The 1934 February Uprising: Austria's Civil War

In February 1934, Vienna cracked open along political fault lines. This episode follows the four days of fighting that pitted the Socialist Schutzbund against the conservative government of Engelbert Dollfuss. We visit the Karl-Marx-Hof, the vast municipal housing complex that became a fortress, and explore how the Heimwehr, the Republikanischer Schutzbund, and the banned Austrian Communist Party all converged in a conflict that ended with artillery shells on working-class districts. We trace the roots of the uprising to the 1927 July Revolt and the steady erosion of democratic norms under Dollfuss's authoritarian turn. From the Schattendorf trial to the destruction of the Arbeiter-Zeitung printing press, this episode digs into the bloody prelude to Austria's annexation by Nazi Germany just four years later. Why did the Socialists fight, and why did they lose so quickly? #FebruaryUprising #AustrianCivilWar #Schutzbund #Heimwehr #EngelbertDollfuss #KarlMarxHof #JulyRevolt #Austria1934 #RepublikanischerSchutzbund #Heimwehr #WienerGemeindebauten #OttoBauer #Austrofaschismus #Ständestaat #ArbeiterZeitung #Schattendorf #EuropeanHistory #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo