Effects of a 1919 Anschluss on NSDAP performance in Weimar electoral politics
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  Effects of a 1919 Anschluss on NSDAP performance in Weimar electoral politics
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Author Topic: Effects of a 1919 Anschluss on NSDAP performance in Weimar electoral politics  (Read 785 times)
America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS
Solid4096
Junior Chimp
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« on: May 05, 2019, 02:25:35 PM »









Looking at these maps, it would definitely appear that the Nazis had a political weak spot stretching along the distance from the Belgian to the Austrian border.
Potentially, it seems that the Protestant/Catholic border explained the substantial difference in the Nazis performance.
If that was the case, then it would be an inevitable conclusion that a 1919 Anschluss would have been bad for the Nazis politically since the Nazis would be expected to perform worse in Anschluss territory than they performed elsewhere.
In addition, the Nazis and other right wing Weimar political parties had sometimes made a political point that the Treaties of Versailles/Trianon singled out Austria as an area that could not be included in the the ethnic state that "it belonged within", helping them rally support.
A 1919 Anschluss would have blocked the Nazis from making this type of argument, potentially weakening their support even more across all of Germany and Austria.
Honestly, after thinking about this for a while, I have come to the conclusion that a 1919 Anschluss, had it been the policy of the West to require it instead of to block it would have weakened the Nazis just enough to prevent them from ever actually managing to take power, preventing World War 2 as it occurred, the Holocaust, and the fall of Weimar Democracy from happening in the process.
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pilskonzept
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« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2019, 04:14:26 PM »

Hard to say in retrospect.

Yes, Nazi support was weaker among Catholics, but the party saw serious growth after 1930 both in Catholic parts of Germany and in Austria (until it was banned there). Irredentism wrt the territories lost in 1918 played a role in both countries. And would Austrians have voted for Hindenburg in 1932? (Bavarians and Saxons did, so probably yes.)

Saving democracy, no. Leading to a more benign dictatorship, perhaps.
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brucejoel99
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« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2019, 04:23:50 PM »

Not sure. More support for Zentrum & the Social Democrats, perhaps? Most of the conservative right had a distinctly Prussian & Protestant bent, so they wouldn't get much support in Austria, though there certainly were Austrian conservatives. I'd say that such a situation would strengthen the parties able to draw Austrian as well as German voters, which in this case would be Zentrum & the Social Democrats.

It probably would butterfly the Nazis, though, with the unification taking a lot of wind out of the antiliberal's sails, as it shows that legitimate German claims were answered, even when it would've gone against the strategic interest of the victorious powers, & that there's a nationalistic accomplishment that the Monarchs had denied to the people before WWI.
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