We don’t need to make ppl believe in anything. We have Mozart, Sigmund Freud, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Falco, Niki Lauda, Christoph Waltz, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner, Joseph Haydn, Johann Strauss, Gustav Klimt, Romy Schneider, SWAROVSKI and many more.. We basically invented the music and art.
@@carolin-sophieb and not to forget: Thomas Bernhard! (Quote: "Austria itself is nothing but a stage on which everything is rotten and decaying and degenerate, a self-loathing statisty of six and a half million abandoned people, six and a half million debiles and raving lunatics who continuously scream at the top of their lungs for a director." :-D
But what Billy Wilder didn't know is that Austria itself never claimed anything like that. It was never a secret where Hitler was born, nor was it ever claimed that Beethoven was Austrian just because he lived most of his life in Vienna. People just say that nonsense and others believe it. It's not the problem of the Austrians if some idiots in the world always believe that Hitler is German, then they suddenly realize it and want to sell their own blindness as Austria's deception. 👏🏻
So what was the role of Austria as part of Germany in ww2? I watched the video but I still don't know. Stalingrad? I was hoping to hear something about how many soldiers were from Austria in Wehrmacht, what equipment were made in Austria, etc.
The Reason Why He Mentioned The *Battle Of Stalingrad* Is Because They Brought The Behemoth, USSR. It’s Because They Turned The Tide Of War, Instead Of Finishing The Allied Nations, And So. The Russians Went Straight For Austria And Berlin.
I guess Austrian role was a Propaganda one. The fact that we Austrians didn't resist but welcomed German forces with open arms probably brought a high moral to the Germans in WW2. And why he mentioned Stalingrad, after that defeat Moral was dead and resistance groups emerged throughout Austria
Austria was part of Germany, like Bavaria or Prussia. Austria is this day is still German. The only reason why it isn’t part of Germany is because of the Hapsburgs, the 1866 War, the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, & WWII where their enemies sought to keep them as separate enemies. Otherwise, linguistically, culturally, historically Austria is German.
i feel like the titel of the video is misleading, since 90% of the video is about the war in general and not austria. i kinda hoped there would be a focus on austria. :/
They gotta pan for that time, it'd be too short of a video just to "directly" answer the question, rather than just give a vague video about Austria in general.
They had to add a filler in order to make the video over the 10 minute limit so they are able to make a profit via advertisements. You’ll see this as a common pattern with the UA-cam of today.
Germany: Develops an unstoppable army Japan: Develops a fleet with the biggest battleships Austria: I'm not involved but I have a man who is Italy: I'm on the winning side no matter what
As an Austrian myself I can only say that this video while well meaning suffers from a fundamental missunderstanding of how the people in Austria (and other german states) used to self-identify for about a thousand years up and well into the 20th century. The way borders, countries and nation states came about in history are based on a huge amount of different factors which led to countries like the United Kingdom where english, welsh, scots etc. all have a different historical identity, ethnicity, language, culture and to countries like Austria and Germany where from the middle ages until the modern age no one would even have conceived the idea theres was any difference whatsoever. The way large parts of this video are constructed sound kind of odd to me.. as if you would say "As long as the war in vietnam was going well for the americans, Michigan was happy with it but when the americans luck turned the people of Michigan weren't so happy with these americans anymore."
@Bernd DasBrot Wovon redest du ? Die Habsburger waren eine deutsche Familie und regierten sogar über "Deutschland" bzw dem HRR oder dem Deutschen Bund mehrere hundert Jahre ! Standard Deutsch bzw Hochdeutsch wurde 13oo irgendwas eingeführt also schon sehr früh ! Diese ganze Österreich-Ideologie entstand erst nach dem 2 WK als man sich von dem damals als sehr schwierig gesehenen "german" los lösen wollte
@Bernd DasBrot Damals gab es weder Österreich noch Deutschland, aber einen Deutschen Bund oder ein HRR deutscher Nation (16 Jhdt kam dieser Begriff auf), letztlich sind Österreicher Deutsche, auch wenn sie seit 1945 ihre eigene Identität geschaffen haben und sich lange in die Opferrolle gesteckt haben. Nach dem Motto: Jubel Szenen von 250.000 Menschen in Wien aufgrund des Anschlusses gab es nie und wir wurden gezwungen und annektiert
Napoleon was a Corsican who led France. Stalin was a Georgian who led Soviet Russia. Hitler was an Austrian who led Germany. See even among bad guys, there was acceptance.
Gerogia Soviet republic was a part of Soviet Union, and Stalin the leader of Soviet Union. Your kind of people think and say that the Soviet Union is Russian while nearly half of the dead in 2.ww was not even Russian. Your worlds are disrespectful to dead man from Turks Ukrainian Belarusian and others
@@justaybp6921 look at the starters of the war not defenders. Look at the coalitions that formed, not the winner. French only tried to defend their country by winning of course. (Like Allied Forces have done in ww2) And I am saying this as a Turk(Napoleon attacked us too).
Austrians used to think that they are Germans. Then they found that they are actually different than Germans. DNA showed that Austrians are more Celts and Slavs than Germanic.
@@tongobong1 Hearing this for the first time. Any sources for this? Quite surprised about that claim considering southern Germany like Frankia, Bavaria and Swabia should have way more in common with the Austrian Germans than the eastern Prussians. Since the Duchy of Austria emerged from the Duchy of Bavaria in the 12th century I think it will difficult arguing Austrian Germans are distinct from (at Bavarian) Germans.
@@tekus89Yes you can find maps that show the distribution of genes. R1b haplogroup is italo-celtic and germanic group. You should look at subgroups and you will see that Austrians are 2/3 italo-celts and around 1/3 germanic. Beware that many maps show western an even northern Austrians as dominant Germanic people and these maps are false - probably fabricated by german nationalists. It is interesting that even german nationalists recognised south Austrians as slavs - Slovenians. The fact is that Austrian lands were part of Bavaria in the middle ages and they were multilingual. Main languages were latin, medieval Czech, Slovak and Slovenian. Old Austrians started using German so they could communicate in neutral language. I used to think that Austrians are Germans until I spent a year in Vienna where I found that Austrians are anything but Germans.
my Grandfather from Tirol was sent to the Caucasian Mountain Region. one Day the Colonel asked for a volunteer to bring two horses to a Vet quiet some distance away. no one was keen about that, but my Grandfather was the only one volunteered for the 3 Day trip. when he returned, the whole Regiment was already sent to Stalingrad. the love for horses did save his life. none returned back home, except for him, he was the only one alive from the Regiment at the end of the war.
I think you should have mentioned Engelbert Dollfuss, Austrian chancellor, before von Schuschnigg. Dollfuss was the founder of the Fatherland Front a nationalist party close to the Fascist regime in Italy; Dollfuss fought until the end for an independent Austria, he was murdered by members of the Austrian nazi party in 1934. Germany tried to annex Austria in 1934 but Italy, Hungary and Austria signed the "Rome Protocoles" and protected Austrian independence; eventually, Italy fell out with the League of Nations after the invasion of Ethiopia (1935-36) and sided with Germany. I don't mean to school you. I just thought that Dollfuss was a pretty important figure in the political theatre in Austria during the '30s. Anyway, keep up the good work!
@Salticus Clerical Fascism. Fascism at the time was the only answer to Soviet Communism. The third option Democracy was already infiltrated by Communists proved useless.
Quite right... "For example, historians estimate that 10,6% of the 688.000 Austrian NSDAP members participated in war crimes, which accounts for a relative overrepresentation by one third in comparison of 7,7% war criminals of German members (Botz 2012, p.195). Similarly, Austrian SS recruits were relatively outdoing Germans with 6,4 vis à 6 per 10.000 citizens. Because of perceived historical ties from the Habsburg Monarchy, those were also more likely to be deployed in especially devastating combat and policing missions on the Balkans and in Ukraine (ibid.)."
German Nazis often treated Austrians, including Austrian Nazis, as 2nd class. So a lot of these guys, seeing no career prospects at home , voluntered for service in the east
Only 4 out of 100 top Nazis were Austrians. One of those 4 was Hitler and one was actually Slovenian Odilo Globocnik. Austrians were underrepresented among the top Nazis.
@@tongobong1 a lot of the cruellest and sadististic concentration camp guards and commanders were Austrians. One of the grisliest nazi concentration camps was erected nearby the town of Linz only two months after the annexation: Mauthausen. Don’t try to downplay the role of the Austrians in the nazi rule. Austrians hailed Hitler as one of their own (he was, as a matter of fact) and didn’t have any qualms to see an authoritarian and brutal regime installed in their own country.
