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Flashcards in Causes of the Great Terror Deck (10)
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1
Q

When did Great Terror take place?

A

between 1936-38

2
Q

What was the Great Terror?

A
  • carried out by the NKVD
  • Stalin persecuted and killed those he believed to be a threat to his regime
  • > 10m dead
3
Q

Who did Stalin target to start with?

A

Communist Party - last institution that could oppose his personal rule

4
Q

Why was Stalin paranoid?

A
  • aware that Trotsky, Z & K, Bukharin all held leading positions in Communist Party before falling from power - Stalin worried he could suffer the same fate
5
Q

What groups did Stalin fear that opposition could stem from?

A
  • Red Army - established by Trotsky - many soldiers loyal to former leader
  • Moscow and Leningrad - powerbases of Z & K
  • Genrikh Yagoda - Head of NKVD - sided with Bukharin in 1928
6
Q

What were the overall main causes of the Great Terror?

A
  • Lenin’s police state
  • Stalin’s paranoia
  • Economics
  • The Congress of Victors 1934
  • Kirov’s muder 1934
7
Q

How did economics play a role in the Great Terror?

A
  • Stalin needed scapegoat for failing of 5-Year Plans - blamed ‘wreckers’ - tried, punished
  • Stalin needed larger work/slave force to construct projects e.g. Magnitogorsk - by arresting lots for gulags his workforce gained size
8
Q

How did the Congress of Victors 1934 impact the Great Terror?

A
  • Seventeenth Party Congress
  • vote at end of congress: support election of new Central Committee - upset for Stalin
  • lost to Kirov - Kirov already forced Stalin to change economic policy during 2nd5YP
  • Stalin saw Kirov as a threat
  • group of senior Bolsheviks approached Kirov after vote - urged him to stand against Stalin as General Secretary
  • Kirov refused - but stalin knew many in party wanted new leader
9
Q

What happened to Kirov in 1934?

A
  • assassinated - Stalin used this as excuse to arrest former rivals Z & K and their followers
  • Stalin argued Kirov’s murder evidence of widespread conspiracy within Communist Party to overthrow gov. and restore capitalism
10
Q

What did Kirov’s muder act as a trigger for?

A

trigger for the great terror