29 juin 1934 - Night of the Long Knives

Description:

By mid-1934, a power struggle had developed in the Nazi party, and Hitler had to choose between the SA or the Army. What should he choose?

Advantages of the SA:
- Rohm was an old friend of Hitler
- The SA fought with Hitler in the 1923 Munich Putsch
- The SA was made up of committed Nazis
- It had 2,500,000 soldiers (much bigger than the army)

Disadvantages:
- The SA was beginning to interfere with the running of the country
- If Hitler chose the SA he would have to go with the SA's demands as well, not just his own
- Hitler did not agree with some of the SA's anti-capitalist policies
- The army was suspicious of Rohm, and Hitler wanted the army to support him, if he chose the SA they wouldn't

Advantages of the army:
- well-trained, organized, disciplined
- was the only organization which had power over him
- had the support of big businesses
- an efficient army would be needed for Hitler to take back the land lost by the TOV

Disadvantages:
- it was small, only had 100,000 men
- Hitler didn't know how loyal it would be
- some soldiers didn't like Hitler or the Nazis

In the end, Hitler chose the army. On the weekend of 29-30 June, Hitler and a squad of SS men broke into the homes of Rohm and other leading members of the SA and arrested them. Hitler accused Rohm of trying to overthrow and murder him. Over the weekend Rohm and up to 400 others were executed, some of which included Von Schleicher. This purge became known as the Night of the Long Knives.

Hindenburg thanked Hitler for his determination, and the army was also satisfied with the events of the weekend. Soon after the night of long knives, Hindenburg died, and Hitler took over as Fuhrer of Germany. In August 1934, the entire army swore an oath of personal loyalty to Hitler and also promised to stay out of politics. In return, Hitler brought back conscription, and rearmament, and planned to make Germany a great military power once again.

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