Five Brothers and a War

1938—The Austrian Anschluß

The next major event takes place on February 4, 1938, when Hitler assumed control over the armed forces, having sacked the top commanders, whom he had grown tired of due to their perceived timidity and their opposition to future military campaigns and timeframes. Having only risen to the rank of corporal during World War I, Hitler had little experience in running wars. Then about a week later, Hitler summoned Kurt von Schuschnigg, Chancellor of Austria to his Bavarian villa in Berchtesgaden. After a long and high-volume total dressing down, Hitler bluffed the Austrian into submission. Among the demands Hitler insisted on was to get Austria to release all of its Nazi prisoners, and to appoint Arthur Seyß-Inquart (later he would be the Reichskommissar in Holland from days after the invasion of Holland until capitulation) as the Minister of the Interior, in charge of all police operations. The Austrian president, who had the final authority (rather than the chancellor) caved into the demands, which created the environment Hitler was after. The Nazis created havoc wherever they could, and with Seyß-Inquart in charge of police, the police did nothing to stop that chaos.

nazi germany

Kurt von Schuschnigg

The big lesson that Hitler had learned by now was that when dealing with rational leaders, acting irrationally and with bluster works to knock people off balance. It also kept others guessing, as Hitler was the essence of unpredictability. He could be charming and charismatic one minute and enraged the next. When people met with Hitler, they were never sure which Hitler would show up. Then when they left, they felt they had accomplished something when the “good” Hitler was present. Many leaders were duped. Within a month, Hitler demanded that von Schuschnigg resign and Seyß-Inquart be appointed Chancellor of Austria. When there was hesitancy, Hitler gave the order to invade Austria, just as Seyß-Inquart was in fact appointed Chancellor. True to form, the invasion took place on a Saturday morning, in this case, March 12, 1938.

Five Brothers and a War

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