In 1934 Engelbert Dolfuss was assassinated in Vienna by Austrian National-Socialists, what if he survives, and presumably survives any further assassination attempts by Nazis? I do not see him caving to Munich as his successor did. Would he prepare to fight a military conflict before giving into Germany? Would further Italian support for the Austrian regime allow the Austrian Nazi movement to be destroyed in the same manner as the Austrian Socialists-Communists?
Okay. There was a lot of Italian support for Austrian independance - until Abyssinia. Afterwards Italy moved closer to Germany, the buffer state Austria became less important and limited the diplomatic options of Austria. Italian support isn't tied to Dollfuß or Schuschnigg. The Nazis in Austria were from 34 on either so secretly, in prison or in Germany. I doubt the Austrians would allow Italian forces onto their soil in support of this, leading to no noticable difference in that.
Military preparations were difficult. Some parts of the army were suspect of german-nationalist sympaties, the economy still hasn't recovered since the Great War, and the Treaty of Saint-Germain placed certain limitations on them. Not that those limitations were that significant, there was not enough money to expand the army to those limits anyway.
Caving to Munich? Not sure what you imply there, the Sudentenland crisis was later. IIRC the meetings between Schuschnigg and Hitler were in Berchtesgaden and Hitler knew he had Schuschnigg cornered, especially economical. Dollfuß wouldn't have more wiggle room.
Dolfuss was much more familiar with the militias, so it's safe to say he'd be more willing to do so than Schuschnigg.
False. While Schuschnigg was more of an academic in appearance and presentation he himself founded on of the militas, the Ostmärkische Sturmscharen. He'd have similar levels of familiarity with the Heimwehren (plural, because a singular Heimwehr didn't really exist) as Dollfuß himself.
The sad part is that I doubt Dolfuß was any more willing than Schuschnigg to collaborate with the Leftists they had been suppressing for several years now. Thr Communists were one of the few anti-Anschluss factions in Austrian politics and since Hitler's takeover, the SDs had largely abandonned it.
Had there been no Civil War, Austria could've been in a significantly better position than OTL to resist the Nazis. Key word being could. The years leading to the civil war were quite unstable, after all.
Key word could. It's probably pretty unlikely that no civil war would have made that much of a difference.
Also the communists were a fringe group. Unlike Germany for example they were not represented in Parliament, usually getting around half a percent of the votes. True the SP were further left than most of their European counterparts, but not exactly communists. The SP and the Nazis, now that is a very complex topic. Let's just say you can't say they'd have resisted any more than the VF did.
The problem isn't that the government's official policy is anti-anschluss, but that the majority of Austrians were likely (IMO) apathetic towards it and parts of the military and paramilitary were previously or actively Pan-german.
My point was, while not necessary as thezerech pointed out, that the moderate left, formerly a major faction driven underground and repressed, could have helped keep Austria united under the threat of Nazi invasion. In other words, the anti-Anschluss factions were divided and that weakened Austria's potential resistance and helped the Nazis in the long run as they easily hunted the opposition down after 1938.
The moderate left as you call them neither were unified in a anti-Anschluss sentiment nor would they have been able to form a stable majority or coalition in parliement if one looks at the trends of the time.
Would a democratic Austria have better chances to preserve indipendence than an Autoritharian? I very much doubt it. They'd have even less support from the Heimwehren and Italy to start with. There might have been some more rethoric decrying the annexation, unlike the single voice OTL (I forgot who, some South American country IIRC), but I doubt anyone would ahve intervened. Maybe UK and France would have decided on a red line sooner?