A Day That Shook The World: Hitler annexes Austria

(Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On 14 March 1938, Austria opened its borders to German troops, extending an ecstatic welcome to their new Nazi rulers.

Hitler entered Vienna - the city in which he'd spent so long living in poverty - in triumph. The vast majority of the Austrian people supported the takeover, overwhelmingly keen to join in with Hitler's Third Reich. It was yet another step on the path to the start of the Second World War.

Watch original footage from Hitler's triumphant return to Vienna in this British Pathé video, above.