Explain the effects of Stalins purge in the Soviet Union in the 1930s

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Explain how the effects of Stalin's purge in the Soviet Union in the 1930s

The purges had a very serious impact on the Soviet Union. Stalin ordered massive purges by which anybody suspected of disloyalty was murdered, sent to prison camps, or put on public show trials at which they pleaded guilty to incredible crimes they could never have done.

The Communist leadership was purged - 93 of the 139 Central Committee members were put to death. The armed forces were purged - 81 of the 103 generals and admirals were executed. The Communist Party was purged - about a third of its 3 million members were killed. Photographs and history books were changed to eliminate even the memory of people who had been arrested.

Propaganda and personality cult was used to show Stalin as the true heir to Lenin, and the only man capable of defending the USSR.
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Everybody had to praise Stalin, all the time. Newspapers credited him with every success. Poets thanked him for bringing the harvest. People leapt to their feet to applaud every time his name was mentioned. His picture was everywhere parents taught their children to love Stalin more than themselves. They dared not do anything else.

Stalin did this to create unity, and certainly strong control was needed to modernise Russia. He was also at least homicidally paranoid. However, by 1939, he had set up a personal totalitarian dictatorship where - on one word from him - the entire ...

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