Lesson video

Hello, welcome to History here at Oak National Academy.

My name's Mr. Newton, and I will be your teacher today, guiding you through the entire lesson.

Right, let's get started.

In January, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany, but despite the grand title, his grip on power was weak.

The Nazis lacked a majority in the Reichstag, and only a few held positions in the cabinet.

To tighten his control, Hitler used the Reichstag fire as a pretext to eliminate his political opponents and push through the enabling act, granting him the power to rule by decree.

In doing so, he legally dismantled democracy and turned Germany into a one-party state.

Yet even with this power, Hitler wasn't finished.

He aimed to consolidate control even further.

Hitler increasingly saw people from within his own ranks as a potential threat to his authority.

What happens when a dictator believes the greatest danger isn't from his enemies, but from those closest to him? And what about other powerful groups in Germany, like the army, or President Hindenberg, whose loyalty couldn't yet be guaranteed? By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain how Hitler created a dictatorship between March, 1933, and August, 1934.

Before we begin, there are a few key words that we need to understand.

The SA, or in German Sturmabteilung, were also known as Stormtroopers or Brownshirts.

These were the Nazi party's paramilitary wing, who protected meetings and used violence to intimidate opponents.

A socialist is a person who believes the government should own key industries to ensure wealth and resources are shared more equally among all people.

And the SS, or Schutzstaffel, were a highly trained elite paramilitary unit, originally formed as Hitler's bodyguards, later central to Nazi terror and repression.

And in the context of today's lesson, purge means the forceful removal of people seen as unwanted or threatening, often involving violence against political opponents.

And finally, Fuhrer, meaning leader, was a key Nazi idea, promoting total authority under one ruler to end chaos.

Hitler later adopted it to assert himself as Germany's supreme ruler.

Today's lesson is called Hitler's Creation of a Dictatorship, and we're going to break it down into three key parts.

First, we'll look at the internal tension within the Nazi party, and we'll explore how the SA, once vital to Hitler's rise, began to worry both Hitler and the army.

Second, we'll move on to the Night of the Long Knives, and this was a dramatic and violent turning point where Hitler chose to eliminate his rivals in one swift and brutal action.

Finally, we'll finish with Hindenburg's death, and Hitler claims supreme power, where we'll see how Hitler used the president's death to officially merge all power under his own title, Fuhrer of Germany.

Right, let's begin the lesson with too powerful, too radical, the SA's challenge.

Germany in mid 1934 was a nation in transition.

Adolf Hitler's grip on power was firm, but not yet unchallenged.

Since rising to the chancellorship in January, 1933, Hitler had swiftly dismantled democracy and declared a national socialist revolution.

The Nazi party or NSDAP, with its early blend of nationalism and socialism, had roots in working class appeal.

Now, the Nazis had established a one-party state and crushed opposition.

Yet by the summer of 1934, one of the regime's earliest foot soldiers felt the revolution had not gone far enough.

At the heart of the unrest stood the SA, the Nazi party's Stormtroopers.

However, by 1934, their usefulness was waning, and their leader, Ernst Rohm, was becoming a problem.

And you can see a photo of Rohm on the left.

Stocky, battle-scarred and fiercely loyal, Rohm had been a comrade of Hitler since the early days, but Rohm believed the Nazi revolution had stalled.

Rohm called for a second revolution, one that would challenge the privileged elites, and push the Nazi regime in a more radical direction.

Okay, let's have a check for our understanding.

What was the main reason Rohm became a problem for Hitler by mid 1934? A, he believed the Nazi revolution had stalled and wanted a more radical direction.

B, he had joined the Communist party and now opposed Nazism.

C, he refused to follow Hitler's orders during the Munich Putsch, causing tension between the pair.

D, he was secretly planning to restore democracy in Germany and was not a true Nazi.

Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

Well done if you knew the correct answer was A, he believed the Nazi revolution had stalled and wanted a more radical direction.

Okay, let's continue.

So Rohm's idea of a second revolution was radical, and increasingly out of step of the direction Hitler was taking.

Rohm pushed for socialist reforms that alarmed businessmen and landowners.

Rohm and other SA leaders had spoken about socialist policies such as taxing wealthy elites, breaking up large businesses and redistributing them among small traders, as well as seizing aristocratic estates to provide land for working-class Germans.

These ideas alarmed conservative elites and alienated many of the businessmen who had backed the Nazi party.

