the great terror

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  • Created on: 16-10-12 10:57
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Stalin's Terror
a terrifying system of labour camps 'the gulag'.
Reasons for the Terror
(Why Unnecessary Purges?)
1. Whole Country
Stalin believed that Russia had to be united ­ with him as leader ­ if it was
to be strong.
2. Urgency
Stalin believed Russia had 10 years to catch up with the western world
before Germany invaded.
3. Paranoia
Stalin became increasingly paranoid (seeing plots everywhere) and
power-mad (he demanded continuous praise and applause). In 1935, his
wife killed herself.
The Apparatus of Terror
(Stalin Takes Total Control)
1. Secret Police
The CHEKA became the OGPU (1922), then the NKVD (1934).
2. The First Purges, 1930­33
Including anybody who opposed industrialisation, and the kulaks
who opposed collectivisation.
3. The Great Purges, 1934­39
Political Opponents
1934: Kirov, a rival to Stalin, was murdered. Although he
probably ordered the assassination, Stalin used it as a chance to
arrest thousands of his opponents.
1934­1939, Stalin's political opponents were put on `Show
trials', where they pleaded guilty to impossible charges of
treason (e.g. Zinoviev and Kamenev 1936/ Bukharin, Tomsky &
Rykov 1938).

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The Army
Army's officers were executed or imprisoned.
The Church
Religious leaders imprisoned; churches closed down.
Ethnic groups
Stalin enforced `Russification' of all the Soviet Union.
Ordinary people
Were denounced/ arrested/ sent to the Gulag (the system of
labour camps). 20 million Russians were sent to the camps,
where perhaps half of them died. People lived in fear.…read more


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