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71-630: The idea to establish a Gendarmerie (from French : gens d'armes : "armed people") military force charged with police duties originated from the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire . It was formed on 8 June 1849 by order of Emperor Francis Joseph as a component of the k.k. Army , modelled on the Gendarmerieregiment in the Austrian Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia incorporated upon

142-676: A civilian police force, such as the Israel Border Police or "Magav", which is the gendarmerie branch of the civilian Israel Police . A few forces which are no longer considered military retain the title "gendarmerie" for reasons of tradition. For instance, the French language title of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is Gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC) (i.e., Royal Gendarmerie of Canada) because this force traditionally had some military-style functions (although separate from

213-512: A comprehensive 2018 study by historian Kurt Bauer, between 350 and 370 people lost their lives in the fighting – about 130 of them uninvolved civilians and 110 each among the government forces and members of the Protection League. The largest number of deaths – about 200 to 220 – were in Vienna. On 11 November 1933, all of Austria had been placed under martial law, during which the death penalty

284-622: A contingent of Federal Police or local police. There was one member of the Gendarmerie for each 397 inhabitants in the areas subject to its jurisdiction; there was one member of the Federal Police for each 316 residents in the cities it patrolled. The Gendarmerie was organized into eight provincial commands (every province, except Vienna), ninety district commands, and 1,077 posts. A post could have from as few as three to as many as thirty gendarmes; most had fewer than ten. The provincial headquarters

355-620: A council housing estate, to be shelled with light artillery, endangering the lives of civilians and destroying many flats before the socialist fighters surrendered. The fighting ended in Vienna and Upper Austria by 13 February, but continued in Styrian cities, especially in Bruck an der Mur and Judenburg , until 14 February. By 15 February 1934, the Austrian Civil War had ended. The police, Army and Heimwehr divisions that supported them had defeated

426-634: A force should be defined as a gendarmerie (e.g. Mexico's Federal Police , Brazil's Military Police , or the former British South Africa Police until 1980). Some historical military units, such as South West Africa 's Koevoet , were only defined as police for political reasons. In Russia , the modern National Guard (successor of the Internal Troops of Russia ) are military units with quasi-police duties but historically, different bodies within Imperial Russia 's Special Corps of Gendarmes performed

497-608: A pretext by the government to ban the Social Democratic Party and its affiliated trade unions altogether. In May, the conservatives replaced the democratic constitution by a corporatist constitution modelled along the lines of Benito Mussolini 's fascist Italy , for which the socialists coined the term Austrofascism . The Patriotic Front , into which the Heimwehr and the Christian Social Party were merged, became

568-614: A single one. ... In the city's central districts, everything went on as quietly and regularly as usual, while in the suburbs the battle raged, and we foolishly believed the official reports that everything was already settled and done with. The Dollfuss government published a statement on 1 March 1934 reporting that 193 civilians had been killed and 493 wounded in the fighting, while among the police and Army there were 104 dead and 309 wounded. Analyses by later researchers vary widely, going as high as British journalist George Eric Rowe Gedye 's estimate of 2,000 dead and 5,000 wounded. According to

639-551: A variety of functions as an armed rural constabulary, urban riot control units, frontier guards, intelligence agents and political police. Prior to the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, some policing was based on the Royal Irish Constabulary — initially an armed force located in police barracks, routinely unarmed after the 1880s when most civil unrest had subsided. Some consider this a gendarmerie, although this

710-519: Is common to many time periods and cultures. Being a French concept, the French Gendarmerie has been the most influential model for such an organisation. Many countries that were once under French rule and influence have a gendarmerie. Italy, Belgium , Luxembourg and Austria have had gendarmeries through Napoleonic influence for instance but, while Italy still has the Italian equivalent known as

781-654: Is tendentious as the subsequent Garda Síochána of the Irish Free State were also uniformly armed but not described as a gendarmerie. In China , after numerous reorganizations and transfers of control between the PLA and the MPS , the People's Armed Police , a gendarmerie service, was created on 19 June 1982. The establishment of the PAP highlighted the efforts to increase the professionalization of

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852-585: The European Gendarmerie Force . Austrian Civil War Fatherland Front victory [REDACTED] SDAPÖ [REDACTED] First Austrian Republic The Austrian Civil War ( German : Österreichischer Bürgerkrieg ) of 12–15 February 1934, also known as the February Uprising ( Februaraufstand ) or the February Fights ( Februarkämpfe ), was a series of clashes in