Hitler and the Nazi party couldn't afford to lose the support of these people.

However, these weren't the only people who were threatened by Rohm and the SA.

To the German military, Rohm's ambitions posed an even more direct threat.

Rohm had long argued for the SA to replace the traditional German army with a new people's force.

The SA's numbers had exploded to nearly three million, vastly outnumbering the 100,000-strong army.

But while the army remained disciplined and professional, the SA had become unruly and violent.

Their drunken brawling and street-level thuggery alarmed civilians and embarrassed senior German leaders.

The idea that such a force might one day absorb or replace the army infuriated Germany's generals.

Therefore, Rohm's plan to replace the army with the SA enraged military leaders, and threatened Hitler's hold on power.

Hitler was increasingly focused on consolidating his power and restoring stability.

Therefore, he knew he needed the loyalty of the army to maintain order and legitimacy, and the support of big business to fund economic recovery.

Rohm's radicalism now stood in the way of both.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Why was Rohm's radical second revolution seen as a threat in 1934? Select three correct answers.

A, it aimed to redistribute land from aristocrats to working class Germans, worrying wealthy elites.

B, it opposed the idea of a one-party state, weakening Nazi control.

C, it promised to replace the professional army with an unruly people's force, angering military leaders.

D, it threatened to alienate the businessmen whose support Hitler relied on for economic recovery.

Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay welcome back, and well done if you knew the correct three answers were A, aimed to redistribute land from aristocrats to working class Germans, worrying wealthy elites, and C, it promised to replace the professional army with an unruly people's force, angering military leaders.

And finally D, it threatened to alienate the businessman whose support Hitler relied on for economic recovery.

Pressure mounted on Hitler as opposition to Rohm grew within and beyond the Nazi party.

Within the Nazi movement, rivalries festered.

Let's take a look at this diagram.

It shows us the key power struggle happening within the Nazi leadership.

At the centre you've got Adolf Hitler, and at the top we can see Ernst Rohm, head of the SA.

Now look at the bottom two corners.

On one side is Hermann Goring, in charge of the Gestapo, and on the other is Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS.

Both Himmler and Goring were ambitious, and saw Rohm and the SA as obstacles to their own power.

They began working together to turn Hitler against Rohm.

So this triangle shows the developing internal conflict, a power struggle.

Hitler caught in the middle, with Rohm pushing for radical change on one side, and Goring and Himmler pushing for control and order on the other.

A question for you to think about.

If you were in Hitler's position, which side would you trust, and why? Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, once a subunit of the SA, wanted to increase the power of the SS over its former parent organisation.

Hermann Goring, head of the Gestapo, Nazi Germany's secret police force, harboured ambitions of increasing his own influence, including within the military.

Both men saw Rohm as an obstacle, and fed Hitler a steady stream of reports painting the SA as a threat to state security.

Indeed, rumours began to circulate that Rohm was plotting a takeover, and he intended to overthrow and possibly even assassinate Hitler.

Therefore, Hitler was under pressure to consolidate his power, and fast.

He's surrounded by powerful men who controlled violent, influential organisations.

If he does nothing, he risks losing control to one of them, or alienating key supporters like the army and business leaders.

Or he could choose to side with one faction, in order to regain full control of the situation.

Even if Hitler could resolve the power struggles within the Nazi party, he still faced the challenge of dealing with critics outside the movement.

Outside the party, Hitler's conservative vice-chancellor, Franz von Papen, who we can see in the photo on the left, was receiving growing numbers of complaints about SA violence.

On the 17th of June, 1934, Papen delivered a bold public speech, warning that the Nazi revolution had gone too far.

The crowd roared in approval.

Hitler was furious.

Soon after the army leadership, led by General Werner von Bromberg, warns that if Hitler failed to rein in the SA and get control of them, president Hindenberg might transfer power to the military, to resolve the crisis themselves.

This matters, because Hitler didn't just need to keep his own party in line.

He also needed the continued support of the German army and the elite.

Without it, his hold on power would remain shaky.

And there was a real risk if Hitler didn't act, the president and the Army might take matters into their own hands, and they could move to crush the SA themselves, carving up and weakening the Nazi party, and potentially undoing the Nazi revolution altogether.

So Hitler was facing a choice, ignore the unrest and risk losing everything, or take decisive action to regain control.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What I want you to do here is, working with your partner, discuss the following question.

