Turtledove
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Anschluss

The Anschluss was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in March 1938. Although Austria had never been part of the modern state of Germany, there was solid support in both countries for the union.

The Anschluss had been a long-proposed idea to unite German-speaking peoples, but was impractical during the years when Austria was the center of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1919, following the Empire's dissolution at the end of World War I, the idea became viable, but was soundly blocked during the Versailles conference by President Georges Clemenceau of France, who was opposed to the idea of Germany gaining any land. Ironically, some historians believe that allowing the Anschluss in 1919 would have consoled German anger and made the Nazi platform irrelevant, thus preventing World War II.

While Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schussnigg had attempted to forestall the issue with a referendum for 13 March 1938, the German Nazi Party supported a coup by its Austrian counterpart. Days later, German troops marched into the country.

The Sudetenland region in Czechoslovakia became the Nazis' next target for annexation.

The Anschluss was one more step on the path to World War II, as Adolf Hitler continued German remilitarization and expansion into 1939. Austria ceased to exist as an independent nation until 1955.

Literary comment[]

Most of Harry Turtledove's WWII-related writings place the Point of Divergence after the Anschluss took place. A few WWII stories have a pre-1938 POD, but none of them suggest that the Anschluss was altered.

Anschluss in In the Presence of Mine Enemies[]

Austria was absorbed into Nazi Germany in 1938, a year prior to World War II, and became the German administrative region of Ostmark. By 2010, few people could think of Austria as anything but a part of Germany.

Anschluss in Joe Steele[]

In March 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria, rearranging the map of Europe.[1] Adolf Hitler then began making demands on Czechoslovakia.[2]

In the United States, AP reporter Charlie Sullivan was attempting to explain the situation in a way that made sense to the average American when his wife Esther called to tell him she'd gone into labor.[3]

Anschluss in The War That Came Early[]

The Anschluss was one of several events Adolf Hitler counted as "achievements" on the eve of the Munich Conference in September 1938, which for him made the Allied capitulation on the Sudetenland issue so frustrating. Thus, when it was announced that Konrad Henlein had been assassinated, Hitler gleefully announced that Germany would immediately invade Czechoslovakia, triggering the Second World War.[4].

The annexed Austria became Germany's launchpad into Czechoslovakia on 1 October 1938.[5]

In 1944, the Committee for the Salvation of the German Nation overthrew the Nazi Party and negotiated a peace with the Allies. One of the terms of peace was the continued Allied recognition of the Anschluss.

Anschluss in Worldwar[]

By the terms of the 1944 Peace of Cairo, Austria remained united with the Greater German Reich.[6] The Race did not seek to detach Austria from Germany after the Race-German War of 1965.[7] The Race's understanding of Tosevite nations was imperfect, even after decades of living on the invaded world and ruling a large part of it. However, they did make a computer analysis of the Tosevite languages, and found that Germans and Austrians spoke essentially the same language, which made it logical that Austria remain part of Germany.

References[]

  1. Joe Steele, pg. 195.
  2. Ibid., pg. 196.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Hitler's War, pg. 9
  5. Ibid., pg. 22
  6. Striking the Balance, pg. 375
  7. See Aftershocks, generally.
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