In Nazi Germany, they were called the Schutzstaffel. The world would know them as the dreaded SS--the most loyal and ruthless enforcers of the Third Reich... It began as a small squad of political thugs. Yet by the end of 1935, the SS had taken control of all police and internal security duties in Germany--ranging from local village "gendarmes" all they way up to the secret political police and the Gestapo. And by 1944 the militarized Waffen SS had more than eight hundred thousand men serving in the field, even rivaling Germany's regular armed forces, the Wehrmacht. In Army of Evil: A History of the SS , author Adrian Weale delves into materials not previously available, including recently released intelligence files, the most up-to-date research and rare and never-before-published photographs. Going beyond the myths and characterizations, this comprehensive account reveals the reality of the SS as a cadre of unwavering political fanatics and power-seeking opportunists who slavishly followed an ideology that disdained traditional morality, and were prepared to implement it to the utmost, murderous extreme that ultimately resulted in the Holocaust. This is a definitive historical narrative of the birth, legacy, and ultimate demise of one of the most feared political and military organizations ever known, and those twisted, cruel men who were responsible for one of the most appalling crimes against humanity in all history.