An Introduction to the Night of the Long Knives
Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi party, gave a cruel order of a bloody purge of his own political party. He assassinated those Nazis who could emerge as his political enemy in the future. This event is also popularly known as Operation Hummingbird in history. This purge took place from 30 June to 2 July 1934. On an estimation, during the purge, 85 people died and the final death toll may have been reached in the hundreds. Many of the perceived opponents were arrested. The purge was helpful for Hitler to consolidate and strengthen the support of the military.
Background of Night of the Long Knives
Hitler had been chancellor for a long time but he wanted to gain full control of Germany. He could not gain absolute power because of two obstacles. The first one was his old comrade Ernst Röhm who was chief of staff of the SA (Sturmabteilung) and the second was German President Paul von Hindenburg who had the power to stop all of the plans of Hitler by handing power over to the Reichswehr. Hitler was aware of the fact very well that strength of the military was helpful for his policy of foreign affairs and to make the generals unhappy could be dangerous to himself. So he decided to assassinate Ernst Rohm. Thus the idea of this bloody purge came to his mind.
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The Sturmabteilung (SA)
The Sturmabteilung was a paramilitary organization that was formed to protect the Nazi party. It is also known as Storm Troopers. This was formed in 1921. Ernst Röhm was their leader. The SA played a vital role in the rise of power of Adolf Hitler during the 1920s and 1930s. The SA had increased to 2 million men by the summer of 1934. Ernst Rohm was controlling it who was a loyal companion of Hitler since the initial times of the Nazi Party. The SA helped the Nazi party by providing it with a fist of iron to disrupt other political parties’ meetings. In 1933, when Hitler became Chancellor it was also used to enforce the law.
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The SA became interested in power when the national power was obtained by Hitler and the Nazis. The number of the SA was increasing continuously by the end of 1933 they were more than 3 million men. The idea was Röhm was to absorb the army into the SA, which would be a new "people's army". This ideal triggered the leaders of the professional army and was a threat to goals of Hitler of co-opting the Reichswehr. The increasing power and ambitions of the SA were a threat to other Nazi leaders. Which became a cause of the night of the long knives.
The Formation of the Schutzstaffel (SS)
The Schutzstaffel (SS) was a paramilitary organization that was founded in 1925 under the leadership of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. After the purge of the SA through the Night of the Long Knives 1934, the SS gain most of the power of SA.initially it was serving as personal bodyguards. The SS emerged as one of the most powerful and feared organizations in all of Nazi Germany. Heinrich Himmler became the head of this organization in 1929 who was a fervent anti-Semite and expanded the size and role of the SS. He had recruited those who did not have any ancestors who were Jewish. The SS had more than 250,000 members and multiple subdivisions by the start of World War II. They were handling the activities that ranges from intelligence operations to running concentration camps of Nazis.
The Bloody Purge
Hitler was feared with the increasing power of the SA. He wanted to crush the SA. Hence ordered his guards of the Schutzstaffel to murder the leaders of the organization. Ernst Rohm. was killed during the night of the long knives 1934 along with hundreds of other perceived opponents of Hitler. Members of Heinrich Himmler’s SS shot Rohm and other leaders of the SA on the Hitler also assassinated his enemies such as Kurt von Schleicher(the last chancellor of the Weimar Republic, ) and Gregor Strasser, who had been second only to Hitler in the Nazi Party until 1932; Gustav von Kahr(Bavarian ex-separatist ), Edgar Jung (conservative critic) and Erich Klausener (Catholic professor ). Who was killed in the night of the long knives was later announced and reported by the official radio and the newspaper.
Did You Know?
The Sturmabteilung (SA) were addressed as Brownshirt because of their uniform’s colour as it was brown. The official uniform was contain a brown shirt with a brown tie and brown pants.
Hitler tried to wipe out unemployment rates from his nation. The economy was in an abyss as more than 6 million Germans were unemployed. Because of the attempts, the rate of unemployment was almost zero by 1939.
