The KGB of Cold War renown was the successor to a series of equally infamous and lethal state security agencies that date from the early days of the Russian Revolution: Cheka, OGPU, GUGB, NKVD, NKGB and MVD. Beginning with the Cheka, the organisation for combating counter-revolution and sabotage, Stalin's Secret Police examines the Soviet state's treatment of the enemies of Bolshevism, using methods that were so ruthless that the government was moved to abolish the organization 'with expressions of gratitude for heroic work' in 1922. The Cheka's immediate successor was the OGPU (Unified State Political Administration).
After taking control of the Communist Party in 1923 and later becoming de facto dictator of the Soviet Union, Stalin used the OGPU to implement mass collectivisation and deportations of the kulaks (wealthy peasants) in the early 1930s. Stalin NKVD's (People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs) carried out the purges of the 1930s, in which millions were arrested and executed or ended their lives in forced- labour camps.
During World War II thousands of Cossacks and White Russians were killed when they fell into Soviet hands as the Red Army advanced towards Germany. Following the end of the war, Stalin tightened his grip over the secret police, and the final incarnation of his secret police, the KGB, became an agency for spreading Soviet influence throughout the world.
Illustrated with more than 100 black-and-white photographs and expertly written, Stalin's Secret Police is a chilling history of the Soviet secret police from 1917 to the fall of Communism.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
I found the writing style concise and easy to read. The chapters are illustrated and also have reference boxes to explain certain bodies and organizations that existed throughout the history of the Soviet state ... the author does provide some excellent bibliographic references, most of which answer my questions in amazing detail. * Wargames, Soldiers, and Strategy 17/02/2016 *
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Zielgruppe
Für Beruf und Forschung
Interest Age: From 18 to 99 years
Produkt-Hinweis
Illustrationen
Index; Halftones, black and white
Maße
Höhe: 241 mm
Breite: 192 mm
Dicke: 12 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-78274-317-0 (9781782743170)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Rupert Butler was a journalist and author of several books on military history, Germany and Russia in World War II. He died in 2018.
Chapter One: Russia and Despotism
Russia has ancient links with despotism, such as Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great. This chapter puts forward the notion that this heritage made Stalin's task of establishing a terror network easier.
Chapter Two: Early Bolshevik Terror
The repression of the Cheka, the organisation for battling counter-revolution, and Stalin's rise to power.
Chapter Three: Mass Starvation
Stalin's use of the OGPU and Red Army in mass collectivisation to establish 'Socialism in One Country', in which 10,000,000 peasants died.
Chapter Four: The Purges
Stalin's NKVD roots out the 'enemies of the state' in the purges of 1934-38, in which millions were sent to prisons and forced-labour camps.
Chapter Five: Deportations
The MGB and NKVD administered many mass deportations during the 1930s and early 1940s. This chapter looks this oppression of minority groups, such as the Tartars, Chechens and Kalmyks.
Chapter Six: World War II
The Red Army's role in the liquidation of Stalin's opponents as it liberated Eastern Europe from the Germans during and immediately after World War II.
Chapter Seven: The Iron Empire
Stalin's empire at its apogee: after World War II until his death. This chapter looks at the vast network of spies and informers, the secret police organisation and the host of prisons and forced-labour camp scattered throughout his empire.
Chapter Eight: The KGB
The establishment of the KGB in 1954 and its role and excesses as the largest secret police and espionage organisation in the world, links with Eastern European organisations like the STASI and the system in present-day Russia after communism.
Appendices:
Complete lists of the gulags
Organisation charts for the secret police
Casualty lists List of leading figures
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
