Austrian Civil War

An armed conflict in Austria in February 1934 between government forces and the socialist Schutzbund, ending in the defeat of the socialist uprising.

Schutzbund: The paramilitary organization associated with Austria’s Social Democratic movement. Its members formed the armed opposition to government forces in February 1934.
Austrian First Republic: The parliamentary republic established in Austria after the monarchy’s collapse in 1918 and ended in 1934. Its political institutions weakened before the civil conflict and were replaced by authoritarian rule.
Linz uprising: The opening confrontation of the February 1934 uprising in the Austrian city of Linz. Police efforts to search for weapons at a social-democratic building triggered the first clashes.
Austrian Civil War casualties: The deaths and injuries caused by the February 1934 fighting in Austria. Casualty estimates vary, but the violence left hundreds dead or wounded.
Austrian Armed Forces: Austria’s national military forces, established as a republic after the First World War. They joined police and other government forces in suppressing the uprising.
Austrian Constitutional Crisis of 1933: The 1933 breakdown of parliamentary procedure that enabled Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss to govern without parliament. It removed parliamentary avenues for resolving the government’s conflict with the opposition.
Karl-Marx-Hof: A large municipal housing complex in Vienna, built for working-class residents and completed in 1930. Government forces attacked the complex after Schutzbund members resisted there.
Austrian Social Democratic Party ban: The government’s 1934 prohibition of Austria’s Social Democratic Party and its affiliated organizations. The ban followed the uprising’s defeat and eliminated the party’s legal activity.
Austrian Social Democratic Workers' Party: The principal socialist political party in Austria during the First Republic. Its conflict with the authoritarian government shaped the uprising’s political stakes.
Heimwehr: A network of right-wing paramilitary organizations in Austria during the First Republic. Its armed rivalry with socialist organizations intensified political violence before 1934.

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