Austria 1938

[Dromikaites]

I found the story about the Austrian policemen fighting against the Germans in the PDF from agunter999's first post.

[TynemouthChap]

Thank you Dromikaites. I've tracked it down in the thesis. Unfortunately there are no details, other than a location somewhere in the Tyrol. If this was the sole instance of Austrian military/police resistance to the Anschluss, one would expect there to be more information somewhere! I'll keep digging. Don't know if it will be of interest - the German language Wikipedia entry for the army of the First Republic has the following link to a book detailing the Bundesheer in the 1930's. If you get up to page 25 or so, there are lots of images of the various uniforms, rank markings etc.

Handbuch der österreichischen Uniformen: Adjustierungsvorschriften f. d. Bundesheer u. d. Frontmiliz ; Uniformierungsvorschriften f. d. Bundesbeamten, 1937

[agunter999]

Well that is a good life no, do you mind if I quote it into the first post.

[TynemouthChap]

No problem. Does anyone have (or know of a link to), maps showing the routes taken by the Wehrmacht into Austria on the 12th and 13th of March 1938? It might then be possible to calculate the location of the Austrian resistance quoted above.

[mrczechoslovakia]

No problem. Does anyone have (or know of a link to), maps showing the routes taken by the Wehrmacht into Austria on the 12th and 13th of March 1938? It might then be possible to calculate the location of the Austrian resistance quoted above.

I looked but i was not able to find an accurate map, but they came into vienna from the east, which is interesting because a straight push from german lines to the capital would have left them right on the north gates of vienna.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

I don't think that the Austrians stood a chance in hell to fight the Germans in a serious war. What is more, Goering convinced Mussolini to withdraw his support from the Austrian Fascist, yet confusingly Libertarian, regime. This completely sealed the fate of the Austrians. The other major issue is that the Nazis had lots of support in Austria and this would potentially lead to uprisings in support of the Germans.
But fundamentally, focusing on the military should NOT be our main concern. The Austrians were economically and culturally linked to the Germans. It is not the case that Germans were seen as outsiders since both Austria and the Sudetenland wanted to join Germany at the end of WW1. In fact the pro-Hohenzollern political factions existed in Austria for at least two or three decades before the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

What is more, the Austrians realized their dependence on the German economy and their complete diplomatic isolation from any major power or neighboring state. Their sole ally at the time was Mussolini (Hungary to some extent), and Mussolini realized that the Austrian Fascists had become a failed regime and a political powder keg. Economically the Austrians were so dependent on Germany that they signed the 1936 agreement. Austria had benefited from German investments which propped up the economy since the 1920's, this together with its high unemployment made the Dolfuss and Schuschnigg regimes extremely unstable. When Schuschnigg came at odds with the Nazis in 1935, Hitler responded by ordering a boycott of Austria. This devastated the Austrian economy so much that public opinion turned on Schuschnigg and he conceded to the 1936 agreement. Which asserted the independence of Austria but essentially made Austria a German dependency in economic and political matters. The end result would have been the eventual integration of Austria into the German Reich through economic and social means.

1938 was a desperate attempt by Schuschnigg to break the 1936 treaty and cut Austria off from Germany. Which was extremely controversial, not only because the Hitler regime was popular in Austria, but also because Schuschnigg attempted to rig the vote in his favor. If 1935 and 1936 were not indicative, then fast forward to 1938 and there was no chance that Austria would remain independent. That is despite Schuschnigg, Goering and Mussolini forcing the issue in 1938. The Anschluss might not have happened in 1938 but either way the Catholic-Libertarian-Fascist party that ruled Austria, was completely screwed in basically every way imaginable. I mean the very idea that Austria should remain separate from Germany on the grounds that Austria was more Catholic should be a good indicator of how absolutely insane the Austrian leadership was. Not surprisingly this stance failed to win over the Austrian populace when the depression economy in Austria was probably worse than that of Germany.

[Common Soldier]

People tend to forget that Hitler was born in Austria, and did not move to Germany until 1913, when he was around 24.



In 1938, the Nazis had actually done a number of positive things which get overlooked because of their other action. They implemented mandatory vacation for workers, were among the first to recognize the dangers of smoking and began one of the first anti-smoking campaigns, and took other actions to promote the health and welfare of the average person. The Nazis also had an interest in animal welfare. If you weren't a Jew or other mnority, whch meant the majority of the population, you benefited under the Nazis. Keep in mind in 1938 war and the killings in the concentration camps had not started, and Nazi propaganda often portrayed the camps as much nicer places than they were.