? starter activity

1
? starter activity
Watch the short film clip about the Great Terror.
Why did so many Russians continue to support
Stalin? ?Can you see links with other periods of
history?
2
Why did the Great Terror escalate?
? Key words purge Great Terror NKVD
? Learning objectives

• TBAT describe the features of 3 key show trials
  changes to the NKVD
• To assess the impact on the Great Terror on
  Russian society

3
? Your task

• Read p.73-75 (Bunce) and take notes on
• Trial of the Sixteen (1936)
• Trial of the Seventeen (1937)
• Trial of the Twenty-One (1938)
• Focus on the key individuals, charges outcome
• ?Were there any similarities between the trials?

4
Trial of the Sixteen (1936)

• Key individuals Zinoviev Kamenev
• Charges murder of Kirov plotting to disrupt
  FYP conspiracy to overthrow State
• Outcome Shoot the mad dogs, every last one of
  them! (Judge Vyshinsky)

5
Trial of the Seventeen (1937)

• Individuals Trotskys former allies
• Charges plotting with foreign powers, terrorism,
  sabotage, contact with Trotsky
• Outcome 13 out 0f 17 executed, remainder sent to
  gulags

Soviet labour camp
6
Trial of the Twenty-One (1938)

• Individuals Bukharin, Rykov accomplices
• Charges overthrow of socialism murder of Kirov
  attempted assassination of Lenin
• Outcome described as a foul-smelling heap of
  human garbage (Vyshinsky) executed

7
? Your task

• Read p.75-76 and note down
• Changes in the NKVD
• Explain the impact of Yezhovshchina on the
  Party, the army and Russian society

8
Changes to NKVD

• Changes in leadership Yagoda replaced by Yezhov
  executed (Trial of 21)
• Recruitment less restrained agents employed
• Targets for arrests, executions exiles
• Purges within NKVD removed old fashioned
  communists

Yezhov now you see him, now you dont!
9
Impact of purges

• Impact on Party 1934-8, 330,000 Party members
  convicted as enemies of the people
• Army senior generals tortured executed 34,000
  soldiers purged from Red Army
• Society NKVD Order no. 00447, targeted 250,000
  anti-Soviet elements

Lavrenti Beria replaced Yezhov and his agents
tracked down Trotsky in Mexico, killing him with
a pick axe
10
? Your task

• Read p.78-81 and under these headings note down
  effects of the Great Terror
• Social impact
• Economic impact
• Political impact

11
Social impact

• Scale of suffering 1935-36 (Yagoda), ½ million
  people convicted 2,300 shot, 405,0000 labour
  camps, or disappeared
• Certain social groups urban educated, aged
  30-45, managers professionals
• Ethnic groups Poles, Romanians Latvians esp.
  targeted
• Children expelled from uni or publicly
  humiliated by teachers Komsomol

12
Social impact

• Factory managers purged Yaroslavl trials,
  workers from rubber factory staged show trials of
  managers handed them over to NKVD
• Purge of party membership 1937, massive purges
  of Party leadership
• Emergence of former people priests, NEPmen,
  Kulaks etc. invented new identities, e.g.
  Valdimir Gromov

13
Economic impact

• Problems with statistics targets plans
  distorted due to exaggerated statistics
• Lack of leadership many members of Gosplan
  factory managers purged
• Case study Donbas region coal production fell
  during Great Terror

14
Political impact

• Consolidated Stalins position removal of
  opponents Trotskyites
• Deflected criticism from Stalin diverted public
  attention from shortages enabled people to
  settle personal scores or blame scapegoats, e.g.
  Kazan party officials

Estimated death toll of Great Terror
(1937-8) 500,000 1,500,0000 Numbers sent to
gulags 2,0000,000
15
? Group task
What was the most significant impact of the Great
Terror?

• On a sheet of paper draw a chart similar to the
  one below. Position the words social,
  economic and political accordingly. Find 3
  pieces of evidence explaining your points. Write
  a REAL paragraph explaining your judgement.

Level of impact
Number of people affected
16
? Extension task

• Produce factoids on Yezhov and Lavrenti Beria
• Read the extract from Fiehn Corin, p.269-70
  p.272-3 and take notes on the extent to which
  Stalin was responsible for the terror alone.

Photograph allegedly showing Stalin signing death
warrants
17
? Homework

• Read p.83-85 and complete a table similar to the
  one shown on p.83
• Prepare for a timed essay question on the use of
  Terror and the arts

18
Why did the Great Terror escalate?
? Key words purge Great Terror NKVD
? Learning objectives

• TBAT describe the features of 3 key show trials
  changes to the NKVD
• To assess the impact on the Great Terror on
  Russian society