The Short Term Significance of the Great Purge in 1937

The short term significance of the great purge in 1937-8 strongly impacted the Red Army and international relations. All experienced and respected leaders of the military were purged and replaced by inexperienced commanders who only obeyed Stalin. Due to this, recruitment and membership deeply decreased. All 11 war commissars were removed from office. As well as, 91 of 101-man Supreme Military Council were arrested in which 80 of them were executed. Additionally, half of the Commissioned officer corps, 35,000 in total, were either imprisoned or shot. Source 15, written by Lev Trotsky whilst in exile, demonstrates a correlation with the purging of key military personnel.   “...arrested and executed its actual Minister of War, Tukhachevsky...exterminated the entire senior commanding staff of the Army, Navy and Air Corps.” This quote implies the Soviet Government was naive to think that purging all the key members of the military would make a stronger and superior army, when in actual fact it was the opposite. Trotsky who was in Mexico at this time can be given a substantial amount of weight, due to the fact that he was not influenced by the terror in Russia. Being in exile in Mexico, he was able to have the freedom to write the truth without fear of being purged. Therefore it is unlikely he would write anything dishonest. However, Trotsky was a rival of Stalin and it could be said that he could have written this out of detestation. Corresponding to this, Source 22 acknowledges the decrease in the army “I know the Red Army needs snipers.” The source indirectly suggests that it is common knowledge that there is a major loss in membership, by the use of the word ‘needs’ which implies the lack of demand. The lack of demand of joining the army is due to the fear and terror of being purged. Both sources give a strong argument towards

Perhaps the most important aspect of the great purge’s short term significance was the effect it had on Russian society.