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For example, it allowed Hitler to become the most powerful man in Germany due to him then having control of two armies...

2006-11-06 09:20:44 · 14 answers · asked by Queenie 4 in Arts & Humanities History

14 answers

The Generals of the Wehrmarcht (German Army) wanted to be the sole military authority in Germany- so made veiled threats to Hitler to curb his rowdy SA- brownshirts.

Hitler reacted within days. The night of the long knives killed a number of people in the middle ranks of the Wehrmarcht, but its chief aim was fear. Communists, army 'plants' in the SA and potential threats inside the Nazi party were also killed to cement Hitler's power.

This achieved, Hitler was able to undermine the authority of the army by converting the SA into the SS- blackshirts. The army only hesitatingly questioned Hitler's methods after that day right until the Stauffenberg bomb.

2006-11-06 23:26:04 · answer #1 · answered by Peter F 5 · 0 0

Hitler did not kill all the Brown Shirts during the night of the long knives. At the time there was an idealogical difference in the Nazi Party. There were genuine communists in the party (rember the Nazis were the National Socialist Party). Hitler was not a communist and was beginning to gather support from the aristocracy and industrialists. He did not want to lose that. In addition there were those in the party that wanted a militaristic regime. The party had a paramilitary wing - the Brown Shirts (SA) led by Ernst Rohm. Rohm was a serious rival for the leadership of the whole movement. He was, probably, the only serious rival to HItler at that time. The night of the long knives removed Rohm ensuring that Hitler would lead the SA and also took out his political rivals. Thereafter, there were no threats to Hitler until WW2 and the assassination attempt.

2006-11-06 21:25:32 · answer #2 · answered by judge mark 2 · 1 0

There are several answers to this question:

1 It pleased many financial backers of the Nazi Party who may otherwise have withdrawn support. Vogler, the Krupps, Thysen and Kirdorf had been complaining for some time about Roehm's (The Sturmabteilung leader) outspoken socialist and anti-capatalist views and wanted him removed. Roehm and others blatant homosexuality were not received well by the Church and wide sections of society either.
2.Hitler needed the backing of the Generals of the army who were worried that the SA (with its 3 million men) could become an independent paramilitary force outside of the control of the general command.
3.Encouraged by Hitler, the higher echelons of the Nazi heirarchy competed against each other to grab power. Goering and Himmler were particularly vulnerable targets had Roehm decided to remove them and they asked Heydrich to manufacture evidence against him, which Hitler at first refused to believe. Roehm was accused of accepting 12 million francs from the French to lead a coup against Hitler but the latter dismissed this. Only when a plot by Strasser was "discovered" and Roehm implicated did Hitler finally act. Until the last Hitler wished to pardon Roehm until he was finally persuaded otherwise. Hitler decreed that Roehm should commit suicide even then, but the latter refused and he was shot by two SS men.
4. The higher echelons of the Nazi party wished to nullify the power of the independent German courts. Hitler, when asked why the proper legal procedures had not been adhered to, replied: "In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I become the supreme judge of the German people. I gave the order to shoot the ringleaders in this treason." This was of course the first time the courts had been bypassed and now they knew they could do it, it would be done increasingly often.
So the importance is that it removed a large power block that threatened high-ranking nazis and the stability of Germany itself. It brought goodwill to the army, church and financiers who had hated and/or feared Roehm. It diminished the power of the SA dramatically under its new leader Lutze,and made the Nazi Party the ultimate arbiters of the law thus neutralising the courts.
What is often overlooked is how weak Hitler became after this; he was easily bypassed by Himmler in his wishes and it casts doubt on how much responsibility the former bears for the subsequent actions of the Nazis, and asks questions of just to what extent was Himmler the real controlling power?

Have I done your homework for you here?

2006-11-06 10:33:34 · answer #3 · answered by prakdrive 5 · 2 0

The evening of the long Knives (June 30 and Sunday July a million, 1934) (German, Nacht der langen Messer), additionally wide-unfold as Reichsmordwoche, "Operation Hummingbird" or "the Blood Purge", replaced right into a deadly purge of Adolf Hitler's ability political opponents interior the Sturmabteilung (SA; additionally wide-unfold as hurricane squaddies or brownshirts). The SA replaced into the paramilitary employer of the Nazi celebration that had helped the Nazis upward thrust to ability interior the Nineteen Twenties, culminating with Hitler being appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933. The call, "evening of the long Knives", is a connection with the massacre of Vortigern's adult adult males by potential of perspective, Jute and Saxon mercenaries interior the Arthurian delusion. occurring over a weekend, the purge centred SA leaders and participants who have been linked extra with socialism than with nationalism, and subsequently have been seen as a threat to the persisted help for Chancellor Adolf Hitler interior the army and conservative business enterprise community that had supported Hitler's upward thrust to ability. in this adventure, regardless of the undeniable fact that, the Gestapo additionally centred conservative opponents and aspects interior of and outdoors the regime, and the purge did no longer concentration on suppressing the Communists or Social Democrats, the Nazi celebration's commonplace foes from the left. respected information tally the lifeless at seventy seven, nonetheless some 4 hundred are believed to have been killed.

2016-12-10 03:48:36 · answer #4 · answered by minissale 4 · 0 0

The Night of the Long Knives was a turning point in the history of Hitler's Germany. Hitler had made it clear that he was the supreme ruler of Germany who had the right to be judge and jury, and had the power to decide whether people lived or died.

2006-11-06 09:26:59 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2 0

if i recall acurately hitlers night of the long knives is when He killed all the Brown Shirts who were the enforces at the time. Hitler killed them all and replaced them with his own black shirts who were even more loyal to him than the cause. Out with the old and in with the new. it was his way of gaining more power and control by putting his own people in a power position.

2006-11-06 09:24:24 · answer #6 · answered by Diddytron 2 · 3 0

the night of the long knives was important, because the sa/brown shirts including ernst rohm, had angered hitler, and the ss were told to eliminate all members. it carried on for 2 nights and over 72 people were arrested, giving the ss/heinrich himmler and hitler more control and power

2006-11-06 10:23:29 · answer #7 · answered by winnie the pooh 1 · 1 0

The night of the long knives was a turning point for the German Government. Hitler had many top military officers and others who he felt his power threatened by killed, so they couldn't stop his plans of totalitarianism. Many murdered officers were fully behind the Chancellor, so it must have been quite a shock, before their deaths. It was a prelude to what was going to happen throughout Germany and Europe to anyone who stood in his way, or was undesirable to the State.

2006-11-06 09:28:31 · answer #8 · answered by Bikermarks 1 · 1 2

Hitler took out the Brown shirts and consolidated his own power

2006-11-06 09:31:07 · answer #9 · answered by I'm Sparticus 4 · 1 0

it was important to Hitler as all his political rivals were assassinated giving him free reign in parliament.

2006-11-06 09:23:30 · answer #10 · answered by travelgirl 2 · 1 0

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