A further reason why the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ took place in June 1934 was due to Hitler’s fear of Röhm overthrowing him. By 1934, it became more apparent that the SA were becoming a very strong force independently within the Nazi party and as a result of this, posed as a critical threat towards Hitler. This urge the SA had to overthrow Hitler was due to the tension caused as a result of the contrasting beliefs Röhm and Hitler had. The main proposition Röhm made which led to Hitler deciding that the SA had to go was the aim to create the ‘People’s Army’, by overthrowing the army and then combining it with the SA. As this was seen as a sign of socialism and therefore outrageous among the army and the Elites, they insisted that the SA must be excluded from the Nazi party. Consequently, this was one of the reasons which led to the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ taking place in June 1934.
As the SA was posing as a threat to Hitler, he needed the help of the Elites in order to establish his dictatorship and avoid Röhm overthrowing him. This leads onto my final point which is that Hitler required the help of the Elites in order to establish a dictatorship in Germany. As previously mentioned, the Elites had the power to help assist Hitler into power and eventually succeed President Hindenburg’s leadership. In addition, the Elites were happy to do this, as they were reluctant to assist Röhm and the SA in any way as they desired for Germany to become more socialist, which would make the Elites lose a lot of their wealth, consequently posed a threat towards them. The elites knew that if they worked along side Hitler and negotiated with him, they could abolish the SA organisation which would be beneficial for Hitler as there would be no more internal opposition and also for the Elites, as the desired capitalism and a strong army. As a result of this, it was obvious that the extermination of the SA would be at interest and therefore the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ occurred.
To conclude, there were several factors which led to the incident of the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ in June 1934. These were, the ideology of the SA, the power struggle between the army and the SA, Hitler’s fear of Röhm overthrowing him and finally because Hitler required the help of the elites to establish a dictatorship. Of these reasons, I feel that the power struggle between the SA and the army was the most significant as this was the source of the problems for Hitler. It was this conflict between the ideology of the SA and the rest of the Nazi party which created tension among the army and also the elites, who were a very influential group to Hitler as he relied greatly on them.
Explain why the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ helped Hitler establish a dictatorship in Germany.
The ‘Night of the Long Knives’ took place in June 1934 with the intention of eliminating the group of socialistic Nazis, known as the SA. More than 200 Nazis were murdered that night, along with 50 of Hitler’s own officers, such as Röhm, who was one of Hitler’s closest friends. As an outcome of this event, Hitler was able to establish his dictatorship in Germany for several reasons, for example, it made the army loyal, it won the support of the elites, put the SA under the control of Hitler and finally eliminated the last of the opposition against Hitler’s ideology. Of these reasons, I believe that the most significant is that the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ gained the support of the elites.
A first reason why the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ helped establish a dictatorship in Germany was because that it made the army loyal to Hitler. The SA posed as a significant threat towards the army due to their ideology; the ‘Second Revolution’. The main goal of this was to overthrow the army and create a more social army known as the ‘People’s Army’, which the current army would obviously strongly oppose. Therefore, by the ‘Knight of the Long Knives’ taking place, Hitler is showing his loyalty towards the army, and more importantly, the army showed their loyalty towards Hitler by signing an oath of loyalty towards him in 1934. This meant that Hitler therefore had the support of the army to establish his dictatorship, which was critical due to the strength of the army.
Related to this, a further reason why the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ helped to establish Hitler’s dictatorship was that it led to the increase in support from the elites. The Elites was the collective name for the wealthy upper class German businessmen who played a key role in the economy of the country and included wealthy army leaders and also President Hindenburg. As a result of their wealth, it would have been obvious that the social and liberal reforms of the SA would not be to the elites delight as they would lose a great deal of their wealth. The elites were both very powerful and very influential on the country. Therefore, it was necessary that Hitler gained their support and trust in order to establish a stable dictatorship in Germany, and by the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ taking place, Hitler is showing his loyalty towards them.
This is linked to an addition point which is that the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ helped to establish a dictatorship as it led to the SA being under the control of Hitler. Previous to the incident, the SA played a considerable role in the Nazi party which included fighting for Hitler in the ‘Munich Putsch’ and assisting him to gain votes in the 5th March 1933 elections. However, as a result of the death of Ernest Röhm on the ‘Night of the Long Knives’, the SA were stripped of their powers and duties and therefore became a far weaker sector of the Nazi party as they had no leader. The role of the SA was then very minor within the party as Hitler appointed a new leader named Victor Lutze, who he commanded to put an end ‘to homosexuality, debauchery, drunkenness and high living’ in the SA. Therefore, the SA were no longer a threat to Hitler as he had total control of them and over their new leader. This is linked to a further reason which is that it led to the last of the opposition to the Nazi party being dealt with.
The ‘Knight of the Long Knives’ helped to establish dictatorship in Germany as it led to the last of the opposition towards Hitler being exterminated. In order for Hitler to establish a dictatorship in Germany, he needed to eliminate all threatening organisations which opposed him. Examples of how Hitler had previous achieved this being the result of the Reichstag fire on the 27th February which was that the communist party was banned. In addition, on the 14th July 1933 Hitler banned all political parties and also the formation of new ones. This left no threats towards Nazism by other political movements. However, Hitler was then left to deal with the emerging opposing force within his own party in order to establish control over Germany. Therefore, the ‘Night of the Long Knives was a necessity in order to exterminate all oppositions. Consequently, when the President, Paul Von Hindenburg, died on the 2nd August, there was no political crisis to determine who would succeed him as Hitler was able to simply combine the offices of chancery and presidency together and claim himself to be ‘Führer’ as their was no one else to oppose him.
To conclude, the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ helped Hitler to establish his dictatorship for several reasons; it made the army loyal, it won the support of the elites, put the SA under the control of Hitler and finally eliminated the last of the opposition against Hitler’s ideology. Of these reasons, I believe that the most significant outcome of the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ which helped to establish Hitler’s dictatorship was that it gained the support from the elites. The elites’ power and wealth was a necessity in order for Hitler to succeed. The most powerful of the elites, President Hindenburg was the only man who could help Hitler achieve the power he desired and therefore by gaining his support and trust, he was able to eventually gain full control over Germany. Furthermore, the elites controlled the army and therefore if Hitler gained the trust and support of the elites, it would be far easier for him to make the army loyal to him as they were a very powerful organisation and potentially a significant threat to him.
