After WWI, under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was limited to a very small army. Furthermore, Germany was forbidden from uniting with Austria (as it had during WWI). Many Germans were angry about the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. As Germany suffered economic collapse during the 1920s and 1930s, Germans began to look for a leader that could restore Germany to its former glory. After becoming Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Hitler began to challenge the Versailles Treaty. In March of 1938, German troops moved into Austria in order to annex Austria and unite the two countries under Nazi rule. • In April of 1938, Germans and Austrians were given the opportunity to ratify the annexation in a public vote. When the votes were tallied, 98.9% of Germans and 99.71% of Austrians had voted to ratify the annexation of Austria. Even given the unpopularity of the Treaty of Versailles, this seems like an incredible margin of victory. This has led historians to closely examine the tactics that the Nazi party leaders used to ensure their desired result on the referendum.
