Changes

==History==

==History==

The origins of the SA naturally followed the beginnings of the Nazi Party.  At the end of the [[First World War]] a small group founded by a locksmith named Anton Drexler in 1918, merged with another group in 1919 to form the "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, in particular from their rivals the [[Marxist]]s, 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.  Their first action during this time was to boot out over a thousand Marxists at the Hofbrauhaus's festival hall in Munich on November 4. They also proceeded to fight the Marxists on the streets, owing to Hitler's view on it being necessary to master the streets.<ref>http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/nca/nca-01/nca-01-07-means-09.html</ref> 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 uniforms themselves were derived from the Imperial Germany Schultztruppe members stationed in what was originally Germany's colonies in Africa, which they got cheaply largely because of the events of World War I.<ref name="Toland">''Toland'' p. 220</ref>

The origins of the SA naturally followed the beginnings of the Nazi Party.  At the end of the [[First World War]] a small group founded by a locksmith named Anton Drexler in 1918, merged with another group in 1919 to form the "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, in particular from their rivals the [[Marxist]]s, 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.  Their first action during this time was to boot out over a thousand Marxists at the Hofbrauhaus's festival hall in Munich on November 4. They also proceeded to fight the Marxists on the streets, owing to Hitler's view on it being necessary to master the streets.<ref>http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/nca/nca-01/nca-01-07-means-09.html</ref> 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 uniforms themselves were derived from the Imperial Germany Schultztruppe members stationed in what was originally Germany's colonies in Africa, which they got cheaply largely because of the events of World War I.<ref name="Toland">Toland, John (1976). Adolf Hitler. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company. ISBN 0-385-03724-4. p. 220</ref>

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.  One particular political party that the SA frequently assaulted was the German Communist Party, which contrary to contemporary telling of history had nothing to do with the latter party adhering to Socialism, but instead dealt with the latter party taking orders from Moscow instead of Germany, being internationalists. One inspiration for the SA brownshirts, in their use of terror to force their views on the masses came from the Democrat party-run terror organization, the [[Ku Klux Klan]] during the post-Civil War period.  Hitler used the SA unsuccessfully during the failed [[Beer Hall Putsch]] in Munich, 1923, which resulted in a temporary disarray.

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.  One particular political party that the SA frequently assaulted was the German Communist Party, which contrary to contemporary telling of history had nothing to do with the latter party adhering to Socialism, but instead dealt with the latter party taking orders from Moscow instead of Germany, being internationalists. One inspiration for the SA brownshirts, in their use of terror to force their views on the masses came from the Democrat party-run terror organization, the [[Ku Klux Klan]] during the post-Civil War period.  Hitler used the SA unsuccessfully during the failed [[Beer Hall Putsch]] in Munich, 1923, which resulted in a temporary disarray.