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The ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA; ; literally "Storm Detachment") functioned as the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Their primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi rallies and assemblies, disrupting the meetings of opposing parties, fighting against the paramilitary units of the opposing parties, especially the ''Red Front Fighters League'' of the German Communist Party (KPD), and intimidating Slavic and Romani citizens, unionists, and Jews – for instance, during the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses. The SA have been known in contemporary times as "Brownshirts" from the color of their uniform shirts, similar to Benito Mussolini's blackshirts. The SA developed pseudo-military titles for its members. The SA ranks were adopted by several other Nazi Party groups, chief amongst them the Schutzstaffel (SS), which originated as a branch of the SA before being separated. Brown-coloured shirts were chosen as the SA uniform because a large batch of them were cheaply available after World War I, having originally been ordered during the war for colonial troops posted to Germany's former African colonies.〔''Toland'' p. 220〕 The SA became disempowered after Adolf Hitler ordered the "blood purge" of 1934. This event became known as the Night of the Long Knives. The SA was effectively superseded by the SS, although it was not formally dissolved and banned until after the Third Reich's final capitulation to the Allied powers in 1945. == Rise == The term ''Sturmabteilung'' predates the founding of the Nazi Party in 1919. Originally it was applied to the specialized assault troops of Imperial Germany in World War I who used ''Hutier'' infiltration tactics. Instead of large mass assaults, the ''Sturmabteilung'' were organised into small squads of a few soldiers each. The first official German Stormtrooper unit was authorized on 2 March 1915—the German high command ordered the VIII Corps to form a detachment to test experimental weapons and develop tactics that could break the deadlock on the Western Front. On 2 October 1916, ''Generalquartiermeister'' Erich Ludendorff ordered all German armies in the west to form a battalion of stormtroops. They were first used during the 8th Army's siege of Riga, and again at the Battle of Caporetto. Wider use followed on the Western Front in the Spring Offensive in March 1918, where Allied lines were successfully pushed back tens of kilometers. The DAP (''Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' or German Workers' Party) was formed in Munich in January 1919 and Adolf Hitler joined it in September of that year. His talents for speaking, publicity and propaganda were quickly recognized,〔Before the end of 1919, Hitler had already been appointed head of propaganda for the party, with party founder Anton Drexler's backing. ''Toland'' p. 94.〕 and by early 1920 he had gained authority in the party, which changed its name to the NSDAP (''Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' or National Socialist German Workers' Party) in February 1920.〔Kershaw, Ian. ''Hitler'' (2008), p. 87〕 The precursor to the SA had acted informally and on an ''ad hoc'' basis for some time before this. Hitler, with an eye always to helping the party to grow through propaganda, convinced the leadership committee to invest in an advertisement in the ''Münchener Beobachter'' (later renamed the ''Völkischer Beobachter'') for a mass meeting in the Hofbräuhaus, to be held on 16 October 1919. Some 70 people attended, and a second such meeting was advertised for 13 November in the Eberlbrau beer hall. Some 130 people attended; there were hecklers, but Hitler's military friends promptly ejected them by force, and the agitators "flew down the stairs with gashed heads." The next year, on 24 February, he announced the party's Twenty-Five Point program at a mass meeting of some 2000 persons at the Hofbräuhaus. Protesters tried to shout Hitler down, but his army friends, armed with rubber truncheons, ejected the dissenters. The basis for the SA had been formed.〔''Toland'' pp. 94–98〕 A permanent group of party members who would serve as the ''Saalschutz Abteilung'' (hall defense detachment) for the DAP gathered around Emil Maurice after the February 1920 incident at the Hofbräuhaus. There was little organization or structure to this group. The group was also called the ''Ordnertruppen'' around this time.〔''See'' ''Manchester'' p. 342.〕 More than a year later, on 3 August 1921, Hitler redefined the group as the "Gymnastic and Sports Division" of the party (''Turn- und Sportabteilung''), perhaps to avoid trouble with the government.〔William L. Shirer, ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'' (1960) p. 42; ''Toland'' p. 112〕 It was by now well recognized as an appropriate, even necessary, function or organ of the party. The future SA developed by organizing and formalizing the groups of ex-soldiers and beer hall brawlers who were to protect gatherings of the Nazi Party from disruptions from Social Democrats and Communists. By September 1921 the name ''Sturmabteilung'' was being used informally for the group.〔''Campbell'' pp. 19–20〕 Hitler was the official head of the Nazi Party by this time.〔At a special party congress held 29 July 1921, Hitler was appointed chairman. He announced that the party would stay headquartered in Munich and that those who did not like his leadership should just leave; he would not entertain debate on such matters. The vote was 543 for Hitler, and 1 against him. ''Toland'' p. 111.〕 On 4 November 1921 the Nazi Party held a large public meeting in the Munich Hofbräuhaus. After Hitler had spoken for some time the meeting erupted into a melee in which a small company of SA thrashed the opposition. The Nazis called this event ''Saalschlacht'' (meeting hall battle) and it assumed legendary proportions in SA lore with the passage of time. Thereafter, the group was officially known as the ''Sturmabteilung''.〔 The leadership of the SA passed from Maurice to the young Hans Ulrich Klintzsch in this period. He had been a naval officer and a member of the Ehrhardt Brigade of Kapp Putsch fame and was, at the time of his assumption of SA command, a member of the notorious Organisation Consul (OC).〔The OC's most infamous action was probably the brazen daylight assassination of foreign minister Walther Rathenau, in early 1922. Klintzsch was also a member of the somewhat more reputable ''Bund Wiking''.〕 The Nazis under Hitler were taking advantage of the more professional management techniques of the military.〔 In 1922, the Nazi Party created a youth section, the ''Jugendbund'', for young men between the ages of 14 and 18 years. Its successor, the Hitler Youth, remained under SA command until May 1932. From April 1924 until late February 1925 the SA was known as the ''Frontbann'' to try to circumvent Bavaria's ban on the Nazi Party and its organs (instituted after the abortive Beer Hall putsch of November 1923). Members of the SA were, throughout the 1920s and into the 1930s, often involved in street fights called ''Zusammenstöße'' (collisions) with members of the Communist Party (KPD). In 1929, the SA added a Motor Corps for better mobility and a faster mustering of units.〔McNab, Chris. ''Hitler's Elite: The SS'' (2013), p. 14〕 Under their popular leader, ''Stabschef'' Ernst Röhm, the SA grew in importance within the Nazi power structure, initially growing in size to thousands of members. However, in the early 1930s as the Nazis evolved from an extremist political party to the unquestioned leaders of the government, the SA was no longer needed for its original purpose: the acquisition of political power and the suppression of the enemies of the Party. An organization that could inflict more subtle terror and total obedience was needed, and the SA (which had been born out of street violence and beer hall brawls) was simply not capable of doing so. The SA also posed a threat to the Nazi leadership and to Hitler's goal of co-opting the ''Reichswehr'' to his ends, as Röhm's ideal was to fold the "antiquated" German Army into a new "people's army", the SA. By 1933, the younger SS was no longer the mere bodyguard of Hitler and showed itself more suited to carry out Hitler's policies, thereby taking over the previously held roles of the SA. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sturmabteilung」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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