Aftermath
Foreign Response
France
France was far too busy with internal political upheaval to care what was going on outside its borders, let alone do anything about it, as Hitler had carefully calculated before invading.
Great Britain
In Great Britain, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain approved of appeasing Hitler in hopes of preventing another world war. Likewise, the populace desperately did not want to have to go to war over action hundreds of miles away, which they believed were harmless and justified. Only a few, including Winston Churchill, saw Hitler's use of force as a direct threat to their nation.
Results
Hitler's bloodless conquest of Austria bought him seven million people, a hundred-thousand-man army, considerable natural resources, and the Austrian treasury. Nazi Germany also became the dominate power in southeastern Europe and surrounded Czechoslovakia (which held three million ethnic Germans) on three sides. Hitler had also learned he could use force in his diplomacy, because the other European powers were eager to appease him to prevent a world war. Unlike him, they valued their peoples lives more than the power that could be gained by conquest. He would use this knowledge skillfully in his later negotiations with the France and Great Britain over Czechoslovakia. (Go to Czechoslovakia)
Persecution of Jews, Political Dissidents, and Other Groups
Soon after the Anschluss, Austrian Nazis would begin to openly persecute Austrian Jews. Their stores were seized, their homes robbed, and any Jew who did not immediately comply was imprisoned. Legislature forced Jews from their jobs, limited their rights, and banned them from having any say in the government of their nation. Money and valuables were extorted from Jews when they tried to flee their country.
Those who left were the lucky ones. A concentration camp was established at Mauthausen, near Linz, where the Jews who had not left were interned and used for hard labor. Around 120,000 prisoners died from overwork in the camp's granite mines or were 'shot while attempting to escape,' often another term for 'murdered.' Mauthausen was not the first concentration camp, but it was one of the largest. Political prisoners were also imprisoned, including former Chancellor Schuschnigg, who was sent to Sachsenhausen after a period of house arrest.
Those who left were the lucky ones. A concentration camp was established at Mauthausen, near Linz, where the Jews who had not left were interned and used for hard labor. Around 120,000 prisoners died from overwork in the camp's granite mines or were 'shot while attempting to escape,' often another term for 'murdered.' Mauthausen was not the first concentration camp, but it was one of the largest. Political prisoners were also imprisoned, including former Chancellor Schuschnigg, who was sent to Sachsenhausen after a period of house arrest.