Austria as part of Germany in WW2

 Second World War it's important to

mention that the Austrian territory

existed as part of Germany after a

political unification with the German

state

so if Austria had a pretty big role

during the First World War

what was the role of Austria or more

precisely the Austrian people that were

part of Germany in the Second World War

while the Austrian people were

predominantly supportive of the German

actions in world war ii considering the

fact that austria was always one of the

german-speaking realms and speaking the

same language

the Allies considered Austria to be

victims of German aggression in

reference to the latter's annexation of

the smaller power just before the war

nonetheless Austria was still intimately

responsible for their participation

alongside the Germans and other Axis

powers

even though Austria was not an

autonomous state during World War two it

was not a part of a big unified Germany

before looking all the way back to

medieval times by the end of the 10th

century the Bavarian babban Berg family

had come to ruled over the domain

expanding their power and officially

becoming a Duchy in 1156

even as the babban burg dynasty died out

and was replaced by the Habsburgs the

territory and power of the austrian

region continued to expand by the modern

age in 1522

the Habsburg dynasty separated into two

lines Spanish and Austrian and the

Austrian side would later seize Hungary

after the death of the last YAG along

King in 1526 after conflicts with the

Ottoman Empire and shifting borders over

the centuries Austria itself was

advanced from a Duchy to its own empire

although this singular sovereignty was

short-lived in centuries they created an

identity and became the most powerful

german-speaking Kingdom

in 1867 the current monarch Emperor

Franz Josef moved to establish the

austria-hungary Dual Monarchy after was

defeated by Prussia that will form

Germany in the future austria-hungary

would last until after World War one

this decision came after the

austro-prussian war in 1866 where

Austria was ultimately expelled from the

German Confederation not even a century

later austria-hungary split and Austria

was deemed its own Republic in 1918 the

time between this declaration and the

German annexation of Austria in 1938 was

a struggle for the young nation as most

of Europe was still recovering from the

effects of the First World War as

Austria navigated its path through these

circumstances some members particularly

those of the Austrian Social Democrats

actually considered the idea of uniting

with Germany the debate seemed to shift

with the birth of the Third Reich in

Germany but there were still some

Austrians and Germans who strongly

wished to revitalize the proposal a coup

was attempted in July of nineteen thirty

four but the venture was unsuccessful

leading to a new Ithorian government in

Austria that did its best to subdue and

silenced any further protests in

February of 1938 the chancellors of

Austria and Germany met with kurt von

Schuschnigg the Austrian leader hoping

to resolve the issue of German pressure

for him to submit instead the German

Chancellor was able to persuade shoe

snake to appoint several of the

rebellious Austrian who supported

unification to his cabinet still on

March 9th the Austrian Chancellor called

for a plebiscite on the question on what

to do about Germany two days later

before the nationwide vote could even

occur shoo snake gave in to German

coercion and resigned insisting to the

Austrian army the day withhold from

resisting any German advances on March

12th the Germans invaded Austria and

were met with a notable amount of

enthusiasm from the Austrian people the

following day the annexation known as

Ashlyn

was made official and Austria became a

federal state of Germany when world war

ii began in 1939 Austria did not

necessarily make a decision to enter the

war with Germany's invasion of Poland it

was essentially implied that Austria

would give their support to the cause

and they did hundreds of thousands of

Austrians fought for Germany during

World War two though there was no

specific Austrian brigades or divisions

formed unlike the Germans had done with

their Italian Hungarian and Romanian

allies initially Austria's place on the

map also enhanced their ability to

remain relatively casual throughout the

war since Germany and Russia had signed

a non-aggression agreement and the rest

of the Allied forces were on the far

side of Germany which sat between

Austria and its western enemies the

Austrian state remained well protected

by the triumphant German military action

thus far this matter changed slightly in

June of 1941 when Germany decided to

scrap the german-soviet non-aggression

pact and invade Russia though the

majority of Austria still supported

Germany's actions until the Battle of

Stalingrad spanning from August of 1942

until February of 1943 the Battle of

Stalingrad was one of the most vicious

and long-running clashes of modern

military history and a turning point for

