The gruesome events in Soviet Russia between the two world wars

In 1917, the Bolshevik Party, led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the traditional monarchy which had ruled Russia for three hundred years with a socialist system of government.

The political system of socialism believed that a country's industry should be owned by the common people in order to support greater equality.

This was opposed to capitalist systems that were popular in Europe and the west, which believed that individuals should be allowed to create their own wealth and spend it as they please.

Under the soviet system, rather than a king making decisions for the country, councils of workers, called 'soviets', were to make these decisions.

However, the party leaders of the Bolsheviks usually took over the decision-making power anyway.

However, the Russian Revolution was not universally welcomed by the Russian people.

Within Russia, it sparked a civil war that lasted for several years. Not only did this conflict lead to millions of deaths, but it also strained the country's economy.

To try and survive these years, the Soviets started a process known as 'collectivisation'.

Collectivisation involved the nationalisation of all businesses and farms, as well as the forced relocation of people into new, larger, collective farms.

This was intended to boost the country's industrial output and increase its self-sufficiency.

However, in reality, it created a number of negative consequences. For example, it led to widespread famine, as well as resistance from those who did not want to surrender their farms.

Then, in 1924, Lenin died of a stroke. This was a major blow to the new Soviet government, as he was a highly respected leader.

However, the country was able to continue on under the leadership of his successor, Joseph Stalin.

Stalin was a very different leader from Lenin. In particular, he pursued a more aggressive policy towards industrialisation and collectivisation.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the Soviet Union underwent intentional and rapid industrialisation.

This process aimed to transform Russia from a largely agrarian society into a modern industrialised nation.

To do this, Stalin created 'five-year plans', during which the country would invest significant resources to modernise as quickly as possible.

The first five-year plan, which was implemented in 1928, set ambitious targets for the country, including the production of coal, iron and steel.

The plan was largely successful, and it helped to make the Soviet Union one of the leading industrialised nations in the world.

In addition, during this time, Stalin enforced a program known as 'dekulakisation'.

Dekulakisation was the persecution and dispossession of millions of wealthy peasants, who were labeled as 'kulaks'.

This was done in order to help boost the country's industrial output. However, it led to widespread famine and death.

Also, in 1929, Stalin exiled Leon Trotsky, one of the most important leaders of the original Bolshevik Revolution.

Trotsky had been a major critic of Stalin's policies, and he was seen as a threat to his power.

As a result, Trotsky was forced to flee the country; he eventually ended up in Mexico. 

Around this time, a major world event broke out: the Great Depression. This was a global economic downturn that began in 1929.

While the Soviet Union was not as badly affected by the Great Depression as many other countries around the world, it still saw an increase in many people losing their jobs: especially those who were already impacted by dekulakisation.

This situation was made worse by the fact that the Soviet government continued to collect taxes and implement strict controls on the economy.

Regardless of those suffering, Stalin then instituted a second five-year plan in 1933, which was even more ambitious than the first.

It focused on the further development of heavy industry, and it also expanded the program of collectivisation.

This forced relocation of millions of people to industrial centres continued to bring controversy and led to further starvation in some areas of the country.

Nevertheless, it helped to accelerate the industrialisation process.

By the late 1930s, Stalin began to worry that his hold on power was not absolute, and he feared the influence of other powerful people in his government.

As a result, Stalin launched a series of 'purges'. A purge was a campaign of repression, in which people who were deemed to be a threat to the state were arrested, imprisoned, or outright executed.

The 'Great Purge' was one of the most brutal episodes in all of Soviet history. It is estimated that millions of people were killed or imprisoned during this time. 

Most people were not simply killed in the purges though, but were often transported and imprisoned in camps known as 'gulags'.

The Gulag was a system of forced labour camps in the Soviet Union, which were initially established in the 1920s.

However, it grew rapidly during the 1930s and it is estimated that there were millions of people imprisoned in the Gulag at its peak.

The conditions in these camps were extremely harsh, and many people died as a result of the brutal treatment they received.

Nevertheless, Stalin used this system to imprison any threat to his regime, whether they be political opponents, military leaders, government officials or even ordinary citizens. 

As part of this period, Stalin sent out assassins in 1940 to hunt down Leon Trotsky.

Trotsky was eventually assassinated in Mexico by a Soviet agent.

Ultimately, these purges were a way for Stalin to consolidate his power, but they also left the country traumatised and divided.

In the years leading up to WWII, Soviet Russia was also aware of the growing threat of Nazi Germany.

Ideologically, Nazi and communist political systems were completely opposed to each other.

This is because communism believed that all people were equal, while Nazism believed in the superiority of the Aryan race.

However, the two countries had a number of common interests. As a result, they were able to work together in some areas.

For example, both nations had an interest in the dissolution of Poland, since Poland was considered a threat to both of their countries. 

So, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression pact in August 1939, which was also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

This pact allowed the two countries to avoid war with each other. So, in September 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland and very soon after, Stalin also invaded Poland. 

The Second World War had begun.