The events of March 12, 1938, marked the culmination of
historical cross-national pressures to unify the German
populations of Austria and Germany under one nation. However,
the 1938 Anschluss, regardless of its popularity, was forcibly
enacted by Germany. Earlier, Hitlerian Germany had provided
support for the Austrian National Socialist Party in its bid to
seize power from Austria's Austrofascist leadership. Fully
devoted to remaining independent but amidst growing pressures,
the chancellor of Austria, Kurt Schuschnigg, tried to hold a
plebiscite. Although he expected Austria to vote in favor of
maintaining autonomy, a well-planned internal overthrow by the
Austrian Nazi Party of Austria's state institutions in Vienna
took place on March 11, prior to the vote. With power quickly
transferred over to Germany, the Wehrmacht troops entered
Austria to enforce the Anschluss. The Nazis held a plebiscite
within the following month, where they received 99.73 percent of
the vote. No fighting ever took place and the s