Engelbert Dollfuss
Dollfuss, Engelbert
(ĕng`əlbĕrt dôl`fo͝os), 1892–1934, Austrian chancellor. A Christian Socialist, he rose to prominence as leader of the Lower Austrian Farmers' League and became minister of agriculture in 1931. Appointed chancellor in 1932, he obtained a badly needed international loan in return for a renewal of the pledge to maintain the full independence of Austria. In Mar., 1933, he assumed quasi-dictatorial powers. The increasingly powerful Austrian National Socialist party, backed by Nazi Germany, was the chief threat to the Dollfuss regime and to Austrian independence. Dollfuss dissolved the party in June, 1933. Unwilling or unable to cooperate with the Social Democrats, he relied more and more on alliance with the native Austrian fascists under E. R. von StarhembergStarhemberg, Ernst Rüdiger von,1899–1956, Austrian politician, a descendant of the 17th-century general of the same name. He took part in Hitler's "beer-hall putsch" of 1923 (see Hitler, Adolf) but later opposed Hitler and became (1930) leader of the Heimwehr, an
..... Click the link for more information. . In foreign policy he lacked adequate support of the Western powers and staked the preservation of Austrian independence on friendship with Italy. Pressed by Starhemberg and Mussolini, he enacted provocative measures against the Social Democrats, and in Feb., 1934, he ruthlessly suppressed a Socialist uprising. In Apr., 1934, Austria became a corporative statecorporative state,
economic system inaugurated by the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini in Italy. It was adapted in modified form under other European dictatorships, among them Adolf Hitler's National Socialist regime in Germany and the Spanish regime of Francisco Franco.
..... Click the link for more information. with a one-party, authoritarian system. Dollfuss was assassinated (July 25) by Austrian Nazis, who made an unsuccessful attempt to seize power.
Bibliography
See W. Maass, Assassination in Vienna (1972).
Dollfuss, Engelbert
Born Oct. 4, 1892, in Texing, Lower Austria; died July 25, 1934, in Vienna. Austrian political figure and a leader of the reactionary Christian Socialist Party. In 1931-32 he was minister of agriculture and forestry. In May 1932 he became chancellor and minister of foreign affairs. Dollfuss’ government contributed to the gradual growth of fascism in the country. In May 1933 it banned the Communist party, and in February 1934 it massacred the workers’ Schutzbund. In his foreign policy Dollfuss was oriented toward fascist Italy. On Mar. 17, 1934, Dollfuss, along with the governments of Italy and Hungary, signed the so-called Rome Protocols rendering Austrian policy completely dependent on Italy. Dollfuss was killed by Austrian National Socialists, who were striving for Austria’s incorporation into fascist Germany.