@@wisecoonie I lived in Vienna for some time so I know how Austrians saw the nazi occupation. Many Austrians were happy to became part of nazi Germany but also many were sad and even angry at nazists especially when they saw how nazists treated religious people - Christians and Jews. Austrians opposing nazism even helped the Red Army liberating Vienna.
Not at all, Hitler actually didn't really like Austria. He showed this by banning the word "Austria" and by dismantling its traditional federal lands and reorganising them without regard for customs and culture.
Are Austrians German ? Today most Austrians would answer this question clearly with no. You no longer feel like a German, but an Austrian. This attitude is relatively new in the long common history of the Austrians and Germans. For many centuries Austria was not only a part of Germany, but also its leading power, which also provided most of the emperors. This remained so even after the fall of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Austria was a member of the German Confederation and even chaired it. During the 1848 revolution, black, red and gold flags also waved in Vienna. Of course, the German Austrians took part in the election for the German National Assembly in Frankfurt. The rivalry for supremacy in Germany between Austria and Prussia changed that. Austria lost the war of 1866 against Prussia and left the German Confederation. Bismarck was now able to advance the small German unification without Austria and under the leadership of Prussia. The majority of the German Austrians continued to feel that they were Germans, both ethnically and culturally. After the disintegration of the Danube Monarchy and the K&K Empire, the national assembly of the remaining Austria decided to name the new state German Austria and to join the German Empire. The Weimar Constitution also made corresponding preparations for unification. The victorious powers prevented both the naming and the Anschluss. During the First Republic, most Austrians from left to right remained Greater German. This also explains why the Anschluss was so popular in 1938 and why it was generally welcomed even by opponents of National Socialism. Up until the end of the Second World War there were also no significant separatist movements in Austria. It was only after the war that an Austrian national consciousness began to develop in contrast to Germany. Certainly for opportunistic reasons too. So politicians tried to stylize Austria as the first victim of Hitler in order to gain advantages from the victorious powers, which rightly did not succeed. Today, the majority in Austria feel like Austrians and no longer also as Germans. There are still Austrians who think big German, but they are in the minority today. What remains is the long common history, the common culture and language.
Back in the day "being German" just meant being part of the German cultural sphere. Even the Dutch were singing about their king of German blood. Being part of a German NATIONALITY is a completely different topic. Those things not being the same should be quite obvious to anyone who has ever seen a map and noticed that there are multiple Arab and Anglo states.
About Stalingrad: In Stalingrad many Austrian soldiers were in action. The Vienna house regiment (former k.u.k. regiment 4 Hoch und Deutschmeister) was lost in 80%.
For the love of God, the Russians were soviets, but a citizen of the Soviet Union was not called Russian. It is a soviet! God. Russia was part of the USSR, not the whole thing!
Well Russia was the dominant republic of the soviet union which they united. Also since russians were the majority. Technically wrong but I understand why people say it. Just like when they say Holland instead of the Netherlands
LMAO !! Yeah, your right, thats why they ALL had to learn to speak RUSSIAN. Having a computer doesn't qualify you as intelligent. Go sit back in the corner.
@@stefanschleps8758 Please have a brain and culture and do not speak like that. What? You expect every republic in the USSR to speak it's own language without having a common one? Real smart, man. Or it was the same in Yugoslavia? They all had to learn Serbian, because it was the official language of the country, but everyone was free to study and use it's own language as well. They were all Yugoslavians from different republics within Yugoslavia. Please use your brain and don't make me come again to prove my point. I have better things to do.
Sudetenland is the part of Austria. If we break down the population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire: Austria (8 million Österreich + 3.5 million Sudetenland) Hungary (10 million)
Quite inaccurate video unfortunately. Besides what others have already said, it is also inaccurate that there were no specifically Austrian divisions or brigades. I know of at least two: the 44th and 45th infantry divisions. The first one was reorganized and absorbed into the Wehrmacht from the Austrian army and it was one of the oldest regiments of the Austrian army, the Hoch und Deutschmeister regiment. I was interested in hearing more about their involvement in particular, that would've been more interesting.
You are correct about the 2 Inf Divs. There were more. The 2nd Pz.Div consisted almost only of guys from Vienna. Some of the Gebirgsjaeger Divs were almost only tyrolian. There were 2 Jaeger Div. almost only Austrian guys.
You forgot the part that said during the Treaty of St Germain (the treaty that Austria signed to end their part in WW1) that unification with Germany would be illegal. Also the treaty of Versailles forbid Germany annexing Austria. When Germany annexed Austria it was another breach of the Versailles treaty.
@@hailgiratinathetruegod7564 the soviet flag is also a hate symbol in many eastern countries. The swastika flag should be cenzored like the red plague soviet flag
@@hailgiratinathetruegod7564 No it shouldn't, history shouldn't be censored cause its educational, it teaches us to not repeat the same mistakes of the past, censoring it would only create more nazis/commies.
@@tylerbozinovski4624 i think 🤔 Can you speak germany? Because i am Austria and my English is not the best ^^ i can you explain more but not in English hahaha
Mozart was born in Salzburg. Maybe he identificated as a german, but then you can't say, that Hitler was austrian. He identificated as a german, but in this case it's a fact
Your map shows an area south of Austria as part of the Third Reich. This is part of Slovenia, it was formally made a part of the Third Reich. Alsace Lorain was also made a formal part the Third Reich.
Austrians 1938: We want to be part of Germany as we are germans. Austrians 1946: We aren’t germans we’re austrians, germans occupied us, we are their first victim not perpetrator.
How much time did the research for this video take, 5 minutes? What about the Austrian contribution to the german army, the SS, the pre-Anschluss situation, the relationship with Italy on the question of Tyrol, the concentration camps, the resistance to nazism? You can learn more about this on wikipedia in the same amount of time...
Makes 12 minute video about Austria in WWII, spends first 4.5 minutes talking about things before WWII then 7 minutes talking about things not really related to Austria, like the Battle of Stalingrad.
To understand Anschluss you need to understand how Austria suffered during the Interwar period. They were not given the rights promised by Wilson’s 13 points and many vital areas, despite German superiority and desire for self determination, were clumped into other countries. As a result Austria suffered from many famines and couldn’t support its massive capital of Vienna. This led to the idea that they must unify to survive, which wasn’t entirely unwarranted.
To be honest saying Austria is victim of nazi aggression is just stupid most Austrian wanted after the ww1 to be incorporated into Germany but the Entente thought this will be unbalanced so they said no
Austrians were worse nazis than even Germans were. And they had no denacification after war as there were resistance groups in Kärnten, though Slovenian in 45, so in Austria are lots of neonazis even today. Two fun facts.
Yeah thats not completly true. My Great Grandpa was a Doctor when Austria got annexed to keep his Job he had to join the NSDAP. After the War he was not allowed to work for many Years. This was in the French Part of Occupation.
First of all the Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss in 1934 was assasinated by Hitlers henchmen at the SA. His successor Chancellor Schuschnigg spent WW2 in the KZ Dachau, with most of his government. When Hitler threatend to invade Austria, the government turned to all the winning powers of WW1 who had guaranteed the independence of Austria. But these governments turned deaf to their legal requirements and did not care to respond at all. Don't forget that Hitler both in Austria and Germany never made more than 30% in free elections. And consider that Austria was not going into WW1 to conquer or robb their neighbours. The emperor was 84 years when war started. His son had bin assasinated by a Serb, with the support of Russia, which was pushing for a war, in order to change the borders on the Balkans. Germany wanted to get access to the british controlled seas, and Britain wanted exactly this not to happen. Italy agreed with Britain to receive a part of Austria if the join the war on the british side. So there were many interests in a war, but none in Austria, our ancestors had no interest on a big war at all. Nevertheless after they lost this war the winning powers cut Austria into 10 separate countries. It was not us splitting up, it was France with the support of the other winners to cut the country in pieces. The elected parlament and the elected government were not considered a partner for peace talks, because there was no intention to turn the country into a republic. So a coup was arranged in the streets of Vienna, and the result of the coup war approved in advance by France.
In this and other worlds,this is an informative video about both the neighbouring countries forever in our respective lives and every generations that we would be born,good friend!!!:-D
I am from Austria. Austria was certainly not a victim of nazi Agression, Austria was part of the Reich and is therefore guilty as well. Austria was part in the holocaust and many Austrian soldiers were fighting in WW2. It is true, that at the end of the war some groups rebelled, and cities like Innsbruck surrender to American forces without allowance from the Nazi government. Nonetheless, Austria played a role and as such we Austria is partially responsible for the crimes that happened.
09:50 Austria was divided into the occupation zones like Germany was after the 1945. Thus it just wasn't a unified allied control commission and the provisional government. Austria was very much part of the afterwar politics between the different blocs of Cold War.
