The „State of Estates“ 1934–1938

A polarisation between political camps during the first republic led to a crisis for democracy. This resulted in the abolition of parliament under chancellor Dollfuß in March 1933. Armed resistance by the republican „Schutzbund“ (defence alliance) against a search for weapons by the executive in the Hotel Schiff in Linz gave the government a welcome pretext for banning the social democratic party in 1934, after a bloody civil war, and transforming the republic into an authoritarian „State of Estates“. But the political climate was to get worse. The government under Dollfuß and – following his murder by National Socialists – Schuschnigg wanted to take action against radical Nazi activists and negotiate with the „moderates“.

This failed due to the close ties between Austrian National Socialist and Hitler's Germany. The „Anschluss“ to the German Reich was ultimately effected trebly: by infiltration of the „State of Estates“ by Nazi party supporters, by the outlawed Austrian National Socialists taking power, and by the invasion of the German Wehrmacht and SS.