<P> Despite such hostility between the brownshirts and the regular army, Blomberg and others in the military saw the SA as a source of raw recruits for an enlarged and revitalised army . Röhm, however, wanted to eliminate the generalship of the Prussian aristocracy altogether, using the SA to become the core of a new German military . Limited by the Treaty of Versailles to one hundred thousand soldiers, army leaders watched anxiously as membership in the SA surpassed three million men by the beginning of 1934 . In January 1934, Röhm presented Blomberg with a memorandum demanding that the SA replace the regular army as the nation's ground forces, and that the Reichswehr become a training adjunct to the SA . </P> <P> In response, Hitler met Blomberg and the leadership of the SA and SS on February 28, 1934 . Under pressure from Hitler, Röhm reluctantly signed a pledge stating that he recognised the supremacy of the Reichswehr over the SA . Hitler announced to those present that the SA would act as an auxiliary to the Reichswehr, not the other way around . After Hitler and most of the army officers had left, however, Röhm declared that he would not take instructions from "the ridiculous corporal"--a demeaning reference to Hitler . While Hitler did not take immediate action against Röhm for his intemperate outburst, it nonetheless deepened the rift between them . </P> <P> Despite his earlier agreement with Hitler, Röhm still clung to his vision of a new German army with the SA at its core . By early 1934, this vision directly conflicted with Hitler's plan to consolidate power and expand the Reichswehr . Because their plans for the army conflicted, Röhm's success could only come at Hitler's expense . Moreover, it was not just the Reichswehr that viewed the SA as a threat . Several of Hitler's lieutenants feared Röhm's growing power and restlessness, as did Hitler . As a result, a political struggle within the party grew, with those closest to Hitler, including Prussian premier Hermann Göring, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, Reichsführer - SS Heinrich Himmler, and Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess, positioning themselves against Röhm . While all of these men were veterans of the Nazi movement, only Röhm continued to demonstrate his independence from, rather than his loyalty to, Adolf Hitler . Röhm's contempt for the party's bureaucracy angered Hess . SA violence in Prussia gravely concerned Göring, Minister - President of Prussia . Finally in the spring of 1934, the growing rift between Röhm and Hitler over the role of the SA in the Nazi state led the former Chancellor, General Kurt von Schleicher, to start playing politics again . Schleicher criticised the current Hitler cabinet while some of Schleicher's followers such as General Ferdinand von Bredow and Werner von Alvensleben started passing along lists of a new Hitler Cabinet in which Schleicher would become Vice-Chancellor, Röhm Minister of Defence, Heinrich Brüning Foreign Minister and Gregor Strasser Minister of National Economy . The British historian Sir John Wheeler - Bennett, who knew Schleicher and his circle well, wrote that Bredow displayed a "lack of discretion" that was "terrifying" as he went about showing the list of the proposed cabinet to anyone who was interested . Although Schleicher was in fact unimportant by 1934, increasingly wild rumours that he was scheming with Röhm to reenter the corridors of power helped stoke the sense of crisis . </P> <P> As a means of isolating Röhm, on April 20, 1934, Göring transferred control of the Prussian political police (Gestapo) to Himmler, who, Göring believed, could be counted on to move against Röhm . Himmler envied the independence and power of the SA, although by this time he and his deputy Reinhard Heydrich had already begun restructuring the SS from a bodyguard formation for Nazi leaders (and a subset of the SA) into its own independent elite corps, one loyal to both himself and Hitler . The loyalty of the SS men would prove useful to both when Hitler finally chose to move against Röhm and the SA . By May, lists of those to be "liquidated" started to circulate amongst Göring and Himmler's people, who engaged in a trade, adding enemies of one in exchange for sparing friends of the other . At the end of May two former Chancellors, Heinrich Brüning and Kurt von Schleicher, received warnings from friends in the Reichswehr that their lives were in danger and they should leave Germany at once . Brüning fled to the Netherlands while Schleicher dismissed the tip - off as a bad practical joke . By the beginning of June everything was set and all that was needed was permission from Hitler . </P>

Who was involved in the night of long knives