Austria was incorporated into the German Reich after the Anschluss on 13 March 1938. Much of the leadership of the German Reich were Austrian,most notably Adolf Hitler and Ernst Kaltenbrunner, who took over as leader of the RHSA. The Wehrmacht drafted more than 1.3 million Austrians between 1938 and 1945, 242,000 of whom never came back home. Austrians also served loyally as soldiers from Germany proper and were just as responsible for Nazi atrocities on the Eastern Front.
"Austrian people" is a weird term in this context since Austrians are ethnically german and "austrian" refers to their nationality, however their nation did not exist during WW2
@Bernd DasBrot Ethnically germans means of the german ethnicity. Austrians are ethnically german, and no they are not closer to czechs (that is how it is written by the way) than germans dna wise. Czechs are not even a germanic ethnicity but a west slavic one like poles. North germans have few similarities to austrians, which is true except for the biggest similarities: language and ethnicity. North germans also have few in common with germans in bavaria, which are closer to austrian culture and dialect than most other german sub-cultures. So what? Germans in bavaria are still german. And yes Austria is older than Germany, because Germany is not a state that existed in medieval times like austria but a state that was created by forming a union of older german states that all shared the same language and ethnicity. Austria was originally also asked/intended to join this union but declined due to them ruling over an empire (austria- hungary) . So don't talk to me about being uninformed and shut your own "little mouth" how about that?
@Bernd DasBrot I know dialects were stronger, they still weren't too different to hinder the formation of the German Empire. Low-german and high german are different and were spoken in different regions, but both language can be understood by both with little compromise (The Hansa for example had the ability to speak low german as a requirement for work). I know that from experience, some of my Family speaks low german while I never learned a single word. I can still understand them fine, i just cant answer in low german. And beyond that the Languages and Cultures were connected since the Holy Roman Empire and trade and communication weren't major concerns then.
@Bernd DasBrot I am not confused about the termonology of german and germany, I am a german myself. And if that is the case then show some evidence for your claim, because proximity is not a good indicator for genetic relations, hungarians are geneticly far away from slovaks and other slavs eventho they are neighbors. The fact that Bohemia was part of the Austrian Empire is also not supporting your claim because Austria was part of the HRE together with other german states longer than Bohemia was part of the Austrian Empire. So if you state that you already told me, sorry, but you are as far away from an authority on this topic as you can get, even if your name suggest that you are german so am I.
@Bernd DasBrot I never said they weren't, that still does not change their ethnicity. And while you might not want to comprehend it I can back my "bullshit" up in contrast to your czech claim.
My history professor in college stated that Hitler being an Austrian brought cultural differences that Germans did not have. For example, in the Austrian Army if an officer married a Jewish woman he would most likely have to resign his commission. This was somewhat alien to the Wehrmacht Generals, many who were Prussian nobility who married into wealthy German Jewish industrialist families a perfect match the husband had nobility and title-his wife the money. But the race separation was institutionalized in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Hell, I remember the hotel staff when I stayed in Budapest after the wall fell- top management were Austrians that constantly looked down their Hungarian staff as if it was a God Given Right!! Anyway, as my professor stated Hitler being an Austrian was a major historical anomaly for Germany!!
Austrian wave Nazi flag and welcomed hitler’s Army with open arms, at least German speaking population.Can’t blame them, Austria was supposed to incorporate into Germany when the German nation first established. The reason it did not was due to large number of non German speaking populations mainly Hungarian.
Main reason was that the German federation was led by the Prussians and they knew that Austria would rival their rule over Germany if they would have been integrated in the German state; before the Austrian-German (which happened before WW1) Austria looked way stronger than Prussia (on paper) and there really wouldn't have been a way for Prussia to fully keep controll over Germany if Austria would have joined them peacefully.
Bismarck, a Prussian statesman, refused to include Austrian Empire into a new country he was forging-Germany. His reason was Austrian dominance throughout Europe. Bismarck wanted Prussia and its new capital city, Berlin, to rule Germany.
@WinnieTheGrizzly they endes up as a rich country with very good social standards and as the 4 most peaceful country. I think thats much better than being big but shitty for normal people like in the usa.
@Bernd DasBrot As we say in Austria: you shouldn't believe any statistics you haven't faked yourself. :D The Greens and Socialists in Vienna wanna make you believe this crap, but the election in fall is the last one where Viennese are not the minority. I would never wanna live in Vienna. But Bernd - you probably know that, right? ;)
Stalin prepared to march into Europe and put all his troops in attack formation. If Germany wouldn't have attacked the UdSSR, Paris would have fallen to Stalin. Austria had no chance the influence of Germany was to big and the people were depressed of getting so small after WW1. The contract of versailles made it all happen.
Yes it is my understanding that WWI was the pre-game for WWII. Germany was going to continue the war as soon as they could reload. They were squeezed in a vice by the world after WWI and I doubt Hitler would have ever come to power if it weren't for the dire financial conditions Germany found itself in due to the hammer falling via the Treaty of Versailles. The fuse was lit.
@@jrockofages5413 the treaty of Versailles was the greatest blunder and folly the victorious powers could do after WW1. More the result of shortsighted French revenge than anything meaningful to ensure peace in Europe. The Congress of Vienna in 1815 should have been a good example of how to do things. It prevented an all out war between Europe's great powers for 100yrs. No such luck in 1918/19. The French and British learned their lessons and did better in post 1945.
@@granville7 The French and British learned their lessons and did better in post 1945. - until today Germany is a puppet ask yourself who the master is
@@granville7 it seems that with the logic we have today and Monday morning quarterbacking a lot of the world's problems possibly could have been averted. But who knows what that aversion would have led to. I agree that putting Germany in a vise only shut the world up for a bigger explosion
I was over in Europe in U.S. Navy. My ship would go port to port about every two weeks because it was a destroyer tender (repair / supply ) ship. So every two weeks we would change countries, money and languages. I thought that was so weird!
I think it should be stated that up until the end of WWII most Austrians saw themselves as a German people. Austria was for a long time the most powerful of the many German states until the Prussians came along and contested their role. After the austro-prussian war Prussia united all the smaller German states under its leadership. This was the so called "Kleindeutsche Lösung" as opposed to the Großdeutsche Lösung which would have included Austria, but would have constested prussian dominance over the new German state. After WWI Germany and Austria were not permitted to unite. The fact that this was explicitly stated also underlines the German identity of large parts of Austria. After the rise of the Nazis in Germany many Austrians started to oppose a unification with Germany, yet just as many supported it. So when Germany "invaded" they were euphorically welcomed. Only after the war Austria explicitly tried to distance from Germany as it wanted a new start and didn't want to be held accountable for what happened. I'm not saying that there wasn't any national identity before, but until after WWII they saw themselves as Austrian AND German.
You missing one part and thats why Austrian welcomed Hitler, the Austrian Civil War and the following Ständestaat (Austrofachism) with less economic success than Germany.
They were They were told so many lies that everything will be awesome if they join germany There was this one lady that was a girl back then and she was talking about sistematic murder of handicaped people and other groups that werent desired Listening to any radio beside german one would be enough of a reason to get your whole family shot Men and women were used in the factories and the front lines for the benifit of the german war machine Id love to send you that video but i cant find it maybe you will have some luck.
As an Austrian I'm glad how we got away after WW2. There were almost no major battles fought in Austria and unlike to Germany pretty much none of our old and historic cities (Salzburg for example) got bombed to the ground. I'm also very glad that my country got its own state-treaty pretty quickly and that it wasnt devided like Germany.
5:14 Unlike other Nazi-Occupied States, Austria and the Sudetenland were fully integrated into Germany proper. The people inhabiting these lands were considered "German by blood," and thus, fully integrated into what the Nazis called the "Volkskörper" You won't find any dedicated Austrian SS-Units because there are also no dedicated Bavarian, Prussian or Saxon units, too. In terms of the Wehrmacht, the Nazis liked to pull units together from all parts of the country. So Austrians ended up serving with Prussians, Bavarians, Saxons, etc. even down to the Platoon level. With Germany being a totalitarian country at the time, this was probably done to make sure the allegiance of the entire unit would always lie with Germany and not any specific region or state.
There was no Austria between 1938 and 1945. There was a "Gau Ostmark" as part of Germany. So there was no Austrian role in WW2 as there was no Bavarian Role or Lower Saxony role or whatever.....
The republic of German-Austria (1918-19) was not allowed to unificate with the rest of Germany by the Allies. Selfdetermination was for everybody except for the Germans. So after unification 1938 the last Austrian chancellor Seyss-Inquart became the head of the 'Reichskommissariat' with 3 other Austrian commissars(out of 4) to rule the occupied Netherlands 1940-45,guess to do what.
