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===Night of the Long Knives===

===Night of the Long Knives===

Eventually, the powerful men in the Nazi hierarchy - Himmler, Göring, and [[Joseph Goebbels]] - saw Röhm and the SA as a threat to their recently-won acquisition of power and decided on a plan to eliminate him, with Hitler ultimately agreeing. At first, Hitler during a party meeting on February 1934 told Rohm that he won't the military commander/official in Nazi Germany, nor would the SA act as the official military, although he did intend to reserve them for certain political actions. Rohm publicly agreed with Hitler and signed the agreement, although after Hitler left, he made clear to the other members of the SA that he had no intention of honoring the agreement, viewing Hitler as a traitor. Two months later, Rohm dug himself and the SA into a deeper hole by boldly proclaiming to various foreign people in a press release that "[the Sturmabteilung] is the National Socialist Revolution", which ultimately made him a target by his rival, Himmler, alongside the latter's second in command, [[Reinhard Heydrich]].

Eventually, the powerful men in the Nazi hierarchy—Himmler, Göring, and [[Joseph Goebbels]]—saw Röhm and the SA as a threat to their recently-won acquisition of power and decided on a plan to eliminate him, with Hitler ultimately agreeing. At first, Hitler during a party meeting on February 1934 told Rohm that he won't the military commander/official in Nazi Germany, nor would the SA act as the official military, although he did intend to reserve them for certain political actions. Rohm publicly agreed with Hitler and signed the agreement, although after Hitler left, he made clear to the other members of the SA that he had no intention of honoring the agreement, viewing Hitler as a traitor. Two months later, Rohm dug himself and the SA into a deeper hole by boldly proclaiming to various foreign people in a press release that "[the Sturmabteilung] is the National Socialist Revolution", which ultimately made him a target by his rival, Himmler, alongside the latter's second in command, [[Reinhard Heydrich]].

After a long talk on June 1934, Rohm had the SA, by that time reaching well over four million members, go on leave for the month of July, with Hitler vowing to meet with the SA in a resort village near Munich to sort things out. However, on June 17 Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen ended up exposing the SA's rowdy behavior in a stump speech, as well as strongly insinuating that, far from being anti-Marxists, the SA were in fact actual Marxists, with President Hindenburg, alongside General Blomberg, admonishing Hitler and warning him that if he didn't get the SA under control, they would put Germany under martial law by the German military. In addition, Himmler and [[Reinhard Heydrich]] were busy spreading rumors that Rohm and the SA were planning to overthrow the government. By June 28, Hitler, after being notified by telephone by Goring that various German conservatives were advocating for Hindenburg to declare martial law and that Rohm was planning an imminent overthrow during Josef Terboven's wedding, decided to put the plan in action, and eventually left his hotel at 2 a.m. to personally confront the SA leadership at the Bad Wiessee resort. This after Goring and Himmler made repeated late night phone calls indicating that the SA had somehow found out about the plans and are planning a counterattack. After arriving in Munich, he learned from Adolf Wagner that SA street demonstrations had occurred at Munich though they had since dissipated. Hitler then arrived at the Ministry of the Interior to confront the three SA members responsible, and ripped the Nazi insignia off their uniforms.<ref name="NotLK">http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/triumph/tr-roehm.htm</ref>

After a long talk on June 1934, Rohm had the SA, by that time reaching well over four million members, go on leave for the month of July, with Hitler vowing to meet with the SA in a resort village near Munich to sort things out. However, on June 17 Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen ended up exposing the SA's rowdy behavior in a stump speech, as well as strongly insinuating that, far from being anti-Marxists, the SA were in fact actual Marxists, with President Hindenburg, alongside General Blomberg, admonishing Hitler and warning him that if he didn't get the SA under control, they would put Germany under martial law by the German military. In addition, Himmler and [[Reinhard Heydrich]] were busy spreading rumors that Rohm and the SA were planning to overthrow the government. By June 28, Hitler, after being notified by telephone by Goring that various German conservatives were advocating for Hindenburg to declare martial law and that Rohm was planning an imminent overthrow during Josef Terboven's wedding, decided to put the plan in action, and eventually left his hotel at 2 a.m. to personally confront the SA leadership at the Bad Wiessee resort. This after Goring and Himmler made repeated late night phone calls indicating that the SA had somehow found out about the plans and are planning a counterattack. After arriving in Munich, he learned from Adolf Wagner that SA street demonstrations had occurred at Munich though they had since dissipated. Hitler then arrived at the Ministry of the Interior to confront the three SA members responsible, and ripped the Nazi insignia off their uniforms.<ref name="NotLK">http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/triumph/tr-roehm.htm</ref>

The term is sometimes erroneously broadened to include all Nazis and even all [[fascists]], although strictly speaking Italian fascists were [[Blackshirts]], for similar reasons of their uniform.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20140111073914/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERsa.htm</ref> The term "Stormtrooper" was used earlier by the Imperial German Army to denote special trench assault units during [[World War I]] (although in that case, they were referred to as "Stoßtruppen", literally "Shock Troops" or "Siege Troopers", and the companies they operated in were known as "Sturmtruppen").

The term is sometimes erroneously broadened to include all Nazis and even all [[fascists]], although strictly speaking Italian fascists were [[Blackshirts]], for similar reasons of their uniform.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20140111073914/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERsa.htm</ref> The term "Stormtrooper" was used earlier by the Imperial German Army to denote special trench assault units during [[World War I]] (although in that case, they were referred to as "Stoßtruppen", literally "Shock Troops" or "Siege Troopers", and the companies they operated in were known as "Sturmtruppen").

A lot of their tactics in disrupting meetings by rival political organizations were replicated by similar groups, most notably the [[Sandinista National Liberation Front]], the [[Weather Underground]] at the 1968 Democratic Convention, and [[Antifa]] during widespread [[Leftwing violence in the Trump era]] and continuing into the illegitimate [[Biden regime]].<ref>https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/10/a_short_history_of_leftist_violence.html</ref><ref>https://www.thecitizensaudit.com/2017/01/18/self-proclaimed-anti-fascists-mirroring-the-tactics-nazis-used-to-gain-power/</ref><ref>https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/03/brownshirts_invade_trump_rally.html</ref>

A lot of their tactics in disrupting meetings by rival political organizations were replicated by similar groups, most notably the [[Sandinista National Liberation Front]], the [[Weather Underground]] at the 1968 Democratic Convention, and [[Antifa]] during widespread [[Left-wing violence in the Trump era]] and continuing into the illegitimate [[Biden regime]].<ref>https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/10/a_short_history_of_leftist_violence.html</ref><ref>https://www.thecitizensaudit.com/2017/01/18/self-proclaimed-anti-fascists-mirroring-the-tactics-nazis-used-to-gain-power/</ref><ref>https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/03/brownshirts_invade_trump_rally.html</ref>

==See also==

==See also==