History (AS)·Depth Study B — Russia, 1905–1941 · NSSCAS B.4
Stalin's rise to power & the use of terror
Narrated lesson · press play
When Lenin died in 1924 he left no chosen heir, and five powerful men eyed his place. We'll watch how a man many dismissed as dull — Stalin, the General Secretary — quietly out-manoeuvred them all, then meet the machinery he used to hold the whole country in his grip: the Purges, the Show Trials, the NKVD and the Gulag, and a vast cult of personality that even rewrote photographs and history itself. We'll frame the human cost with dignity, study the famous 'altered photograph' like real historians, and finish with the great AS question — how complete was Stalin's control by 1941?
What you'll learn in this lesson
By the end you should be able to (NSSCAS History (AS) B.4):
- Explain why Stalin emerged as Lenin's successor
- Explain how Stalin controlled the Soviet Union and how complete that control was by 1941
- Assess the role of the Purges and terror
- Evaluate the use of propaganda and official culture
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Mr Peter and Mike talk through the whole topic — with the figure and working drawn live.