Austrian Civil War and New Constitution
In February 1934, Nazi agents in the security forces provoked arrests of Social Democrats and unjustified searches for weapons of the Social Democrats' already outlawed Republikanischer Schutzbund. After the Dollfuss dictatorship took steps against known Social Democrats, the Social Democrats called for nationwide resistance against the government. A civil war began, which lasted from February 12 until February 27. Fierce fighting took place primarily in the East of Austria, especially in the streets of some outer Vienna districts, where large fortress-like municipal workers' buildings were situated, and in the northern, industrial areas of the province of Styria, where Nazi agents had great interest in a bloodbath between security forces and workers' militias. The resistance was suppressed by police and military power. The Social Democrats were outlawed, and their leaders were imprisoned or fled abroad.
Read more about this topic: Engelbert Dollfuss
Famous quotes containing the words austrian, civil, war and/or constitution:
“An Austrian army, awfully arrayd,
Boldly by battery besiege Belgrade;
Cossack commanders cannonading come,
Deal devastations dire destructive doom;”
—Alaric Alexander Watts (17971864)
“The Civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, be infringed.”
—James Madison (17511836)
“The slanders poured down like Niagara. If you take into consideration the settingthe war and the revolutionand the character of the accusedrevolutionary leaders of millions who were conducting their party to the sovereign poweryou can say without exaggeration that July 1917 was the month of the most gigantic slander in world history.”
—Leon Trotsky (18791940)
“The Constitution and the laws are supreme and the Union indissoluble.”
—Andrew Jackson (17671845)