Night of the Long Knives

by Nikolai Tolstoy, John Keegan (Introduction)

This Ballantine Illustrated concentrates on internal politics rather than military battles. Using the same combination of photos and readable prose, the book tells the gruesome tale of when Hitler decided to strike against his own. With the German military fearing the rising power of the SA - the street-brawling Nazi brownshirts - Hitler decided to wipe out the SA leadership and thus win the army's loyalty. If such course required murdering dozens of loyal backers and his closest friend Ernst Rohm (head of the SA), so be it. Readers see how Hitler and his dreaded SS and Gestapo struck on the morning of June 30, 1934. SA leaders were shot on the spot, or dragged out of bed and off to prison (to be dispatched soonafter). Hitler also used the opportunity to murder political opponents like General Von Schleicher and his wife, Gustav Ritter von Kahr (who crushed the 1923 Beer Hall Putcsch), Erich Klausener of Catholic Action, etc. In the face of such bloodshed many Germans looked the other way, offered foolish praise, or were intimidated to silence. As in other brutal police states, the Revolution had eaten its children. Soon, soldiers would swear a loyalty oath not to Germany but to Hitler, and the ugly future course was set. This gruesome account shows what happened.

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1972

About the author

Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Tolstoy-Miloslavsky (Russian: Николай Дмитриевич Толстой-Милославский; born 23 June 1935) is an Anglo-Russian author who writes under the name Nikolai Tolstoy. A member of the Tolstoy family, he is a former parliamentary candidate of the UK Independence Party.

Source: Wikipedia

The photograph by Justin K Prim.

Reviews

[Russell R · Rating 5 out of 5]

another good ballantine book