Collection of facts about the Great Purge

This post is a collection of facts about the Great Purge (1936-1938). There are 10 facts listed below. Source: Wikipedia

• Political purge in the Soviet Union lead by Joseph Stalin
• Conducted by the NKVD (secret police of the USSR)
• NKVD lead by Genrikh Yagoda and Nikolai Yezhov
• Assassination of Sergei Kirov in 1934 led to show trials
• Removal of the 'Old Bolsheviks' within party leadership
• Removal of Red Army commanders
• Removal of the 'intelligentsia' (educated people) and wealthy peasants
• Dissenters sent to Gulag labor camps or killed
• Leon Trotsky later assassinated in 1940
• Total deaths: 700,000 to 1.2 million