Hence we get to know about the cruelty and greed of power of Adolf Hitler through what happened on the night of the long knives. After successfully assassinating his enemy he eventually became the most powerful person of Germany because no one was able to stand against him because of the bloody purge.
FAQs on Night of the Long Knives
1. What was the Night of the Long Knives?
The Night of the Long Knives, also known as Operation Hummingbird or the Röhm Purge, was a brutal political purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934. Under Adolf Hitler's orders, his elite paramilitary group, the SS (Schutzstaffel), carried out a series of assassinations. The primary goal was to eliminate the leadership of the SA (Sturmabteilung), another Nazi paramilitary group, and other political opponents to consolidate Hitler's absolute power. You can learn more about the Night of the Long Knives- Background and Sturmabteilung in detail here.
2. Why did the Night of the Long Knives happen?
The purge was motivated by several factors:
- Threat from the SA: The SA, led by Ernst Röhm, had grown to over two million members and was seen by Hitler as a potential rival. Röhm wanted the SA to absorb the German army, which threatened Hitler's relationship with the military leadership.
- Röhm's Ambition: Ernst Röhm was an old ally of Hitler, but his calls for a 'second revolution' to establish a more radical, socialist-leaning Nazi state were at odds with Hitler's agenda of securing support from conservative industrial and military elites.
- Consolidating Power: Hitler needed the army's support to become the undisputed leader of Germany. By eliminating the SA's leadership, he gained the loyalty of the German military and removed the last significant internal threat to his authority within the Nazi Party.
3. Who were the main targets during the Night of the Long Knives?
The main targets were the leaders and prominent members of the SA. The most significant victim was Ernst Röhm, the commander of the SA. In addition to the SA, Hitler used the purge as an opportunity to eliminate other political opponents, including:
- Kurt von Schleicher, a former Chancellor of Germany, and his wife.
- Gregor Strasser, a former high-ranking Nazi who had opposed Hitler's rise.
- Various other conservative critics, former political allies, and individuals who had challenged Hitler's authority.
4. What was the immediate significance of the Night of the Long Knives for Hitler?
The immediate significance was the complete consolidation of Adolf Hitler's power. By crushing the SA, he eliminated the only major internal challenge to his leadership within the Nazi Party. This event secured him the unwavering loyalty of the German army, whose leaders were relieved to see the SA's power broken. The purge legally established Hitler as 'the supreme judge of the German people', effectively placing him above the law and paving the way for his totalitarian dictatorship.
5. How did the roles of the SA and the SS change after the purge?
The Night of the Long Knives marked a dramatic shift in the power dynamic between the SA and the SS.
- The SA (Sturmabteilung): After its leadership was executed, the SA was marginalised and lost all its political power and influence. It was reduced to a minor organisation primarily involved in rallies and minor duties, no longer posing a threat to the state or the army.
- The SS (Schutzstaffel): Having proven its loyalty and efficiency in carrying out the purge, the SS, under Heinrich Himmler, emerged as the most powerful and feared organisation in Nazi Germany. It became an independent entity, taking over control of national policing, intelligence, and running the concentration camps, cementing its role as the primary instrument of Nazi terror.
6. Why did Hitler, who valued loyalty, turn so violently against his long-time ally Ernst Röhm?
Hitler turned against Ernst Röhm because Röhm's political ambitions directly conflicted with Hitler's strategic goals for Germany. While they were old comrades, Röhm's vision for the SA to become the new German army was a direct threat to Hitler's efforts to win the support of the established military command. Röhm's open homosexuality and the thuggish reputation of the SA were also becoming a political liability. For Hitler, political expediency and the acquisition of absolute power were more important than personal loyalty to a now-threatening ally.
7. What message did the Night of the Long Knives send to the German people?
The purge sent a clear and terrifying message to the German people and any potential opponents of the regime. It demonstrated that Hitler was willing to use extreme, extra-judicial violence—even against his own followers—to enforce his will. This act of state-sanctioned murder showed that dissent would not be tolerated and that loyalty was demanded without question. It created an atmosphere of fear that silenced opposition and solidified the public perception of Hitler as a strong, decisive leader who was above the law.
