Causes of the Great Terror

Question 1

When did Great Terror take place?

Answer 1

between 1936-38

Question 2

What was the Great Terror?

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Who did Stalin target to start with?

Answer 3

Communist Party - last institution that could oppose his personal rule

Question 4

Why was Stalin paranoid?

Answer 4

• 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

Question 5

What groups did Stalin fear that opposition could stem from?

Answer 5

• 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

Question 6

What were the overall main causes of the Great Terror?

Answer 6

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

Question 7

How did economics play a role in the Great Terror?

Answer 7

• 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

Question 8

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

Answer 8

• 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

Question 9

What happened to Kirov in 1934?

Answer 9

• 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

Question 10

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

Answer 10

trigger for the great terror