Editing History of Austria (section)

===== Subsequent events =====
Dollfuss then met with [[Benito Mussolini]] for the first time in [[Rome]] on 13 April. On 23 April, the National Socialists (DNSAP) gained 40 per cent of the vote in the [[Innsbruck]] communal elections, becoming the largest voting bloc, so in May all state and communal elections were banned.

On 20 May 1933, Dollfuss replaced the "Democratic Republic" with a new entity, merging his Christian Social Party with elements of other nationalist and conservative groups, including the [[Heimwehr]], which encompassed many workers who were unhappy with the radical leadership of the socialist party, to form the ''[[Patriotic Front (Austria)|Patriotic Front]]'' (''Vaterländische Front''), though the Heimwehr continued to exist as an independent organization until 1936, when Dollfuss' successor [[Kurt von Schuschnigg]] forcibly merged it into the Front, instead creating the unabidingly loyal ''Frontmiliz'' as a paramilitary task force. The new entity was allegedly bipartisan and represented those who were "loyal to the government".

The DNSAP was banned in June 1933. Dollfuss was also aware of the Soviet Union's increasing influence in Europe throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, and also banned the communists, establishing a one-party conservative dictatorship largely modeled after Italian fascism, tied to [[Catholic]] [[corporatism]] and [[clericalism|anti-secularism]]. He dropped all pretence of Austrian reunification with Germany so long as the Nazi Party remained in power there.

Although all Austrian parties, including the Social Democratic Labour Party (SDAPÖ) were banned, Social Democrats continued to exist as an independent organization, including its paramilitary ''Republikaner Schutzbund'', which could muster tens of thousands against Dollfuss' government.

In August 1933, Mussolini's government issued a guarantee of Austrian independence ("if necessary, Italy would defend Austria's independence by force of arms"). Dollfuss also exchanged 'Secret Letters' with Benito Mussolini about ways to guarantee Austrian independence. Mussolini was interested in Austria forming a buffer zone against Nazi Germany. Dollfuss always stressed the similarity of the regimes of Hitler in Germany and [[Joseph Stalin]] in the Soviet Union, and was convinced that Austria and Italy could counter [[totalitarian]] national socialism and communism in Europe.

Dollfuss escaped an assassination attempt in October 1933 by Rudolf Dertil, a 22-year-old who had been ejected from the military for his national socialist views.