Night of the Long Knives

The Night of the Long Knives was a purge that took place in Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political executions. Most of those killed were members of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary Brownshirts.

Adolf Hitler moved against the SA and its leader, Ernst Röhm, because he saw the independence of the SA and the penchant of its members for street violence as a direct threat to his power. He also wanted to conciliate leaders of the Reichswehr, the official German military who both feared and despised the SA—in particular Röhm's ambition to absorb the Reichswehr into the SA under his own leadership. Finally, Hitler used the purge to attack or eliminate critics of his regime, especially those loyal to Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen, and to settle scores with old enemies.

Night of the Long Knives in The War That Came Early
Although the Night of the Long Knives happened for four years before the 1938 Munich Conference, Adolf Hitler considered the event execution of Ernst Röhm instances wherein Hitler had known when to strike at his opponents (which in turn demonstrated his greatness). He considered the conference another such moment, and was frustrated that no one else did.