The Soviet Gulag and Stalin’s Great Terror

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Explaining History, Nick takes a deep dive into the grim reality of the Soviet camp system. Drawing on Anne Applebaum’s Gulag: A History, we explore how the camps evolved from disorganized prisons into a vast industrial complex of slave labour.

We examine the "Great Terror" of 1937-38 not just as a political purge, but as a bureaucratic process driven by quotas and paranoia. Why did Stalin purge the very men—Yagoda, Yezhov, Berman—who built the Gulag system? How did the failure of forced industrialization lead to a search for scapegoats? And why were the death rates in the camps actually higher during the famine of 1932-33 and the war years than during the height of the political terror?

Plus: A huge announcement for A-Level and IB History students! Nick unveils the dates for our upcoming live masterclasses on Russia, America, China, and Germany. Listen to the end for details on how to book your spot.

Key Topics:

• The Great Terror: Why 1937-38 marked a watershed moment for the camps.
• Quotas of Death: How the NKVD assigned arrest targets to regions like production goals.
• The Purge of the Purgers: The downfall of the Gulag's founders.
• Clientelism and Paranoia: Why Stalin feared networks of loyalty within the Soviet bureaucracy.

Books Mentioned:

• Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum
• Everyday Stalinism by Sheila Fitzpatrick

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