Storm Troops
- noun
- Offensive
:
Sección de Asalto
- The Storm Troops played a major role in Hitler's rise to power before being marginalized by the SS.
Examples
-
Many members of the Storm Troops were later purged during the Night of the Long Knives.
-
During the 1930s, the Storm Troops were notorious for their violent tactics against political opponents.
-
The Storm Troops played a crucial role in Hitler's rise to power.
-
Many historians study the influence of the Storm Troops during the 1930s.
-
During the 1930s, the Storm Troops were notorious for their violent tactics against political opponents.
-
Many members of the Storm Troops were later purged during the Night of the Long Knives.
-
The Storm Troops played a major role in Hitler's rise to power before being marginalized by the SS.
Synonyms
3
9.9
A violent Nazi group that helped Hitler rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s
1
9.9
A group of armed people who supported Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany and used violence to attack opponents
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituents 'storm' (violent assault) + 'troops' (soldiers) transparently suggest 'assault soldiers' or a military/paramilitary unit, so a B1 learner would likely infer a general sense of soldiers who carry out attacks. However, the specific historical referent — Hitler's Nazi Sturmabteilung (SA) with its political and organizational connotations — is not predictable from the words alone, so the expression is only partly transparent.
Etymology
Storm Troops comes from the image of soldiers who storm into a place and act as troops in a 'sudden attack'. That's why the name was used by the Nazi group called the Sturmabteilung, which used street violence, and today the phrase suggests 'violent political fighters'.