923-937: The First Austrian Republic between the forces of the authoritarian right-wing government of Engelbert Dollfuss and the Republican Protection League ( Republikanischer Schutzbund ), the banned paramilitary arm of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria . The fighting started when League members fired on the Austrian police who were attempting to enter the Social Democrats' party headquarters in Linz to search for weapons. It spread from there to Vienna and other industrial centres in eastern and central Austria. The superior numbers and firepower of

994-546: The July Revolt , the Vienna Palace of Justice was stormed and set on fire. After police guardrooms were also attacked, the police president, Johannes Schober , gave orders to disperse the demonstrators with armed force. People who were trying to flee as well as some who were not involved in the demonstration were caught in the police fire. The result was 89 dead, including four policemen, and 1,000 wounded. The problems facing

1065-631: The National Council , each of the three presidents of parliament tactically resigned from their positions to cast a ballot, which left nobody to preside over the meeting. Even though the bylaws could have resolved the situation, Dollfuss used the opportunity to declare that Parliament had ceased to function and then blocked all attempts to reconvene it. Police forces barricaded the parliament building to prevent members from entering. The SDAPÖ thus lost its primary platform for political action. The Christian Socialists, facing pressure and violence not only from

1136-744: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is referred to in French as the Gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC). However the RCMP is a mainly civilian organisation within Public Safety Canada . It is not part of the Canadian Department of National Defence , but does have a paramilitary wing and they have been awarded the status of a regiment of dragoons, with a military battle standard displaying their battle honours following service in World War I. Those honours include Northwest Canada, South Africa, The Great War, and

1207-832: The Royal Hungarian (k.u.) Gendarmerie ( Csendőrség ) was established. With the implementation of the Austrian Gendarmerie Law on 2 February 1876, it was finally separated from the Austro-Hungarian Army , though the newly established agency was still answerable to the Austrian Minister of Defence and its service members were officially part of the Cisleithanian Landwehr armed forces. Before World War I , fingerprint analysis (dactyloscopy) and police dogs had been introduced. A special Alpine branch

1278-579: The dissolution of Austria-Hungary in October 1918, the Republic of Austria formed as a parliamentary democracy . Two major factions dominated politics in the new country: socialists (politically represented by the Social Democratic Workers' Party ) and conservatives (represented by the Christian Social Party ). The socialists had their strongholds in the working-class districts of the cities, while

1349-451: The 1815 Congress of Vienna . Up to then 1776 set up " military police corps" existed in Austria as a militarily organized corps alone in large cities like Vienna , Lemberg , Krakau , Przemyśl . Johann Franz Kempen, Baron of Fichtenstamm, was appointed first General-Gendarmerie-Inspector . While it was originally a military corps responsible for the whole Austrian Empire , gradually over

1420-839: The 1850s and 60s, which brought it the hate of the middle class. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 , the Cisleithanian k.k. Gendarmerie was no longer responsible for the Transleithanian lands controlled by the Hungarian Armed Forces ( Hungarian : Magyar Honvédség ). The control over the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and the Principality of Transylavania did not pass to the Hungarian forces until 1876. In 1881

1491-457: The 1936 socialist trial  [ de ] of 28 people accused of violating the ban on the SDAPÖ, Bruno Kreisky (who was himself on trial) alluded to the issue: It is also possible that in a difficult moment, the government will have to call on the broad masses of the people to defend the borders. But only a democratic Austria will respond to such a summons. Only free citizens will fight against

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1562-592: The Austrian police and Federal Army quickly put an end to the uprising. The overall death toll is estimated at 350. The socialists' defeat led to arrests, executions and the banning of the Social Democratic Party. In May 1934, Austria's democratic constitution was replaced by the Austrofascist constitution of the Federal State of Austria , with the Fatherland Front as the only legal party. Timeline After

1633-660: The Canadian Army), and have even been awarded battle honours and has retained its status as a regiment of dragoons . The Argentine National Gendarmerie is a military force in terms of training, identity and public perception, and was involved in combat in the Falklands War ; however, it is classified as a "security force" not an "armed force", to exercise jurisdiction over the civilian population under Argentine law. Since different countries may make different use of institutional terms such as "gendarmerie", there are cases in which

1704-583: The Carabinieri, with a second more specialized agency called Guardia di Finanza, Belgium and Austria's gendarmeries have merged with the civil police (in, respectively, 2001 and 2005). Many former French colonies, especially in Africa, also have gendarmeries. The Dutch Royal Marechaussee was created by King William I to replace the French Gendarmerie after French rule ended. The national police force of Canada,

