Engelbert Dollfuss (Engelbert Dollfuß, ; 4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian fascist politician who served as Chancellor of Austria between 1932 and 1934.
After graduating from high school, Dollfuss intended to become a priest, and thus he enrolled at the University of Vienna to study theology, but after a few months changed course and started studying law in 1912.
By 1916 he was promoted to lieutenant. After the war, he was still a student and was employed by the Lower Austrian Peasants' Union, which helped him to secure his material existence, and it was here where Dollfuss gained his first political experience.
In addition, the Soviet Union's influence in Europe had increased throughout the 1920s and early 1930s.
He was seen as an unofficial leader of the Austrian peasantry. On 1 October 1930 Dollfuss was appointed the president of the Federal Railways, the largest industrial corporation in Austria.
In addition, the Soviet Union's influence in Europe had increased throughout the 1920s and early 1930s.
In March 1931, he was appointed Federal Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. == Chancellor of Austria == On 10 May 1932, Dollfuss, age 39 and with only one year's experience in the Federal Government, was offered the office of Chancellor by President Wilhelm Miklas, also a member of the Christian-Social Party.
Engelbert Dollfuss (Engelbert Dollfuß, ; 4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian fascist politician who served as Chancellor of Austria between 1932 and 1934.
Having served as Minister for Forests and Agriculture, he ascended to Federal Chancellor in 1932 in the midst of a crisis for the conservative government.
In March 1931, he was appointed Federal Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. == Chancellor of Austria == On 10 May 1932, Dollfuss, age 39 and with only one year's experience in the Federal Government, was offered the office of Chancellor by President Wilhelm Miklas, also a member of the Christian-Social Party.
Dollfuss was sworn in on 20 May 1932 as head of a coalition government between the Christian-Social Party, the Landbund — a right-wing agrarian party — and Heimatblock, the parliamentary wing of the Heimwehr, a paramilitary ultra-nationalist group.
In early 1933, he dissolved parliament and assumed dictatorial powers.
Postwar Austria was therefore economically disadvantaged. Dollfuss' majority in Parliament was marginal; his government had only a one-vote majority. == Dollfuss as dictator of Austria == In March 1933, an argument arose over irregularities in the voting procedure.
From that point onwards, he governed as dictator by emergency decree with absolute power. Dollfuss was concerned that with German National Socialist leader Adolf Hitler becoming Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Austrian National Socialists (DNSAP) could gain a significant minority in future elections (according to fascism scholar Stanley G.
Payne, should elections have been held in 1933, the DNSAP could have mustered about 25% of the votes – contemporary Time magazine analysts suggest a higher support of 50%, with a 75% approval rate in the Tyrol region bordering Nazi Germany).
Dollfuss banned the communists on 26 May 1933 and the DNSAP on 19 June 1933.
In August 1933, Benito Mussolini's regime issued a guarantee of Austrian independence.
Dollfuss survived an assassination attempt in October 1933 by Rudolf Dertill, a 22-year-old who had been ejected from the military for his national socialist views. === Austrian civil war === In February 1934 the security forces provoked arrests of Social Democrats and searches for weapons of the Social Democrats' already outlawed Republikanischer Schutzbund.
The session retrospectively made all the decrees already passed since March 1933 legal.
Engelbert Dollfuss (Engelbert Dollfuß, ; 4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian fascist politician who served as Chancellor of Austria between 1932 and 1934.
Suppressing the Socialist movement in February 1934 during the Austrian Civil War and later banning the Austrian Nazi Party, he cemented the rule of "Austrofascism" through the authoritarian First of May Constitution.
Dollfuss was assassinated as part of a failed coup attempt by Nazi agents in 1934.
Dollfuss survived an assassination attempt in October 1933 by Rudolf Dertill, a 22-year-old who had been ejected from the military for his national socialist views. === Austrian civil war === In February 1934 the security forces provoked arrests of Social Democrats and searches for weapons of the Social Democrats' already outlawed Republikanischer Schutzbund.
The Social Democrats were outlawed, and their leaders were imprisoned or fled abroad. === New constitution === Dollfuss staged a parliamentary session with just his party members present in April 1934 to have his new constitution approved, effectively the second constitution in the world espousing corporatist ideas after that of the Portuguese Estado Novo.
The new constitution became effective on 1 May 1934 and swept away the last remnants of democracy and the system of the first Austrian Republic. == Assassination == Dollfuss was assassinated on 25 July 1934 by ten Austrian Nazis (Paul Hudl, Franz Holzweber, Otto Planetta and others) of Regiment 89 who entered the Chancellery building and shot him in an attempted coup d'état.
His successor Kurt Schuschnigg maintained the regime until Adolf Hitler's annexation of Austria in 1938. == Early life == Dollfuss was born to a poor, peasant family in the hamlet of Great Maierhof in the commune of St.
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