The Red Army and the Great Terror: Stalin’s Purge of the Soviet Military

Other historians have hearkened back to the Civil War period when discussing the military terror, but usually to show that the personal animosity between Tukhachevskii and Stalin had festered for decades before Stalin chose his moment to strike.The tension between revolutionary enthusiasts and "military specialists" trained under the Old Regime flared up into open contest, with the political police sharing the enthusiasts' undying suspicion of former officers and the army looking to avoid public controversy over the devouring of its leadership.Even in peacetime, the political police continued their harassment of vulnerable military specialists and accused the army leadership of complacency, not just in regard to foreign espionage but also in regard to membership in the "opposition."