There have always been a number of german speaking states with close cultural ties. The german identity goes back to the battle of Varus [1], they say. This is 8-9 centuries before the formation of the holy roman empire (aka &quot;First Reich&quot;). The holy roman empire reached a huge size, but ultimately fell apart after French intervention. The two strongest parties within this empire were Austria in the south and Prussia in the north. There was, at most times, a sense of rivalry.
This empire falling apart did of course not mean that these parts of the world suddenly stopped being inhabited by people who called themselves &quot;Germans&quot;. Imagine the US breaking up today. You got lots of them in what is now northern Italy and in Eastern Europe (now Czech Republic, Poland, ..). Notably, after the &#x27;First Reich&#x27; falling apart, Austria under the Habsburg monarchy and its complicated alliance with Prussia stayed intact.<p>Soon, Prussia asserted its dominance over Austria (see the battle of Koniggratz [2]) and the result was an alliance under Prussias benevolent control. This battle is also interesting for how military technology (the Prussians had more modern rifles) can alter world history IMO.<p>What was next was the &#x27;Second Reich&#x27;, Imperial Germany -- still in alliance with the austrian monarchy. This ended in WW1. After WW1, the winning nations imposed a set of restrictions on the loosing nations (concerning the armament they are allowed and demanding huge reparation payments) and they also lost further land. The austrian monarchy was no more and Austria entered the period of Austro-Fascism as the tiny nation that it is today.<p>In this historical context, I believe that it is not at all surprising that Austrians wanted back to former power: Europe has been a war-torn continent in all of recorded history before then. Austria having old enemies (as a former super power does), being set in a geographical location that is in everyone&#x27;s way must have seemed like a scary prospect - especially given the disadvantage after loosing WW1. The conditions imposed by the winning nations must have been causing a lot of issues and bad spirit. I think it&#x27;s important to note that (IMO) you wouldn&#x27;t have needed to be a fascist to want the Anschluss! Putting myself into these peoples shoes, only knowing what I believe they knew -- I could imagine myself being in favour, too!<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Battle_of_the_Teutoburg_Forest" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Battle_of_the_Teutoburg_Forest</a>
[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Battle_of_K%C3%B6niggr%C3%A4tz" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Battle_of_K%C3%B6niggr%C3%A4tz</a>