Short answer: A very supportive one. A longer one: A very forgotten one. Edit: You forgot that France, Croatiens, Netherlands, Belgiens ... etc. also happily joined SS Divisions. Actually, only around ~10 SS Divions were actually German, the rest were recruited by supportive others which gladly helped. It has a reason why so few Jews actually returned to Poland, for an example.
Quick summary: At outset of the war there was 4 divisions mobilized from Austrian recruits. Some elite mountain troops that fought in the battle for Narvik. Austrian industry was rather important (eg. Steyr) they produced trucks and armored personnel carriers like ADGZ that took part in taking over the Czech Sudetenland and later in invasion of Poland, (check out some footage from Defence of the Polish Post Office in Danzig). In addition: SS-Scharfuehrer Erich Josef Vallaster, responsible for executing thousands of Jewish people at Sobibor. That’s all I can think of for now.
Why are people like this?. Hitler was born in Austria Hungary. But he moved to Germany in WW1 where he served in the Army. His Political Achivements were all made in Germany not Austria.
I would've liked a more substantial article but okay. I was staying in Vienna recently and I love the city and the country. The people are good and the countryside is beautiful.
The thing is, that the Austrians never really wanted to have their own state after ww1. They wanted to unify with Germany, because they saw themselves as Germans . But the Allies didn't allow such unification. Austrians are still ethnically German, eventhough most of them don't like being called like that.
Germany didn't invade Austria. The Austrians voted for the integration and were happy to join the Reich. German soldiers marched through Austria, and Austrian troops did the same in Germany in celebration.
Yeah try voting no in that referendum Swiss also speak german why didnt adolf give them a "democratic" referendum If austria refused they would be steamrolled Stop spreading wrong information
@Salticus many wanted yes because of ww1 Austria lost a huge empire I doubt they would want unification if they won ww1 They would probably make a trialist monarchy with the south slavs and call it a day
Kinda easy to vote for the Anschluss when there's SS soldiers in the election commitee. And the sheet wasn't all that neutral as well. austria-forum.org/af/Wissenssammlungen/Essays/Geschichte/80._Jahre_Anschluss It says: Are you, German soldier, for the unification of Austria and the German Reich on March 13th, 1938? A motherfucking big YES. Or a smol no. Desperate people will always listen to the wanna-be politician that screams the loudest. Nothing has changed.
austrians are german in the same way that bavarians or saxons are. If it wouldnt have lost the war against prussia in 1871 then austria would be part of the BRD but the northern part of modern germany wouldnt and if the allies didn't ban them from ever reuniting which was explicitely against the peoples will and therefor in contradiction with the "völkerrecht" (i think that would be like international law)
spoiler alert.....the austrians are Germans!!! After WW1 the Austrians formed the Republic of German Austria and declared themselves a part of Germany. And the treaty of Saint Germain promptly carved up German Austria. The Austrians always saw themselves as germans, only rescently have the Austrians been trying to distance themselves from Germany because of WW2 and so on.
Actually I really love the history of Austria, and think that the post ww2 government did some amazing things that I am still profiting of today, but I m really sad that the governments of the last like 30 year's got worse and worse, with a few huge spikes of shit from the fpö including governments, and I feel like it's horrybly sad and hilarious that I, a 17 year old boy, could outargument high ranking politicians in things like climate change, and drug illegalliety, but they, sorry but I lost the cord really hard and have to end this comment soon because I'm high af and the patterns start to approach me so i get less focused every second, for that reason, bb mi frynds hife a groß tay
Winston Churchill named the chapter of the annexation : The Rape of Austria in his 1 st volume of his 6 books that is the best biography of WW2 called the gathering storm.
The austrian people did have a pretty important part in the war. Especially this ONE guy
@Winston Churchill a very sexy moustache
And a very, very sexy outfit
an artist architect dude.
You mean the dude who didn't get accepted into the art academy?
We’re talking about Adolf Hitler aren’t we
Billy Wilder had a point: "The Austrians are brilliant people. They made the world believe that Hitler was a German and Beethoven an Austrian."
We don’t need to make ppl believe in anything. We have Mozart, Sigmund Freud, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Falco, Niki Lauda, Christoph Waltz, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner, Joseph Haydn, Johann Strauss, Gustav Klimt, Romy Schneider, SWAROVSKI and many more.. We basically invented the music and art.
@@carolin-sophieb and not to forget: Thomas Bernhard!
(Quote: "Austria itself is nothing but a stage on which everything is rotten and decaying and degenerate, a self-loathing statisty of six and a half million abandoned people, six and a half million debiles and raving lunatics who continuously scream at the top of their lungs for a director." :-D
@@VoxPopuli60 you mean usa
But what Billy Wilder didn't know is that Austria itself never claimed anything like that. It was never a secret where Hitler was born, nor was it ever claimed that Beethoven was Austrian just because he lived most of his life in Vienna. People just say that nonsense and others believe it. It's not the problem of the Austrians if some idiots in the world always believe that Hitler is German, then they suddenly realize it and want to sell their own blindness as Austria's deception. 👏🏻
But it doesn‘t matter where Hitler was from, but what matters is that the germans voted fore him.
Ah yes, Austria was Hungary for more land
Noice
You’re everywhere
i see you everywhere
STOP BEING EVERYWHERE!!!!!!
@@theamericanguy1969 he is our Justin Y.
So what was the role of Austria as part of Germany in ww2? I watched the video but I still don't know. Stalingrad? I was hoping to hear something about how many soldiers were from Austria in Wehrmacht, what equipment were made in Austria, etc.
Same here. What was the point of all that talk about Stalingrad... He mentioned the Habsburgs and forgot the story of Hitler.
The Reason Why He Mentioned The *Battle Of Stalingrad* Is Because They Brought The Behemoth, USSR. It’s Because They Turned The Tide Of War, Instead Of Finishing The Allied Nations, And So. The Russians Went Straight For Austria And Berlin.
I guess Austrian role was a Propaganda one. The fact that we Austrians didn't resist but welcomed German forces with open arms probably brought a high moral to the Germans in WW2.
And why he mentioned Stalingrad, after that defeat Moral was dead and resistance groups emerged throughout Austria
@@Aschraffff I think he just needed to extend the video to be over 10mins long tbh
Austria was part of Germany, like Bavaria or Prussia. Austria is this day is still German. The only reason why it isn’t part of Germany is because of the Hapsburgs, the 1866 War, the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, & WWII where their enemies sought to keep them as separate enemies. Otherwise, linguistically, culturally, historically Austria is German.
i feel like the titel of the video is misleading, since 90% of the video is about the war in general and not austria. i kinda hoped there would be a focus on austria. :/
Talking about stalingrad battle most of the video
They gotta pan for that time, it'd be too short of a video just to "directly" answer the question, rather than just give a vague video about Austria in general.
There are a few inaccuracies in it too.
Mark Maki True
They had to add a filler in order to make the video over the 10 minute limit so they are able to make a profit via advertisements. You’ll see this as a common pattern with the UA-cam of today.
Germany: Develops an unstoppable army
Japan: Develops a fleet with the biggest battleships
Austria: I'm not involved but I have a man who is
Italy: I'm on the winning side no matter what
and then everyone else ganged up on them. RIP
*Press F to pay respects*
lol, underrated comment
*Italy has switched teams*
Jake you forgot France! Winning side no matter what!
italy DID. NOT. SWITCH. SIDES you idiots they fell into civil war
As an Austrian myself I can only say that this video while well meaning suffers from a fundamental missunderstanding of how the people in Austria (and other german states) used to self-identify for about a thousand years up and well into the 20th century. The way borders, countries and nation states came about in history are based on a huge amount of different factors which led to countries like the United Kingdom where english, welsh, scots etc. all have a different historical identity, ethnicity, language, culture and to countries like Austria and Germany where from the middle ages until the modern age no one would even have conceived the idea theres was any difference whatsoever. The way large parts of this video are constructed sound kind of odd to me.. as if you would say "As long as the war in vietnam was going well for the americans, Michigan was happy with it but when the americans luck turned the people of Michigan weren't so happy with these americans anymore."
Österreich = Klein Deutschland!
