Military wings of political organizations

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While most democratic governments have a strong tradition of civilian control of the military]], factions in unstable states often have either avowed or covert military wings. As with the IRGC, even a totalitarian state may have a politicized military force. Overt political Sinn Fein]], in Ireland and Northern Ireland, long had the Irish Republican Army]] as its military side.

Some countries have complex official relationships that involved politicized military forces. Traditionally, the Soviet Union]] was governed by a balance among three elements: the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], the Red Army]] and the Organs of State Security]]. Each maintained a divisional-sized force in Moscow]]:

  • Party via Interior Ministry]]: Taman Guards
  • Army: 106th Guards Airborne Division
  • Security: Dzerzhinksy Guards Division

In the 1920s and 1930s, there were a great many German military factions, some independent freikorps]], but none more important to the rise of the Nazis than the Sturmabteilung]] (SA) "Stormtroopers" or "Brownshirts". As with many such movements, it eventually lost most power through factionalism. The Schutzstaffel]] (SS) or "Blackshirts", originally a SA-spawned unit for the immediate protection of Adolf Hitler]], eventually purged the SA in 1934, in the Night of the Long Knives]].