The Great Purge (jan 12, 1936 – apr 7, 1938)

Description:

Known as the Great Terror, the Great Purge is a depressing yet violent event for the Soviet Union. Not only former oppositionists or the usual type of people which are targeted at, Communists leaders and party members, members of the Red Army, and the Intelligentsia are also imprisoned and executed. If the Soviet Union’s secret police NKVD, sensed suspicion of treason, this person might be accused even if there is no record or somewhat. With the assassination of Sergei Kirov, the Great Purge began. Kirov’s death triggered three important, widely publicized show trials of prominent former Bolsheviks in Moscow. Hundreds of thousands were executed or died in Gulag during this period of oppression. The Great Purge parted families, made people have to take in new identities but most importantly society wasn’t as peaceful as it used to be. Citizens were encouraged to report their managers or even neighbors of any sense of treason. The loss of nearly the entire command structure of the Red Army had huge negative effects on the ability of the Soviet Union to win a war. This was demonstrated first with the Russo-Finnish war in 1939 and then again during the first month of Russian involvement in World War II.