Purge

The removal of people considered opponents or threats, often through imprisonment or execution.

The removal of people considered opponents or threats from an organisation or society, potentially through imprisonment or execution.

During the Great Purge of the 1930s, Stalin’s regime arrested, imprisoned and executed perceived enemies. The Moscow show trials of 1936–38 targeted leading former Bolsheviks. Confessions to alleged conspiracies helped present repression as a necessary defence of the revolution rather than an attack on its own people.

An organised removal of people considered opponents or threats, through measures such as dismissal, imprisonment or execution.

Use precise contextual links: the executions recall Stalin’s purges and show trials; the timber agreement recalls the 1939 Nazi–Soviet pact; Frederick’s attack recalls the German invasion of 1941.

Link context to a specific method or moment: the dogs to the secret police, the executions to the purges, and the hens’ starvation to coercion of Soviet peasants.

Connect context to the particular event you discuss: the executions to Stalin’s purges, the timber agreement to the 1939 Nazi–Soviet Pact, and Frederick’s attack to Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

The removal, imprisonment or killing of people regarded as opponents within an organisation or society.

The removal of people regarded as opponents or threats from an organisation or society, through dismissal, imprisonment or killing.

During Stalin’s Great Purge in the 1930s, opponents and supposed enemies were imprisoned or executed. The Moscow show trials of 1936–38 publicly presented prominent former Bolsheviks as criminals. Confessions and accusations helped make repression appear justified; the wider terror also involved mass arrests and torture.

The removal, imprisonment or killing of people identified as opponents of a ruling group. Stalin’s Great Purge destroyed opponents and spread fear during the 1930s.

The removal of supposed enemies from an organisation or society, often through imprisonment or execution.

The removal of people regarded as political opponents or threats, often through imprisonment or execution.

The confessions and executions in Chapter VII recall these purges and trials. Animals confess to collaborating with Snowball, and Napoleon’s dogs kill them. Several victims have previously resisted Napoleon, including the pigs who objected to the ending of debates and the hens who led the egg protest.

The removal of people considered opponents or threats to a ruling group, often through imprisonment or execution.

The removal of actual or suspected political opponents through expulsion, imprisonment or killing.

The removal of supposed opponents from an organisation or society, often through imprisonment or execution.

Definition

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AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702

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Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0

OCR GCSE English Literature · J352