Would be nice if you join us tho
@@tylerbozinovski4624 Deutschland = Langweiler Österreich
@Bernd DasBrot Wovon redest du ? Die Habsburger waren eine deutsche Familie und regierten sogar über "Deutschland" bzw dem HRR oder dem Deutschen Bund mehrere hundert Jahre ! Standard Deutsch bzw Hochdeutsch wurde 13oo irgendwas eingeführt also schon sehr früh ! Diese ganze Österreich-Ideologie entstand erst nach dem 2 WK als man sich von dem damals als sehr schwierig gesehenen "german" los lösen wollte
@Bernd DasBrot Damals gab es weder Österreich noch Deutschland, aber einen Deutschen Bund oder ein HRR deutscher Nation (16 Jhdt kam dieser Begriff auf), letztlich sind Österreicher Deutsche, auch wenn sie seit 1945 ihre eigene Identität geschaffen haben und sich lange in die Opferrolle gesteckt haben. Nach dem Motto: Jubel Szenen von 250.000 Menschen in Wien aufgrund des Anschlusses gab es nie und wir wurden gezwungen und annektiert
Napoleon was a Corsican who led France.
Stalin was a Georgian who led Soviet Russia.
Hitler was an Austrian who led Germany.
See even among bad guys, there was acceptance.
Gerogia Soviet republic was a part of Soviet Union, and Stalin the leader of Soviet Union. Your kind of people think and say that the Soviet Union is Russian while nearly half of the dead in 2.ww was not even Russian. Your worlds are disrespectful to dead man from Turks Ukrainian Belarusian and others
Yes, and Trumps a traitor who is failing America!!!
napoleon was a bad guy?
@@nakaimoore6548
I guess half of europe has become part of france peacefully...
@@justaybp6921 look at the starters of the war not defenders. Look at the coalitions that formed, not the winner. French only tried to defend their country by winning of course. (Like Allied Forces have done in ww2) And I am saying this as a Turk(Napoleon attacked us too).
Austrians 1938: Kinda sleazy but at least the German people are united
Austrians 1946: Ive never met these Germans before in my life
Austrians used to think that they are Germans. Then they found that they are actually different than Germans. DNA showed that Austrians are more Celts and Slavs than Germanic.
@@tongobong1 Hearing this for the first time. Any sources for this? Quite surprised about that claim considering southern Germany like Frankia, Bavaria and Swabia should have way more in common with the Austrian Germans than the eastern Prussians. Since the Duchy of Austria emerged from the Duchy of Bavaria in the 12th century I think it will difficult arguing Austrian Germans are distinct from (at Bavarian) Germans.
@@tekus89Yes you can find maps that show the distribution of genes. R1b haplogroup is italo-celtic and germanic group. You should look at subgroups and you will see that Austrians are 2/3 italo-celts and around 1/3 germanic. Beware that many maps show western an even northern Austrians as dominant Germanic people and these maps are false - probably fabricated by german nationalists. It is interesting that even german nationalists recognised south Austrians as slavs - Slovenians. The fact is that Austrian lands were part of Bavaria in the middle ages and they were multilingual. Main languages were latin, medieval Czech, Slovak and Slovenian. Old Austrians started using German so they could communicate in neutral language. I used to think that Austrians are Germans until I spent a year in Vienna where I found that Austrians are anything but Germans.
@@tongobong1 what in tha fck ur saying bin aus Österreich hab myheritage DNA test gemacht kam alles raus wie bei meiner deutschen Frau raus
@@Cemike maybe you are German living in Austria but you don't represent all Austrians that have only about 10% of Germanic genes.
my Grandfather from Tirol was sent to the Caucasian Mountain Region.
one Day the Colonel asked for a volunteer to bring two horses to a Vet quiet some distance away.
no one was keen about that, but my Grandfather was the only one volunteered for the 3 Day trip.
when he returned, the whole Regiment was already sent to Stalingrad.
the love for horses did save his life.
none returned back home, except for him, he was the only one alive from the Regiment at the end of the war.
I think you should have mentioned Engelbert Dollfuss, Austrian chancellor, before von Schuschnigg. Dollfuss was the founder of the Fatherland Front a nationalist party close to the Fascist regime in Italy; Dollfuss fought until the end for an independent Austria, he was murdered by members of the Austrian nazi party in 1934. Germany tried to annex Austria in 1934 but Italy, Hungary and Austria signed the "Rome Protocoles" and protected Austrian independence; eventually, Italy fell out with the League of Nations after the invasion of Ethiopia (1935-36) and sided with Germany. I don't mean to school you. I just thought that Dollfuss was a pretty important figure in the political theatre in Austria during the '30s. Anyway, keep up the good work!
very good point. you can't talk about the role of Austria being annexed by Nazi Germany and completely fail to mention Dollfuss.
@Salticus Yeah Austro-Faschismus
@Salticus Clerical Fascism. Fascism at the time was the only answer to Soviet Communism. The third option Democracy was already infiltrated by Communists proved useless.
Everybody forgets about Austrofascism for some reason.
@@bryanfarts822 Well, Dollfuss chose Fascism because if he had chosen national-socialism Austria would have been annexed very quickly by Germany
You neglected to mention that Austrians made up the highest percentage of SS troops of and German region by population percentage
Quite right... "For example, historians estimate that 10,6% of the 688.000 Austrian NSDAP members participated in war crimes, which accounts for a relative overrepresentation by one third in comparison of 7,7% war criminals of German members (Botz 2012, p.195). Similarly, Austrian SS recruits were relatively outdoing Germans with 6,4 vis à 6 per 10.000 citizens. Because of perceived historical ties from the Habsburg Monarchy, those were also more likely to be deployed in especially devastating combat and policing missions on the Balkans and in Ukraine (ibid.)."
German Nazis often treated Austrians, including Austrian Nazis, as 2nd class. So a lot of these guys, seeing no career prospects at home , voluntered for service in the east
Only 4 out of 100 top Nazis were Austrians. One of those 4 was Hitler and one was actually Slovenian Odilo Globocnik. Austrians were underrepresented among the top Nazis.
@@tongobong1 a lot of the cruellest and sadististic concentration camp guards and commanders were Austrians. One of the grisliest nazi concentration camps was erected nearby the town of Linz only two months after the annexation: Mauthausen. Don’t try to downplay the role of the Austrians in the nazi rule. Austrians hailed Hitler as one of their own (he was, as a matter of fact) and didn’t have any qualms to see an authoritarian and brutal regime installed in their own country.
@@wisecoonie I lived in Vienna for some time so I know how Austrians saw the nazi occupation. Many Austrians were happy to became part of nazi Germany but also many were sad and even angry at nazists especially when they saw how nazists treated religious people - Christians and Jews. Austrians opposing nazism even helped the Red Army liberating Vienna.
Austria is the country that sarcastically protest to being an evil empire, but secretly enjoyed it. Who wouldn't want to be an evil empire.
subscribe to my empty channel or the British are the same but people forgave Austria and not Britain😂
America, France and Britain are evil, but they say they are good
First World War: An Austrian was killed
Second World War: An Austrian failed to be killed
Third World War: An Austrian Killed himself
Jeffrey Epstein was not Austrian
@@Perririri who the hell is Jeffrey Epstein?
@@alfarizky9708 your mom
@@Perririri Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself
Actually in Second World War an Austrian was both failed to be killed and killed himself
Pretty big role considering the fuhrer was Austrian
So was Stalin who was Georgian....guess those “outsiders” have a chip on their shoulders made it the farthest.
But Hitler didn’t think much of his fellow Austrians. They were just another excuse to seize some territory.
Not at all, Hitler actually didn't really like Austria. He showed this by banning the word "Austria" and by dismantling its traditional federal lands and reorganising them without regard for customs and culture.
@Clark Hull the fresh prince wasn't from bel air
@@AEIOU05 That's because there was no distinctly Austrian culture. That was invented after WW2, so they could claim to be "first victims".
Interesting question. I never thought about it
Of course the Habsburgs had something to do with it
Cuban american I swear to god you can't hide the fact that austria really was hungry for more land!
Why do i see you everywhere
Why?
The Habsburgs were in Switzerland and protested against the Nazis
And their Celtic and Slavic genes have a lot to do with it. Austrians have very few Germanic genes unlike Germans.
As a Austrian i can say that in lower Austria they produced a large amount of Planes for the luftwaffe for example
Are Austrians German ?
Today most Austrians would answer this question clearly with no. You no longer feel like a German, but an Austrian.
This attitude is relatively new in the long common history of the Austrians and Germans.
For many centuries Austria was not only a part of Germany, but also its leading power, which also provided most of the emperors. This remained so even after the fall of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Austria was a member of the German Confederation and even chaired it. During the 1848 revolution, black, red and gold flags also waved in Vienna. Of course, the German Austrians took part in the election for the German National Assembly in Frankfurt.
The rivalry for supremacy in Germany between Austria and Prussia changed that. Austria lost the war of 1866 against Prussia and left the German Confederation. Bismarck was now able to advance the small German unification without Austria and under the leadership of Prussia. The majority of the German Austrians continued to feel that they were Germans, both ethnically and culturally.
