During World War II, the Axis powers headed by Germany invaded many countries, and for the invaded countries, they were bound to resist, and even if their strength was not good, the common people would not be willing to yield. But Austria is a little special, when Germany annexed Austria, it was puzzling, the country was destroyed, and the Austrian people even welcomed the German army.
In fact, on this issue, we must consider it from the history and reality of the two countries.
Germany's reunification was not early, and Germany has been divided for a long time compared with those that have traditionally been united, such as Britain and France. Although there had always been a Holy Roman Empire on the surface, the country had long since become a loose federation of hundreds of states, and everyone was internally doing its own thing, and no one was subordinate to anyone.
For most of the time, the Emperor of Austria was also the Emperor of this ancient empire, and Austria was also the best of them, the most powerful. But then Prussia rose and established the German Empire through war.
Austria and Germany were of the same origin, but they lost the war with Prussia, otherwise it was likely that Austria would be unified. Moreover, Prussia adopted a small German plan, while Austria was a multi-ethnic country, and the country included hungarians, Czechs and other non-Germans.
But despite this, it has to be said that Germany and Austria have deep roots. Especially in the face of the gradual strengthening of Germany, the influence on Austria is also very large, and some strong nationalists will inevitably appear in the country. At the same time, Hitler used the nationalist trend at home to incite the national sentiments of the people, which created cross-country feelings between them.
At the same time, it has to be said that there is a difference between Hitler's annexation of Austria and Hitler's occupation of France, and germany's annexation of Austria takes the road of combining the upper line with the lower line. It was done by signing the German-Austrian Agreement with the Austrian Government and inciting the national sentiments of the Austrian people.
But for France and other countries, it is a direct armed invasion, which is two forms, but the root cause is actually the same, that is, aggression.
Of course, for Austria, unlike Britain, France and the Soviet Union, Austria had little power to compete with Germany in modern times, including the Czech Republic at that time.
But it was not enough to confront Germany, and the Germans in the country sided with the Nazi Party, which made Austria a real vassal of Germany.