Anschluss

The German term Anschluss (literally connection, attachment, inclusion) refers in specific political terms to the inclusion of Austria in a "Greater Germany". This is as to Ausschluss, the exclusion of Austria from Germany, usually under implied Prussian domination.

Anschluss was the subject of inconclusive debate prior to the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the idea of Anschluss received the veto of the Treaty of Versailles in 1918/1919. However, Nazi Germany achieved Anschluss by the annexation of Austria on March 13, 1938 (a day after Nazi troops arrived): this melding of the German nation lasted until the end of World War II in 1945.