Who lead the great purge?

Answer 1

The Great Purge was led by Joseph Stalin, assisted by the USSR's ecret police, the NKVD, in 1937 - 1938. At the time of the Great Purge, Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party; shortly afterwards he became Premier of the Soviet Union. Stalin "purged" (imprisoned or had executed) several high-ranking members of the Communist Party, government officials, and officers of the Red Army, who might otherwise have opposed Stalin's Dictatorship. Professionals, the intellectual elite, some peasants (especially wealthier ones), and ethnic or national minorities such as those of Polish or Mongolian descent were also subjected to the Purge. Stalin's targets were often accused of sabotage or espionage and then tortured into confessions by the NKVD. Official USSR records show that 681,692 people were shot during the Great Purge. Some historians think that the real number might have been three times that.