After the disintegration of the Danube Monarchy and the K&K Empire, the national assembly of the remaining Austria decided to name the new state German Austria and to join the German Empire. The Weimar Constitution also made corresponding preparations for unification. The victorious powers prevented both the naming and the Anschluss. During the First Republic, most Austrians from left to right remained Greater German. This also explains why the Anschluss was so popular in 1938 and why it was generally welcomed even by opponents of National Socialism. Up until the end of the Second World War there were also no significant separatist movements in Austria.
It was only after the war that an Austrian national consciousness began to develop in contrast to Germany. Certainly for opportunistic reasons too. So politicians tried to stylize Austria as the first victim of Hitler in order to gain advantages from the victorious powers, which rightly did not succeed.
Today, the majority in Austria feel like Austrians and no longer also as Germans. There are still Austrians who think big German, but they are in the minority today. What remains is the long common history, the common culture and language.
To answer your first question, yes.
everything youre saying is correct but for a short and precise answer to your first question a "yes" suffices
Back in the day "being German" just meant being part of the German cultural sphere. Even the Dutch were singing about their king of German blood. Being part of a German NATIONALITY is a completely different topic. Those things not being the same should be quite obvious to anyone who has ever seen a map and noticed that there are multiple Arab and Anglo states.
About Stalingrad: In Stalingrad many Austrian soldiers were in action. The Vienna house regiment (former k.u.k. regiment 4 Hoch und Deutschmeister) was lost in 80%.
For the love of God, the Russians were soviets, but a citizen of the Soviet Union was not called Russian. It is a soviet! God. Russia was part of the USSR, not the whole thing!
Well Russia was the dominant republic of the soviet union which they united. Also since russians were the majority. Technically wrong but I understand why people say it. Just like when they say Holland instead of the Netherlands
When Stalin was the leader it could be called Russia because of the mass Russifications
@@mehmetcetin3530 he is Georgian but still Stalin was incredibly bias towards Russia
LMAO !! Yeah, your right, thats why they ALL had to learn to speak RUSSIAN. Having a computer doesn't qualify you as intelligent. Go sit back in the corner.
@@stefanschleps8758
Please have a brain and culture and do not speak like that.
What? You expect every republic in the USSR to speak it's own language without having a common one? Real smart, man. Or it was the same in Yugoslavia? They all had to learn Serbian, because it was the official language of the country, but everyone was free to study and use it's own language as well. They were all Yugoslavians from different republics within Yugoslavia.
Please use your brain and don't make me come again to prove my point. I have better things to do.
Sudetenland is the part of Austria. If we break down the population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire: Austria (8 million Österreich + 3.5 million Sudetenland) Hungary (10 million)
Part of Austrian Bohemia
Sudeteland is part of Czech Republic.
@@panzhubnikaz7335 not until 1918
@@luca_history Yeah it definetly wasn't a part of the lands of the czech crown
@@luca_history Sudet was a part of Great Moravia originally
Quite inaccurate video unfortunately. Besides what others have already said, it is also inaccurate that there were no specifically Austrian divisions or brigades. I know of at least two: the 44th and 45th infantry divisions. The first one was reorganized and absorbed into the Wehrmacht from the Austrian army and it was one of the oldest regiments of the Austrian army, the Hoch und Deutschmeister regiment. I was interested in hearing more about their involvement in particular, that would've been more interesting.
This video should be taken down and redone.
The video is quite boring, not structured well, and redundant.
You are correct about the 2 Inf Divs. There were more. The 2nd Pz.Div consisted almost only of guys from Vienna. Some of the Gebirgsjaeger Divs were almost only tyrolian. There were 2 Jaeger Div. almost only Austrian guys.
You forgot the part that said during the Treaty of St Germain (the treaty that Austria signed to end their part in WW1) that unification with Germany would be illegal. Also the treaty of Versailles forbid Germany annexing Austria. When Germany annexed Austria it was another breach of the Versailles treaty.
Did they leave the hammer and sickle out of the Soviet flag? Lmao.
They used an unhistorical, censored version of the German flag as well.
It is a hate symbol. Of corse should it be censored
@@hailgiratinathetruegod7564 well, this was about history, so it should not really be censored.
@@hailgiratinathetruegod7564 the soviet flag is also a hate symbol in many eastern countries. The swastika flag should be cenzored like the red plague soviet flag
@@hailgiratinathetruegod7564 No it shouldn't, history shouldn't be censored cause its educational, it teaches us to not repeat the same mistakes of the past, censoring it would only create more nazis/commies.
Austria must have been important. Industrial out put was smaller compared to other German states, but Vienna is a major city.
Well the nibelungenwerke where also in austria. Was a tank factory that got massivly expanded during ww2. It was even the biggest as far as i know.
We had lose the most industrial factories at the end of the First world war. Hungary for exaple has the majority of the old Industry
@@GB-mx3ze You mean Bohemia-Moravia.
I expect that Austria must have produced many concertos and psychological theories during the war.
@@tylerbozinovski4624 i think 🤔
Can you speak germany? Because i am Austria and my English is not the best ^^ i can you explain more but not in English hahaha
No mention of the funny mustache man?
What's his name?
I dont know alcof smitler?
Charlie Chaplin
i think it was Adolphin Heetor
Adolph Hootler
@Meme Lord russian spy...
Austria: No Germany, Mozart is ours!
Also Austria: You can take Hitler
Mozart was born in Salzburg. Maybe he identificated as a german, but then you can't say, that Hitler was austrian. He identificated as a german, but in this case it's a fact
Your map shows an area south of Austria as part of the Third Reich. This is part of Slovenia, it was formally made a part of the Third Reich. Alsace Lorain was also made a formal part the Third Reich.
7.59
@@kemalsarpcomert3114 7:59
i believe it's black, like germany, for that reason
I’ve heard it said a number of times that, “There were no Nazis like Austrian Nazis.”
Including the leader himself....
Good job, I hope you get recognized, you are very underated youtuber, you deserve more
Thanks for your kind words man!
@@Knowledgia #dedo
@@Knowledgia Russia and the Soviet Union are two very different things. Please don't confuse the two.
@@luxembourgishempire2826 Just like Imperial Russia, I presume?
Austrians 1938: We want to be part of Germany as we are germans.
Austrians 1946: We aren’t germans we’re austrians, germans occupied us, we are their first victim not perpetrator.
Austria-Hungary:It was The Germans
WW2 Austria:It was The Germans
9 views
9 likes
perfectly balanced as all things should be
Not anymore though
How much time did the research for this video take, 5 minutes? What about the Austrian contribution to the german army, the SS, the pre-Anschluss situation, the relationship with Italy on the question of Tyrol, the concentration camps, the resistance to nazism?
You can learn more about this on wikipedia in the same amount of time...
Americans: we won it all
Austria: your telling me you won when I had more casualties when I have over 10x less people?
America: yes
“The German chancellor” hmm wonder who this is
Makes 12 minute video about Austria in WWII, spends first 4.5 minutes talking about things before WWII then 7 minutes talking about things not really related to Austria, like the Battle of Stalingrad.
To understand Anschluss you need to understand how Austria suffered during the Interwar period. They were not given the rights promised by Wilson’s 13 points and many vital areas, despite German superiority and desire for self determination, were clumped into other countries. As a result Austria suffered from many famines and couldn’t support its massive capital of Vienna. This led to the idea that they must unify to survive, which wasn’t entirely unwarranted.
I remember someone told me long ago "Don't forget that Per Capita, there were more Austrian Nazis than German Nazis."
To be honest saying Austria is victim of nazi aggression is just stupid most Austrian wanted after the ww1 to be incorporated into Germany but the Entente thought this will be unbalanced so they said no
Still waits for Anschluss 2, Electric Bogaloo
Austrians were worse nazis than even Germans were. And they had no denacification after war as there were resistance groups in Kärnten, though Slovenian in 45, so in Austria are lots of neonazis even today.
Two fun facts.
You are right
Yup, they´re even worse, they think they are descended from some blue bloded habsburg line even superior to the germans, it´s crazy
Kamikaze Abe-ru wait so they Think Big chins make Them better?
Except Colonel Gangl and his Gangly bois. They straight fought with the SS.
Yeah thats not completly true. My Great Grandpa was a Doctor when Austria got annexed to keep his Job he had to join the NSDAP. After the War he was not allowed to work for many Years. This was in the French Part of Occupation.
I love your channel keep up the great stuff!
