The Yezhovshchina

Question 1

when did the Yezhovschina start

Answer 1

around July 1937

Question 2

what NKVD order aided the intensity of the yezhovschina

Answer 2

order 00447

Question 3

what did order 00447 do

Answer 3

established small NKVD committees at regional and republic levels to search out former kulaks, criminals and other anti-soviet elements

Question 4

what type of people were on the arrest list

Answer 4

artists, musicians, scientists, writes, managers and administrators

Question 5

how did the quota system work

Answer 5

certain amount of people had to be arrested within each region
quotas were not meant to be exceeded but it was easy to get yezhovs approval and sometimes Stalin personally intervened
pressure to arrest was so high that NKVD began arresting almost at random

Question 6

how many people had been arrested and sent to gulags within a month

Answer 6

over 100,000 arrested
14,000 sent to gulags

Question 7

what was the proportion of people to be shot set at and when

Answer 7

July 1937
28%

Question 8

How did the yezhovschina self-expand

Answer 8

everyone was encourage to root out hidden enemies and snitch on family and friends
could be arrested due to association with someone else that had been arrested

Question 9

how did Stalin encourage a purging of the party

Answer 9

Spring 1937 made it clear he thought traitors had infiltrated the party
encourage lower ranking members to criticise and denounce those in higher positions

Question 10

when was the military purge

Answer 10

May-June 1937

Question 11

How many military commanders were executed and when

Answer 11

June 1937
8 commanders including Tukhachevsky accused of espionage and plotting with Trotsky

Question 12

Why did Stalin want a purge of the military

Answer 12

He was worried that the military may mount a coup as some officers had been incriminated in the show trials of 36 and 37

Question 13

how may war commissars were killed

Answer 13

all 11 of them

Question 14

how many army officers were imprisoned or shot

Answer 14

35,000

Question 15

Air force and sea force purges

Answer 15

all admirals commanding ships and their replacements purged
all but one senior commander of the air force purged

Question 16

how many members of the central committee from the 17th party congress were arrested or shot

Answer 16

98/139

Question 17

how many congress delegates were arrested or shot

Answer 17

1108

Question 18

what proportion of the party had been purged by the end of 1938

Answer 18

1/3

Question 19

how many people were in gulags 1935-1938

Answer 19

1935- 800,000
1938- 5.5-9.5 million

Question 20

what was the purpose of the gulags

Answer 20

provide cheap labour for industrial projects
house political prisoners and class enemies

Question 21

conditions in gulags

Answer 21

meagre rations
inadequate clothing
poor and overcrowded accommodation
lack of healthcare or medical provision
expectations were high
excessive physical demands for long hours

Question 22

what happened to Volga Germans in 1941

Answer 22

over 400,000 were deported to Siberia and Central Asia

Question 23

What happened in annexed parts of Poland and the Baltic states

Answer 23

1939&1940 they were purged

Question 24

party leadership of republics

Answer 24

people who showed distaste for centralising policies were purged
2 Georgia state prime minsters purged
Virtually entire party leadership of republics was replaced 1937-38 and replaced with those more obedient to Moscow

Question 25

how were jewish people treated

Answer 25

revival of anti-semetism as there was a rural campaign against "sabateurs" many rabbis and religious leaders were arrested

Question 26

when did the Yezhovschina end and why

Answer 26

pace slowed down after 1938 threatened to destabilise the State, industry and administration

Question 27

what happened to Yezhov

Answer 27

used as a scapegoat 18th party congress Stalin declared mass cleansing was no longer needed Yezhov arrested, tortured and secretly tried shot in 1940

Question 28

When was Trotsky killed

Answer 28

August 1940

Question 29

how was Trotsky killed

Answer 29

Stalin hired assassin Ramon Mercador who put an ice pick through his head in his house in Mexico

Question 30

what did the killing of Trotsky mean

Answer 30

Stalin had ensured the last of the old Bolsheviks who might have had a greater claim to leadership than him had gone

Question 31

How may Stalin's personality have contributed to the terror

Answer 31

suspicious and paranoid obsessed with reinforcing his position, eliminating rival and getting revenge on old Bolsheviks

Question 32

How may Stalin have contributed to the terror

Answer 32

crucial in both starting and ending the purges had used violence to rise to power had been ruthless in the imposition of collectivisation

Question 33

How may the communist system have contributed to the terror

Answer 33

it was an integral part of the Bolshevik party used in 1917 to come to power and maintain power in the civil war Stalin just applied the terror on a larger scale and more ruthlessly the need for terror was justified to ensure the first socialist state remained in tact in a hostile world

Question 34

how was the terror necessary for economic change

Answer 34

removal of kulaks provide slave labour provide scapegoats for mistakes and failures

Question 35

other factors that contributed to the terror

Answer 35

threat of a military coup from Germany over-zealous officials in provinces acted ruthlessly and followed their own agendas

Question 36

How did the terror impact Stalin's position

Answer 36

placed him in a position of supreme power with absolute control over the party and the population removed rivals before 1936 the CC had controlled party membership from 1936-38 Yezhov and Stalin expelled 850,000 members due to personal intervention by 1939 less than 10% of members had joined before 1920

Question 37

How did the terror impact society

Answer 37

loss of skilled personnel e.g. teachers, engineers and specialists

Question 38

how did the terror impact the army

Answer 38

loss of experienced army officers

Question 39

what was the positive outcome of the terror

Answer 39

ordinary people had the opportunity to shake up managers and officials which made them more accountable and responsive to needs