How did both internal and external pressures contribute to Hitler's decision to act against Rohm and the SA in 1934? So pause the video, have a quick discussion, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

So hopefully there's many things that you discussed there, but you may have discussed the following.

You might have said that inside the Nazi party, pressure came from Himmler and Goring, who saw Rohm as a rival for power, and that they fed Hitler reports claiming the SA were a threat to state security.

And externally, you might have said that Vice-Chancellor Papen publicly criticised the regime, and the army leadership warned Hitler that power might be transferred to the military to deal with the crisis if he didn't act.

Okay great, let's move on to task A.

What I want you to do here is describe two problems Hitler faced from the SA in 1934.

So have a quick think, try and identify the two issues, and then write a sentence or two describing how these issues were problems for Hitler, with regards to the SA.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay great, well done having a go at that task.

So there's many things that you may have written there, but compare your answers with the ones I have here.

For your first problem, you might have identified the fact that the SA's radical ideas were threatening Hitler's alliances.

And then to just briefly describe what we mean by that, you could have said something like, Rohm wanted a second revolution that involved socialist policies, like redistributing wealth and breaking up big businesses, which alarmed the elites and business leaders who backed the Nazi party.

And for the second problem, you could put that the SA threatened the authority of the army.

Rohm proposed replacing the traditional German army with the SA, which had grown to three million members.

The SA were also known for their disorderly behaviour.

This made army leaders feel threatened and angry.

As I've said, there's many ways you could have answered this question, so let me just give you two more alternative answers that you may have got.

So you could have put that Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, and Hermann Goring, head of the Gestapo, both wanted to expand their own influence, and saw the SA as an obstacle.

They deliberately spread rumours that Rohm was planning to overthrow Hitler, which increased suspicion and tension inside the Nazi party.

And you could also put, Von Papen publicly criticised the violence of the SA in a speech on the 17th of June, 1934, which gained public support and embarrassed Hitler.

Shortly after, the Army leadership warned that unless Hitler acted, President Hindenburg might let the military take control to restore order.

Okay great, now that we've established the growing tension both inside and outside the Nazi party, especially the pressure Hitler was under from the SA, the Army, and conservative elites, let's move on to see how he responded.

The second part of our lesson focuses on the Night of the Long Knives.

So faced with the threat of losing control, Hitler chose the side with the German military.

On the 30th of June, 1934, Hitler launched a swift and brutal purge of SA leaders and other opponents.

Take a look at the photo on the left.

In the centre we can see Adolf Hitler and Ernst Rohm, standing side by side, saluting.

At this point they look united here, but behind this image of loyalty, a very different story was unfolding.

What's chilling is that within months of this photo being taken, deadly events would unfold, events that would mark a turning point in Hitler's rise to total power.

Rohm and other SA leaders were staying at a hotel in Bavaria.

In the early hours, Hitler arrived with a squad of SS men, and personally led the arrests.

Rohm, half asleep and clutching a cigar, was stunned.

Across Germany, SS and Gestapo units sprang into action.

SA leaders were dragged from their beds, shot in forests, or imprisoned and tortured.

Rohm's closest associates were executed without trial.

On the first of July, Rohm was offered a pistol to take his own life, he refused.

SS officers entered his cell and shot him.

Some SA men went to their deaths still believing Hitler knew nothing of what was happening, still loyal to the man who had ordered their execution.

The purge quickly expanded beyond the SA.

In Berlin, violence was used to eliminate a range of perceived threats, and settle old political scores.

Papen's staff were murdered.

Former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and his wife were shot in their home, and Catholic leader Erich Klausener was gunned down in his office.

Gregor Strasser, a former Nazi leader with socialist views, was killed, as was Gustav von Kahr, the Bavarian politician who had suppressed Hitler's failed Munich Putsch in 1923.

Such was the sudden ruthless and deadly nature of the betrayal, that this event became known as the Night of the Long Knives.

In total at least 85 people were killed, though the real number may have been far higher.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What I want you to do here is, working with your partner, discuss the following question.

Why is the word purge an accurate way to describe the Night of the Long Knives? So pause the video, have a quick discussion, and then come right back.

Okay welcome back, and hopefully you had some great discussions there.

So you may have discussed the following.

You might have said that a purge is an accurate way to describe the Night of the Long Knives, because Hitler removed opponents both inside and outside the Nazi party through sudden and brutal violence.

