Great Purges
What Great Purges means in History A-Level, as defined for AQA.
Definition of Great Purges
Check what you remember
Read the wording for your board, then hide it and explain Great Purges in your own words. Rough notes are fine. This is a self-check, with no mark or grade.
Reference: AQA
Stalin's escalation of the terror machinery from 1936 to 1938, eliminating Old Bolsheviks through show trials and purging the military and wider society.
Topics that use Great Purges
- 1H Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855–1964 – The emergence of Communist dictatorship, 1917–1941 (A-level only) (AQA A-Level)
Related terms
- Centralisation of power
- Cheka
- Collectivisation
- Command economy and industrialisation
- Continuity and change
- faction
- Ideological adaptation
- Industrialisation
Using Great Purges in the exam
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