The Heimwehr was a Austrian militia and political movement. It's origins are comparable to the German Freikorps after the first world war. Many of its leaders and members like Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg also served in German Freikorps units in Bavaria, Silesia and the Baltic's. At its height the Heimwehr had around 500.000 members and active supporters. It had a diverse ideological background, ranging from Monarchists, Conservatives, Austrian Nationalists to Fascists and Pangerman Nationalists. In modern terms its ideology can best be described as a mixture of Reactionary and Fascist ideas under a predominant Catholic / Austrian character. It aligned itself closely with the Ständestaat government under Engelbert Dollfuss and became a influential part of the Fatherland Front. Later on it was merged with other paramilitary groups, like the “Ostmärkische Sturmscharen” under Kurt von Schuschnigg into the "Frontmiliz". The "Frontmiliz" served as a extension of the federal army. Fulfilling both military and police duties.
@@elemperadordemexico Austria was betraied by France, England and Italy. Just like the Czechs. They handed Hitler everything that they denied previous governments in Germany and Austria. Also the peace party prevailed in Austria itself. The men willing to resist where either exiled or killed as soon as the Nazis got to them. General Wilhelm Zehner is a prime example.
@Zoomer Imperator As a Austrian I can give you some red pills on the Anschluss question. The unification with Germany was promoted by all political parties, including the Communists and Social Democrats after WW1 for economic reasons. Which was the dominant popular sentiment from 1918 into the 1920's. Every form of economic cooperation between Austria and Germany, not to mention a actual unification was constantly blocked by the western powers, along with Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia (who hoped to annex more Austrian terretory in the future), through applying economic and military pressure in the hope that Austria would just become increasingly weaker and fall apart. The irony of this is of course that the Nazis would have never come to power in Germany if Austria would have joined Germany early on, because of voting preferences of German Catholics, which the cath. Austrian population would have strengthened. ( www.mapmania.org/map/65805/nazi_support_and_catholicism_in_germany_in_the_early_1930s ) After the economic situation stabilized in the mid 20's the sentiment of independence became more and more prominent. This was only supported by the Christian Social party, under Ignaz Seipel and later Engelbert Dollfuß. They managed to build up home grown industrial branches that made the country economically viable and promoted a Austrian identity based on independence and cooperation with its neighbors. The Nazis, Communists and Social Democrats meanwhile continued to view Austria as a entity that should not exist and simply be merged with Germany. Even before 1933 the Nazis in Austria launched a wide spread terror campaign. Focused on infrastructure and political opponents in all other parties. This lead to them being outlawed and a crackdown on their paramilitary groups. This terror campain continued right up until the Anschluss in 1938 and was directly organized and controlled from Germany. With the explosives and most of the ammunition used being supplied from German army arsenals. The main reason why the Vaterland Front increased its opposition to a unification with Germany despite themselves being very pro German, where the numerous hostile policies of the NS regime and Hitlers personal hatred towards Austria and its historical identity. The policy of "Gleichschaltung" is the prime example for this. Effectively every German custom, tradition and cultural expression had to be subordinated to NS ideology. Everything that did not was systematically oppressed and destroyed. The Nazis had a special hatred for federal autonomies within Germany and went so far as to outlaw the display of regional flags (Which is by the way why you never see the white and blue Bavarian flag publicly displayed in footage and pictures after 1933). These laws also heavily targeted the Catholic church and its institutions in public life and education. And the list goes on and on... In the end it was not the free will of Austrias people that supported the Anschluss. (Something that Hitler only dared to do after he had the guarantee of the French, British and Italians that they would stand down. Allowing him something that they had always denied former German and Austrian governments.) It was a combination of diplomatic isolation from the western powers, being abandoned by Mussolini and the result of an ongoing campaign of bombings and assassinations by the Nazis, that paved the way to a rigged election. And then there is the little issue that both Nazis and Leftists up to this day prefer to not talk about. The fact that after the February uprising in 1934 huge numbers of Austrian Social Democrats and Communists became fervent supporters of the Nazis. Joined by a shared hatred of the VF that had defeated them, the Catholic church and Austria itself. A very unholy alliance you could say. Many of these "converted" leftists by the way made up the majority of the crowds that cheered for Hitler in Linz and Vienna. The Nazis also had a number of previous operations planned, in which Nazis in Austria where supposed to instigate riots. Thereby giving the Nazis the excuse to invade Austria and "restore order". They where always called off because Hitler could not get a guarantee from Mussolini and the western powers that they would stand down in such a case. As a little sidenote I need to add the reason why Hitler ordered the murder of Engelbert Dollfuß. He was deeply afraid that Austria would stabilize as a nation with a seperate identity from Germany. (He compared it to the Austrians becoming like the Swiss, a "Verschweizerung" as he phrased it.) This would have happend without a doubt under the rule of Dollfuß and the VF, along with their economic and cultural policies.
One thing I love about your videos as that you never disappoint with finding new footage I’ve never seen before from the Ständestaat period. Excellent video my friend.
@@catosspeech134 Telegram is probably the best alternative, although it is not secure as some may tell you. But it has the benefit of being free of pedophile furry admins, who make it inevitable that a based discord gets banned eventually.
Once again, amazing video by Cato's Speech. I find the Heimwehr and the Ostmärkische Sturmscharen incredibly interesting, but unfortunately there isn't too much media/information on the Heimwehr and even less on the Sturmscharen (in English at least). Closest thing I've found to a book about either is an online PDF book by a university professor Jason Engle called "A Legion of Legacy: Tyrolean Militarism, Catholicism, and the Heimwehr Movement". You can find this by just googling the title. But like I said before, the Heimwehr and the Sturmscharen are incredibly interesting, especially their ideological cause and how they operated. Paramilitary groups in interwar Austria get little to no love. Absolutely beautiful video Cato, keep up the great work! Also I absolutely love the Berndorfer helmets at 0:28 lmao
very nice video, as always. I am very passionate about Austrian culture and history. Heimwehr and Vaterlandische Front were building a beautiful State, conservative and catholic. It would have been a privilege for us Italians to continue being allies with you :) Congratulations for your videos, Cato :)
@@catosspeech134 That's the problem. Antifa for example are the perfect modern political movement. They have no figureheads and no centralized structure, so to destroy Antifa you would have to get rid of every individual that sees themselves as a member. Organized responses to such unorganized action can quickly be beaten down by the governments, in order to try to keep a Weimar type situation from happening again. So Antifa can reign supreme. If any other political movement, even other leftist ones, wants to go public to the degree Antifa does, they need to adapt to modernity and not have a centralized structure, otherwise they risk being destroyed by their government.
@@feuerjager6 You guys really get the hard treatment this year. Hope it gets better in the coming months. By the way sorry for the late reply. YT comment notifications sure are funny business.
@@catosspeech134 That's kind of what I'm saying. If it's already uploaded and ready to go, why not upload it and make it viewable from the beginning? Not trying to be argumentative, and ultimately I don't care, just don't understand premiers.
