Hitler deported back to Austria

I was watching this documentary on the life of Hitler and this point was raised. When Hitler volunteered to serve in the 16th Bavarian Infantry Reserve Regiment, he should have been deported back to Austria because he wasn't a German citizen at the time (he didn't get his German citizenship until February 25, 1932). Instead a clerical error (and the likelihood that Germany needed all the troops it could get) allowed him to fight for Germany. How might things have changed if Hitler had been sent back to Austria and possibly drafted to serve in the Austro-Hungarian army?
 
As he joined in 1914, he would most likely have been sent to the Russian Front where with any luck he'd freeze to death. I can't see the Austro-Hungarian Army being impressed with his attempt to join the German Army so they'd likely find him the worst possible spot to serve.
 
Assuming Hitler doesn't die his chances of being anything more than a tin-pot dictator are severely limited. Even if we assume that he manages to take control of Austria (a big if) it's too small to be more than a minor power (to the point where Hitler would basically be Mussolini's lackey rather than vice versa).
 
Actually, Hitler could have been drafted into the Austrian army earlier. He moved from Vienna to Munich in 1913, probably at least in part to evade the Austrian draft, but Austrian authorities were aware of him, he received a summons to return to Austria, and in February 1914 travelled to Salzburg to present himself at the call-up office, and was found physically unfit. What if the Austrian army had less exacting medical standards?

As in OTL, let's say Hitler isn't killed in the war. Can he become a successful German politician, if he again moves to Germany? Even leaving aside the fact that he will not have the job as an "education" officer with the German army that helped him launch his political career in 1919 (and first introduced him to Drexler's German Workers party), he could no longer say "I fought for the Fatherland" but rather "I would have liked to fight for the Fatherland, but was forced to fight for that accursed multinational Hapsburg Empire instead." Which doesn't quite have the same ring...

If he chose not to return, could he have been successful as an *Austrian* politician? In OTL, the German Nationalists were a weak force in Austrian politics, finishing a poor third to the Christian Socials and the Social Democrats. But maybe that would change with Hitler leading the party; see my post at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/soc.history.what-if/ld_v-qHlNNY/Ilbycbn46MAJ for a discussion.
 
As he joined in 1914, he would most likely have been sent to the Russian Front where with any luck he'd freeze to death.
Assuming OTL's economic isolation and punishment of Germany occurs, we should assume the rise of some militant leader to rise up to lead the Germans against their perceived oppressors. So, we'd better hope it's someone who makes some disastrous military decisions leading to Germany's second defeat.
 

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IIRC he was invalidated out of Austrian military service due to health issues (and the very high fitness standards of the pre-war Habsburg army). He might get drafted in late 1914-early 1915, but he may not get his draft papers until later in 1915 or even 1916, which means he'd avoid the big slaughters in the Carpathians over the first winter of war. After that given his fitness standards he might not end up with the infantry and end up a REMF, as he basically did with the Bavarian army. He might well end up on the Italian front. He could end up captured just as easily as dead or wounded, or even desert as many soldiers did in Habsburg service. Likely he'd end up hating the Habsburgs and their empire even more than he already did IOTL.

One thing is sure, regardless of whatever his fate would be, he'd never take over in Germany and likely wouldn't have amounted to much in Austria post-war.

Assuming OTL's economic isolation and punishment of Germany occurs, we should assume the rise of some militant leader to rise up to lead the Germans against their perceived oppressors. So, we'd better hope it's someone who makes some disastrous military decisions leading to Germany's second defeat.
None of the guys on offer in 1932-33 would have gotten the leeway Hitler did, because they were all Prussian ex-officers and were hated and not trusted by their neighbors. Hitler for all of his antics leading up to his power grab was actually given a ton of leeway by the Brits, Poles, and even French to a degree because he was an Austrian, not a German, and knew how to play the political game far better than the Prussians around Hindenburg did. Likely without an organized Far Right, which probably doesn't happen without Hitler to really rally all the competing personalities and inspire their loyalty, then Röhm and the Strassers, assuming they get to power anyway, would get coopted by Schleicher or someone else. So the traditional elite stay in power and are constrained due to the hyper vigilance that they'd inspire against them and German rearmament, because they were so threatening. Poland probably would topple a Schleicher government if he rose to power. So without Hitler around Germany never gets to revanche; plus the Germans military wouldn't get lobotomized by Hindenburg, who eliminated officers that were anti-Nazi and appointed the pro-Nazi von Blomberg, who further Nazified the military; the strategic minded officer in the end were fired by Hitler IOTL when they opposed his plans for continental war, so its very likely that with them still around without Hitler in the picture that the German military wouldn't be willing to embark on war due to the risks.
 
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