1052 Ch. 26 • World War 11he viewed German ambitions toward the German-speaking parts of Austria
and Czechoslovakia, as well as toward the Polish Corridor, as in keeping
with the principle of nationalism. He believed that Germany had been
treated too harshly by the Treaty of Versailles.
Convinced that Britain would not act, Hitler bullied Austrian Chan
cellor Kurt von Schuschnigg to legalize the Austrian Nazi Party. When
Schuschnigg announced that a plebiscite on the question of his nation’s
independence would be held, Hitler ordered German troops into Austria,
justifying the invasion with the absurd claim that German citizens were
being mistreated there and that Austria was plotting with Czechoslovakia
against Germany. On March 12, 1938, most of the Austrian population
greeted German troops not as conquerors, but as liberators. Hitler thus
effected the unification (Anschluss) of Germany and Austria that had been
specifically forbidden by the Versailles Peace Settlement. The Nazis arrested
more than 70,000 people and frenzied Viennese crowds beat up Jews.
Britain and France sent official protests, but the British government per
mitted the German Reichsbank to confiscate funds that the Austrian
National Bank had deposited in the Bank of England. This provided the
Nazis with valuable gold and foreign currency reserves.
Czechoslovakia was next on Hitler’s list. During the summer of 1938, he
orchestrated a campaign against the Czech government. At issue was the
status of the 3 million Germans living in Czechoslovakia, most in Sudeten
land. However, Hitler was also furious that some anti-Nazi Germans had
found refuge in Prague. President Edvard Benes (1884-1948), with Poland
casting a covetous eye on the long-disputed coal-mining region of Teschen,
now desperately sought reassurance from France and the Soviet Union.
Both were obligated by separate treaties to defend Czechoslovakia against