{"id":31769,"date":"2026-05-21T13:48:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/?page_id=31769"},"modified":"2026-05-23T10:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T10:11:16","slug":"anschluss","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/world-history\/interwar-period-c1918-1945\/anschluss\/","title":{"rendered":"Anschluss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anschluss is the name given to the unification of Germany and Austria which took place on 12 March 1938. The term Anschluss had been coined as part of an aim for a ‘greater Germany’. German unification under Prussian leadership excluded Austrian Germans, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire had, in 1871, been a powerful force in central Europe. Anschluss was a nationalistic ideal in which the Austrian Germans would be brought into an enlarged political union.<\/p>\n

From the formation of Germany under Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm I until the end of the First World War<\/a> any joining of Prussian dominated Germany and the Germanic parts of the Austrian Empire were unfeasible. Following the break up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Inter-War era<\/a>, the idea of Anschluss became a highly desirable aim for Nationalists within Germany and German dominated parts of Austria.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cAnschluss\u201d,
\u201cAnschluss\u201d, propaganda postcard for the unification of Austria with Germany, published by G\u00f6th, Vienna and Munich, 1921<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Rise of the Nazi Party<\/a> within Germany was accompanied by support for the parties pro-Germany agenda within Austria. Despite the union of Austria and Germany being prohibited by some International Treaties, the Nazi Party were by 1938 confident that there would be muted opposition to Anschluss from the International Community and that any Austrian opposition would be similarly easy to overcome.<\/p>\n

As a consequence, the Nazi leadership ordered men of the Wehrmacht to march into Austria on 12 March 1938. It was presented as a union of Germanic peoples based on the wishes of the Germanic majority within Austria.<\/p>\n

\"Anschluss.
Adolf Hitler returns to his birth place of Braunau am Inn, Austria. Here he arrives at the Braunau end of the Inn River bridge after crossing over from Simbach, Germany.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Adolf Hitler, though Chancellor and by 1938 Fuhrer of Germany, was Austrian by birth. He had held the belief that there should be a political and cultural union of all Germanic people from early in his political life.<\/p>\n

Links<\/h4>\n

EBSCO Research Starters<\/a> – Anschluss<\/p>\n

Deutsches Historisches Museum<\/a> – Anschluss<\/p>\n

International Relations in the Inter-war Years<\/a><\/h3>\n

Treaty of Versailles, 1919<\/a> – League of Nations<\/a> – The Dawes Plan, 1924<\/a> – Locarno Pact<\/a> – Kellogg-Briand Pact<\/a> – The Young Plan<\/a> – Litvinov Protocol<\/a> – Wall Street Crash<\/a> – Impact of the Great Depression<\/a> –\u00a0Manchurian Crisis, 1931<\/a> – Abyssinia Crisis, 1935<\/a> – League of Nations response to Abyssinia and Manchuria<\/a> – Spanish Civil War, 1936<\/a> – Hitler’s Aims: Lebensraum and Grossdeutschland<\/a> – Reoccupation of the Rhineland: International Response<\/a> – Anschluss<\/a> – Appeasement<\/a> – Sudetenland plebisite<\/a> –\u00a0Munich Agreement<\/a> –\u00a0Allied Pre-War policy towards Poland<\/a> – Nazi Soviet Pact<\/a> – Pact of Steel<\/a><\/p>\n

China 1930 \u2013 1976<\/a> –\u00a0Germany 1919-1945<\/a> –\u00a0USA 1919 -41<\/a> –\u00a0 History of the Soviet Union<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anschluss is the name given to the unification of Germany and Austria which took place on 12 March 1938. The term Anschluss had been coined as part of an aim for a ‘greater Germany’. German unification under Prussian leadership excluded Austrian Germans, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire had, in 1871, been a powerful force in central… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3857,"featured_media":0,"parent":146,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":100,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-31769","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t