In 1918 the Republic of Austria was established from the separation of the Austria-Hungarian Empire after its defeat in World War One. At the time the country wished to be named Deutschusterreich but it was rejected in the Versailles settlement. The name inferred for a desire to be annexed with Germany, hence the reason why the Treaty of Versailles very pointedly says that there can be no union of Germany and Austria (Anschluss). After its land disputes with Italy, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia it had an area of 32,400 square miles and a population of 6.7 million. Its new political system was unstable with the Christian Socialists and the Socialist Democrats vying for power against the German Nationalists and the German Liberal Group. This resulted in short lived coalitions and bloody street battles between political parties who had created their own private armies, the Wehrverbände (defence units). One of these coflicts resulted in the assassination of Engelbert Dolfuss, the chancellor of Austria.
In 1933 the National Socialists came to power. At this time in Germany, Hitler had come to power in the German political system. Hitler sought to bring Austria into union with Germany. This was not unthinkable because in the years 1919-1933 Austria favored a union with Germany.
The attitude changed on July 25, 1934 when an Austria-German Nazi led coup against the Austrian government failed. It was in this coup that Chancellor Engelbert was assassinated. With the combination of these two events German popularity in Austria significantly decreased. Dolfuss' successor Kurt von Schuschnigg set up a rightest non-party, the Vaterlandische Front, which served to be the foundation of the Austrian government. This independent spirit was supported by France and Italy who both discouraged an Austrian-German union because this would make Germany stronger.
On July 11, 1936 Austria and Germany resolved their bitterness with the German-Austrian Agreement of 1936. Germany would respect Austrian sovereignty in return Austria would adopt more German policies. This agreement also helped strengthen German-Italian relations. As Italo-German relations grew better the Italian support for an independent Austria lessened. In October of 1936 Italian support for a Austrian independence was terminated with the Rome-Berlin Axis Pact. France was still in support of Austria but was too occupied with its internal troubles.
In early 1938 Hitler invited Schuschnigg his villa Berghoff at Berchtegaden. Hitler demands that the Austrian Nazi movement was to be legalized (it was suppressed under Schuschnigg's right winged party), and it was to play a major role in the Austrian government. Failure to meet these requests would result in a Gemany invading and enforcing them. On March 9 Schuschnigg holds a plebiscite to determine what to do with the demands made by Hitler. Hitler learns of the plebiscite and demands that it is to be called off or Germany would go to war with Austria. On March 11 Schuschnigg resigns. The Nazi's wish Dr. Seyass-Inquart to replace Schuschnigg but Presiden Wilhelm Miklas refuses to appoint him. President Miklas is eventually persuaded to step down from his position. This resulted in Dr. Seyass-Inquart to replace Schuschnigg on March 12.
Germany invades Austria on March 12. Hemann Göring orders Seyass-Inquart to send a message to Berlin asking for military aid, this would give legitimacy for the German invasion. Dr. Seyass-Inquart refuses. On March 13 Hermann Göring has the message sent to Berlin via a German agent in Vienna. The message was a request to "establish peace and order. . . and to prevent bloodshed." Austria was annexed by Germany outright on the same day. Germany holds a rigged vote to show that about 99% (anywhere from 99.08 to 99.7 depending on which author you read) of Austrians were in favor of the Anschluss, the union of the two countries.
On March 14, 1936 the Austrian military swore loyalty to Hitler, 125 refused. On March 17 the civil services swore loyalty to Hitler. In 1939 Dr. Seyass-Inquart was done away with by Austrian integration and it was renamed Osterreich to Ostmark. In May 1939 Austria was divided into Reichs Gau: Greater Vienna, Lower Danube, Upper Danube, Syria, Carinthia, Tyrol, and Salzeberg.
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