Actually, Germany was part of Austria until the King of Prussia proclaimed himself Emperor of Germany in 1871.

You see, the Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary etc etc was also Holy Roman Emperor, for whatever the title was worth.

Not that Germany was really an incorporated part of the Austrian Empire, but technically it was. Still, the Holy Roman Emperor did not have any real authority over the many princes of Germany, and had not had any since the Thirty Years' War.

The Anschluss happened because the representation of the Austrian people, its fascist government, agreed to it. Austria-Hungary had been partitioned into a whole slew of nations, chiefly Yugoslavia, after WW1 and it was too weak to go warring on its own alongside Germany. Yep, even weaker than in WW1.



~Wiz