Changes

==History==

==History==

The origins of the SA naturally followed the beginnings of the Nazi Party.  At the end of the [[First World War]] the party was a small group founded by a locksmith named Anton Drexler in 1918, merging with another group in 1919 under the name "German Workers' Party" (''Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' or DAP).<ref>Shoah Resource Center, http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205946.pdf</ref><ref>Germanculture.com, http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/weekly/aa012400b.htm</ref>  An obscure former corporal in the regular army, [[Adolf Hitler]], joined the DAP in September 1919, and through his fiery oratory would transform the small party into the "National Socialist German Workers Party" (''Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' or NSDAP).<ref>McNab, Chris (2009). ''The Third Reich''.</ref>  When the party expanded, a force was needed to protect meetings, and the SA was created in Munich in 1921, organized first to kick out hecklers at Nazi meetings, then to break up the meetings of other parties.  The fascists of Italy under [[Benito Mussolini]] would inspire a uniform choice: brown shirts worn by all members, emblazoned with a red band bearing a [[swastika]] on the left arm.  The SA was a group consisting largely of ex-soldiers, Freikorps (Free Corps) members, and common thugs who believed in the Nazi cause; they would march in Nazi rallies, assault political opponents, and intimidate voters during elections.  Hitler used them unsuccessfully during the failed [[Beer Hall Putch]] in Munich, 1923, which resulted in a temporary disarray.

The origins of the SA naturally followed the beginnings of the Nazi Party.  At the end of the [[First World War]] the party was a small group founded by a locksmith named Anton Drexler in 1918, merging with another group in 1919 under the name "German Workers' Party" (''Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' or DAP).<ref>Shoah Resource Center, http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205946.pdf</ref><ref>Germanculture.com, http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/weekly/aa012400b.htm</ref>  An obscure former corporal in the regular army, [[Adolf Hitler]], joined the DAP in September 1919, and through his fiery oratory would transform the small party into the "National Socialist German Workers Party" (''Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' or NSDAP).<ref>McNab, Chris (2009). ''The Third Reich''.</ref>  When the party expanded, a force was needed to protect meetings, and the SA was created in Munich in 1921, organized first to kick out hecklers at Nazi meetings, then to break up the meetings of other parties.  The fascists of Italy under [[Benito Mussolini]] would inspire a uniform choice: brown shirts worn by all members, emblazoned with a red band bearing a [[swastika]] on the left arm.  The SA was a group consisting largely of ex-soldiers, Freikorps (Free Corps) members, and common thugs who believed in the Nazi cause; they would march in Nazi rallies, assault political opponents, and intimidate voters during elections.  Hitler used them unsuccessfully during the failed [[Beer Hall Putsch]] in Munich, 1923, which resulted in a temporary disarray.

Still believing in Hitler's cause, the SA reorganized by 1925.  In 1931, they were led by a radical who had grandiose dreams of his own: [[Ernst Röhm]].  An anti-capitalist who believed in a permanent, continuing revolution<ref>Shirer, William L. ''Rise and Fall of the Third Reich''</ref> (in a manner similar to what [[Leon Trotsky]] advocated), Röhm would use the SA to propel Hitler to the chancellery as well as increase the size of the organization to such an extent that it would threaten to replace the much smaller 100,000 man army as Germany's main fighting force, with himself at its head.  To that extent the charismatic Röhm swelled the SA from approximately 200,000 in 1931 to close to 2 million men by 1933.

Still believing in Hitler's cause, the SA reorganized by 1925.  In 1931, they were led by a radical who had grandiose dreams of his own: [[Ernst Röhm]].  An anti-capitalist who believed in a permanent, continuing revolution<ref>Shirer, William L. ''Rise and Fall of the Third Reich''</ref> (in a manner similar to what [[Leon Trotsky]] advocated), Röhm would use the SA to propel Hitler to the chancellery as well as increase the size of the organization to such an extent that it would threaten to replace the much smaller 100,000 man army as Germany's main fighting force, with himself at its head.  To that extent the charismatic Röhm swelled the SA from approximately 200,000 in 1931 to close to 2 million men by 1933.