Episode 173 Opportunity

Sure enough, just as Xiang Xiaoqiang "expected", Hüshnitge announced a 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, and to enter Austria before the 12th to prevent the referendum.

But the generals were blinded. Time is too short, not to mention that it is too late to make a military plan, they are not even mentally ready. Hitler also knew that it would be too late to develop a separate military plan for the invasion of Austria. He used a military plan he had drawn up earlier: the Otto plan. This was originally a military plan that assumed the restoration of the Habsburg Empire in Austria and the invasion of German troops into Austria to suppress the restoration. Now there is no way, only to make do with one temporarily.

Throughout March 10th, Berlin was extremely busy, and Hitler transferred his troops back from abroad. Lechnau, and also grabbed von who was about to leave Berlin on a mission? Manstein. At half past six in the afternoon, Yodel gave the mobilization order to the three armies of the army and the air force. At two o'clock in the morning of the 11th, Hitler signed the "First Directive on Alto's Military Action Program."

In the early morning of the 11th, Hüschnigg received news that German troops were massing on the German-Austrian border. He knew that Hitler had come for real this time. In the morning, Hüshnitge went to the cathedral and sat in the hazy morning light of the church with a very detached mind, listening to the morning mass. He gazed at the burning candle in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary and drew a cross on his chest.

In the morning, two Nazi ministers in Hüschnitg's cabinet, Inquart and Holstnaug, came to persuade Schüschnigg to cancel the vote so that it would not lead to a German invasion. This was also the order that Hitler conveyed to them.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Hüschnitge finally made up his mind to give in to Hitler. He informed Inquart that he would relay it to Hitler that the vote would be canceled. But Hitler immediately got an inch, and immediately added conditions, saying that not only would the vote be canceled, but you would have to resign and give up the Chancellor position to Seth? Inquart.

Xu Shinige has already put aside his personal honor and disgrace and future. He had already made up his mind that he would bow to Hitler as long as he could prevent Austria from suffering bloodshed in the war. After several hours of struggle, Schüschnigg informed Hitler that he was willing to resign.

By this time, Vienna was already in turmoil, and the streets were full of Nazis, with excited faces, running wildly, shouting:

"Long live victory! Long live the victory! ”

"Long live Hitler! Long live Hitler!

"Hang Xu Shinig! Hang Xu Shinig! ”

On the night of the 11th, Seth? Inquart became Austria's new chancellor. He immediately sent a telegram to Berlin according to Goering's dictation, saying that Austria was now in chaos, that the Bolsheviks were fighting, shooting, and looting in the streets, and that the Austrian Provisional Government was now unable to control the situation and was unable to maintain peace and order in Austria, so it sent an urgent request to the German Government to send troops into Austria to restore order and prevent bloodshed.

On the 12th, the Nazi German ** team was "invited" and drove into Austria in a steady stream. On the 14th, Hitler returned to his homeland in splendor, entering Vienna amid flowers and cheers, returning to his homeland of his youth.

Himmler's secret police also began to arrest "unreliable elements" in Austria, arresting 79,000 people in Vienna alone.

At this point, Austria was officially occupied by Germany.

As for the de jure merger of Germany and Austria, it will have to wait until after the "referendum" arranged by Hitler in April. And the high percentage of "yes" votes in that referendum is completely beyond common sense. More than 99% of the votes were "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 was expected to be equal. For the Austrians certainly wanted the unification of the Germanic peoples, but the main calls for unification were before 1933. After Hitler came to power, Germany was Nazified, and enthusiasm for Austrian and German reunification plummeted. Anyone in their right mind understands what it means to be "reunited" with a Nazi Germany.

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For this series of drastic changes in Germany and Austria, it is a series of shocks to the whole world. The surrounding European powers, some disgusted, some fearful, and some indifferent, but none of them intervened. France was in the middle of a general election and was largely anarchic. And Britain only asked the ambassador to Germany to submit a "serious protest" from the British government. Other than that, there's not much more.

And the Ming Empire was entangled again at this time. Daming has long wanted to get rid of Germany and has been waiting for an opportunity. At present, Germany is brazenly sending troops to occupy Austria in order to prevent the Austrian referendum, which is simply a good opportunity for the name justified. Moreover, Britain condemned, and the Ming Dynasty just followed behind to condemn it, officially saying that it was alienated from Germany. Because the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ming Dynasty only said that it respected "the Austrian people's own choice", but did not say that it respected "the choice made by Hitler for the Austrian people".

Of course, the cabinet ministers also know that this is indeed a bit abrupt, and it will inevitably give people a feeling that "Ming Guo has been planning for a long time and is waiting for today". It seems that one minute Daming was still a close partner of Germany, and the next minute he turned his face and didn't recognize anyone. However, the ministers are worried that this is a rare opportunity, and if they miss it, they don't know when they will have to wait until next time. Maybe there won't be such an opportunity. Germany is "isolating itself from the world" day by day, and if the Ming Dynasty wants to become a real world power and an international leader (at least one of them), it must draw a line with a country like Germany.

At this time, Xiang Xiaoqiang came to express his opinion again. He suggested that Shen Rongxuan should not be in a hurry, he might as well slow down this time. After all, we have just expressed our support for the "German-Austrian merger", although we did not say it directly, but it also meant so. It would indeed be too much to turn around and condemn Germany now. If you want to distance yourself from Germany and get rid of Germany, there are opportunities in the future.

Xiang Xiaoqiang patted his chest and said that Germany would never get Austria, and he would be a good boy in the future. "Problem children" are "problem children" after all, and "problems" will get worse and worse.

Externally, Hitler's expansionist ambitions would not stop at Austria. Didn't Hitler say that? He "will not sit idly by and watch fraternal peoples suffer." The implication is that I want all the Germanic settlements. Then in addition to Austria, there was also the "Sudetenland" of Czechoslovakia, which was also a Germanic region. Hitler's next step was definitely to attack Czechoslovakia. At that time, it was not too late to draw a line with Germany.

Internally, the persecution of the Jews of the German team was bound to grow worse and worse, until finally serious enough for other countries to break with it.

Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that it would not be long before the famous "Kristallnacht" broke out in November, and the round-up and massacre of Jews officially began. After that, all the major countries of the world will sever diplomatic relations with Germany because of this incident. The Ming Dynasty can rightfully join it, abandon Germany, and transform itself into a "righteous and kind mainstream country".