(Siberian exile, in Tsarist Russia, was notoriously easy to escape from.) ... At this point, Stalin began his rise to dominance by destroying his rival Trotsky, expelling him from the party in 1927 and exiling him from the Soviet Union in 1929. ... The Cold War had begun. ... Then, in August of 1936, Stalin engineered the first of what came to be known as the Show Trials, in which he accused Zinoviev, Kamenev and their associates of conspiring (with the exiled Trotsky) against Stalin and the government. ... (It is important to note that Stalin stood directly behind these trials--he delegat...

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• Approx Pages: 21
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate