Not all Fascists Are Nazis - Civil War in Austria | BETWEEN 2 WARS I 1934 Part 2 of 4 - YouTube (1)

So what do you do when you have to choose between Fascism and Naziism? Hard choice?

Well, if only one of them comes with independence you might take that one - this is what conservative

politician Engelbert Dolfuss does when he decides to become the Fascist Dictator of

Austria in 1934.

Welcome to Between-2-Wars a chronological summary of the interwar years, covering all

facets of life, the uncertainty, hedonism, and euphoria, and ultimately humanity's

descent into the darkness of the Second World War. I'm Indy Neidell.

In 1934, Austria is a reduced power, struggling to stay independent from Germany. The country

faces persistent financial challenges after being rocked by the German banking crisis,

which actually started in Austria with the collapse of Austria's biggest bank, Kreditsanstalt

in 1931. It is also plagued by political violence from armed militias of the Communists, Social

Democrats, Conservatives, Fascists, and Nazis. And caught in a vice between the Italian Fascists

and the German Nazis, domestic policy is increasingly divisive in this landlocked mountainous, little

country that was until just a few months ago a nascent democracy.

But this isn't how it's always been.

In fact, for several centuries, Austria's power was the envy of Central Europe. It was

the dominant state of the Holy Roman Empire and then one of the five great European powers

in the nineteenth century. Although ruled by a German-speaking elite centered around

the Habsburg dynasty, it was a multilingual and multicultural empire. Its millions of

subjects ranged from Germans to Croats to Italians to Poles to Czechs and many, many

more.

But as the rising tide of national feeling began to spread across Europe, this diversity

would prove its downfall. Calls for independence grow louder and louder, and Austria even loses

significant chunks of territory in the second half of the nineteenth century. Mounting pressure

from another German-speaking Great power, Prussia, also threatened the Empire.

When the idea of a unified pan-Germanic nation starts to gain popularity after the 1848 Revolutions,

the struggle, led by Prussia, towards this goal risks marginalizing Vienna's power. The

pan-German movement had always been influential in the Austrian Empire but not powerful enough

to counter the Austro-centric view of the leadership. Eventually, the German question

leads to war between Austria and the Prussian led German states in 1866.

The Prussian side comes out better, and to counter its own decline, Austria is forced

to agree to the elevation of the Kingdom of Hungary as an equal partner. The Dual Kingdom

of Austria and Hungary or the Austro-Hungarian Empire is formed. The two 'sides' mostly run

things independently of each other, apart from foreign policy and military matters which

come under joint oversight. The Habsburgs also remain as the ruling imperial dynasty.

But the Union does little to save Austria. In the end, the separatist emotions plaguing

the Empire, combined with pressure from neighboring countries, contribute to pushing Austro-Hungary

and the rest of the world into the conflict that will be the Habsburgs' downfall: The

Great War.

After the war, the Treaties of Saint Germain and Trianon split the Dual -Kingdoms, and

the Empire is dismantled.

Austria loses most of its non-German speaking territories. But even some German-speaking

regions are snatched away. This is, to some degree, an effect of complicated ethnic borderlands,

making it impossible to draw a border that will satisfy all national groups. For example,

the “Sudetenland” goes to Czechoslovakia, but it is not, and never has been a geopolitical

reality. Instead, it's a loosely defined region populated by ethnic Germans which straddles

the provinces of Moravia and Bohemia. In fact, the term "Sudetenland” only enters common

usage in the 1920s, arising from a need to categorize what is now under threat.

The once-mighty Empire is now suddenly a landlocked republic, stripped of much of its industry.

This immediately raises questions over its viability, and nationalist affinity with a

similarly neutered Germany leads to hopes of unification. The Allies have already seen

this coming, forbidding such a union in the treaties of Versailles and Saint Germain.

Nevertheless, for many Austrians, unification still seems the only means of survival.

But this isn't the only cause of friction in the country. Austrian politics is dominated

by two parties whose political rhetoric could not be more opposed. On one side is the Social

Democrats. Though reformist and moderate in practice, the party regularly espouse Marxist

ideals of class war in speeches and newspapers. Such rhetoric strikes fear into the hearts

of many devout Catholics and landowners, driving them towards the conservative Christian Social

Party. This is likely what makes the Christian Socials the strongest party in the country.

In the 1920's they produce the majority of federal Chancellors.

But there is no end to the people happy to challenge their power. One such person is

Walter Pfrimer, leader of a regional chapter of the Heimwehr - a paramilitary organization

similar to Germany's Freikorps. Now, like many Heimwehr leaders, Pfrimer is disdainful

of parliamentary democracy. Unlike many Heimwehr leaders, Pfrimer is also hostile to the Christian

Social Party, whose Austrian nationalism is anathema to his pan-German dreams.

No doubt hoping to replicate Mussolini's seizure of power, on 13 September 1931, Pfrimer

stages a coup, marching his Styria Heimwher unit on Vienna. But the whole affair is pretty

poorly organized and the putsch is suppressed quickly by authorities in just one day, earning

Pfrimer the title of "half-day dictator." The Christian Socials have lived to see another

day.

But on 20 May 1932, they appoint a new chancellor who will change the fortunes of the Austrian

Republic forever.

Engelbert Dollfuss is born in Texing in 1892 as the illegitimate son of a peasant couple.

