Summary
Highlights
The Great Purge began in 1934 with the assassination of Stalin's ally, Sergey Kirov, an act many believe Stalin orchestrated. This event led Stalin to claim a dangerous anti-Stalinist conspiracy, initiating the systematic murder or imprisonment of suspected party dissenters.
Between 1936 and 1938, show trials known as the Moscow Trials were conducted to purge Stalin's political enemies. Most perceived saboteurs were executed after mock trials, often confessing to anti-Stalinist sentiments after torture and threats.
After Vladimir Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin declared himself dictator in 1929. Facing scrutiny from Bolshevik party members and the rise of Nazi Germany, a paranoid Stalin initiated the Great Purge to eliminate perceived enemies and strengthen the USSR.
Stalin expanded his purges beyond party members and the military to include peasants, ethnic minorities, artists, scientists, intellectuals, and ordinary citizens. He even made family members liable for the crimes of husbands and fathers, leading to mass executions, including children. An estimated 750,000 to 950,000 Russians died directly from the purges, with many more perishing in Gulag prison camps, classifying Stalin as a leading mass murderer in history.