A very important point you missed out is how miserable life was after ww1 in Austria. Austria just went from being a global empire to being destined with irrelavancy forever, also having a civil war and a terrible economy and germany seemed to be able to fix all that.

"Locked in a dual monarchy" They were the SEAT of the Duel Monarchy.

"Locked in a dual monarchy". They were literally the rulers over that empire and not just a minor territory like Slovakia or Bosnia. They also enjoyed access to the sea and were (at least nominally) a great power of that time.

Hoi4 choice: Accept Anchluss diplomaticly Accept Anchluss militarily

You make it sound like Austria wasnt the senior partner in Austria-Hungary

I was doing homework but this is more important

Because back then Austrians were just Germans from the late Habsburg empire. Most of them felt, like Hitler or von Karajan, that they were plain German. The austrian identity is rather recent and was encouraged by the bad reputation Germans had after WW2 😉

random trivia: my great-grandfather was serving in the austrian airforce and as the germans annexed austria. He was one of few who rebelled against the annexation so the new german officers decided to strip him of his title and send him into the eastern frontline as a footsoldier. When the invasion of Russia turned against the german invadors my great-grandfather got captured by the Russians and they sent him into a Gulag prison camp. He was held hostage for 5 years but managed to survive and when he finally came back to Austria his weight was only 38 kg. He lived a thankful life afterwards and died in 1996.

Because historically, Austrians always regarded themselves as ethnic Germans. An Austrian identity did not only emerge in 1945 but has existed for centuries. It was, however, always linked to a wider German identity. Austrians such as Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, or Johann Strauss regarded themselves as Austrians, loyal to the house of Habsburg, but also as ethnic Germans. Thus, when the multiethnic empire crumbled in 1918, it was the most logical thing in the world to seek unification with those they regarded as their fellow Germans. Only after 1945 did the Austrian identity become completely severed from any notion of a wider German identity.

Important to note: Austria wasn't an independent country for hundreds of years at this point. It's economy was heavyly reliant on being in a union with Hungary and Bohemia. A big world-city like Vienna could not be supported by the mostly agrarian countyside of Austria. The entent powers screwed them over far more than even Germany - no wonder they wanted the Anschluss. This is why you don't kick people when they are down.

More Austrians died from the change in direction of car travel from right to left than from resisting the Anschluss.

There is something you forgot. The German millitary was marching in peacefully into the major austrian cities, but exactly this happened in reverse as well. So the Austrin millitary was marching is as well in several German cities. E.g. Munich, Dresden, Leipzig.

Everyone is afraid to tell the truth about anything.

due to their linguistic, ethnic and cultural similarities it isn't too strange

“It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace.” ― Aristotle

Before 1945, "German" was a wider ethnic identity. Whether you are Austrian, Bavarian, Prussian, Swiss, Luxemburger, etc., as long as you speak German, you are German. After 1945, being German strictly means you are a citizen of Germany. This is largely due to the fact that other German-speaking nations, especially Austria, want to distance themselves from the crimes committed by the "Germans" during WW2. This way, Austria got a "First victim of Nazi aggression" out-of-jail card and had Germany take all the blames and punishments.

Actually Austria had plans to defend the country and the then leader of Austria Schuschnigg wanted to defend but was talked out of it because the key point of the defense was the support of other countries (especially Italy) and none wanted to come to help. Therefor it was useless.

The Austrian government had decided in 1919 to join Germany as "German Austria". This was verbidden by the victorious allies and the country was forced to become a Republic. The interference of the allies constituted a breach of the international convention of self-determination of countries. The Anschluss by Hitler was therefore a restoration of long overdue self-determination and the majority of Austrian people welcomed it.

my photography teacher in my junior and senior year of high school was austrian. nicest, most welcoming and wise man i ever met and was like a cool uncle. I love austria and have lots of respect for austrians because of him 🇦🇹🙏

It seems most odd to say that Austria way locked in the Austrian empire or Austro-Hungarian empire, as it was literally THEIR empire. That is like saying Britain was locked in the british empire or turkey was locked in the ottoman empire, Russia locked in the Russian empire.

One of the Generals in the German invasion force of Austria was Chiang Wei'kuo, the adopted son of Chinese Nationalist leader and later President of Taiwan, Chiang Kai-Shek

because they wanted to unite at the end of ww1 but was stopped by the allies. it was only the natural progression in the unification of german states.

The map of Germany and Austria combined on the thumbnail shows how Czechoslovakia was almost surrounded even before their invasion 🙈

They called it Blummenkrieg. War of flowers. Austrian soldiers entered Germany simultaneously to show the world it was peaceful

Whenever you see a >th< in a German word or name it is not pronounced as a fricative. Günther is pronounced Günter. Thaler is pronounced Taler (the word from which "Dollar" stems). It's like river Thames.