Despite his humble beginnings, he excels in school, and his enthusiasm as an altar boy

leads to his parish priest securing a scholarship for him to study at a religious school. In

1913, he travels to the University of Vienna to study for the priesthood, but ends up dropping

out and studied law instead. His studies are interrupted by the Great War, which he insists

on fighting despite technically being too short to do so. You see, Dollfuss is only

150 cm tall, which is 5 cm below the minimum height requirement. That's 4'9” in feet

and inches. Nevertheless, he fights valiantly. His wartime experience instills in him a strong

sense of an Austrian nation as something separate from Germany, returning from the front fully

committed to the Austrian Republic.

He also continues his studies, spending a year in Berlin on a scholarship from the Lower

Austrian Peasant League, an arm of the Christian Social Party. Upon his return, he becomes

the organizations' secretary. He is instrumental in reforming the Provincial Agricultural Council

into the Chamber of Agriculture of Lower Austria, eventually becoming its director in 1927.

He now starts a rapid rise in politics, becoming minister of the federal railways in 1930 and

minister of agriculture from 1931. In May 1932 he becomes Chancellor at the head of

a conservative coalition led by his party.

Throughout his political life, Dollfuss has considered the peasantry to be the most crucial

segment of society. In his worldview, the peasants form the foundation of a nation.

In November 1932 he declares that; "our struggle for existence would be for naught if the most

important, indeed the only, basis for the state were lost, namely German customs and

the Catholic faith, which are most thoroughly anchored in the peasantry." His political

philosophy is critical of liberal capitalism and instead infuses Catholicism and the worship

of peasantry with a socio-economic system of corporatism, which essentially advocates

that society should be organized into corporate groups that work like human organs to contribute

to the overall health of the nation, and can quickly be ruled by a select group.

Like the rest of his Christian Socials, he is a committed Austrian nationalist. However,

he has become Chancellor at a time of rising pan-German sentiment.

In fact, he is even forced to form a coalition government with the Landbund, a German nationalist

party with a mostly Protestant electoral base. Luckily for Dollfuss, their influence is muted

somewhat by another coalition partner, the Heimatblock, the political wing of the Heimwehr

who are much more sympathetic to Austrian nationalism.

They vow to drag Austria out of the economic slump it has found itself in since the Great

Depression. It has caused widespread dissatisfaction throughout the country, no doubt contributing

to the steadily growing National Socialist movement. Dissatisfied Heimwehr members have

swelled its ranks since Pfrimers failed putsch and The Nazis of the Austrian Nazis, the German

Nationalist Socialist's Party DNSAP now adds to an already complicated political militia

landscape. The Heimwehr have been opposed by the Social Democrat militia, the Republikanischer

Schutzbund - the Republican Protection League. They, in turn, not only recruit from the Social

Democrats, but also from the KPÖ, the Communists. The League now finds itself opposed both to

the Heimwehr and the Nazis, who are opposed to each other. Fighting all of them is the

Freiheitsbund, the Freedom League, a Conservative based militia like the Heimwehr. However,

unlike the Heinwehr, The Freedom League is firmly dedicated to protecting Liberal Democracy,

while also putting up violent resistance to the left.

But Dolfuss soon gets an opportunity to counter the rising Nazi tide.

On March 4, 1933, the National Council (the lower house of the parliament) is debating

how to solve an ongoing railway workers' strike. The final vote is expected to be extremely

close, so much so that the political decisions taken to win the vote will result in the parliament

literally eliminating itself.

Now, the constitutional makeup of the First Republic is pretty complicated. But basically,

the National Council has a President as well as a second and third President, who together

are responsible for running political affairs and administrative proceedings. The Presidents

are elected and belong to political parties just like every other National Council member,

but they are not allowed to vote. Following uproar around a previous ballot, Karl Renner

resigns from his position as First President so that he can give his Social Democrat party

an extra vote. Second President, Rudolf Ramek takes up his post. But he too then resigns

so he can cast his vote for the Christian Social Party. Third President, Sepp Straffner

is now in charge of things, but as you might already expect, he too resigns so that he

can vote for his Greater German People's Party.

The National Council now finds itself in a bit of a problem. You see, there has to be

a sitting president for a vote to take place, but they have all resigned so that they can

vote. Parliament has effectively become paralyzed and Dollfuss, hardly sympathetic to democratic

tradition in the first place, seizes his chance.

Claiming that the ongoing crisis is “not provided for in the constitution," he puts

the Council out of session. Using the 1917 Wartime Economy Authority Law he seizes power

to ensure it would be the last session. He claims that he has done this following what

he terms "Selbstausschaltung des Parlaments" (the self-elimination of the parliament).

But it is nothing short of a coup d 'état. The law curtails freedom of the press and

freedom of assembly, beginning the process which will see Austria slide into a dictatorship.

In fact, Dollfuss has more or less instituted a fascist, or rather an 'Austrofascist,' regime.

As we have seen before, Fascism can be a pretty hard concept to define, and “Austrofascism”

has some pretty unique characteristics to it.

It develops out of two strands. First is Dolfuss' own staunchly conservative and nationalist

Christian Social Party. It has strong traditions of anti-Semitism, anti-Socialism, and anti-liberalism.

The second strand comes from the fear generated by the Marxist revolutions in Hungary and

Bavaria in 1919. These events seem to confirm that the specter of communism really is haunting

Europe. Now many look to Italian Fascism as a way to counter it. Even more like its Italian