blackshirt
The colloquial name given to the Squadre d'Azione (Action Squad), the national combat groups, founded in Italy in 1919. Organized along paramilitary lines, they wore black shirts and patrolled cities ...
Franz von Papen
(1879–1969)German politician. A member of the Catholic Centre Party, he had little popular following, and his appointment as Chancellor (1932) came as a surprise. To gain Nazi support he lifted the ...
Munich Putsch
(8 November 1923)An abortive rebellion by German Nazis. In a beer-hall in Munich a meeting of right-wing politicians, who had gathered to denounce the Weimar Republic and to call for the restitution ...
Night of the Long Knives
(29–30 June 1934)The name coined by Hitler for a weekend of murders throughout Germany. It followed a secret deal between himself and units of his personal bodyguard, the SS. Precise details remain ...