When Sound of Music director Robert Wise filed to get a location permit for "German soldiers" to march in the town square, at first he was refused because the town council of Salzburg wasn't going to allow that. Robert then told the council that his only alternative was to show newsreels of Austrians cheering on the troops as they marched in. He got his permit.

The amount of times they said “the German chancellor” lmao. They really trying not to get demonetized.

Because most Austrians at this time thought of themselves as German and were as depressed as the other Germans after WW1

Austrians are part of the german nation as much as bavarians, saxons, prussians are. They are not fundamentally different, but in the details.

I'm from Austria. The main reason to accept German annexiation was the huge crisis after WWI. Houndred of thousands children died because of hunger in Austria, even more than 10 years after the war. Inflation combined with bank crisis has made all money worthless. Austria was cut off from any sources, as it had in the Monarchy time. The corn fields are gone to the young balkan countries and Hungary. Coal mines are lost to Schlesia and Bohemia, including the steel fabrication. What was left ( der Rest ist Österreich !!) as per speach from the french hardlinger Clemenceau, was in this time worthless land. Only mountains with stones and snow, useless valleys where peoples find not enough food, no coal no industry, to feed 6 million peoples and no perspectives. At least the overgrown city Vienna. The was the base for Hitler and his National socialists to get the feets on Austrian ground.

Where to beginn? -Austria was one of the senior partners in the Austro hungarian monarchy, and until this video i have never heard anybody say the majority of austrians would have wanted to give that up and join the german Kaiserreich under prussian rule. (Maybe because this wasn't the case) -2:26 You are missing the biggest reason for that entirely: The people living in austria at that time were used to live in a huge empire where for example the eastern regions provided the majority of the food, while the little rest remaining after WW1 had contained the capital, some industry (but not all) and the majority of mountains. So the majority of "Rest-Austrians" were convinced that this "Rest" would not be able to sustain itself as soverign country. - After Dollfuß was assasinated the nazi party was prohibited in Austria and 13 of the most active in the participants were executed This putsch was unsucsessfull becaus of several reasons: the support in the general population was not there, some leaders of regional parties were taken into camps right before it took place, and (typical for nazis) the different regional groups were "competing against each other" in anything from planning to equipment, and did not really cooperate, they weren't as good trained or equipped as they thought, and police, army and paramilitary groups were neither neutral nor in support, they opposed the actions by force. So the austrian nazi party guys weren't just put in camps afterwards, they had already been standing out "with bad behavior" before. (So that as i wrote some of their leaders were already taken into custody) -You are jumping around in the timeline a bit, people may get confused as you are talking about Dollfuß' assasination before jumping back some years again. - What you say about the Juli agreement of 1936 sounds like you haven't read it's contents... -You are also missing econimical pressure before this agreement like the "thousend mark barrier": Between 1933 and 1936 any german citizen who wanted to cross the border into austria had to pay 1000 Mark to do that. That was a huge sum of money. -Even the nazi party still remained prohibited. -7:50 "he agreed to meet with his german counterpart" That's a good one. Hitler commanded him to attend and there was no discussion. Hitler made very clear that he was the one who said what Schuschnigg had to do to avoid the Whermacht taking Austria by force. So no offer for autonomy. -9:10 I mean really? You show the ballot of the "plebicite" the Nazis held some time after annexation (at a time when they had succesfully removed anyone who opposed them, let only those people take part they assumed would vote for staying with germany, and held it non anonymous with "officials" like SA and SS watching people threatening them to make their cross for staying) But you are talking about the plbicite Schuschnigg wanted to hold. Which made Hitler furious enough that he threatened Schuschnigg again to march into austria immediately if he would not cancel the plebicite. (Makes one wonder about how many in the population were in favor, if the little angry moustache guy was afraid about the outcome...) -With this attempted plebiscite Hitler not only threatened him, he gave out the order to mobilize the army he intended to use (8th army) and Schuschnigg was forced to resign and they went on to march into austria. What Schuschnigg tried to avoid was austrians getting killed so his command to the austrian army (which was waiting for the unwillable fight at the borders) was to stand down and not fire. A small detachement in tyrol "didn't get the memo" and did fight. (a bit, as they were not many, and had no support they stopped eventually) -During the time between 38 and 45 it wasn't even called austria, the german high command ect. called it Ostmark (instead of Österreich) And they generally looked down on the austrians as kind of "lesser germans" same for the soldiers. They changed out all leading personell the austrian army had for germans but kept the personell. The "lesser" feeling changed mostly after the annexation of Norway, as the austrian mountain troops had to do the majority of the land fighting there.

