Schutzbund men on patrol
The Republikanischer Schutzbund ("Republican Protection League") was the armed wing of the Social Democratic Party of Austria from 1923 to 1933. It was formed to protect the multi-party democracy in Austria after the end of World War I, but it was unable to successfully fight against Engelbert Dollfuss and the Fatherland Front fascists' Heimwehr paramilitaries. In 1933, Dollfuss banned the Schutzbund, which rose up in the 1934 Austrian Civil War; the civil war ended in a fascist victory and the defeat of the Schutzbund. It remained an important left-wing radical faction of Austrian politics into the later 1930s, having the support of 13% of the population.