It’s June 1934. Adolf Hitler has been Chancellor for over a year, but he’s basically sweating. He doesn't have total control yet. He's looking over his shoulder at his own guys. Specifically, he’s looking at Ernst Röhm, a scarred, brawling veteran who led the SA—the "Brownshirts." The Night of the Long Knives wasn't just some random act of violence; it was a cold-blooded corporate restructuring done with bullets.
History books often make it sound like Hitler was always this untouchable god-figure in Germany. He wasn't. At least not in early 1934. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. On one side, he had the traditional German Army (the Reichswehr) and the old-money aristocrats like President Hindenburg. These guys hated the "street scum" in the SA. On the other side, he had Röhm, who commanded nearly three million men. Röhm didn't want to stop at Hitler becoming Chancellor. He wanted a "Second Revolution." He wanted to eat the rich, break up the big estates, and—this was the dealbreaker—merge the regular army into his SA.
The generals were horrified.
Imagine you’re Hitler. You need the army to invade Europe later, but you owe your current power to the thugs who broke heads in the streets to get you there. It was a mess. Between June 30 and July 2, 1934, he made a choice. He chose the guys with the tanks over the guys with the brown shirts.
The Myth of the "Röhm Putsch"
If you look at the Nazi propaganda from the time, they called the Night of the Long Knives a preemptive strike against a coup. They claimed Röhm was planning to overthrow the government. Goebbels went into overdrive painting Röhm as a traitor and, quite cynically, weaponized Röhm’s known homosexuality against him to justify the murders to the public.
Was there a real coup? Probably not.
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Most historians, like Ian Kershaw in his definitive biography Hitler, argue that while Röhm was loud-mouthed and annoying, there’s no evidence he was actually mobilizing for a hit on the Chancellery that weekend. He was on vacation. Literally. He was at the Hanselbauer Hotel in Bad Wiessee, relaxing at a spa. You don't start a revolution from a lakeside resort in your pajamas.
Hitler personally led the raid on the hotel. He burst into Röhm’s room with a whip in his hand. It’s a surreal image—the future dictator of Germany personally arresting his best friend. This wasn't just politics; it was a bloody betrayal of the only person in the Nazi Party who actually used the informal "du" (you) with Hitler.
It Wasn't Just About the SA
While we call it the Night of the Long Knives, the killing spree leaked way beyond the SA leadership. This was a "settle all scores" weekend. Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich, the architects of the SS, used the chaos to wipe out anyone who had ever annoyed them.
- Kurt von Schleicher: The former Chancellor. He was gunned down in his home alongside his wife. His "crime" was basically being a political rival.
- Gregor Strasser: Once the second most powerful man in the Nazi party. He represented the "socialist" wing of the National Socialists. He was shot in his cell.
- Gustav von Kahr: The guy who had suppressed Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch back in 1923. They found his body in a swamp, hacked to death by pickaxes.
Talk about a long memory.
The sheer scale of the purge is still debated. The official government count said 77 died. In reality, it was likely closer to 200, maybe more. Some people were killed by mistake. Willi Schmid, a local music critic, was murdered because the SS confused him with Willi Schmidt, an SA leader. They sent his body back to his widow in a coffin with orders not to open it. Oops.
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Why the German Public Actually Cheered
This is the part that’s hard to swallow. After the Night of the Long Knives, Hitler’s popularity didn't tank. It spiked.
Why? Because the SA were bullies. They were the guys who got drunk, started fights, and blocked traffic. The average German citizen was terrified of them. When Hitler "cleaned house," he looked like a statesman bringing order to chaos. He even stood up in the Reichstag and declared that for those 24 hours, he was the "supreme judge of the German people."
He basically told the country he was above the law, and the country said, "Thank you."
This moment was the death of the rule of law in Germany. It proved that if you had the guns and the guts, you could murder your political opponents in broad daylight and call it "justice." The army was so happy to be rid of Röhm that they didn't realize they had just sold their souls. Shortly after, when Hindenburg died, every soldier in the army was made to swear a personal oath of loyalty—not to the constitution, not to the country, but to Hitler himself.
The SS Steps Out of the Shadows
Before this weekend, the SS (the Schutzstaffel) was technically just a branch of the SA. They were the "elite" guys in black, but they still took orders from the guys in brown.
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The Night of the Long Knives changed that forever.
Himmler used the purge to prove the SS's loyalty and efficiency. As a reward, Hitler made the SS an independent organization. This was the birth of the state within a state. Without the purge of the SA, the SS might never have gained the power they needed to carry out the Holocaust or manage the concentration camp system. It was the moment the "organized" killers took over from the "disorganized" street fighters.
Honestly, it’s a lesson in how dictatorships consolidate. They don't just fight their enemies; they devour their own.
Actionable Insights for History Enthusiasts and Researchers
If you’re trying to understand the mechanics of power, the Night of the Long Knives is a textbook case. To get a deeper grasp of this event, you shouldn't just look at the dates. Look at the logistics.
- Analyze the "Blood Oath": Research the change in the German military oath after August 1934. It’s the direct result of this purge and explains why so many generals felt they couldn't rebel later—they felt bound by a personal vow to a man they knew was a murderer.
- Compare the Power Structures: Contrast the SA's "populist" violence with the SS's "bureaucratic" violence. One was loud and messy; the other was silent and systemic. The transition between the two is where the real horror of the Third Reich lies.
- Read the Primary Sources: Look up the "Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense." It’s a one-sentence law passed after the fact to make the murders legal. It’s a chilling example of how legal systems can be hollowed out from the inside.
- Trace the Survivors: Look at what happened to the "Old Guard" Nazis who survived. Most became sycophants because they knew exactly what happened to anyone who showed a hint of independence.
Understanding the Night of the Long Knives means understanding that the Nazi regime wasn't a monolith. It was a vibrating mess of competing factions held together by a leader who was willing to kill his best friends to keep his job. It’s a reminder that order bought with blood usually leads to a much larger massacre down the road.