All Topics  
Heimwehr

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Heimwehr
 
 
  Topics Heimwehr Topic Home

The Heimwehr or sometimes Heimatschutz were a Nationalist, initially paramilitary
Paramilitary

A paramilitary is a force whose function and organisation are similar to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having the same status....
 group operating within Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
 during the 1920s and 1930s; they were similar in methods, organisation, and ideology to Germany's Freikorps
Freikorps

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 119-1983-0012, Kapp-Putsch, Marienbrigade Erhardt in Berlin.jpgThe designation of Freikorps was originally applied to voluntary armies formed in German lands from the middle of 18th century onwards....
.

Origins and reorganization
Formed mainly from demobilised soldiers after World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, the Heimwehr were initially formed as loosely organized militias to defend the borders of Austria.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Heimwehr'
Start a new discussion about 'Heimwehr'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The Heimwehr or sometimes Heimatschutz were a Nationalist, initially paramilitary
Paramilitary

A paramilitary is a force whose function and organisation are similar to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having the same status....
 group operating within Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
 during the 1920s and 1930s; they were similar in methods, organisation, and ideology to Germany's Freikorps
Freikorps

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 119-1983-0012, Kapp-Putsch, Marienbrigade Erhardt in Berlin.jpgThe designation of Freikorps was originally applied to voluntary armies formed in German lands from the middle of 18th century onwards....
.

Origins and reorganization


Formed mainly from demobilised soldiers after World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, the Heimwehr were initially formed as loosely organized militias to defend the borders of Austria. As with Germany's Freikorps, there was no formal national leadership or political program at the beginning, but rather local groupings which responded actively to whatever they considered to be ideologically unpalatable. In Carinthia
Carinthia

Carinthia may refer to:*Carinthia , a state of the Republic of Austria*Carinthia , a historical and statistical region in Slovenia*March of Carinthia, in the Holy Roman Empire...
, for example, they formed to protect their region from Slovene and Yugoslav
Kingdom of Yugoslavia

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a monarchy stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918?1941....
 troops . Ignaz Seipel
Ignaz Seipel

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-08404, Bingen, Hildegardesfest.jpgIgnaz Seipel was an Austrian politician who served as Chancellor of Austria during the 1920s....
, Christian Social Austrian Chancellor
Chancellor of Austria

The Chancellor of Austria is the head of government in Austria. The chancellor's deputy is the Vice Chancellor of Austria. Before 1918, the equivalent office was the Minister-President of Austria....
 at the time, reorganized the Heimwehr as an "answer to the Socialist
Social Democratic Party of Austria

The Social Democratic Party of Austria is one of the oldest parties in Austria. The SP? is one of the major parties in Austria and has particularly strong ties to labor unions and the Austrian Chamber of Labour ....
 Schutzbund
Republikanischer Schutzbund

The Republikanischer Schutzbund was a paramilitary organization established in 1923 by the Social Democratic Party of Austria to secure power in the face of rising political radicalization after World War I....
" in an attempt to curb socialist power. The increasing politicalization of militias led to the Heimwehr involvement in the massacre of July 15, 1927.

1930's


The Heimwehr continued to lack any real national coherence up to 1930, when Heimwehr leaders committed themselves to the Korneuburg Oath, which established an arguably Fascist party platform based on Austrian Nationalism (as distinct from the pan-German nationalism of the Nazis), a rejection of Parliamentary Democracy and Marxism
Marxism

Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxism holds at its core a Marxist analysis of Critique of capitalism and a theory of social change....
, in favour of a dictatorship
Dictatorship

A dictatorship is usually defined as an Autocracy form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator, without hereditary ascension....
, and a rejection of class struggle (see Austrofascism
Austrofascism

Austrofascism is a term which is frequently used by historians to describe the authoritarian rule installed in Austria between 1934 and 1938. It was based on a ruling party, the Fatherland Front and the Heimwehr paramilitary units....
).

When Walter Pfrimer, regional head in Styria
Styria (state)

Styria is a States of Austria or Bundesland, located in the southeast of Austria. In area, it is the second largest of the nine Austrian states, covering 16,388 km?....
 attempted a coup in 1931, he received no support from other Heimwehr leaders. After this, many Heimwehr groupings, including the Styrian section, increasingly defected to the Nazis.

Decline


After Engelbert Dollfuss
Engelbert Dollfuss

Engelbert Dollfuss was an Austrian Christian Social Party and Patriotic Front statesman, who was chancellor of Austria from 1932 and right-wing dictator of Austria from 1933 until his assassination by Nazi agents in 1934....
 created the Fatherland Front
Fatherland's Front (Austria)

The 'Vaterl?ndische Front' was a right-wing, austrofascist Austrian political party. It was founded in 1933 by Engelbert Dollfuss to collect all "loyal Austrians" under one banner....
 in 1934, he gained control over and incorporated the Heimwehr into other right-wing militaries with the help of Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg
Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg

Ernst R?diger Starhemberg was an Austrian nationalist politician prior to World War II....
. Politically, the Heimwehr suffered a decline in support and significance due to the Pan-German, nationalist allure of the Nazis and Italy's gradual reorientation of its foreign policy towards Germany. As a result of these factors, Dollfuss' successor, Kurt Schuschnigg
Kurt Schuschnigg

Kurt Alois Josef Johann Schuschnigg was an Austrian politician who in 1934 succeeded the assassinated Engelbert Dollfuss as chancellor of Austria and dictator, as leader of the regime often called Austrofascism....
, absorbed the remaining Heimwehr elements into the Fatherland Front in 1936, and it officially ceased to exist as a political grouping. Ernst Starhemberg was left out of the new governmental order in an attempt to end rivalries between private armies.