You might think there is not a snowball's chance in hell of this, but what if the Austrian government stood firm and managed to mount some kind of resistance against the Anschluss? What other events would have to occur for this to take place, and what might result from it?
AH Challenge: Austria resists.
- Thread starter JimmyJimJam
- Start date
Grettir Asmundarsen
Banned
The Lizards get to Earth a little earlier and arm the Austrian armed forces with laser cannons?
I'm somehow thinking that a fictional alien race coming to Earth is a little more out there than Austrians resisting Hitler. But I might be full of it.
Austria Delays the Anschluss
The Anschluss is going to happen sooner or later. Hitler had huge popular support among all the German people. However the Anschluss might be delayed for 6 months or a year. I suspect this will push back the timeline for acquisition of the Sudatenland and West Prussia. Maybe WWII begins in 1940.
If Stalin invades the Baltic States and Finland prior to Hitler invading Poland then all bets are off as to how WWII turns out.
The Anschluss is going to happen sooner or later. Hitler had huge popular support among all the German people. However the Anschluss might be delayed for 6 months or a year. I suspect this will push back the timeline for acquisition of the Sudatenland and West Prussia. Maybe WWII begins in 1940.
If Stalin invades the Baltic States and Finland prior to Hitler invading Poland then all bets are off as to how WWII turns out.
So the Austrians mounting some kind of ill-organized resistance against the ill-organized invasion won't make much of a difference?
JimmyJimJam said:
In "To Rule the Waves," a book about the Royal Navy, it tells of how Spain seized Portugal in the aftermath of the Battle of the Three Kings in Morocco, where the King of Portugal met his end. Resistance on the mainland was squished within a month; in the Azores, within 2 years.
The Austrian gov't, with the Austrian Nazi party in its rear (Hitler was popular in Austria) and more powerful Germany coming in from the north, will probably suffer a similar fate. Probably even faster--they don't have a distant redoubt like the Azores to hide in. The difference will be that the Germans will be viewed as a violent, dangerous threat a bit earlier than OTL.
MerryPrankster said:
What are the implications of this change in European opinion, then?
Austria is seen as a victim state, like Russia, Poland, etc., rather than an accomplice; possibly no Munich Agreement. Possibly a war over Czechoslovakia, which Hitler, strangely enough, seemed to want.
With Austria putting up resistance, however token, against Germany, stir the West to make sooner and more severe demands that Germany cease its aggression?
Susano
Banned
Err. Simple question: WHO would put up all this resistance? Dollfuss might have wante dto preserve an independant Austria, but he was certainly in the minority there. Naturally, one cant trust Nazir eferendums much, but even before there were, in a democratuic Austria, offical referendums in the single Austrian states. Of course without power, but offical. And routinely, aroudn 95% voted for reunifcation. As Austria thus simply wanted to be part of Germany, I wonder who really would resist the Germans then - who would resists what they, in the end, wanted?
Good point. It is your AH.Susano said:
So Austria has their own revolution in 1919 and installs a socialist government. Not a communist government like Hungary, though. The Allies are scared that it will spread and when Austria offers to join the alliance against the Communist (nondemocratic) government in Hungary they agree to forget about reparations.
The Germans from the former empire move to Austria because they don't have the economic turmoil of Germany. The Austrians also absorb a lot of refugees from Russia, especially Jewish ones. They figure that they will all get rich together by cooperating.
It's 1936 and the Germans want to invade because all the Jews and intellectuals from Germany have moved to Austria and Austria is too rich for the Germans not to envy them.
Maybe you could assume that Kaiser Karl and the Habsburgs somehow managed to stay in power in the smaller Austria, that would also add a separator with Germany.
As for Italy, it did prevent a first attempt at Anschluss in 1936 (or 37? can't remember) by sending troops to the Brenner. Assume Mussolini does not get totally fascinated by Hitler during their subsequent meeting in Munich, and does the same in 38. You could have some interesting fighting going on in the Alps. Mussolini would then be seen as a worthy ally by Britain (Chruchill had a lot of admiration for him OTL) and even France.
As for Italy, it did prevent a first attempt at Anschluss in 1936 (or 37? can't remember) by sending troops to the Brenner. Assume Mussolini does not get totally fascinated by Hitler during their subsequent meeting in Munich, and does the same in 38. You could have some interesting fighting going on in the Alps. Mussolini would then be seen as a worthy ally by Britain (Chruchill had a lot of admiration for him OTL) and even France.
Susano said:
I guess since "nobody" wanted to resist Hitler in Austria, the groups mentioned below can be now classified as "nobodys":
From (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluß)
Even before the February meeting, Schuschnigg was under considerable pressure from Germany. This may be seen in the demand to remove the chief of staff of the Austrian Army Alfred Jansa from his office in January 1938. Jansa and his staff had developed a scenario for Austria's defence against a German attack, a situation Hitler wanted to avoid at all costs. Schuschnigg subsequently complied with the demand.[3]
During the following weeks Schuschnigg realized that his newly appointed ministers were gradually working on taking over his authority. Schuschnigg tried to gather support throughout Austria and inflame patriotism among the people. For the first time since 12 February 1934 (the time of the Austrian civil war), socialists and communists could legally appear in public again. The communists announced their unconditional support for the Austrian government, understandable in light of the Nazi's pressure on Austria. The socialists demanded further concessions from Schuschnigg before they were willing to side with him.
benedict XVII said:
The first attempt to annex Austria was in 1934, with the assassination of Chancellor Dollfuss. Mussolini deployed troops at the Brenner pass, and what was called the "Austrian civil war" fizzled down. There were some big changes 4 years later, even if Chancellor Schusnigg continued to oppose the anschluss up to the end: Italy's relations with UK and France were much colder, after the Abyssinian war and the sanctions imposed by the League of Nations (Germany and the USA did not follow the sanctions); neither France nor UK were ready or willing to take practical steps to oppose the annexation;
the Little Entente (the alliance of the MittelEuropean countries sponsored by France) was again not willing to be dragged into a conflict. Overall, it was a lost opportunity: before the Munich appeasement, this was the true opportunity to stop Hitler ambitions.
Who opposed the Anschluss in Austria? the Austrian Christian Social Party (a clerical party, with authoritarian tendencies and close to the Italian Fascism), who was the ruling party; the Austrian communist party, who declared their support for the government in the crisis of 1938 (at the same time, the Socialist party, which was bigger, tried to negotiate with the government, and weakened the Chancellor's position); the army was not nazified yet, and the Chief of staff, Gen. Jansa, had prepared a plan to resist the German thrust toward Vienna. The Chancellor had called a referendum on the Anschluss for the 13th of march 1938 (the invasion was on the 12th), even if the cut out age was at 24 years, to counter the sympathies toward nazism in the younger voters. The catholic church was again opposed to the Nazi anschluss, and this counted in a country like Austria.
Perhaps if Britain and France do not condemn the Italian 'adventure' in Ethiopia, and don't distance themselves from Italy, etc. Mussolini might not support the Nazis. So, the next time Hitler threatens Austria, Mussolini does more than send troops to the Brenner Pass - with the invitation of Chancellor Schushnigg he sends a force of 10 000 troops into Austria proper, with the promise of more if the Germans try anything. In this timeline, I think Mussolini would see it more in Italy's interest to keep Austria as a satellite quasi - fascist state, and be friendly with Britain and France (or Britain, anyway). Perhaps being foiled in Austria, Hitler will try harder to get the Sudeten - although I think this a stretch, since the Powers will be more likely to stop him right away. Eventually I imagine the conservatives in Germany would get tired of Hitler's sabre rattling, and the army would do away with the whole rotten lot of them. 