Did Bismarck's refusal to annex Austria serve as a cause for WWI and II?

<h3>Did Bismarck's refusal to annex Austria serve as a cause for WWI and II?</h3>

We were discussing this in class and while Bismarck wanted a "Kleindeutsch" it is obvious that Hitler was in favor of "Großdeutsch." Assuming that Bismarck had annexed Austria and gave independence to the Hungarians, would this have altered the events that led to WWI and later on WWII? If Austria would have been part of Germany would anything that happened to Franz Ferdinand still have been relevant? I am not taking a position on this but am very curious to see what others think.


<strong>Austria best answer:</strong>
<p><i>Answer by Felix Dzerzhinsky</i><br/>Nah I don't think so. That is a relatively small factor in the scheme of things and really would not have drastically changed the political layout. (Austria-Hungary and then Austria both sided with Germany in the World Wars anyway, Austrian annexation was only a small part of German Nationalism.</p>
<p><strong>Salzburg, Austria</strong>
<img alt="Austria" src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4032/4368894404_5588e59b69.jpg" width="400"/><br/>
<i>Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/94621122@N00/4368894404">Thomas R. Stegelmann</a></i>
Photo taken from Hohen Salzburg in Austria</p>

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