In 1934, what event saw Hitler purge his own paramilitary SA?

The 1934 event in which Hitler purged his own paramilitary SA was the Night of the Long Knives.

The purge took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934. Hitler targeted Ernst Röhm, chief of staff of the Sturmabteilung, or SA, whose millions of members were commonly known as Brownshirts. Röhm wanted the SA to play a larger military role, alarming Germany’s regular army and threatening Hitler’s control.

SS units, the Gestapo, and other police forces arrested and killed SA leaders, including Röhm. Hitler also used the operation to eliminate political opponents and personal enemies, among them former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and former Nazi leader Gregor Strasser. Although the regime claimed it had prevented an SA coup, historians generally view the killings as a calculated consolidation of power.

At least 85 deaths were officially acknowledged, but broader estimates range into the hundreds or more. The purge secured the army’s support and strengthened the SS. It is also called the Röhm purge or Operation Hummingbird; it is not the same event as Kristallnacht, which occurred in 1938.