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The purges and the Great terror - Coggle Diagram
The purges and the Great terror
Maintenance of power
Between 1937 and 1938 Stalin put the entire military command on show trial where they were forced to confess to an attempted coup, before being liquidated, giving Stalin greater control over the military.
The NKVD were given additional powers after the assassination of Sergei Kirov.
NKVD leader Yezhov was put on trial and executed in 1938, and blamed for the purges, absolving Stalin of wrongdoing.
845 300 members of the politburo were discharged from office in 1933 after accusations of being opportunists and careerists, in order to create a more loyal party.
Further 281 872 members had been removed by May 1935.
Treatment of opposition
Zinoviev and Kamenev were put on trial and sentenced to 10 years prison in 1935.
In 1936 they were retried and executed for being complicit in the murder of Kirov.
663 supporters of Kamenev and Zinoviev were exiled from the USSR, following their arrest.
Bucharin was put on a humiliating show trial in March 1938 and executed.
Stalin feared that social groups could pose a threat to his rule.
He attempts to relocate Kurds, Poles and Koreans to limit their power.
Kulaks and nationalists are put in forced labour camps.
The USSRs military officials are put on trial and executed.
Use of force
Forced labour
Millions of soviet were sent to Gulag labour camps, prisons deportation camps and resettlement areas.
There was a total of 2.9 million people in soviet labour camps by 1939.
Executions
The official number of people killed between 1937 and 1938 was 681 692.
Political opponents such as Zinoviev and Kamenev were put on trial and executed.
Causes
Party Sergei Kirov was assassinated on December 1st 1934 at the Leningrad party headquarters, convincing Stalin of there being a massive conspiracy to eliminate the current leadership.