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The Anschluss (German for "connection" or "joining") refers to the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany on March 12, 1938. As a key step in Hitler's expansionist policies, German troops crossed the border into Austria, unopposed, to create a "Greater Germany," violating the Treaty of Versailles.
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The invasion of Poland, starting September 1, 1939, by Nazi Germany, marked the beginning of World War II, using swift "Blitzkrieg" tactics, with the Soviet Union invading from the east on September 17, as planned in the secret Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, leading to Poland's partition and occupation by both totalitarian powers, triggering declarations of war from Britain and France.
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the Soviet Union led Warsaw Pact troops in an invasion of Czechoslovakia to crack down on reformist trends in Prague