1775-524: The Federal Republic a "Gendarmerie employment unit EE". This consisted of particularly trained gendarmes with an employment of the individual posts was likewise pulled together. The reorganization of the Austrian law enforcement bodies started in 2002. It was decided that the Gendarmerie, federal safety guard corps and Kriminalbeamtenkorps should be amalgamated. On December 9, 2004, the National council with

1846-614: The First Republic worsened in the following years. The Great Depression resulted in high unemployment, and after Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933, Nazi sympathisers who wanted unification of Austria with Germany threatened the Austrian state from within. On 4 March 1933, Engelbert Dollfuss , the Christian Social chancellor, suspended the Austrian Parliament . In a close vote on railway workers' wages in

1917-642: The French army. The word gained policing connotations only during the French Revolution , when the Maréchaussée of the Ancien Régime was renamed to Gendarmerie . Historically, the spelling in English was gendarmery , but now the French spelling gendarmerie is more common. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED ) uses gendarmery as the principal spelling, whereas Merriam-Webster uses gendarmerie as

1988-501: The French gendarmerie. In comparison to civilian police forces, gendarmeries may provide a more disciplined force whose military capabilities (e.g., armoured group in France with armoured personnel carriers ) make them more capable of dealing with armed groups and with all types of violence. On the other hand, the necessity of a more stringent selection process for military service, especially in terms of physical prowess and health, restricts

2059-546: The Gendarmerie were involved in the Austrian Civil War and increasingly infiltrated by Nazis . After the 1938 Anschluss to Nazi Germany , several high ranking gendarmes were interned in concentration camps and large numbers of gendarmes were locked up, dismissed, retired or transferred for disciplinary reasons. The remainder were integrated into the German Ordnungspolizei . With the re-establishment of

2130-468: The General Staff. After the war the Gendarmerie in the Republic of Austria remained militarily organized, but was employed for civilian tasks. Not until 1918/19 the gendarmes officially became public servants, no longer subordinate to military law but to civil jurisdiction. After the lost war, considering Austria's shrunken size, the number of Gendarmerie service members was largely reduced. In 1934,

2201-485: The Heimwehr then set about the destruction of the last remnants of the Social Democratic and Marxist-oriented workers' movement. On 24 January 1934, the order went out to search party buildings and members' homes for weapons belonging to the Protection League. The leaders of the SDAPÖ did not respond to the step-by-step disempowerment and disarming of their movement. Their cornerstone policy allowed them to fight only if

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2272-509: The Protection League, were executed. Carrying out the death sentences was controversial even among those in the government who were responsible for it. Heimwehr leader Ernst Starhemberg saw it as a shameful act of revenge and without sense, while Emil Fey , also a leader in the Heimwehr, insisted on the executions. Pleas for clemency from Cardinal Theodor Innitzer and the Holy See were ignored. The detention camp at Wöllersdorf , which opened in

2343-513: The Republic of Austria in 1945 a Gendarmeriekommando was created. At the beginning the control was disputed between members of the executive, so the Gendarmerie had to get along initially with few officials. However, circumstances soon improved so that the Gendarmerie was again able to ensure national order. In October 1950 a general strike was proclaimed by the Communist Party, and the deployment of

2414-518: The SDAPÖ. Austria, or even just Vienna, was far from being in a state of complete turmoil. The daily newspapers of the time had only short reports on the revolts. Stefan Zweig , a contemporary observer who was inclined towards the SDAPÖ, wrote: I was in Vienna during those historic February days and saw nothing of the decisive events that played out in Vienna and knew nothing, not the slightest bit, while they were happening. Cannons were fired, houses occupied, hundreds of corpses carried away – I saw not

2485-552: The Second World War. A common gendarmerie symbol is a flaming grenade , first used as insignia by the French force. Gendarmes play an important role re-establishing law and order in conflict areas, a task which is suited to their purpose, training and capabilities. Gendarmeries are widely used for internal security and in peacekeeping operations, for instance in the former Yugoslavia and in Ivory Coast , sometimes via

2556-407: The authority of a ministry of defence (e.g. Algeria , Netherlands and Poland ), a ministry of the interior (e.g. Argentina , Romania , Turkey and Ukraine ) or even both ministries at once (e.g. Chile , France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain). Generally there is some coordination between ministries of defence and the interior over the use of gendarmes. In addition, some gendarmeries can be part of

