Meaning of Anschluss

Anschluss is a Germarm word meaning "joining together." It is a word that was heard a great deal in the years before World War II. Germany and Austria were two separate countries then, as they are now, but Adolf Hitler, the German dictator, wanted to join them together as one country. His argument was that they spoke the same language and so should be united. Some of the Austrian people wanted to join with Germany, but not all of them. They would not vote for Anschluss.

So Hitler sent the German armies into Austria, in 1938, and forced the Anschluss. It was about the same thing as if the United States sent its armies into Canada to make Canada become part of the United States, because the people speak the same language and the countries are next to each other. When World War II ended, Austria became a separate country again