ABSTRACT
At the end of World War I, the Austrian state was vulnerable and unstable. The various formal and informal armed forces of the Austrian government failed to repel the Yugoslavian attack on Klagenfurt, and only international involvement returned the disputed region to Austria. By 1933, after the Nazi Machtergreifung in Germany, this terror campaign in Austria received support from Adolf Hitler. Hitler would not rein in the Nazis operating from Germany, and Habicht continued his campaign from Munich in collusion with leaders in Berlin. Though Hitler considered a change in method, he did not commit himself to differing tactics. Kurt Schuschnigg was aware of the danger in which Austria found itself in the wake of the Nazi uprising Schuschnigg rejected Mussolini’s September proposals for a bilateral pact of joint military assistance between Italy and Austria, which, only at some later date, could have been opened to British, French, and German participation.
