The Anschluss with Austria took place in March 1938. (a) What steps did Hitler take to bring about union with Austria? [4] (b) Why did the Austrian governme...

The Anschluss (union) with Austria in March 1938 was a significant step in Hitler's dismantling of the Versailles settlement and his policy of uniting all German-speaking peoples.

(a) Steps Hitler took to bring about the Anschluss [4 marks]

• Hitler encouraged and funded the Austrian Nazi Party to destabilise Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg's government through demonstrations, propaganda and political violence.
• In February 1938, Hitler summoned Schuschnigg to a meeting at Berchtesgaden (Hitler's mountain retreat) and bullied him into appointing the Nazi Arthur Seyss-Inquart as Austrian Minister of the Interior, giving the Nazis control of the police.
• When Schuschnigg called a snap plebiscite on Austrian independence (planned for 13 March), Hitler demanded its cancellation and Schuschnigg's resignation, threatening military invasion.
• German troops crossed the Austrian border on 12 March 1938, meeting no resistance. A rigged plebiscite on 10 April recorded 99.7% approval for union with Germany.

(b) Why Austria failed to prevent the Anschluss [6 marks]

• Military weakness: Austria's small army of around 30,000 could not resist the German Wehrmacht, which was one of Europe's largest military forces.
• No allied support: Schuschnigg appealed to Britain and France for help but received none. Both countries were committed to appeasement and were not prepared to risk war over Austria.
• Italy's changed position: In 1934, Mussolini had mobilised troops on the Brenner Pass to deter a German takeover of Austria (the Stresa Front). By 1938, Italy was aligned with Germany through the Rome-Berlin Axis (1936) and no longer offered protection.
• Domestic Nazi support: A significant proportion of the Austrian population, especially in border regions, supported union with Germany. The Austrian Nazi Party had created widespread internal disorder.
• Schuschnigg's resignation: Under Hitler's ultimatum, Schuschnigg resigned on 11 March, removing the only figure organising resistance. Seyss-Inquart became Chancellor and immediately invited German troops in.
• International indifference: The League of Nations took no action. Britain's Lord Halifax had privately indicated to Hitler that Britain would not oppose changes to Austria's status if achieved peacefully.

(c) How important was the Anschluss in leading to war in 1939? [10 marks]

The Anschluss was significant:

• It increased Germany's population by approximately 7 million, its industrial resources, and its strategic position in central Europe.
• It gave Germany a common border with Czechoslovakia, making the Sudetenland crisis possible. From Austria, German forces could threaten Czechoslovakia from three sides.
• It demonstrated once again that Britain and France would not intervene, encouraging Hitler to believe he could continue expanding without resistance.
• It violated the Treaty of Versailles (which specifically prohibited Austro-German union) and the Treaty of Saint-Germain, yet provoked no military response.

Other factors were also important:

• The Munich Agreement (September 1938) further emboldened Hitler by handing him the Sudetenland without a fight, stripping Czechoslovakia of its border defences and Skoda armaments.
• The Nazi-Soviet Pact (August 1939) removed the threat of a two-front war, freeing Hitler to invade Poland.
• Hitler's invasion of the rest of Czechoslovakia (March 1939) finally ended the policy of appeasement and led Britain to guarantee Poland's independence.
• Hitler's own ideology, outlined in Mein Kampf, demanded Lebensraum in the east, making a major war likely regardless of specific events.

Conclusion: The Anschluss was one important step in a chain of events leading to war, but it was not the decisive trigger. It emboldened Hitler and weakened the strategic position of Czechoslovakia, but the final trigger was the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, following the failure of appeasement and the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact.