The July Putsch was a failed coup d'etat attempt against the Austrofascist regime by Austrian Nazis, which took place between 25 – 30 July 1934.
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The Machtergreifung by Adolf Hitler in Germany on 30 January 1933 gave an enormous boost to Austrian Nazis. When Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß closed parliament on 4 March 1933, the Nazis responded with demand for a new election and with a wave of bomb terror. Dollfuß met the terror, beginning with house searches and arrests, finally banning the Nazi Party on 19 June 1933. Many Nazis then fled to Germany and joined the Austrian Legion, while others remained in Austria and continued their actions.
On 25 July 1934, in the midst of difficult social and political tensions, and with the knowledge of official German positions, 154 SS men disguised as Bundesheer soldiers and policemen pushed into the Austrian chancellery. Chancellor Dollfuß was assassinated by two bullets. The rest of the government was able to escape. Another group of the putschists occupied the Radio Verkehrs building and broadcast a false report about the putative transfer of power from Dollfuß to Anton Rintelen. This was to have been the call for Nazis all over Austria to begin the uprising against the state. There were several days of fighting in parts of Carinthia, Styria and Upper Austria, as well as smaller uprisings in Salzburg. There was fighting in Upper Styria, both the industrial area between Judenburg and Leoben and in Enns, the Deutschlandsberg District in southwestern Styria and in southeastern Styria by Bad Radkersburg. Bloody clashes took place in and around Schladming and Leoben. In Carinthia, the centers of the coup were in Lower Carinthia and Sankt Paul im Lavanttal. In Upper Austria, in addition to individual actions in the Salzkammergut, the fighting was concentrated in the Pyhrn Pass and in the Mühlviertel, where on the night of 26 July, in the Kollerschlag area on the Bavarian-Austrian border, a division of the Austrian Legion invaded Austrian territory and attacked the customs guard and a police station.
Early on 26 July, a German courier was arrested at the border crossing in Kollerschlag, carrying precise instructions for the putsch. Called the "Kollerschlag Document", it testified to a clear connection between Bavaria and the July Putsch.
The coup was finally crushed by the police, military and paramilitary units loyal to the government. There is varying information regarding the number of fatalities. Gerhard Jagschitz took over the work of military historian Erwin Steinböck. In 1965 his figures claimed that the July coup and its immediate consequences lead to the deaths of 270 people. 153 Nazi supporters died (including 13 executed and seven people who committed suicide). 104 died on the Government side, along with 13 civilians.[1] In contrast, Kurt Bauer's extensive studies concluded that there were 223 deaths: 111 Nazi supporters, 101 on the Government side, and 11 civilians.[2] The number of injured is estimated at 500–600 people.
On 26 July 1934 military tribunals took place to prosecute rebels. 13 were executed. 4,000 Nazi supporters had been detained. Many fled to Yugoslavia or to Germany. Kurt von Schuschnigg became the new Chancellor and Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg remained as Vice-Chancellor.