Territory that a state / nation believes is needed for it’s development## Rise of Stalin
- 1878 - Born in Georgia
- Nation within the Russian empire along the Black Sea
- 1903 - Joined the Bolsheviks
- Played a key role in the October Revolution of 1917
- Named Secretary General of the Communist party
- 1928 - Won the power struggle after Lenin’s death by ousting his main rival Leon Trotsky
- Stalin: “Socialism in One Country”
- Trotsky: ""
- 1928 - Stalin ended the NEP and introduced a command economy
- Set unrealistically high production quotas over a five year period
- Resulted in decreased quality (cut corners)
- Emphasized transforming into an industrialized economy
- Forcefully merged private farm lands into state owned “collectives”
- Led to mass famine in Ukraine (3 - 5 million people died)
- Set unrealistically high production quotas over a five year period
Stalin’s Great Purge
- Opposition to Stalin grew from within the communist party
- 1936 - Launched a terror campaign to get rid of enemies
- “Show trials” were held for top communist officials
- Tortured or intimidated into confessing to fictitious crimes
- Sentenced to Death
- If you confessed the crimes you didn’t commit you can save your family
- Used the secret police to targeted many other groups
- Military, Wealthy, Educated
- Executed: 750,000
- Imprisoned: Millions in the Gulag (Prisons in middle of nowhere)
- “Show trials” were held for top communist officials