Anschluss

The forced annexation of the country of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938 is known as the Anschluss, the German term used at the time to describe the event. Anschluss means simply connection or joining, but the political reality was that the threat of military force and civil unrest compelled Austria to accept this union. Nazi propaganda featured numerous images of Nazi soldiers marching into Austria unopposed.

Austria up until 1918 had been, together with Hungary, at the centre of  the extensive multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian empire in Eastern Europe, but became a small standalone nation after the end of  First World War in 1918.  The Versailles Treaty of 1919 formally ended the First World War, and advocation of self-determination for ethnic and national groups saw the creation of new, smaller nations in Eastern Europe. The Versailles treaty made it illegal for Austria to become part of Germany, despite their shared language and the desire of many Austrians to join Germany at that time. After the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship in Germany in 1933, many Austrians preferred to remain an independent nation, but the nations responsible for enforcing the Versailles Treaty chose not to respond to the Anschluss. Austria remained part of Germany and the German military during the Second World War, which lasted from 1939-45. After the defeat of Germany and the end of the war, the victorious Allied powers declared the Anschluss to be void and Austria returned to being the small independent nation which it remains today.