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Catastrophe: History’s Most Disastrous Defeats

Khalid Elhassan January 15, 2025 17 min

Catastrophe - Napoleon retreats from Moscow — Napoleon retreats from Moscow. ABC

8. A Purge That Planted the Seeds of Catastrophe

Catastrophe - The first five Marshals of the Soviet Union, left to right, Tukhachevsky, Budyonny, Voroshilov, Blyukher, and Yegorov, of whom only Budyonny and Vorishilov survived Stalin's Military Purge — The first five Marshals of the Soviet Union, left to right, Tukhachevsky, Budyonny, Voroshilov, Blyukher, and Yegorov, of whom only Budyonny and Vorishilov survived Stalin’s Military Purge. K-Pics

The Soviets suffered horrific losses during the opening months of the German invasion in 1941. The seeds were planted years earlier, during Stalin’s Military Purge, starting in 1937. It threw the Soviet military into turmoil by removing its most experienced commanders: 13 of 15 army commanders, 8 of 9 admirals, 50 of 57 corps commanders, all 16 army commissars, and 25 of 28 army corps commissars. As seen below, the Purge also decimated the best middle rank Soviet officers, with catastrophic consequences.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.