If Hitler was of Austrian birth, why was he so patriotic towards Germany?

Perhaps the most important political lesson he (Hitler) derived from his time in Vienna, however, was a deep contemt for state and law. There is no reason to disbelieve his later statement that as a follower of Schoenerer he considered the Habsburg monarchy to be the oppressor of the Germanic race, forcing it to mix with others and denying it the chance of uniting with Germans in the Reich. 'If the species itself is in danger of being oppressed or utterly eliminated,' he wrote, 'the question of legality is reduced to a subordinate rule.' Racial self-preservation was a higher principal than legality, which often be no more than a cloak for tyranny. Any means were justified in this struggle. Moreover, the 'rotten state' of the Habsburgs was completely dominated by parliamentarism, a political system for which Hitler acquired an abiding contempt by spending a great deal of time in the public gallery of the Austrian Parliament, where parties of rival nationalities shouted and screamed at each other, each in its own language, and prevented anything much being achieved. He conceived a special hared for the Czechs, who were specially disruptive. It was Schoenerer's mistake to try and reach his goal through Parliament, he thought. Hitler concluded that only a strong leader directly elected by the people could get anything done.

You have to understand that, when Hitler was born, Austria (and later Austria-Hungary) had been by far the most important German-speaking nation for several hundred years (and had by far the biggest land area), and had only lost that status to "Germany" when Germany became a unified nation in 1871. Previously the German lands had been a collection of sometimes squabbling princedoms, provinces, etc without a central leadership.

After WW1 Austria was reduced to the small nation you now see on the map.

Even Germany, after unification in 1871, had its borders substantially changed three times between 1918 and 1992.

He said he moved to Munich in 1913 to avoid conscription in the Austro-Hungarian Army. He said he didn't want to serve Austria Hungary because they allowed a mixture of races in the armed forces. When WW1 broke out in 1914 he volunteered to fight for the Bavarian Army. After WW1 he went back to Munich. Shortly before he was paroled from prison in Bavaria in 1924 the Bavarian government tried to have him deported back to Austria. But the Austrian government rejected it claiming Hitler's Austrian citizenship was void because he fought for Bavaria during the war. In 1925 Hitler formally renounced his Austrian citizenship. He wasn't an official citizen of any country from 1925 until he legally became a citizen of Germany in 1932.

Austria is/was a tiny country compared to Germany, not capable of mounting a campaign to take over the world.

He didn't like the Austrian army due to how diverse and divided it was and decided the join the German army instead. I can understand why he thought so - The Austrian army took forever to crush Serbia due to how divided it was.

This actually illustrates the concept of "nation vs. state" that many Americans find difficult to understand.

In this context, "nation" refers to people who share common culture, history, language, etc. "State" refers to governments and borders drawn on a map. Contrary to what many Americans believe, therefore, "Nationalism" does not just mean "my country is the best country," it means "my PEOPLE are the best people."

Hitler was a German nationalist...with "German" referring to the "nationhood" of the Germanic people...thus, Hitler's "Germany" was not just defined by lines on a map...but instead included places from the Alsace region of France to deep within what today are the countries of Poland and Slovakia.

In a modern context, this is what ISIS is trying to achieve today...and what Saddam Hussein saw as his goal before...an Arabic nation that spans state borders, unified by culture and ideology.

Because boundaries, especially in Central Europe don't mean much. He was of German ethnicity, he spoke German, and where he was born had been German at various times in history. His concept of Germany was everywhere people spoke German.

He believed that austria was part of germany.

Oh, look, the "Hitler/Austria" loonbag has escaped from his life sentence at the nut house again.

gggggg