ON THIS DAY ·
Anschluss: German troops enter Austria
The Anschluss: German troops cross into Austria to cheering crowds and no foreign response. Watch it happen on the map.
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The moment in context
The path to war worked as a repeated experiment, in which Germany broke part of the postwar order and then waited to see whether anyone would answer with force. When German troops reoccupied the demilitarized Rhineland in 1936, France and Britain protested but did not fight, even though France had the strength nearby to intervene. Hitler drew a lesson that shaped everything after, which was that a limited and rapid move could change the facts on the ground before hesitant democracies agreed how to respond. German intervention in the Spanish Civil War taught related lessons, since it let the Luftwaffe test aircraft, crews, and tactics while presenting expansion as a crusade against communism.
From Appeasement and the road to WW2, chapter 1 of The War Room — WW2, 1936–1945 (SEP 1938).
Teach this in 5 minutes
- Why it happened — Versailles and Nazi revisionism. The 1919 settlement reduced German territory and armed strength. Nazi propaganda converted widespread resentment into support for expansion and…
- The turn — Munich, 30 September 1938. Munich changed expectations. Hitler concluded that pressure would bring further concessions. Stalin concluded that the Western powers might not form…
- What it changed — Czechoslovakia becomes vulnerable. The Sudetenland contained major border defenses. Its loss exposed the state and helped Germany seize the rest in March 1939, together with the Škoda…
Then ask the room: Britain and France could probably have stopped Hitler cheaply in 1936–38. Why didn’t they? The argued answer is on the chapter page →
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