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Austria Growing German Pressure on Austria
In June 1934, Hitler and Mussolini had their first meeting.
Mussolini defended his support of Dollfuss, while Hitler denied
any intent to annex Austria but made clear his desire to see
Austria in Germany's sphere of influence. Austrian Nazis,
however, were embarked on a more radical course. They conspired
to seize top government officials and force the appointment of a
Nazi-dominated government.
The Dollfuss government learned of these plans before the
putsch began on July 25 but did not make adequate preparations.
Although the army and the Heimwehr remained loyal and the coup
failed, Dollfuss was killed. Strong international indignation
over the putsch forced Hitler to rein in the Austrian Nazis, but
Hitler's goal remained the eventual annexation (Anschluss) of
Austria.
Dollfuss was succeeded as chancellor by Kurt von Schuschnigg,
another of Seipel's CSP protégés. Schuschnigg's political
survival directly depended on Italian support for an independent
Austria, but by 1935 Mussolini was already moving toward
accommodation with Hitler and began to advise Schuschnigg to do
the same. Schuschnigg was in fact prepared to make concessions to
Germany, if Hitler in turn would make a clear statement
recognizing Austrian independence.
Schuschnigg, however, did not understand the degree to which
even moderate nationalists, whose support he needed, were already
operating as fronts for Hitler and the Nazis. Thus, in the
agreement signed with Germany on July 11, 1936, Hitler gave
Austria essentially worthless pledges of Austrian independence
and sovereignty, while Schuschnigg agreed to bring into his
government members of the "National Opposition," who, unbeknownst
to him, were taking their orders from Berlin.
The 1936 agreement furthered Germany's desire to isolate
Austria diplomatically and encouraged other European countries to
view Austrian-German relations as a purely internal affair of the
German people. Bereft of external support and in no position to
resist German pressure, Schuschnigg agreed to meet Hitler in
Berchtesgaden on February 12, 1938. Hitler used the meeting to
intimidate the Austrians with an implicit threat of military
invasion, and Schuschnigg accepted a list of demands designed to
strengthen the political position of the Austrian Nazis. Although
the list did not include the legalization of Austria's Nazi
Party, the Nazis and their sympathizers began to come into the
open.
On his return to Vienna, Schuschnigg began secret plans for
one last desperate bid to preserve Austrian sovereignty: a
plebiscite designed to secure a yes vote "for a free and German,
independent and social, for a Christian and united Austria, for
peace and work and equality of all who declare themselves for
Nation and Fatherland." Representatives of the SDAP agreed to
call a plebiscite in exchange for various concessions.
Hitler recognized that the plebiscite would be a new obstacle
to Anschluss and symbolic defeat for Nazi Germany, so he quickly
moved against it. The German army began preparing for an invasion
on March 10, and Nazi sympathizers in the Austrian cabinet
demanded that the plebiscite be postponed. Schuschnigg agreed to
cancel it altogether and then acceded to demands for his
resignation. Nonetheless, on March 12, Hitler sent the German
army into Austria.
Data as of December 1993
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