He became Chancellor following the murder of Dollfuss (1934). He considered his main task to be the prevention of German absorption of Austria. Although an Austro-German Agreement (July 1936) guaranteed Austrian independence, Hitler accused him of breaking it. In February 1938 Hitler obliged him to accept Nazis in his cabinet. His attempt to hold a plebiscite on Austrian independence was prevented and he was forced to resign. On 12 March German troops invaded Austria without resistance in the Anschluss.