born Oct. 4, 1892, Texing, Austro-Hungarian Empire
died July 25, 1934, Vienna, Austria
Austrian politician.
He rose rapidly in Austrian politics to become chancellor in 1932. Opposed to the Nazis, he welcomed Benito Mussolini as an ally, converting Austria virtually into an Italian satellite state. In 1933 he abolished the parliament and established an authoritarian regime based on conservative Roman Catholic and Italian Fascist principles. In 1934 after paramilitary groups loyal to him crushed Austria's Social Democrats, he issued a new constitution establishing a dictatorship. Germany soon incited the Austrian Nazis to civil war, and Dollfuss was assassinated in a raid on the chancellery.