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The word Anschluss had been widespread before 1938 describing an incorporation of Austria into Germany. Calling the incorporation of Austria into Germany an "Anschluss," that is a "unification" or "joinder", was also part of the propaganda used in 1938 by Nazi Germany to create the impression that the union was not coerced.
The German Confederation was also led by Austria from 1815 to 1866. In 1866 Austria was firstly separated from Germany and German Confederation was dissolved. In 1867, the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire was established and led by Austria; it was rivaled by the North German Confederation from 1866 to 1871 and German Empire led by the Kingdom of Prussia rivaled Austria.
Éire, as the Republic of Ireland was known at the time, was officially neutral during the war. Northern Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. In 1939–40, Germany attempted to infiltrate spies into the UK by way of Éire, but these attempts consistently failed (see Operation Lobster and Operation Seagull).
In the 1930s the Fatherland Front government of Engelbert Dollfuss and Kurt Schuschnigg rejected current pan-German aspirations to join Austria with a Protestant-dominated Germany, whilst not wholly rejecting a potential union and claiming that any unification of Austria with Germany would require a federal German state where Austria and ...
As Austria (or Austria-Hungary, since 1867) no longer struggled over the hegemony in Germany, the term Deutscher Dualismus became meaningless. Germany and Austria-Hungary soon became close allies, as proven by the Zweibund of 1879. Both countries were the main Central Powers during World War I (1914–1918).
Although the Nazi Party was promptly banned, Austria did not have the same thorough process of denazification that was imposed on post-war Germany. Lacking outside pressure for political reform, factions of Austrian society tried for a long time to advance the view that the Anschluss was only an imposition of rule by Nazi Germany. [5]
The liberal-nationalist concept of a united Germany had also become unpopular following the fall of the Frankfurt Parliament in 1849. [13] One of the strongest social forces in Germany at the time was religion, which provided Germans with common confessional values and identities that transcended national boundaries.
The origins of the rise of Bavarian nationalism as a strong political movement were in the Austro-Prussian War and its aftermath. [6] Bavaria was politically and culturally closer to Catholic Austria than Protestant Prussia, and the Bavarians shared with the Austrians a common contempt towards the Prussians, which led Bavaria to ally with Austria in the war. [6]