Military Purges - From Stalin through Obama - Part I

Background

Since Lake Forest is in the vacinity of one of the largest militarty installations in the United States, and since many original residents of Lake Forest were stationed at the former Marine Base at El Toro, it is appropriate to discuss current military issues.  There have been a lot of recent rumblings from veterans, mostly retired senior officers, about President Obama's purge of senior officers.  This three part series will look at purges of military officers, from the thirties to 2013, with a dip back to the Revolutionary War for comparisons.

Perhaps the most famous purge of the 20th Century was the one conducted by Soviet Dictator Josef Stalin in1937-38, where he purged thousands of officers from the military, over 500,000 were executed.  http//www.wwiihistorymagazine.com/2005/july/col-insight.html

When he was finished in 1938, Stalin had removed three of five marshals, 13 of 15 army commanders, eight of nine admirals, 50 of 57 corps commanders and 154 of 186 divion commanders.  Although many of these officers were merely removed from the Communist Party, seventy percent were executed.

The primary justification for Stalin's purges was his fear that the military was plotting a coup.  His stated reason was that they were disloyal to the Soviet Union, which meant they were disloyal to him.  Stalin, like most dicators, was quite paranoid, a trait not unique to dictators.

The after effects of Stalin's purges, however, were far reaching.  Although many of the officers were brought back to duty during World War II, it took far longer than necessary to bring the Soviet military up to the strength it need to fight Hitler's forces.

Hitler was not shy about dispatching his perceived enemies in the military either, executing between 90 and 100 of them during the course of World War II.

The next post will look at some historical United States military purges.