2627-523: The authority of civilian police agencies. Since these are not strictly military forces, however, they are not considered gendarmerie. In France, the gendarmerie is in charge of rural areas and small towns (typically less than 10,000 inhabitants) which represent 95% of the territory and close to 50% of the population. Besides its territorial organization, it has crowd and riot control units (the Gendarmerie Mobile , along with some corresponding units in

2698-592: The basic course for Gendarmerie officers lasted two years. Until 30 June 2005 the Federal Gendarmerie was one of the law enforcement agencies of Austria, beside the Federal Safety Guard Corps ( Bundessicherheitswachekorps ) and the "Judiciary Officers' Corps" ( Kriminalbeamtenkorps ). The Federal Gendarmerie was responsible for all parts of Austria, except the Federal Capital (Vienna), as well as

2769-607: The case of France), with additional duties as military police for the armed forces. It was introduced to several other Western European countries during the Napoleonic conquests . In the mid-twentieth century, a number of former French mandates and colonial possessions (such as Lebanon , Syria , the Ivory Coast and the Republic of the Congo ) adopted a gendarmerie after independence. A similar concept exists in Eastern Europe in

2840-506: The case of an invasion by the Soviet army in the western zones of occupation of Austria . Alpine posts and high Alpine posts were served by 750 Gendarmerie Alpinists and guides. In 1988 more than 1,300 rescue missions were conducted, many with the aid of Agusta-Bell helicopters in the Gendarmerie inventory. Numbering 11,600 in 1990, the Gendarmerie had responsibilities similar to the Federal Police but operated in rural areas and in towns without

2911-639: The civilian police), counter-terrorism and hostage rescue ( GIGN , again along with some corresponding units in the civilian police), maritime surveillance, police at sea and coast guard ( Gendarmerie maritime ), control and security at airports and air traffic police ( Gendarmerie des transports aériens ), official buildings guard, honorary services and protection of the President ( Garde Républicaine ), mountain rescue ( Peloton de Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne ) and security of nuclear weapons sites. The use of military organisations to police civilian populations

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2982-493: The civilian population, gendarmeries are sometimes described as " paramilitary " rather than " military " forces (especially in the English-speaking world where policing is rarely associated with military forces) although this description rarely corresponds to their official status and capabilities. Gendarmes are very rarely deployed in military situations, except in humanitarian deployments abroad. A gendarmerie may come under

3053-449: The civilian population. The term gendarme ( English: / ˈ ʒ ɒ n d ɑːr m / ) is derived from the medieval French expression gens d'armes , which translates to " men-at-arms " ( lit.   ' people of arms ' ). In France and some Francophone nations , the gendarmerie is a branch of the armed forces that is responsible for internal security in parts of the territory (primarily in rural areas and small towns in

3124-533: The conservatives built on support from the rural population and most of the upper class. The conservatives also maintained close ties to the Catholic Church . In the late 1920s the polarised political situation in Austria was exacerbated by paramilitary units such as the Home Guard ( Heimwehr ) on the right and the Republican Protection League ( Republikanischer Schutzbund ) of the Social Democrats (SDAPÖ) on

3195-410: The context of the Cobra since 1981 Air Mars neck, those as civilian companions during endangered flights Austrian Airlines along-fly. This system became of that The USA after the events of the 11. September 2001 taken over. A battalion of Bereitschaftspolizei for extensive use in events such as large meetings, concerts, soccer games, demonstrations, pl there were additionally separately in each Land of

3266-406: The decision of party leadership had been intercepted by the authorities and never reached him. The fighting spread to other cities and towns in Austria. In Vienna, members of the Protection League barricaded themselves in city council housing estates ( Gemeindebauten ), which served as symbols and strongholds for the socialist movement in Austria. Police and paramilitaries took up positions outside

3337-440: The fall of 1933 for opponents of the regime – initially mostly communists and National Socialists – also held Social Democrats after February 1934. The leadership of the SDAPÖ under Otto Bauer (the leading theoretician of Austromarxism ), Julius Deutsch and others fled to Czechoslovakia on 13 February, a move that the representatives of the government exploited as propaganda. The incidents of February 1934 were taken as

3408-428: The form of internal troops , which are present in many countries of the former Soviet Union and its former allied countries. The word gendarme is a singular extracted from Old French gens d'armes ( pronounced [ʒɑ̃ d‿ aʁm] ), meaning " men-at-arms ". From the Late Middle Ages to the Early Modern period, the term referred to a heavily armoured cavalryman of noble birth , primarily serving in