A very distorted view on the situation. The Versailles and St. Germain treaties took several majority German speaking terroties away from the new Auustrian Republic. The areas of the Sudentland and Böhmen were handed to the Versailles creation of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Tirol was seperated with the Süd-Tirol handed to Italy ignoring the fact that there was no Italian population in the area, an occupation that still festers today. The Dolfuss regime was a Quasi Fascist regime and in no way democratic, Hitlers comments regarding the Hapsburgs in 1921 are irrelevant as at that time Austria was a Republic. The phrase aswell that the country was locked from 1867 to 1918 is also misleading, Wien was the capitol of this multi ethnic empire and most Austrians and Hungarians along with other balkan states do look back at this time as a period of some stability, even though national expectations were becoming more to the fore.

Well it seemed like a good idea at the time. Austria had self-confidence issues. They just went from being the second-largest country in Europe to one of the smallest, the economy was a mess and people were starving. Joining their German brethren to the north, who spoke the same language and shared the same sense of kinship, but were doing relatively better, seemed only the sensible thing to do to most Austrians. Besides, the guy on top was their homeboy...what wasn't to like?

*Germany x Austria* i know many of us will claim something else but secretly we love each other ;-) xoxo from Austria bros

Those were some hops and jumps to keep some key words from the KZfaq demonetization hammer. But thank you for the video. Great as always.

Germany: I want unite all german speaking people under 1 state Austria: My time has come Poland: Oh no Czechoslovakia: HELP

Language and ethnicity sure, but strange you excluded culture, as that was also a big part.

4:06 Why do I hear ayedolf Hitler

As austrian it is very interesting to read the comments and see what other people think about it.

As a German from the south, I can say, we feel more connected to Austria than to any other part of Germany. Still today we would like a unification. They are more brothers than Berlin.

The Austrians are the same Germans as the Bavarians or the inhabitants of Saxony or Thuringia. If Austria won the war with Prussia in 1866, the capital of a united Germany would probably be Vienna, not Berlin.

Without watching a second. I will answer the title. Hitler got hyper inflation under control. being from Austria he wanted to help his home land. they had suffered extremely hard reparations and the dissolving of the Austria Hungarian empire left them weak and poor. Holter promised work which he did provide at the start. Then shit hit the fan

A very useful learning tool.

Speaking as an austrian, austrians are cultural and ethnically germans and many supported the Anschluss

0:08 i love how you alligned the borders

wish you would dive deeper into the Dollfuss dictatorship rather than just brushing over his death because he was the main obstacle to austro-german unification and was a strong leader.

I am italian with german ancestors. I live in the border's region Trentino Alto Adige or Südtirol. Here until 1918 we were under K.u.K (Austrian-Hungarian empire) and 70% of population were composed by german speakers. After WWI borders were created without the minimum respect of the concept of ethnicity. Here, Alsace, Sudetenland, Danzig and many others. In a moment mio people were in a foreign country under really hard rules. Here for exemple german language was forbidden and surnames italianized. Worst things happened in east Europe. I think that Hitler and nazis used this deep desire of a Großdeutschland to have the favor of the population. All the rest is history.

Excepted?? They were very happy with it.

I think the explanation presented is off probably because it’s from an English language way of describing nation-state. There is no distinction between Austrian and German; Austrian are German the same way Prussian are German. The same issue also exists in “Chinese”. “Chinese” in Chinese simply means everyone living in China regardless of ethnicity but the English phrase “Chinese” specifically only refers to ethnic Han + number of unspecified ethnic groups but leaves out “not Chinese Chinese”.

Austria had remained during the thirties as poor as Germany during the Twenties. Thats why everybody wanted to join Germany on its road of success and wealth.

Fun fact: In Greek city of Volos during WW1, arrived an Austrian ship and even if was enemy (because Greece was with the Allied forces),residents welcomed it with music bands and holding Austrian flags... That's why Greeks are calling them "Austrians",and even the football club of the city Olympiacos Volou,has fan club called "Austrian Boys"!

Because they're there's fellow Germans.

This guy tried so hard to avoid mentioning Hitler or the nazis in a video about 1930’s Germany and Austria

How about a video about how Prussia which was not initially German at all became more German than West Prussia? and how Germans adopted Prussia as its name knowing that it was a Tribe that had nothing to do with Germany! :D this blows my mind and I can not find any publication describing this...

