Impact of a Restored Austria-Hungary/Habsburg Dynastic Rule on WW2.

[Basileus_Komnenos]

During the Interwar Years, there were quite a number of attempts to restore the Habsburgs to their thrones in either/both Austria and Hungary. In the 20's Blessed Karl I of Austria and IV of Hungary personally tried to take over Hungary in the 20's. In the 30's Chancellor Engelbert Dolfuss took the reigns of power in Austria and was personal friends with Mussolini going as far as to obtain tacit support for a Habsburg restoration.

Supposing the Habsburgs are restored to power as part of a reconstituted rump Austria-Hungary, how would WW2 take shape? Would Hitler ally with the Little Entente as a means to make the Anschluss more acceptable in international eyes, and then betray the Czechoslovaks with later demands to annex the Sudetenland? Or would the Little Entente unravel?

 

[KaiserKatze]

During the Interwar Years, there were quite a number of attempts to restore the Habsburgs to their thrones in either/both Austria and Hungary. In the 20's Blessed Karl I of Austria and IV of Hungary personally tried to take over Hungary in the 20's. In the 30's Chancellor Engelbert Dolfuss took the reigns of power in Austria and was personal friends with Mussolini going as far as to obtain tacit support for a Habsburg restoration.

Supposing the Habsburgs are restored to power as part of a reconstituted rump Austria-Hungary, how would WW2 take shape? Would Hitler ally with the Little Entente as a means to make the Anschluss more acceptable in international eyes, and then betray the Czechoslovaks with later demands to annex the Sudetenland? Or would the Little Entente unravel?

Personally, I feel that this would drive a wedge between the members of the Little Entente and make German alignment harder to avoid. Yugoslavia and Romania would both feel themselves to be under direct threat and could very likely turn to Germany for support. The Czechs can't align with Germany so would mostly be left isolated unless they swallowed their pride and approached Poland.

Austria-Hungary would quickly become an issue between Italy and Germany, quite possibly enough of one to fully prevent their alignment. If that is the case, then we might see Germany and Italy both trying to win over the Entente to their side against the other.

Germany wouldn't be able to pursue its goals in Austria (and without Austria has a much weaker claim on the Sudetenland) so annexation might be pushed to '38 or later, and would probably be against Poland, first. With Italy supporting the return of A-H and their own claims on the Balkans, Germany might be seen as a more stabilising force opposite them, depending on certain factors.

 

[Kronistry]

Germany wouldn't be able to pursue its goals in Austria (and without Austria has a much weaker claim on the Sudetenland) so annexation might be pushed to '38 or later, and would probably be against Poland, first. With Italy supporting the return of A-H and their own claims on the Balkans, Germany might be seen as a more stabilising force opposite them, depending on certain factors

Knowing Hitler, I think he would have seen A-H as a big threat to his "Grossdeutsches Reich" and would have tried to break it. After, all, he wanted to unite all the Germans under one state, so an existing A-H at his southern border would be an heresy for him. The biggest effect ITTL would be the potential German-polish relationship. Warsaw could get closer to Berlin and thus fulfill Hitler's initial plan to make Poland a German puppet... Ally, to then attack the USSR. So, Germany could conquer its 'lebensraum' without risking a direct war with the UK and France (which wasn't Hitler's plan at all, he wanted to head East, not West).