to manipulate the vote, resulting in 99.7% approval for the Anschluss. While the population's true opinions are unknown, it has been estimated that about 70% of Austrians would have voted to preserve Austrian independence.[8][9]

  1. ^ Anschluss Archived 21 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine PONS Online Dictionary
  2. ^ Prodhan, Georgina (13 March 2013). "Austria's president says Nazi past can't be forgotten". Reuters. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  3. ^ Low 1974, p. 3.
  4. ^ Bukey 2000, p. 11.
  5. ^ Brook-Shepherd, Gordon (1963). Anschluss: The Rape of Austria. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 15. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-81667-5 (inactive 1 November 2024). ISBN 978-1-349-81669-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  6. ^ Brook-Shepherd, Gordon (1963). Anschluss: The Rape of Austria. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 16. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-81667-5 (inactive 1 November 2024). ISBN 978-1-349-81669-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  7. ^ Shirer 1984.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference knaur2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference luza_52 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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