I really wish historical documentaries like this wouldn’t censor out the swastika. I understand the various reasons for doing so but I feel that history must be represented without political bias so that the good and bad can both be understood. Whether it’s learning from the mistakes/horrors of the past or improving on the good to create a better future.

Austria's Anschluss was very important for Germany because it gave them a legitimate reason to invade the Czechs too because the borders looked disgusting

austria is like that little brother who goes along with mischief and then when both of you get caught they claim to be entirely innocent and then snitch on you.

Because for example Vienna was over 500 years the capital of the Holy German Empire since the late medieval times? Also, more important - because austrians are germans.

Good Video! I'm a new subscriber and you are doing a great work! Keep up!

Q: Why did Austria accept German Annexation? A: Accept?

Nice video, though you missed a couple things. First of all, Austria was not a nation, it was a country. "Austrians" generally regarded themselves as germans, living in austria, just like bavarians are germans, living in bavaria. Also you forgot to mention the german revolution 1848 / 49. It was meant to unify all german states, but failed, because prussia and austria couldnt find an answer to the question who would be dominant. This was the question of Klein- vs Großdeutschland. With the german empire under Prussian leadership, they went with the Kleindeutschen Lösung, however, the idea of a totally unified Reich still existed in the heads of german people. Only really after ww1, when austria lost most of its empire, a unification became feasible, so Hitler did everything to make the Großdeutsche Reich happen. It wasn't his idea, or the idea of the nationalsocialists, it was an idea in the head of every german at that time. Still great video though, and I really like the maps you showed.

*Germany anschluss Austria* Mexico:"No"

First of all the Austrian Empire did not disintegrate after WW1, it was cut in 10 pieces, mostly by the stubborn french prime minister Clemenceau. Both in Germany and in Austria Hitler never got more than 30% support in elections. Hitler's party was forbidden in Austria, chancellor Dollfuss was shot by SA in his office, and his successor Schuschnigg served wartime in the KZ Dachau, together with his party colleagues from his government. When Hitler threatened to invade Austria, the government requested support by those powers which had signed the Austrian peace treaty after WW1 and had guaranteed the independence of the country. Those powers did not answer!

Austria is culturally closer to Bavaria (south Germany), than south Germany to north Germany.

Why did Austria accept German Anschluss? Because Austrians were as Nazis as Germans, simple. Time ago an Austrian diplomat told in a lecture I was attending: "Austria is a country that has spent the last 70 years trying to convince the world that Hitler was German and Beethoven was Austrian", lol. He was extremely honest, at least that time.

Germany: Join us! Austria: We were supposed to have a referendum why are you invading me anyway? Germany: Anschluss! Mexico: How dare you!!!

I never realized that this needed an answer because I thought it was obvious but thanks anyway I love to watch these history videos of WW1-WW2 and in between the two wars so it’s a fine addition to my collection

no matter what politicians were arguing about, austrian people did want the anschluss and due to overwhelming public records even war winners can't deny that.

Austria was part of the German Federation (Deutscher Bund) until 1866. After WW1 they already wanted to join Germany, but it was forbidden in the Treaty of Versailles. Nowadays it is forbidden by the Austrian State Treaty (Österreichischer Staatsvertrag) from 1955.

If I were Austrian at that time, I would probably have promoted the Anchluss.

You totally omitted Austria wanting to join Germany in 1919, but the Allies said NO.

well austria voted for anschluss in 1919 uner a pleblicite called by the victors - it was denied along with all the other germanic areas which voted overwhlmingly to join a greater germanic nation - so whats new the unification was part of what was denied in 1919

Austria WANTED german occupation...WANTED ....greeted them with open arms

This all makes sense. But it should also be added that in 1938 and the years after many Austrians were proud that an Austrian made it to become chancellor and leader of a Greater Germany. However, one mistake in the video: Austria did not become a federal state of Germany. Like Germany itself, Austria was divided into "Gaue". Austria was divided into the Gaue NIederdonau, Unterdonau, Wien, Steiermark, Untersteiermark, Kärnten, Oberkrain, Salzburg and Vorarlberg/Tyrol-Vorarlberg,

Invasion? Nah. Nor was it an annexation. It was a Union which was a goal from the start despite the Austrian- Prussian war and the aftermath of WWI. Austrians are German after all. France decimated Austria with the treaty of St Germain. Even leaving them with no self determination. They have something against German folk alright.

Knowledgia - “time to learn history folks” KZfaq - “no.. no I don’t think so”

I think that Austria has been very important as reguard the history but the Austrian empire had to many different etnies and languages, fourteen, and was very difficult to keep them togheter. If Austria and Bavaria would have been united maybe the unification of Germany would have been different.

