The Night Stalin’s Officers Disappeared: How the Great Purge Crippled the Red Army

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]In 1937, Stalin's terror turned on his own army.

[00:00:05]>> [music] >> The Great Purge had already filled prisons and execution sellers across the Soviet [music] Union.

[00:00:11]Then the Red Army became a target.

[00:00:14]Officers were [music] arrested by the NKVD. Interrogations produced forced confessions. Careers ended overnight.

[00:00:22][music] The most famous victim was Marshall Mikhail Tukhachevsky, a leading Soviet commander.

[00:00:29]In June 1937, he and other senior officers [music] were accused of plotting with Nazi Germany.

[00:00:36]After a secret military trial, Tukhachevsky was executed [music] on June 12th.

[00:00:41]The purge spread through the officer corps.

[00:00:44]Thousands were dismissed, [music] imprisoned, or shot.

[00:00:47]The exact totals are debated by historians, [music] but the damage was real.

[00:00:52]And Europe was moving toward war.

[00:00:55]Stalin [music] claimed he was protecting the state, but the brutal irony is this: Before Hitler invaded in 1941, [music] Stalin had already wounded the Red Army himself.