3479-447: The fortified complexes, and the parties exchanged small arms fire. Fighting also occurred in industrial towns including Steyr , Sankt Pölten , Weiz , Eggenberg (Graz) , Kapfenberg , Bruck an der Mur , Graz , Ebensee , and Wörgl . A decisive moment in the conflict came when the Austrian armed forces , which had remained a comparatively independent institution, entered on the side of the government. Dollfuss ordered Karl-Marx-Hof ,

3550-409: The gagging of Austria. In detention centres and prisons of the Second Republic, Social Democrats and National Socialists come into contact with one another. For both, Austrofascism was the enemy. The common ground was to affect the political assessments of former National Socialists after World War II . With a greater passage of time it became clear that Austria's ability to resist National Socialism

3621-447: The insurgents also did not come about. The Army, police and gendarmerie all remained loyal to the state. In large parts of the country, ( Lower Austria , Carinthia , Salzburg, Tyrol , Vorarlberg and Burgenland) complete calm prevailed. Leading Social Democrats in Carinthia and Vorarlberg distanced themselves at the outset from the uprising. The mayor of Klagenfurt and the deputy governor of Carinthia announced their resignations from

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3692-415: The left but also from Nazis infiltrating from Germany, were able to rule by decree on the basis of a 1917 emergency law. They began to suspend civil liberties and imprison members of the Social Democratic Party. In the wake of armed conflicts, the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) was banned on 26 May 1933, as was the SDAPÖ's Republican Protection League on the 31st. Dollfuss, the Fatherland Front and

3763-520: The left. By the start of the civil war the Heimwehr were openly fascist and opposed democracy, while the Republican Protection League saw itself as a protector of the Austrian Republic holding the Austromarxist position on the dictatorship of the proletariat that was pro-democracy as part of the Social Democrats' party program. The still small Austrian Nazi Party had its SA and SS , which were also organized as paramilitary units. Political antagonisms in Austria escalated in 1927 when members of

3834-615: The municipalities, which were increasingly folded up lately. For special employments the Gendarmerie maintained special units such as dog handler, alpine gendarmes and flight rescuers. The terrorist assault on the OPEC headquarters in 1975 led to the establishment of a special task force of the Gendarmerie, the Gendarmerieeinsatzkommando EKO Cobra . This special unit trains in close proximity to Wr. Neustadt (city approx. 50 km south of Vienna) and gets activated for all acts of terrorism and kidnapping in addition to other particularly dangerous employments. Furthermore there are so-called in

3905-406: The only legal political party in the resulting authoritarian regime, the Federal State of Austria . The government found itself isolated domestically because the Social Democrats – above all due to the death sentences that had been carried out – turned away from the state and either called for open resistance using such means as leaflets or went into a kind of inner emigration. In his speech during

3976-482: The party were banned, the unions dissolved or the government of " Red Vienna " suppressed. In the early morning hours of 12 February 1934, when police went to search for weapons at the Linz party headquarters of the Social Democrats in the Hotel Schiff , the members of the Protection League, under their local commander Richard Bernaschek, opened fire. A coded telegram to him from the SDAPÖ's leaders that warned him urgently against any action and instructed him to await

4047-413: The pool of potential recruits in comparison to those from which a civilian police force could select. The growth and expansion of gendarmerie units worldwide has been linked to an increasing reluctance by some governments to use military units typically entrusted with external defence for combating internal threats. A somewhat related phenomenon has been the formation of paramilitary units which fall under

4118-450: The poorly networked Protection League relatively easily. Between 10,000 and 20,000 workers stood against a superior force of almost 60,000 men from the gendarmerie and police, the Army and home defence forces. Besides the imbalance in numbers and the Austrian Army's use of artillery, the major reason for the uprising's collapse was likely the failure of the call for a general strike to be heeded. The hoped-for solidarity of law enforcement with

4189-414: The principal spelling. These forces are normally titled "gendarmerie", but gendarmeries may bear other titles, for instance the Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza in Italy , the National Republican Guard in Portugal , the Guardia Civil in Spain , the Royal Marechaussee in the Netherlands or Internal Troops / National Guard in Ukraine and Russia . As a result of their duties within

