History: The SA or the Army? Hitler Makes his Choice

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What was happening by mid 1934?
A power struggle had developed in the Nazi Leadership. Hitler had to make a choice between the SA and army.
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Who had Hitler depended on throughout the rise of the Nazis? Why?
The SA - to put his policies into action.
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What had the SA done for Hitler?
Fought loyally for him and helped him to come to power.
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Talk about size and power of the SA by 1934.
It was an enormous organisation, which was very powerful. It had more than two million members.
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Who was the SA leader? What was significant about him?
Ernst Röhm - he was a potential rival to Hitler.
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What did Röhm want the SA to take control of?
The army.
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What did Röhm want Hitler to continue? How?
The Nazi revolution by reducing the power of big businesses and carrying out the anti-capitalist parts of the Nazi-programme - such as taking over major industries.
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What was the size of the army?
100,000 men - much smaller than the SA.
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Who were the army leadership supported by? What did they want Hitler to do?
Big businesses. They wanted him to expand the army and to buy new weapons.
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What was the army completely against? Who were they suspicious of?
They were completely against being taken over by the SA and suspicious of Röhm.
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What did Hitler know was very important in gaining effective control of Germany?
The army.
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What was his main problem in 1923 when the Munich Putsch failed?
The army opposed him.
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What did Hitler do as soon as he became Chancellor on 3 February 1933?
He went to the army leaders to explain his aims, and told them he intended to rearm Germany (thus overturning a central part of the TOV) and to take over Lebensraum in Eastern Europe. He also said his plans would involve defeating France in a war.
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What was the opinion of the army leaders on Hitler's plans?
Many welcomed them but others remained very suspicious of Hitler.
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What class were many army chiefs from? How did this affect their views on Hitler? However, what did they agree on?
They were upper-class, so they looked down on him. However, they agreed with his nationalist views and his belief that the army needed to be much larger.
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Four reasons for supporting the SA
Röhm was an old friend of Hitler, SA had fought for Hitler in 1923 Munich Putsch and in fights against communists, they were committed Nazis and it had grown to over 2,500,000 men - much larger than the army if it came to a fight.
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Four reasons for supporting the army
They were well trained, organised and disciplined, only organisation which had the power to remove Hitler, had support of big businesses and conservatives and an efficient army was needed for Hitler to retake the land lost in TOV
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Four reasons against supporting the SA
Beginning to get out of hand,interfering in running the country&law courts,it disapproved of some Nazi leaders,if he used SA to control army he'd have to go along with other demands&he didnt agree with their anticapitalist policies&working class aims
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Three reasons against supporting the army
Army was only small - had only 100,000 men, Hitler didn't know how loyal the army would be to him and some army generals disliked Hitler and the Nazis.
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How had Röhm helped Hitler?
He was one of Hitler's earliest supporters. He helped create the SA as a private army, he stood alongside him in the Munich Putsch, and kept the party going whilst Hitler was in prison serving his sentence.
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Which two nazi leaders did Röhm dislike? Why?
Hermann Goering for his aristocratic manner, and Heinrich Himmler - commander of **.
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What was the problem with the members of the SA by the 1930's? What did Hitler ask Röhm to do? What did Röhm do/want?
Most of them were thugs. He asked Röhm to take control of them, Röhm made them more disciplined but still wanted them to become the most powerful force in Germany.
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When was the night of long knives?
29 June 1934.
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What happened on 29 June 1934?
Hitler called a meeting of SA leaders for the following day. Over the weekend Röhm and 200 other SA leader were executed. These also included other opponents of Hitler who were not part of the SA - former Chancellor von Schleicher.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Who had Hitler depended on throughout the rise of the Nazis? Why?

Back

The SA - to put his policies into action.

Card 3

Front

What had the SA done for Hitler?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Talk about size and power of the SA by 1934.

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Who was the SA leader? What was significant about him?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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