how did the great purge affect Stalin?

Question

anonymous · Answer

My teacher has this one part question on a portfolio, But It's not in the book. How did the great purge affect Stalin. He is the one who started it so how did it affect him? 10 points to best answer!

anonymous · Answer

I guess one way to answer this is that it only served to fortify his position as dictator and inspire more fear from those around him. For him, the saying "it is better to be feared than loved" certainly held some truth. 

He used the purges to wipe out any opposition (real or imagined) that had the potential to even speak against him using adjectives such as "counter revolutionary" to imprison and execute over a million of his own citizens in the purges through those he directed orders to. Even those that belonged to Lenin's circle were suspect and considered a possible threat to his power simply because of their association with his (legendary) former boss and leader of the Soviet Union.