And this meant that SA leaders were arrested, executed without trial, or tortured.

Killings included political enemies like von Schleicher and Klausener.

And you could have also said something like, the ruthless and deadly nature of the betrayal was so shocking, that the event became known as the Night of the Long Knives.

Okay, let's continue.

So ultimately Hitler defended the purge, and gained the loyalty of the army.

On the 13th of July, Hitler addressed the Reichstag and the nation.

He justified the killings as a necessary act to prevent treason and civil war.

"I gave the order to shoot," he declared, "and I bear the responsibility." The purge was widely accepted.

Many Germans felt the removal of the SA's street violence brought a sense of safety.

The army in particular was pleased.

With Rohm eliminated, Hitler had demonstrated that he would side with the traditional military elites, over his old revolutionary comrades.

In return, the army pledged its personal loyalty to Hitler, an alliance that would soon proved crucial.

So the Night of the Long Knives was significant for two key reasons.

First, with the threats posed by the SA removed, Hitler secured the support of the military, an alliance he needed to consolidate his power.

Second, it marked Hitler's transformation into a ruthless dictator.

Hitler showed he was openly willing to murder even close allies.

He was publicly showing that he was willing to eliminate threats, and make clear the brutal consequences for anyone who dared to oppose him.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What made the Night of the Long Knives a significant turning point in Hitler's rise to power? Select two correct answers.

A, it helped Hitler gain the loyalty of the army and traditional elites.

B, it led to the expansion of SA power and influence, as Hitler was able to reshape them.

C, it marked the beginning of Nazi attempts to restore the monarchy.

D, it showed Hitler's willingness to murder close allies to eliminate threats.

Pause the video, select your two correct answers, and then come right back.

Okay welcome back, and well done if you knew the correct answers were that the Night of the Long Knives was significant because, A, it helped Hitler gain the loyalty of the army and traditional elites, and D, it showed Hitler's willingness to murder close allies to eliminate threats.

Okay great, let's move on to task B.

Let's read this account of the arrest of Ernst Rohm in 1934.

"Hitler stormed into Rohm's bedroom with a baton, followed by two armed detectives.

Rohm, half asleep, greeted him with, 'Hail, my Fuhrer,' but Hitler shouted, 'You are under arrest.

' Upstairs, SA leaders were being arrested.

Hitler questioned each one about involvement in Rohm's plans.

Most denied it, but he arrested them anyway.

Senior Nazi officials whispered names.

Hitler made the final call.

One by one they were taken, there was no mercy." So now we've read the account, I want you to answer these questions.

Number one, what does this passage tell you about the Night of the Long Knives, and what does it not tell you? And then number two, how does your own knowledge support or challenge what is shown in the passage? So pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay great, well done having a go at that task.

So there's many ways that you could have answered that question, but compare your answers with what I have here.

So for the first question, what does this passage tell you about the Night of the Long Knives, and what does it not tell you? You could have put something like, the passage shows that Hitler was directly involved in Rohm's arrest, and made quick decisions about who to arrest among the SA leadership.

It suggests the purge was sudden, and based on suspicion rather than proof.

However, it doesn't show the wider reasons for the purge, the role of the SS and Gestapo across Germany, or that many others outside the SA were also killed.

And for the second question, how does your own knowledge support or challenge what is shown in the passage? You could have said that Hitler personally arrested Rohm, and many SA leaders were targeted.

It also matches the idea that this was a purge to remove rivals and restore order.

However, it leaves out how much of the violence was carried out by the SS and Gestapo, and it doesn't show how the purge helped Hitler gain loyalty from the army or increase his power.

Okay great, now that we've established how Hitler dealt with some internal and external threats through the Night of the Long Knives, we'll now look at what happened after the purge, specifically Hindenburg's death, and how Hitler claims supreme power.

On the first of August, 1934, Hitler visited President Hindenburg on his deathbed.

The president was laid up at his estate in East Prussia.

The old man, frail and confused, reportedly addressed Hitler as Majesty, mistaking him for the Kaiser.

The next day, Hindenburg died.

The old general had been one of the last remaining checks on Hitler's power.

Now that he was gone, who could stand in Hitler's way? Seizing the moment, Hitler's cabinet issued a decree.

The offices of President and Chancellor would be merged.

Hitler assumed the title of Fuhrer and Chancellor, giving him total control of the German state.

