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GCSE History · key term
The removal of people regarded as opponents or threats from an organisation or regime, often through imprisonment or killing.
Used by AQA, Edexcel and OCR
Paper 1
Revise: Establishment of DictatorshipDuring the Night of the Long Knives, 30 June–2 July 1934, Hitler ordered a purge. The SS and Gestapo arrested and murdered SA leaders without trial. Röhm was shot on 1 July.
The removal of people regarded as opponents or threats from an organisation or society; under Stalin, this could involve dismissal, imprisonment or execution.
Paper 3
The removal of people considered politically unreliable or threatening; under Stalin, purges involved dismissals, arrests, imprisonment and executions.
Revise: Use of TerrorThe purges involved removing people regarded as politically unreliable or threatening. Their consequences could include losing a job, arrest, imprisonment in a labour camp or execution. The most intense phase, the Great Terror of 1936–38, reached far beyond leading politicians.
The removal of people from an organisation or position of power because they are regarded as disloyal or politically unacceptable; this could involve imprisonment, forced labour or killing.
Paper 1
The removal of people considered disloyal or threatening from organisations or society, often through imprisonment, expulsion or execution.
Revise: Political Consolidation and the Hundred Flowers CampaignA purge removes people regarded as disloyal or threatening; repression uses force or punishment to restrict opposition. These methods could weaken opponents, but could also provoke further resistance.
The removal of people regarded as political opponents from positions of power, often accompanied by persecution.
Assess show trials as both a means of removing prominent rivals and a public justification for terror. They were only one part of the wider purges.
Support explanations with precise examples, such as Kirov’s murder in December 1934, the trials of 1936–38 and the purge of Tukhachevsky.
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