Austria and Germany in World War two

over 2 million troops fought this

lengthy conflict and nearly that many

were either wounded or killed in the

process

some of the casualties even included

Russian civilians with the numbers of

such reaching the tens of thousands

while the Soviet leaders had chosen to

move their stores of goods such as

grains out of the major industrial city

they opted not to evacuate the more than

400,000 residents believing that it

would inspire their troops in the battle

dozens of German Luftwaffe airstrikes

killed civilians and dish

Zoid multiple Russian commercial vessels

during the extent of the battle and gave

Germany control over Stalingrad skies by

September of 1942 undeterred the Soviets

issued the famed order number 227 which

stated panic makers and cowards must be

liquidated on the spot not one step

backward without orders from higher

headquarters commanders who abandon a

position without an order from higher

headquarters are traitors to the

motherland taking advantage of the

Russian winter and slowly starving enemy

troops due to the Soviets working to cut

off their supplies the Russians began to

push in even further against the

weakened axis armies whilst also

striking outward at the surrounding

German and Italian forces giving up hope

the German generals outside of the city

accepted defeat in terms of their

attempts to reach the trapped armies

within Stalingrad

by February of 1943 the Soviets had

officially retake in the city and

captured roughly 100,000 axis soldiers

most of whom would later die in prison

camps Germany was now forced to

acknowledge this devastating loss

marking the start of a major shift in

Austria support not only of the war but

of the Anschluss as a whole shortly

after the conclusion at Stalingrad the

Allied nations Austria with yet another

reason to withdraw their association to

Germany despite previously approving the

unification the Allies issued the Moscow

declaration in November of 1943 urging

the re-establishment of the independent

Austrian nation referring to the current

state as the first victim of German

aggression though they still placed

blame on the Austrians for their role as

a united force with Germany while the

ideology of the Germans as in other

countries that were born due to

nationalism was that there should be a

Germany for all the Germans at that time

and this created the urge for annexation

/ unification the German unification of

1871 didn't incorporate Austria due to

the politicians and movements at that

time even though that was the initial

goal and unification movements

in both countries where people were

speaking the same language and had the

same traditions this is also a more

detailed topic regarding ethnicity and

language a topic that changed history

and the borders of Europe and will

probably make a video about that in the

future but let's come back to the

subject at hand no longer protected by

the non-aggression pact nor the now

crumbling German military strength

Austria became a direct target of the

Soviets and the remaining allies that

had moved towards Italy even with

Germany attempting to repel advances

into Austria the Russian Red Army made

its way through at the end of March in

1945 seizing the city of Vienna on April

13th a few weeks later on April 30th the

United States and later France and the

United Kingdom followed suit beginning

they're minimally protested entry into

the Austrian borders Germany surrendered

on May 8th 1945 and Austria was once

again an independent republic

nonetheless the Allied troops remained

in Austria cautious not to allow the new

provisional government to make any

attempts at establishing a communist

system until 1955 once the government

was fully formed in the November 1945

general election Austria decided to

revert to the Constitution of 1920 with

its amendments from 1929 as opposed to

drafting a new one in June of 1946 an

agreement was signs that limited further

Allied interference in the nation and

Austria could now begin working to

economically recover from the aftermath

of the war finally on July 27th 1955 the

state treaty which was signed by the

four occupying allied countries confirms

the Second Republic of Austria as a

sovereign independent and democratic

state and banning any future unification

with Germany still being possible due to

their close ties regarding ethnicity

language and history the United States

United Kingdom France and the Soviet

Union all withdrew their troops from the

Austrian territory that same year

Austria joins the United

Asians and would become a member of the

Council of Europe in 1956

even though Austria can be seen as a

partial victim of Germany whilst also a

partial voluntary participant Austria

managed to get through the Second World

War without having to face a vast

amounts of conflict within its own

borders though hundreds of thousands of

Austrian soldiers fought and died during

their unified approach with Germany they

all fought with and under the Germans as

Germans still the role of the annexation