  the sturmabteilung (sa) (; storm detachment or assault division, or brownshirts) functioned as the original paramilitary wing of the nazi party. it played a key role in adolf hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. their main assignments were providing protection for nazi rallies and assemblies, disrupting the meetings of the opposing parties, fighting against the paramilitary units of the opposing parties (especially the rotfrontkÃ¤mpferbund) and intimidating slavic and romani citizens, unionists and jews (e.g. the nazi boycott of jewish businesses). the sa was the first nazi paramilitary group to develop pseudo-military titles for bestowal upon its members. the sa ranks were adopted by several other nazi party groups, chief amongst them the schutzstaffel (ss), itself originally a branch of the sa. sa men were often called "brownshirts" for the colour of their uniforms (similar to benito mussolini's blackshirts). 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 the sa was effectively superseded by the ss, although it was not formally dissolved and banned until after the third reich's final capitulation to the allied powers in 1945.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 ''
1920_establishments_in_Germany Adolf_Hitler Anti-communism German_words_and_phrases Military_wings_of_political_parties Nazi_Germany Nazi_Party_organizations Nazi_SA Organizations_disestablished_in_1945 Organizations_established_in_1920 Paramilitary_organizations_of_the_Weimar_Republic