A day after sending troops into Austria, Adolf Hitler announced that the country of his birth would be subsumed into the Third Reich. In “Anschluss and the Future” (April 16, 1938), I.G. Rogin wrote:
As the smoke of the Austrian exploision clears away and Europe is seen to be so much nearer the precipice, the military-economic experts are busy taking inventory of the new situation.… Difficult as the situation is to analyze, certain facts force themselves upon the observer. The absorption even of Austria will require a period of adjustment and economic digestion. The ingestion of Czechoslovakia, should that occur peacefully with or without annexation, would be an even more painful process, since Czechoslovakia, while more self-sufficient in food, absorbs about as much in the way of raw materials as Austria and requires greater markets. With or without Czechoslovakia, however, Germany can exercise a preponderant influence in Europe through its domination of the Balkans. If it continues to turn to the east, it will be the more difficult for France and England to find reasons for fighting. Europe may gain a brief respite by tossing the Balkans to the wolves. But the Balkans end at Constantinople, and beyond lies the road to world empire.
