The Deaths of Austria and Czechoslovakia - Part 1

In the middle of 1924, Hitler began to record his political plans, amongst many other things, in Mein Kampff. In the first six lines he wrote that the reunion of Germany with Austria, originally known as German-Austria until forced to change its name to Austria by the League of Nations, was "a task to which we should devote our lives and in...which every possible means should be employed. German-Austria must be restored to the great German motherland."

Apart from Hitler's mania to bring about the 'reunion' , what of the people of Austria, the German-Oesterreich, the Eastern Reich? Formed out of the Austro part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the people were still, in 1924, forming themselves into a nation. They spoke German (with a very wide difference in dialect) but, otherwise, Germany had no historical claim on the new country and, in 1924, the Austrians had no particular wish, as a body, to be 'reunited'. From 1918 the country had had to contend with the same problems as in Germany and, in the main, had handled them in much the same way, surviving two attempts at a Communist putsch, and forming a responsible government by March 1919. By the end of 1920 most German speakers had settled for their status as Austrians, although there was a was always a fairly constant number, between 10 and 15%, who were German nationalists; and the government had agreed to the League of Nations demand that they remain independent for at least 20 years.

Economic troubles had been cleared by 1925 but political problems were not so easily disposed of. The remnants of the old feudal-style Empire still survived in social distinctions based on class: the landed gentry and officers; the peasants and workers; and the new middle classes. Over time, this mix brought more fascist, authoritarian, rule into government until, by the time of Dolfuss' election in 1932, the President was elected by parliament and not the people, and the Nazis and Communists threatened social unrest. Dolfuss took the first opportunity he could, May 1933, to govern by emergency decree. This was playing into Nazi hands and Hitler ensured that money and assistance was given to build the Party membership. It was, however, nowhere near strong enough in 1934 to stage a coup when Hitler murdered Dolfuss.

Kurt von Schuschnigg, the last pre World War II Chancellor, inherited a one party state, and non-elected advisory bodies. He was by nature an authoritarian but more one to give a little to gain more, and certainly no match for Hitler. Before the latter could terrorise Schuschnigg, however, the Austrian agreements with Italy, France and Britain had to be nullified. France and Britain were no problem as Hitler knew they would not make a move if he entered Austria, but Italy was rather more difficult as it was now controlled by a bombastic fool, Mussolini, who had ambitions. Italy was one of the Allies in World War I and had continued as a partner even as late as July 1934, when Mussolini sent four divisions to the Brenner Pass at the time of Dolfuss' murder. The Stresa Front agreement in 1935 continued to give Austria the comfort of a protector immediately to the south. However, Mussolini now alienated his former allies by invading Abyssinia in October 1935 and by July 1936, when he decided to support Franco in Spain, it was obvious that Austria was alone if it came to force. Schuschnigg now stepped up his policy of appeasing Hitler by entering into an agreement with Germany in July 1936 with secret clauses agreeing to release Nazi political prisoners and to appoint Nazi sympathizers to positions of political responsibility.

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