Anchluss

Anschluss (German: [ˈʔanʃlʊs]), "joining", is the term used to describe the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. German spelling, until the German orthography reform of 1996, was Anschluß and it was also known as the Anschluss Österreichs (  pronunciation , German: Austrian Annexation).

Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. There had been several years of pressure from supporters in Austria and Germany (both Nazis and non-Nazis) for the "Heim ins Reich" movement. Earlier, Nazi Germany had provided support for the Austrian National Socialist Party (Austrian Nazi Party) in its bid to seize power from Austria's Fatherland Front government.

The idea of an Anschluss (Austria and Germany united to form a "Greater Germany") began after the Unification of Germany excluded Austria and the German Austrians from the Prussian-dominated German nation-state in 1871. Following the end of World War I with the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1918, the newly formed Republic of German-Austria attempted union with Germany, but the Treaty of Saint Germain (10 September 1919) and the Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919) forbade both the union and the continued use of the name "German-Austria" (Deutschösterreich) and stripped Austria of some of its territories, such as the Sudetenland.

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