Why did stalin the soviet dictator carry out purges on his own red army ?
Stalin came to power riding on Lenin coattails. When Lenin died Stalin took power. Lenin had his own supporters and they did not all support Stalin. The Communist Party supported Lenin, the Russian Army favored Leon Trotsky. The Left favored Trotsky and the Communist right favored, only the NKVD really followed Stalin. Chances are Stalin murdered Lenin, and his power was very shaky in the beginning. But since he was there many let stay because no one really had enough power to force Stalin out and put themselves in. It all started when Stalin sought to replace a NKVD Commissar with a friend of his, when this order was countermanded Stalin had Sergey Kirov assassinated. This started Stalin off on his purge “Great Purge” 1934-1938. Not to be associated with “Red Purge” 1939-1941. Stalin at first just sought to secure his hold on power but once the killing started it sort of went out of control. Stalin was the last man standing so to say. Every Army Group Commander, every Army commander,