First of all the Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss in 1934 was assasinated by Hitlers henchmen at the SA. His successor Chancellor Schuschnigg spent WW2 in the KZ Dachau, with most of his government. When Hitler threatend to invade Austria, the government turned to all the winning powers of WW1 who had guaranteed the independence of Austria. But these governments turned deaf to their legal requirements and did not care to respond at all. Don't forget that Hitler both in Austria and Germany never made more than 30% in free elections. And consider that Austria was not going into WW1 to conquer or robb their neighbours. The emperor was 84 years when war started. His son had bin assasinated by a Serb, with the support of Russia, which was pushing for a war, in order to change the borders on the Balkans. Germany wanted to get access to the british controlled seas, and Britain wanted exactly this not to happen. Italy agreed with Britain to receive a part of Austria if the join the war on the british side. So there were many interests in a war, but none in Austria, our ancestors had no interest on a big war at all. Nevertheless after they lost this war the winning powers cut Austria into 10 separate countries. It was not us splitting up, it was France with the support of the other winners to cut the country in pieces. The elected parlament and the elected government were not considered a partner for peace talks, because there was no intention to turn the country into a republic. So a coup was arranged in the streets of Vienna, and the result of the coup war approved in advance by France.
Why you always make a video about intresting questions !!!???
*Don't Stop it*
In this and other worlds,this is an informative video about both the neighbouring countries forever in our respective lives and every generations that we would be born,good friend!!!:-D
Fun fact ,Austria started world wars ,but Germany gets all the blame
no
I am from Austria. Austria was certainly not a victim of nazi Agression, Austria was part of the Reich and is therefore guilty as well. Austria was part in the holocaust and many Austrian soldiers were fighting in WW2. It is true, that at the end of the war some groups rebelled, and cities like Innsbruck surrender to American forces without allowance from the Nazi government.
Nonetheless, Austria played a role and as such we Austria is partially responsible for the crimes that happened.
Exactly! I'm Austrian too and we also share responsibility partially.
That map with the 3d effect is beautiful!
09:50 Austria was divided into the occupation zones like Germany was after the 1945. Thus it just wasn't a unified allied control commission and the provisional government. Austria was very much part of the afterwar politics between the different blocs of Cold War.
Austria was incorporated into the German Reich after the Anschluss on 13 March 1938.
Much of the leadership of the German Reich were Austrian,most notably Adolf Hitler and Ernst Kaltenbrunner, who took over as leader of the RHSA. The Wehrmacht drafted more than 1.3 million Austrians between 1938 and 1945, 242,000 of whom never came back home. Austrians also served loyally as soldiers from Germany proper and were just as responsible for Nazi atrocities on the Eastern Front.
"Austrian people" is a weird term in this context since Austrians are ethnically german and "austrian" refers to their nationality, however their nation did not exist during WW2
@Bernd DasBrot Ethnically germans means of the german ethnicity. Austrians are ethnically german, and no they are not closer to czechs (that is how it is written by the way) than germans dna wise. Czechs are not even a germanic ethnicity but a west slavic one like poles.
North germans have few similarities to austrians, which is true except for the biggest similarities: language and ethnicity. North germans also have few in common with germans in bavaria, which are closer to austrian culture and dialect than most other german sub-cultures. So what? Germans in bavaria are still german.
And yes Austria is older than Germany, because Germany is not a state that existed in medieval times like austria but a state that was created by forming a union of older german states that all shared the same language and ethnicity. Austria was originally also asked/intended to join this union but declined due to them ruling over an empire (austria- hungary) .
So don't talk to me about being uninformed and shut your own "little mouth" how about that?
@Bernd DasBrot I know dialects were stronger, they still weren't too different to hinder the formation of the German Empire. Low-german and high german are different and were spoken in different regions, but both language can be understood by both with little compromise (The Hansa for example had the ability to speak low german as a requirement for work). I know that from experience, some of my Family speaks low german while I never learned a single word. I can still understand them fine, i just cant answer in low german. And beyond that the Languages and Cultures were connected since the Holy Roman Empire and trade and communication weren't major concerns then.
@Bernd DasBrot I am not confused about the termonology of german and germany, I am a german myself. And if that is the case then show some evidence for your claim, because proximity is not a good indicator for genetic relations, hungarians are geneticly far away from slovaks and other slavs eventho they are neighbors. The fact that Bohemia was part of the Austrian Empire is also not supporting your claim because Austria was part of the HRE together with other german states longer than Bohemia was part of the Austrian Empire.
So if you state that you already told me, sorry, but you are as far away from an authority on this topic as you can get, even if your name suggest that you are german so am I.
@Bernd DasBrot I never said they weren't, that still does not change their ethnicity. And while you might not want to comprehend it I can back my "bullshit" up in contrast to your czech claim.
@Bernd DasBrot ethnicity =/= nationality , thought I'd clarify this since you seem to confuse the two
Great video as always
Kinda forgot to talk about the main topic there, no?
even tho they considered austria annexed and they thought Austria didnt want annexation at all, allies still bombed Austria during ww2 a lot
My history professor in college stated that Hitler being an Austrian brought cultural differences that Germans did not have. For example, in the Austrian Army if an officer married a Jewish woman he would most likely have to resign his commission. This was somewhat alien to the Wehrmacht Generals, many who were Prussian nobility who married into wealthy German Jewish industrialist families a perfect match the husband had nobility and title-his wife the money. But the race separation was institutionalized in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Hell, I remember the hotel staff when I stayed in Budapest after the wall fell- top management were Austrians that constantly looked down their Hungarian staff as if it was a God Given Right!! Anyway, as my professor stated Hitler being an Austrian was a major historical anomaly for Germany!!
Austrian wave Nazi flag and welcomed hitler’s Army with open arms, at least German speaking population.Can’t blame them, Austria was supposed to incorporate into Germany when the German nation first established. The reason it did not was due to large number of non German speaking populations mainly Hungarian.
Main reason was that the German federation was led by the Prussians and they knew that Austria would rival their rule over Germany if they would have been integrated in the German state; before the Austrian-German (which happened before WW1) Austria looked way stronger than Prussia (on paper) and there really wouldn't have been a way for Prussia to fully keep controll over Germany if Austria would have joined them peacefully.
Bismarck, a Prussian statesman, refused to include Austrian Empire into a new country he was forging-Germany. His reason was Austrian dominance throughout Europe. Bismarck wanted Prussia and its new capital city, Berlin, to rule Germany.
In Austria was one of the most terrible Nazi concentration camps - Mauthausen and it's subcamp, where conditions were even more brutal - Gusen
Austria was a twin of German who had a better fate
More like a cousin who had to live under the stairs ...
@WinnieTheGrizzly
May be ...
Vut we are still there :D
@WinnieTheGrizzly they endes up as a rich country with very good social standards and as the 4 most peaceful country. I think thats much better than being big but shitty for normal people like in the usa.
@Bernd DasBrot As we say in Austria: you shouldn't believe any statistics you haven't faked yourself. :D
The Greens and Socialists in Vienna wanna make you believe this crap, but the election in fall is the last one where Viennese are not the minority. I would never wanna live in Vienna.
But Bernd - you probably know that, right? ;)
@@IndianTigress98 austrians are not germans, what is wrong with you? Austria is a meltbot, of all there former teretory. Italy, hungery and and
the topic was not covered. Lots of side info, but what about the Austrian role in WW2?
Stalin prepared to march into Europe and put all his troops in attack formation. If Germany wouldn't have attacked the UdSSR, Paris would have fallen to Stalin. Austria had no chance the influence of Germany was to big and the people were depressed of getting so small after WW1. The contract of versailles made it all happen.
Yes
it is my understanding that WWI was the pre-game for WWII. Germany was going to continue the war as soon as they could reload. They were squeezed in a vice by the world after WWI and I doubt Hitler would have ever come to power if it weren't for the dire financial conditions Germany found itself in due to the hammer falling via the Treaty of Versailles. The fuse was lit.
@@jrockofages5413 the treaty of Versailles was the greatest blunder and folly the victorious powers could do after WW1. More the result of shortsighted French revenge than anything meaningful to ensure peace in Europe. The Congress of Vienna in 1815 should have been a good example of how to do things. It prevented an all out war between Europe's great powers for 100yrs. No such luck in 1918/19. The French and British learned their lessons and did better in post 1945.
@@granville7 The French and British learned their lessons and did better in post 1945. - until today Germany is a puppet ask yourself who the master is
@@granville7 it seems that with the logic we have today and Monday morning quarterbacking a lot of the world's problems possibly could have been averted. But who knows what that aversion would have led to. I agree that putting Germany in a vise only shut the world up for a bigger explosion
Hey hello your videos are awesome !
