Deleted member 1487
If say the Nazi plan to destabilize the Austrian state was more successful leading into 1937 and considering the Italians had already come onside enough with Germany not to block them again as they had in 1934, what impact would a June 1937 Anschluss have on European politics and German rearmament? Let's say for the sake of argument that after this Hitler doesn't go after Czechoslovakia for at least 12 months. At this point French rearmament isn't well progressed, Britain is still pretty pro-Germany, the Rheinland issue is over 12 months old, the Spanish CW is ongoing, and the Poles are still firmly neutral in terms of Germany. The Austrian economy IOTL was pretty heavily looted for German rearmament, but in 1937, roughly 9 months before OTL, the German economy isn't quite as poorly off in terms of foreign exchange as they could be in 1938, but its still not a great situation. Austria though could provide iron and oil to the German economy, but not in game changing amounts (Matzen hadn't been discovered yet, nor had the Mittersil Tungsten mine), but earlier investments would boost oil production in the Vienna basin sooner (IOTL by 1943 it was producing over 1 million tons a year up from IIRC 80k tons per year in 1938 due to investments in extraction). Plus the Austrian military provided roughly 50k men and officers that joined the German army and were a major help in military expansion, while Austria soon became a site for major factory construction like the St. Valentin tank factory and later the Ostmark engine facility as it was outside of British and French bombing range.
Would that early annexation have any appreciably impact on Allied rearmament (could it given they had limited budgets?) and would it have improved the German rearmament position by getting access about 9 months early to its resources and manpower?
Would that early annexation have any appreciably impact on Allied rearmament (could it given they had limited budgets?) and would it have improved the German rearmament position by getting access about 9 months early to its resources and manpower?