Hitler and the SA

SA, abbreviation of Sturmabteilung (German: “Assault Division”), were a paramilitary organization whose methods of violent intimidation played a key role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power.
Many of the original members of the SA came from the Freikorps, post-World War One nationalists who had opposed the Versailles Treaty, fought the brief Bavarian Soviet and opposed the general weakness of the Weimar government.
Because speaking in public was potentially a dangerous matter when politics was concerned, the original task of the SA was to protect Hitler as such events usually attracted the Communists and frequently ended in violence and disorder.
Hitler then claimed that the Weimar regime lacked leadership and power while he was the person who could restore Germany to law and order.
After Hitler took power in 1933, the SA became increasingly eager for power and saw themselves as a replacement for the German Army, then limited by law to no more than 100,000 men.
This angered the regular army (Reichswehr) and led to tension with other leaders within the party, who saw Röhm's increasingly powerful SA as a threat to the current party leadership

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	Created by Lara Jackson over 8 years ago