But i have a suggestion that please arrange all your videos category vise in playlist.
3:10 * we are all germans by language, tradition and culture *
I was over in Europe in U.S. Navy. My ship would go port to port about every two weeks because it was a destroyer tender (repair / supply ) ship. So every two weeks we would change countries, money and languages. I thought that was so weird!
I think it should be stated that up until the end of WWII most Austrians saw themselves as a German people. Austria was for a long time the most powerful of the many German states until the Prussians came along and contested their role. After the austro-prussian war Prussia united all the smaller German states under its leadership. This was the so called "Kleindeutsche Lösung" as opposed to the Großdeutsche Lösung which would have included Austria, but would have constested prussian dominance over the new German state.
After WWI Germany and Austria were not permitted to unite. The fact that this was explicitly stated also underlines the German identity of large parts of Austria. After the rise of the Nazis in Germany many Austrians started to oppose a unification with Germany, yet just as many supported it. So when Germany "invaded" they were euphorically welcomed. Only after the war Austria explicitly tried to distance from Germany as it wanted a new start and didn't want to be held accountable for what happened.
I'm not saying that there wasn't any national identity before, but until after WWII they saw themselves as Austrian AND German.
You missing one part and thats why Austrian welcomed Hitler, the Austrian Civil War and the following Ständestaat (Austrofachism) with less economic success than Germany.
Kind of disappointed this didn't go deeper.
What was the role of Austria in WW2? An Austrian painter was the leader of Germany.
LOOOØOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
At this point, why even censor the Soviet and German flags if you’re just going to be demonetized anyways?
Wanna hear a joke?
*"first victim"*
"victim" is enough to make me laugh
They were
They were told so many lies that everything will be awesome if they join germany
There was this one lady that was a girl back then and she was talking about sistematic murder of handicaped people and other groups that werent desired
Listening to any radio beside german one would be enough of a reason to get your whole family shot
Men and women were used in the factories and the front lines for the benifit of the german war machine
Id love to send you that video but i cant find it maybe you will have some luck.
HITLER TO AUSTRIA:
"Okay, Austria!! Now, we can do this the EASY way, or the HARD way!!!" 😲
As an Austrian I'm glad how we got away after WW2. There were almost no major battles fought in Austria and unlike to Germany pretty much none of our old and historic cities (Salzburg for example) got bombed to the ground. I'm also very glad that my country got its own state-treaty pretty quickly and that it wasnt devided like Germany.
5:14 Unlike other Nazi-Occupied States, Austria and the Sudetenland were fully integrated into Germany proper. The people inhabiting these lands were considered "German by blood," and thus, fully integrated into what the Nazis called the "Volkskörper"
You won't find any dedicated Austrian SS-Units because there are also no dedicated Bavarian, Prussian or Saxon units, too. In terms of the Wehrmacht, the Nazis liked to pull units together from all parts of the country. So Austrians ended up serving with Prussians, Bavarians, Saxons, etc. even down to the Platoon level. With Germany being a totalitarian country at the time, this was probably done to make sure the allegiance of the entire unit would always lie with Germany and not any specific region or state.
Germany got 8 million more manpower and 3 more core territories
This isnt accurate. Austria was NOT under occupation. It was in a union with Germany and fully participated in the atrocities of wwii.
Austria was never a Kingdom,it was a Kaisertum!
And a Grafenreich,also an Erzbischtum and a Herzogtum
Get out.
10:40
Austria also had to sign a everlasting neutrality, because the soviets didnt want Austria to join any alliance with US, France or UK
U literally said NOTHING about Austria during WW2
Lets not forget, GERMANY WAS LEAD BY AUSRTIAN PAINTER.
There was no Austria between 1938 and 1945. There was a "Gau Ostmark" as part of Germany. So there was no Austrian role in WW2 as there was no Bavarian Role or Lower Saxony role or whatever.....
The republic of German-Austria (1918-19) was not allowed to unificate with the rest of Germany by the Allies. Selfdetermination was for everybody except for the Germans. So after unification 1938 the last Austrian chancellor Seyss-Inquart became the head of the 'Reichskommissariat' with 3 other Austrian commissars(out of 4) to rule the occupied Netherlands 1940-45,guess to do what.
Short answer: A very supportive one.
A longer one: A very forgotten one.
Edit: You forgot that France, Croatiens, Netherlands, Belgiens ... etc. also happily joined SS Divisions. Actually, only around ~10 SS Divions were actually German, the rest were recruited by supportive others which gladly helped.
It has a reason why so few Jews actually returned to Poland, for an example.
Quick summary:
At outset of the war there was 4 divisions mobilized from Austrian recruits. Some elite mountain troops that fought in the battle for Narvik.
Austrian industry was rather important (eg. Steyr) they produced trucks and armored personnel carriers like ADGZ that took part in taking over the Czech Sudetenland and later in invasion of Poland, (check out some footage from Defence of the Polish Post Office in Danzig).
In addition: SS-Scharfuehrer Erich Josef Vallaster, responsible for executing thousands of Jewish people at Sobibor.
That’s all I can think of for now.
Austria's contribution at World War 2 is giving Hitler to Europe. xD
Why are people like this?. Hitler was born in Austria Hungary. But he moved to Germany in WW1 where he served in the Army. His Political Achivements were all made in Germany not Austria.
Before 1945 Austrians thought they were Germans...
They are ethnically German.
@@floatahhh Just like how Ukrainians are ethnically Russian
Invasion? Annexation?
*It was a unification!*
@Salticus Just like how the GDR was absorbed into the FRG in 1990 I guess.
Video starts at 4:30
Very good question, such a shame you were too lazy to give any answers
I would've liked a more substantial article but okay.
I was staying in Vienna recently and I love the city and the country. The people are good and the countryside is beautiful.
The thing is, that the Austrians never really wanted to have their own state after ww1. They wanted to unify with Germany, because they saw themselves as Germans . But the Allies didn't allow such unification.
Austrians are still ethnically German, eventhough most of them don't like being called like that.
Are no one going to be baffled that he used a red rectangle to represent the USSR instead of the flag?
Germany didn't invade Austria. The Austrians voted for the integration and were happy to join the Reich. German soldiers marched through Austria, and Austrian troops did the same in Germany in celebration.
Yeah try voting no in that referendum
Swiss also speak german why didnt adolf give them a "democratic" referendum
If austria refused they would be steamrolled
Stop spreading wrong information
@Salticus many wanted yes because of ww1
Austria lost a huge empire
I doubt they would want unification if they won ww1
They would probably make a trialist monarchy with the south slavs and call it a day
@Salticus well yes it does. If you look at history austria and germany didnt really hold hands dance and sing together.
Kinda easy to vote for the Anschluss when there's SS soldiers in the election commitee. And the sheet wasn't all that neutral as well. austria-forum.org/af/Wissenssammlungen/Essays/Geschichte/80._Jahre_Anschluss It says: Are you, German soldier, for the unification of Austria and the German Reich on March 13th, 1938? A motherfucking big YES. Or a smol no. Desperate people will always listen to the wanna-be politician that screams the loudest. Nothing has changed.
well yes because if you voted "no" there was a risk of being killed as there were soldiers watching you vote.
This could've been less than ten minutes but they're on that grind I guess.
10:27 I see that you dare forget the hammer and sickle on the motherlands flag? Go to the gulag!
austrians are german in the same way that bavarians or saxons are. If it wouldnt have lost the war against prussia in 1871 then austria would be part of the BRD but the northern part of modern germany wouldnt and if the allies didn't ban them from ever reuniting which was explicitely against the peoples will and therefor in contradiction with the "völkerrecht" (i think that would be like international law)
spoiler alert.....the austrians are Germans!!!
After WW1 the Austrians formed the Republic of German Austria and declared themselves a part of Germany.
And the treaty of Saint Germain promptly carved up German Austria.
The Austrians always saw themselves as germans, only rescently have the Austrians been trying to distance themselves from Germany because of WW2 and so on.
The friendship between Germany and Austria is better than me and my own friends
Actually I really love the history of Austria, and think that the post ww2 government did some amazing things that I am still profiting of today, but I m really sad that the governments of the last like 30 year's got worse and worse, with a few huge spikes of shit from the fpö including governments, and I feel like it's horrybly sad and hilarious that I, a 17 year old boy, could outargument high ranking politicians in things like climate change, and drug illegalliety, but they, sorry but I lost the cord really hard and have to end this comment soon because I'm high af and the patterns start to approach me so i get less focused every second, for that reason, bb mi frynds hife a groß tay
Winston Churchill named the chapter of the annexation : The Rape of Austria in his 1 st volume of his 6 books that is the best biography of WW2 called the gathering storm.