Significant event one: The Night of the Long Knives (30 June-2 July 1934)
The SA was a para-military branch of the Nazi Party which was headed by Ernst Röhm. They were quite powerful due to growing from 445,000 to 3 million members between August 1932 and June 1934. Hitler decided that the SA had become a threat and he sought to eliminate them.
As well as this, many members of the SA were pushing for the Nazis to continue their original socialist agenda. Hitler and the leaders of the Nazi Party believed that this idea was not a good one. They knew they needed to seem moderate and democratic.
On the 30th of June 1934, the leaders of the SA were ordered to a meeting by Hitler. There, they were placed under arrest, many of them by Hitler himself. Over the next two days, over 100 people were murdered by the Gestapo and the SS (Hitler’s elite guard and some of the most ruthless and brutal men in Germany). While those murdered mainly consisted of members of the SA, it also included some of Hitler’s political opponents (e.g. Kurt von Schleicher, the former Chancellor).
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Many people thought this was a legitimate claim as the SA were often violent and uncontrollable. It was later confirmed as true in a Bill approved by the Reichstag.
This event, called the Night of the Long Knives, was crucial to Hitler because it destroyed any threats from within his own party. This meant any internal feelings of resentment or opposition were quashed almost permanently. This event also gave power to the SS, who supported Hitler’s regime. Hitler had shown to his country and the world what he was truly capable of, and it paved the way for his inevitable tyranny.
Significant event two: Hitler becoming President/Führer (2 August