July Putsch

Belligerents

Schutzstaffel (SS)

• SS Standarte 89

Austrian Nazi Party supporters
Austrian Legion
Supported by:
GermanySupported by:
ItalyCommanders and leadersFridolin Glass
Otto Wächter
Anton RintelenEngelbert Dollfuss†
Wilhelm Miklas
Kurt Schuschnigg
Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg
Emil FeyStrength 154 SS (Vienna)
thousands (elsewhere) Entire Federal Army, police, gendarmeries, and paramilitary Heimwehr forcesCasualties and losses 98–140 killed
13 executed
4,000 imprisoned 101–104 killed 11–13 civilians killed

The July Putsch (German: Juliputsch) was a failed coup d'état in Austria against the Fatherland Front government of Engelbert Dollfuss by Austrian Nazis from 25 to 30 July 1934.

The Austrian Legion and Austrian Schutzstaffel soldiers with support from Nazi Germany attempted to depose Dollfuss's Austrofascist regime in favor of a pro-Nazi government under Anton Rintelen of the Christian Social Party. The Nazis attacked the Federal Chancellery and assassinated Dollfuss, but the majority of the Austrian population and the Austrian Army remained loyal to the government. The July Putsch ultimately failed when Adolf Hitler withdrew his support for the coup after Fascist Italy guaranteed to diplomatically support Austria against a German invasion.

The Austrian government eventually suppressed the coup, with over 200 people being killed in six days of fighting. A number of Austrian Nazis and collaborators were charged with treason and executed or imprisoned. Kurt Schuschnigg succeeded Dollfuss as Chancellor of Austria and the Fatherland Front remained in power under the Federal State of Austria until the Anschluss in 1938.