[ncalburt]

Hitler rose to power thanks to Ernest Rohm and his brown shirts thugs in Munich .
Rohm and his thugs were gay and wiped out in the night of long knives .
That Nazi history which is very strange .

[hinckley buzzard]

Well, Rohm had built up the SA to the point where it rivalled the Army, and was becoming the seat of a contentious power struggle within the party. Vice chancellor Papen was also stirring things up in the opposition parties. Hindenburg(still president) told Hitler he had to defuse rising national tensions, or else he Hindenburg would declare martial law and turn the leadership of the state over to the Army. Hitler had tenuous support among the aristocratic officer corps as it was, and knew he had to do something to neutralize the SA. In addition he had fears of a coup led by Rohm. The Night of the Long Knives was necessary in his view to solve several problems at once, including his ability to retain support in the military, essential to all his future plans.