The shift was not just political, it was also a military decision.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What was the key consequence of President Hindenburg's death on the second of August, 1934? A, it allowed Hitler to merge the roles of President and Chancellor, giving him total control.

B, it forced Hitler to call new elections, limiting his ability to hold onto power.

C, it led to the restoration of the monarchy, placing the Kaiser back on the throne.

Pause the video, have a quick think, and then come right back.

Okay welcome back, and well done if you knew the correct answer was that A, it allowed Hitler to merge the roles of president and chancellor, giving him total control.

With Hitler merging the role of president and chancellor, becoming the Fuhrer, he knew this would help him take command of the military, who were by law loyal to the president and the constitution.

A new military oath was introduced.

Soldiers no longer pledged loyalty to the constitution or the office of president, but to Adolf Hitler personally.

We can see photo on the left of soldiers taking the oath of allegiance to Hitler.

The oath began, "I swear by God this holy oath, that I will render unconditional obedience to the leader of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler." This oath bound them to the man, not the law.

It ensured that the German armed forces were personally loyal to Hitler, rather than to the constitution or the state.

Hitler actually didn't design the oath himself, but he embraced its consequences.

Hitler rewarded the military's support by promising to rebuild Germany's armed forces, and restore the country's status as a great military power.

Civil servants were soon required to take a similar oath, and across Germany, teachers, judges, and officials began signing letters with, "Hail Hitler." The Nazi salute also became a daily ritual.

The Night of the Long Knives and Hindenburg's death marked a turning point.

In less than six weeks Hitler had silenced opposition, crushed internal dissent, won the loyalty of the army, and taken full control of the German state.

The revolution was over, the dictatorship had begun.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What was the key impact of the new military oath introduced after Hindenburg's death? Pause the video, have a quick think, and then come right back.

Okay welcome back, and well done if you knew it was that the oath required loyalty to Hitler personally, strengthening his power as a dictator.

Okay great, let's move on to task C.

What I want you to do here is explain in two paragraphs how Hitler created a dictatorship between March, 1933 and August, 1934.

And this is an important question, because it helps us to develop a detailed and connected answer, which essentially summarises today's lesson.

And to help you to structure your answer, I want you to consider including the following, the removal of the SA during the Night of the Long Knives, the death of President Hindenburg, and the army's oath of loyalty to Hitler.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay great, well done having gotten done that task.

So there's many ways that you could have answered that question, but compare your paragraphs with the ones I have here.

Between March, 1933 and August, 1934, Hitler created a dictatorship by removing opposition, and gaining complete control of Germany.

One of the most important events was the Night of the Long Knives, on the 30th of June, 1934, when Hitler ordered the execution of Ernst Rohm and other SA leaders.

This removed a powerful rival from within the Nazi party, and with the threat of the SA removed, particularly Rohm's idea that the SA should replace the army, the military felt more secure, and were less likely to oppose Hitler.

And for your second paragraph, you could have written that, on the second of August, 1934, President Hindenburg died, and Hitler used the opportunity to merge the roles of president and chancellor.

He gave himself the title of Fuhrer, making him Germany's sole leader.

Shortly after, the army swore an oath of royalty to Hitler personally, rather than to the constitution or the office of president.

This gave him full control over the military, and silenced potential resistance.

By combining violence with legal changes and loyalty from the army, Hitler was able to establish a total dictatorship.

Okay great, let's summarise today's lesson, Hitler's creation of a dictatorship.

The SA, led by Rohm, wanted a socialist second revolution that threatened Hitler's support from business leaders and the army.

Rohm also aimed to replace the army with the SA, which alarmed military leaders.

Rival Nazis like Himmler of the SS and Goring spread rumours that Rohm was plotting a coup.

In response, Hitler launched a purge in June, 1934, the Night of the Long Knives, eliminating SA leaders and other political opponents.

With the threat of the SA removed, the military swore loyalty to Hitler personally.

After President Hindenburg's death in August, 1934, Hitler merged the roles of president and chancellor, declaring himself Fuhrer.

Through violence, loyalty, and legal changes, he established a dictatorship.

Well done, everyone.

In just over a year, Hitler went from being a chancellor with limited power, to holding absolute control over Germany.

The democracy of the Weimar Republic was gone, and a dictatorship had fully taken its place.

Next time we'll explore what Hitler did with that power.

See you then.