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But was the referendum a fair and independent one, recognized and verified by the international community, or was it a sham referendum under threat of invasion,
by ChuckNorris89 4y ago
But was the referendum a fair and independent one, recognized and verified by the international community, or was it a sham referendum under threat of invasion, like the one in Austria for joining Nazi Germany, with a huge YES option in the middle, and a small NO option in the corner[1]?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938_Austrian_Anschluss_referendum#/media/File:Stimmzettel-Anschluss.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938_Austrian_Anschluss_refere...
- coldtea 4y ago>But was the referendum a fair and independent one, recognized and verified by the international community The same "international community" lead by a number of imperialist and colonialist countries still at the time maintaining protectorates and colonies all around the world whose local populations fought with huge toil for their independece? That would be like the pot recognizing and verifying the validity of the kettle's blackness...
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago>The same "international community" lead by a number of imperialist and colonialist countries OK, touché! True, most of Europe was a mess back then, with every country trying to establish an empire or defend itself from being invaded by one. There weren't many countries you could count on for an independent perspective. You had to be pro $SOME_EMPIRE and against $SOME_OTHER_EMPIRE. Unless you were Switzerland, there was no middle-ground option.
- pohuing 4y agoIt's noteworthy that Anschluß had huge support in the 20s and 30s but the Entente forbade a unification of the newly shrunken Austria and Germany. Had the referendum happened earlier it might well have passed without such underhanded tactics.