The real question is, what was the interest of Austria in refusing to join Germany?

Did he say Germany's crumbling economy? In 1936 you can see the new Germany on display at the Olympics and the last thing I would say about it is "crumbling"

Hitler scheduled joint plebiscites in Austria and Germany for April 10, 1938. Both populations decided on whether to incorporate the two countries into a single state. The people of Austria cast 99.73 percent of their ballots in favor of Anschluss with Germany. The Germans voted 99.08 percent for unification.

Someone here forgot to reasearch before making this video.

Well, I do not agree with you on some narrative or weighing -> Austrians were not "that" keen of joining (Nazi) Germany, accepting annexation ... but they had to scope with the geopolitical reality. In a "mere" 60 years or so (roughly 1860-1920) Austria moved from being the central piece of german matters (Habsburg Empire), into a multiethnic empire (A-H), then reduced to a small, "insignificant" country after the disaster of WW1. This new country was basically surrounded by neutral or unsympathetic neighbours, so fairly isolated - the only real "friend" was Hungary, even more insignicant and even more plagued by the peace treaties after WW1. So basically Austria did not have much choice. Although there were many people asking for unification, the austrian culture is quite distinctive -> I know quite a few people from Austria, predominantly they indentify themselves 1st as austrians, 2nd as germans - this was quite the case back in the 1920's and 30's as well. Greetings from Hungary!

Who the heck kept Austria locked in Austria-Hungary? Pretty sure that the revolution of 1848 was a good indicator that Hungary would have been rather ok with being solo.

0:18 Not Locked but Leading an Empire. There's a Difference between not being independent and not having a National Identity.

That’s not true I am Austria my grandpa said there were nazi people looking who voted for Abschluss and who not (you can think what happened when you marked no)

Because Germany at the time was a success story, and Austrians wanted to be part of it. Hitler himself was an Austrian, and it was only by an accident of history that Austria was not already part of Germany. When the German states united to form Germany in 1871, they were in effect becoming part of the Prussian Empire. Austria not only had an empire of its own, but had recently lost a war with Prussia, so becoming part of a Germany in which Prussia ruled the roost did not appeal to most Austrians. The situation in 1938 was very different. Austria had been stripped of its empire in the wake of WW1 and was a military and industrial nonentity. Germany was clearly a country on the rise to greatness, or so it seemed at the time.

Nicely informative video.

Austrian Germans missed the unification and i is not surprising that many would welcome it. Unfortunately, it happened under the Nazi regime. This article suffers from typical confusion between nation and state. Austria was not a nation, it was a state. The nationality of its citizens was predominantly German.

Saying that Austria was "locked" in Austria-Hungary is like saying that Castile is "locked" in Spain.

this left out many things... like the Austrian dictatorship, the small civil war, Italy's sole key role to stop Anschluss in 34 (like they were on the fence to go to war with germany), further more the ballot controversy Edit: the ballot

I haven't seen the documentary yet and might not listen to it, but the comments are superb!!! ;) Great that people can talk freely over this somewhat shady subject.

Why they accepted? Cause they wanted to and that each country is allowed to do whatever it wants......................

Austrian soldiers were a large and important part of the occupying force in many countries, and the way they depict themselves as victims in Auswitch is disgusting and nauseating

Banning Austrian Germans from joining their German brethren was an affront to justice. It was anti-democratic and contrary to the principles of self determination of peoples.

long story short- because they ARE german and before the postwar era in which they came up with a seperate national identity due to the (not completely unjustified) anti german sentiments most europeans and americans had then. You have to see it a strong bit like the german reunification in 1990- in both events there were two different german states just because someone drew a line between two areas of land that were a cultural, linguistical and ethnical unity and therefor ofc people were happy when these areas were reunited politically. I think it is a bit sad that austrians nowadays would never ever even acknowledge that we are the basically same people.

Some great & knowledgeable comments here 🙂

interesting how austria didn't even want to be independent

0:00 "The fate of Austria for some time seemed to be a destiny lacking of sovereignty and true independence." Because they were in the Austria-Hungary, the Habsburg Empire. Ha-Ha-ha-ha!! :) The Habsburgs were Austrians and in the empire there was total Austrian dominance. Greetings from Hungary! We spent a big part of our history supresseed by the Turkish, the Austrians, the Germans, the Soviets, but we were blamed for everything that these empires did.

Austria did not accept Anschluss. It was invaded before a plebiscite to join Germany was done. Hitler knew that the Austrians would reject Anschluss with the Nazis.

Great documentary!