Repressions Against Servicemen in Ukrainian SSR in the 1920s – 1930s: Features and Consequences
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2021.06.044Keywords:
Red Army, repressions, servicemen, command staff, Vesna case, Kyiv Military District, Kharkiv Military DistrictAbstract
The purpose of the study is tAbstract. The purpose of the study is to clarify the purpose, mechanisms and methods of the Soviet-Bolshevik government led by J.Stalin’s political repressions of the Red Army command staff in UkrSSR in the 1920s and 1930s, highlighting their irreparable consequences for the combat effectiveness of the armed forces and morale. Psychological state of servicemen.
Research methods. The authors used a set of general scientific (analysis, synthesis, method of comparison, dialectical) and special scientific (historical-genetic, historicalcomparative, historical-typological, problem-chronological) methods of historical cognition.
Scientific novelty. The repressive policy of the top leadership of the Soviet-Bolshevik state towards the servicemen is analyzed through the prism of the establishment of comprehensive control over the army and navy by the punitive authorities. It was established that the repressions against the command staff had a clear political colour.
Conclusions. The Soviet-Bolshevik leadership of the USSR, led by J.Stalin, tried by all means to retain power, which inevitably led to large-scale repression, which became a universal means of keeping the leading political elite in power, ensuring the functioning of the party-state system and suppressing any attempts to dissent, in the ranks of units of the Red Army stationed in UkrSSR. The repression led to a sharp deterioration in the leadership of military districts, reduced professionalism, managerial experience of command and political composition of military units, establishing a depressing psychological climate in military units and society as a whole, the existence of such a phenomenon as informers. The destruction of command army personnel at all levels led to significant casualties and significantly undermined the power of the Red Army, whose main units were concentrated in Ukrainian territory, which was especially evident at the initial stage of the German-Soviet war in 1941.
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