4260-446: The retention of the old insignia, a flaming grenade , after the Gendamerie became a component of the civil administration in 1918. The predominantly grey uniform also owed its inspiration to the Austro-Hungarian Army. Beside for the maintenance of the public order, the k.k. Gendarmerie became a vital instrument for suppression of constitutional or democratic ambitions during the post-revolutionary era of Austrian neo-absolutism in

4331-428: The right-wing Front Fighters' Union ( Frontkämpfervereinigung ) in Schattendorf ( Burgenland ) shot and killed two people, including a child, during a demonstration by the Republic Protection League. In the trial of the Schattendorf case, the jury acquitted the alleged perpetrators. On 15 July 1927, the day after the verdict, the SDAPÖ's leadership was not able to control the demonstrations of an outraged crowd. During

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4402-420: The second half of the nineteenth century it became responsible for public order. Initially composed of eighteen regiments and part of the army, its operational command was transferred to the Austrian Ministry for the Interior in 1860 and wholly severed from the armed forces in 1867. Nevertheless, training, uniforms, ranks, and even pay remained patterned after the army. The military origins were still represented in

4473-401: The security apparatus, as well as the absorption of numerous PLA demobilized personnel, in the wake of growing unrest. In 2014, the Mexican Federal Police , a heavily armed force which has many attributes of a gendarmerie, created a new seventh branch of service called the National Gendarmerie Division. The new force would initially number 5,000 personnel and was created with the assistance of

4544-424: The security forces suppressed an October rebellion. In 1952 the B-Gendarmerie was set up, with heavy weapons, to strengthen the Gendarmerieeinheit. It was set up after the conclusion of the Convention and the basic unit of the Federal army had been formed. It is not sure whether the initial "B" stood for "Bereitschaft" (Readiness) or "Besondere" (Special) Gendarmerie. This paramilitary Unit would have been used in

4615-411: The state capitals (except Bregenz) and other larger cities of Austria (usually 'Statutarstädte'). It provided security for approximately two thirds of the population on approximately 98% of the Austrian national territory. There was a transport department, a Kriminalabteilung (and not as in many TV-series the " CID ") and a Grenzgendarmerie (border gendarmerie) beside the individual Gendarmerieposten in

4686-451: The term may become confusing. For instance, in the French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland the "gendarmeries" are the uniformed civil police (see: Gendarmerie (Switzerland) ). In Chile, the word "gendarmerie" refers for historic reasons to the prison service (the " Chilean Gendarmerie "), while the actual gendarmerie force is called the "carabineros". In some cases, a police service's military links are ambiguous and it can be unclear whether

4757-443: The votes of ÖVP and FPÖ decided this should take place on July 1, 2005 and that the new name should be the " Federal Police ". At the time of the amalgamation from Gendarmerie, Federal Safety Guard Corps and Kriminalbeamtenkorps to the Federal Police there were approx. 15,000 officials. Gendarmerie A gendarmerie ( / ʒ ɒ n ˈ d ɑːr m ər i , ʒ ɒ̃ -/ ) is a military force with law enforcement duties among

4828-449: Was composed of a staff department, criminal investigation department, training department, and area departments comprising two or three district commands. Basic Gendarmerie training was the responsibility of the individual provincial commands, each of which having had a school for new recruits. Leadership and specialized courses were given at the central Gendarmerie school in Mödling near Vienna. The basic course for NCOs lasted one year, while

4899-430: Was decidedly weakened by the Austrian Civil War and its consequences. By later estimates, only about a third of the Austrian population supported the dictatorial state. After the Second World War, when Austria reemerged on the political landscape as a sovereign nation, politics again fell under the domination of the Social Democrats and the conservatives, the latter in the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). To avoid repeating

4970-513: Was formed in 1906, mainly to protect the part of Tyrol that bordered the Kingdom of Italy . Since then, alpine rescue operations and border patrols have remained an important Gendarmerie function. During the First World War, the Gendarmerie was used in a number of roles including maintaining public order in the hinterland areas as military police ( Feldgendarmerie ), fighting espionage and partisans , and arresting deserters . In addition, they also provided scout, courier and orderly assistance to

5041-486: Was reintroduced for certain crimes. An emergency decree of 12 February 1934 extended the list to rebellion, so that Protection League members who had been taken prisoner while armed (estimated at 10,000) could be sentenced to death. The defendants were tried within three days in abbreviated procedures by summary courts consisting of four professional judges. The summary courts condemned 24 people to death, of whom 15 were pardoned. Nine men, some of them prominent members of

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