User:Msrainynight/sandbox

The Austrian Anschluss (lit. 'joining' or 'connection') referendum of 9 March 1940 was a plebiscite on the annexation of German-Austria by the German Social Republic. With a slim majority of 52.23% in favor of unification, the result of the referendum was considered extremely controversial both in Austria and abroad and remains the subject of much debate to this day.

Although the two countries had been permitted to establish a customs union and defense pact in the Regensburg Accords of 1920, their immediate political unification was rejected by both the United Kingdom and the principal allied powers at large. Instead, a referendum on integration was to take place within 20 years time of the Treaty of Den Haag's signing so long as Germany adhered to the terms of the treaty and "sincerely supported the postbellum international order".

While the Yes vote was supported by the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria, the No vote was backed by the right-wing Christian Social Party and the Communist Party of Austria. Austrian proponents of political catholicism rejected unification on the grounds of German Kulturkampf policies, whereas Austrian communists heavily criticized the Noske regime for its repressive labor policies and persecution of socialist politicians. Both camps faced attacks from pro-German paramilitaries in the months leading up to the referendum, led by Franco-German continuation war veteran Richard Steidle and supposedly supported by Generaloberst Waldemar Pabst, then commander-in-chief of the Republikanische Reichswehr. Right-wing and communist sources alike allege that the favorable outcome of the referendum was ultimately a result of voter intimidation by pro-German agents.

The German annexation of Austria is now generally considered to have been the inciting incident of World War II, as it further inflamed tensions between the socialist Triple Entente and the North Sea Powers and would lead to war between Germany and the Italian Socialist Republic.