What is the significance of Germany's annexation of Austria?

Germany's annexation of Austria occurred in 1938. Known in German as the Anschluss, it was a longstanding goal of many Germans within Austria, though many non-Germans understandably saw it as an unmitigated disaster. The chancellor and president of Austria opposed the Anschlussas well, but was undermined by Austrian Nazis. Hitler entered Vienna in March, and the annexation was approved by an almost unanimous vote of the Austrian people, a number that is almost...

Germany's annexation of Austria occurred in 1938. Known in German as the Anschluss, it was a longstanding goal of many Germans within Austria, though many non-Germans understandably saw it as an unmitigated disaster. The chancellor and president of Austria opposed the Anschluss as well, but was undermined by Austrian Nazis. Hitler entered Vienna in March, and the annexation was approved by an almost unanimous vote of the Austrian people, a number that is almost certainly skewed by ballot rigging, intimidation, and other tactics as well as the fact that the vote was essentially meaningless under the circumstances. The significance of the Anschluss is that it was the first major step in Hitler's stated goal of unifying all German people under the Third Reich. The next step, taking the Sudetenland, would precipitate a crisis that culminated with the Munich Conference. For Hitler, of course, the event had tremendous significance--he himself was Austrian, and uniting his homeland with the nation he ruled carried deep symbolic significance. Although basically bloodless, it raised the frightening specter of continued expansion by an increasingly emboldened Hitler.