Who Started WW2? Treaty of Versailles Series, Who Started WW2? Weimar Series Who Started WW2? Munich Conference Series
The two major sources for this article are Who Started WW2? by Udo Walendy (pages 79–91) and 1939 – The War That Had Many Fathers, by Gerd Schultze-Rhonhof (pages 119–152).
As children, we are conditioned to believe that Hitler was an evil warmonger who wanted to take over the world. Actual history paints an entirely different picture. The story of the Anschluss, or unification of Austria and Germany, is one such piece of history that puts many of the lies told about Hitler to rest.
If Holocaust fabulists even bother to mention this chapter in history, they use the same tricks they use when they affirm the Holocaust—tricks like leaving out vital context.
The following is from a site called “The Holocaust Explained” (THE), a website that provides learning materials for schools. It is the entire lesson for the Anschluss:
Anschluss refers to the annexation of Austria in 1938. There was growing support in Austria for the Nazis from 1933. The country had a (non-Nazi) semi-fascist government from around this time. In 1934, the Nazis assassinated the Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in the hope of establishing a Nazi regime. The coup failed and Kurt von Schuschnigg replaced Dollfuss as chancellor. However, his ring-wing regime was one full of political factions, and its success rested on support from fascist Italy.
From 1938, as Italy grew closer to Nazi Germany, Austria became increasingly isolated and vulnerable to German takeover. The Nazis were keen to expand their territory, and support for the Nazis and a union with Germany among the Austrian people was high.
The German Army marched into Austria on the 12 March 1938, with little to no opposition from the population or any other foreign powers.
On the 13 March 1938, Austria was incorporated into the Greater German Reich. The result of a retrospective plebiscite held by the Nazis indicated that 99% of Austrian nationals supported the move. Despite this, as with previous plebiscites, those who voted were subject to a large amount of pressure from the Nazis to vote this way. As such, the result should be treated with caution.
Because of the missing context, this relating of the Anschluss confirms the “Hitler bad” narrative.
I will now provide the context that actually dispels many of the lies told about Hitler.
Without getting into hundreds of years of history, it is suffice to say that Germany and Austria share a connection that goes beyond a shared language. Vienna was the capital of a large multi-national empire under the German-speaking Hapsburg dynasty for five centuries. In 1918, Germany and Austria had shared a millennia of common history and 54 years of separation.
On November 12th, 1918 the Austrian National Assembly decided unanimously to unify with the German Reich. Even though the Treaty of Versailles declared that Germany was entirely responsible for WW1, that doesn’t mean other countries went unpunished. Austria was punished by having this union blocked, thus her sovereignty was denied, through the Treaty of Saint-Germain.
The Allied powers pretended that they were upholding the principle of national self-determination even though they wouldn’t allow the Austrian government to do what it wanted. My robot assistant, Sarah (BingAI), shows us how they circle this square.
That’s right, foreign powers drawing borders for another country is providing self-determination while letting that country govern itself is not. And before you say that maybe the people didn’t want it, they did. I’ll get to that in due order (part two).
It is important to note that post-WW1 was difficult for Austria. Due to fallout from the war, economic networks had collapsed, cost of living increased, food was scarce, unemployment was skyrocketing, and they could no longer pay their foreign debt.
Now let’s add some context to this statement from THE: “In 1934, the Nazis assassinated the Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in the hope of establishing a Nazi regime.“
What is left out is that Dollfuss, who took over the Austrian government in 1932, was a dictator. He had been a supporter of the Anschluss in his youth, but fearing a loss of power if a unification happened he took steps to squash the possibility for this to happen by attacking democracy. Dollfuss also obtained a loan of £9 million sterling from the League of Nations in return for an agreement not to enter a customs union with Germany for 20 years.
To end democracy, Dollfus prohibited the National Council from meeting, taking away power from the Parliament. In 1933, he banned local and regional elections. He banned the Social Democratic Party and dissolved free labor unions. Furthermore, he was unable to improve the economy and improve life for Austrian citizens. Meanwhile in Germany, Hitler’s rule was slowly but clearly improving the economy, which caused a resurgence of support for the Anschluss.
Dollfuss is precisely the sort of threat to democracy that you’re supposed to hate, but THE omits Dollfuss’ dictatorial actions because evil Nazis killed him. The omission of important details doesn’t end there, however. It is true that a member of the Austrian National Socialists killed Dollfuss, but this was due to a muck up, not a deliberate plan to murder him. The National Socialists meant to arrest Dollfuss and attempt a legal takeover of the government. This plan was revealed to Dollfuss at the last moment and in the confusion the ensued from Dollfuss fleeing the scene a National Socialist member shot him in an act of perceived self-defense. The legal takeover of the government that the National Socialists had hoped for failed spectacularly.
Dollfuss was replaced by Kurt Schuschnigg, another dictator who carries on Dollfuss’ legacy of denying elections and preventing the Anschluss. Continue to part two for his role in this chapter of history, adding more context to THE’s lesson and the exciting conclusion (I lied)!