Sure enough, as Xiang Xiaoqiang "expected", Hitler was furious with the Austrian referendum. Schuschnigg announced the referendum on the 9th, and Hitler decided to use force against Austria on the 10th. He immediately ordered his generals to prepare for an armed invasion of Austria.
, must enter Austria before the 12th to prevent the referendum.
But the generals were all confused. The time was too tight. Not to mention that it was too late to formulate a military plan, they were not even mentally prepared. Hitler also knew that it would definitely be too late to formulate a separate military plan for the invasion of Austria. He used the previously prepared military plan.
A military plan: Otto Plan. This was originally a military plan assuming that the Habsburg dynasty of Austria would be restored and the German army would march into Austria to suppress the restoration. Now there is no other way but to improvise.
Throughout March 10th, Berlin was extremely busy. Hitler mobilized his troops, transferred Göring and von Lechnau back from abroad, and also grabbed von Manstein who was about to leave Berlin to perform a mission. In the afternoon
At half past six, Jodl issued a mobilization order to the three armies of the Army and the Air Force. At two o'clock in the morning on the 11th, Hitler signed the "Instruction No. 1 on the Otto Military Action Plan."
In the early morning of the 11th, Schuschnigg received news that German troops were massing on the German-Austrian border. He knew that Hitler was serious this time. In the morning, Schuschnigg went to the cathedral and sat in the church with a very detached attitude.
In the dim morning light, after listening to the morning mass, he stared at the burning candles in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary and made the sign of the cross on his chest.
In the morning, two Nazi ministers in Schuschnigg's cabinet, Inquart and Holstenau, came to persuade Schuschnigg and urged him to cancel the vote so as not to invite a German invasion. This was also Hitler's decision
convey the orders to them.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Schuschnigg finally made up his mind to surrender to Hitler. He notified Inquart and asked him to tell Hitler that the vote would be cancelled. But Hitler immediately went one step further and immediately added conditions, saying that not only would the vote be cancelled,
, and you Schuschnigg must resign and give up the position of prime minister to Seth Inquart.
Schuschnigg had already put aside his personal honor, disgrace and future. He had already made up his mind that as long as he could prevent Austria from suffering bloodshed in the war, he would surrender to Hitler to the end. After struggling for several hours, Schuschnigg informed Hitler again
, he is willing to resign.
At this time, Vienna was already in riots. The streets were filled with Nazis, full of excitement, running wildly and shouting:
"Long live victory! Long live victory!"
“Heil Hitler! Heil Hitler!
"Hang Schuschnigg! Hang Schuschnigg!"
On the evening of the 11th, Seth Inquart became the new Prime Minister of Austria. He immediately followed Goering's instructions and sent a telegram to Berlin, saying that Austria was now in chaos and the Bolsheviks were fighting in the streets.
, gun battles, and robberies. Now the Austrian provisional government cannot control the situation and is unable to maintain peace and order in Austria. Therefore, it sends an urgent request to the German government, requesting the German government to send troops into Austria to restore order and prevent bloodshed.
On the 12th, Nazi German troops "accepted the invitation" and marched into Austria in a steady stream. On the 14th, Hitler returned home in fine clothes, entering Vienna amidst flowers and cheers, returning to the hometown of his youth.
Himmler's secret police also began to arrest "unreliable elements" in Austria. In Vienna alone, 79,000 people were arrested.
At this point, Austria was officially occupied by Germany.
As for the formal legal merger of Germany and Austria, it will have to wait until the "referendum" arranged by Hitler in April. The proportion of "yes" votes in that referendum was completely beyond common sense. More than 99% of the votes were cast.
It was "yes". According to the estimates of many international observers and scholars at the time, if the vote was fair, the number of votes for and against would be equal. This is because the Austrians certainly hope for the unification of the Germanic nation, but the main calls for unification came before 1933.
After Hitler came to power and Germany became Nazi, the enthusiasm of Austrians and Germans for reunification suddenly dropped. As long as Austrians with a clear mind understand what it means to "unify" with a Nazi Germany.
…
The series of drastic changes in Germany and Austria shocked the whole world. Some of the surrounding European powers were disgusted, some were afraid, and some were indifferent, but none of them intervened. France was in the midst of a general election at the time, and was basically in a state of despair.
The state of the government. The British only asked the ambassador to Germany to submit a "serious protest" from the British government. Other than that, there was nothing else.
As for the Ming Empire, it was entangled again at this time. The Ming Dynasty had long wanted to get rid of Germany and had been waiting for an opportunity. Now Germany is brazenly sending troops to occupy Austria in order to prevent the Austrian referendum. This is simply a good opportunity. And Britain condemns
Well, Ming Dynasty just followed up with a condemnation and officially expressed its alienation from Germany. Because the statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ming Dynasty only said that it respected "the Austrian people's own choice" and did not say that it respected "Hitler's choice for the Austrian people."
Of course, the cabinet ministers also know that doing this is indeed a bit abrupt, and it will inevitably give people the feeling that "the Ming Dynasty has been planning for a long time and is just waiting for today." It seems that one minute the Ming Dynasty was a close partner of Germany, and the next minute
He turned his back and refused to recognize anyone. However, what the ministers were worried about was that this was a rare opportunity. If you miss it, you don’t know when you will have to wait until next time. Maybe there will be no such opportunity. Germany is improving day by day.
"Isolating itself from the world." If Ming Dynasty wants to become a real world power and an international leader (at least one of them), it must draw a clear line between it and countries like Germany. This step is necessary.
At this time, Xiang Xiaoqiang came to express his opinion again. He suggested that Shen Rongxuan should not be in a hurry and take it slow this time. After all, we had just expressed our support for the "German-Austrian Anschluss". Although we did not say so directly, we still meant it.
It is indeed too much to turn around and condemn Germany now. If you want to distance yourself from Germany and get rid of Germany, there will be many opportunities in the future.
Xiang Xiaoqiang assured Xiaoqiang that Germany would never win Austria, and he would be content to be a good boy from now on. "Problem children" will be "problem children" after all, and the "problem" will become more and more serious.
Externally, Hitler's expansion ambitions will never stop in Austria. Didn't Hitler say that he "will not sit back and watch brother nations suffer". The implication is nothing more than that I want all the Germanic areas. So except for Austria
, and the "Sudetenland" in Czechoslovakia is also a Germanic area. Hitler's next step will definitely be to attack Czechoslovakia. It will not be too late to draw a clear line with Germany at that time.
Internally, Germany's persecution of Jews will definitely become more and more serious, and eventually it will be serious enough for other countries to break with it.
Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that not long after, in November, the famous "Kristallnacht" would break out, and the roundup and massacre of Jews would officially begin. After that, all major countries in the world would cut off diplomatic relations with Germany because of this incident. Daming can
Join it legitimately, abandon Germany, and transform into a "just and kind-hearted mainstream country."