Great Purge
E1755
The Great Purge was a brutal campaign of political repression, mass arrests, and executions in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s that targeted perceived enemies of the state, including Communist Party members, military leaders, and ordinary citizens.
Aliases (4)
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
mass political repression
→
political purge → state repression campaign → |
| aftermath |
partial denunciation during Khrushchev Thaw
→
|
| aimedAt |
consolidation of Stalin's personal power
→
elimination of perceived enemies of the state → elimination of political opposition → |
| alsoKnownAs |
Great Terror
→
Yezhovshchina → |
| carriedOutBy |
NKVD
→
|
| chargeOftenUsed |
counterrevolutionary activities
→
espionage → sabotage → treason → |
| country |
Soviet Union
→
|
| endDate |
1938
→
|
| estimatedVictims |
hundreds of thousands executed
→
millions imprisoned or sent to Gulag → |
| historicalAssessment |
crime against humanity
→
|
| keyFigure |
Nikolai Yezhov
→
|
| legalInstrument |
Article 58 of the RSFSR Penal Code
→
|
| location |
Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic
→
Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic → Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic → Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic → other Soviet republics → |
| mainPerpetrator |
Joseph Stalin
→
|
| method |
executions
→
forced labor camps → mass arrests → show trials → torture during interrogations → |
| notableConsequence |
decimation of Red Army officer corps
→
strengthening of Stalin's dictatorship → widespread climate of fear → |
| notableEvent |
Trial of the Seventeen
→
Trial of the Sixteen → Trial of the Twenty-One → |
| organizedBy |
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
→
|
| partOf |
Stalinist repression
→
history of the Soviet Union → |
| precededBy |
Moscow show trials
→
|
| startDate |
1936
→
|
| targetedGroup |
Communist Party members
→
Soviet military officers → ethnic minorities → intellectuals → ordinary citizens → |
| timePeriod |
late 1930s
→
|