Aviators Affair
The Aviators Affair was a 1946 purge of the Soviet air force and the Soviet aircraft industry following accusations that, during World War II, Soviet fighter planes had been of poor quality. It resulted in the arrests and sentencing of about fifteen Soviet senior officers and officials, and was one of the series of similar purges of Soviet military in the aftermath of World War II through which Stalin reaffirmed his control over the country, eliminating or weakening internal rivals.
Background
[edit]The complaint about Soviet fighter planes being of lower quality than Western ones (including by Stalin's son Vasily Stalin) might have some grounds in reality.[1][2] However, one of the primary goals of that affair was Joseph Stalin's desire to find compromising materials to use against Marshal Georgy Zhukov. This was part of Stalin's reaffirming his power in the aftermath of World War II and eliminating or weakening individuals who gained power during that period (mainly prominent leaders of the arms industry and military commanders).[2][3][4][5][6]
Victims
[edit]
While Zhukov himself would survive this incident with a demotion,[6][8] the People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry (Minister of Aviation Industry) A. I. Shakhurin, the Commander of the Air Force and chief marshal of aviation Alexander Novikov, the Chief Engineer of the Air Force Alexander Repin and a number (estimated as fifteen[2]) of other generals and senior officers and officials were arrested, tortured[2] and convicted; with many receiving death sentences (often commuted to imprisonment in Gulags). Air marshal Sergei Khudyakov (arrested already in late 1945) was executed in 1950. One of the most notable Soviet officials who had lost power as a result of this event was Georgy Malenkov; on the other hand, it has temporarily strengthened the power of Andrei Zhdanov.[2][6][9][10][11][12][13][excessive citations]
Notable military victims of related purges of Soviet military included generals Grigory Kulik (arrested in 1946 and executed in 1950) and Vasily Gordov (arrested in 1947 and also executed in 1950).[6] There was also, in the same year (1946), the Admirals Affair, targeting high-ranked officials of the Soviet Navy (such as Nikolai Kuznetsov).[13] Similar events continued for several years (ex. the Artillery's Officer Affair of the early 1950s).[14]
Aftermath
[edit]The event has been described as temporarily decapitating the Soviet air force.[13]
The investigation was led, on orders from Stalin, by Viktor Abakumov of the Ministry of State Security,[2][15] who himself would be purged in the early 1950s, accused, among others, of misconduct during the Aviators Affair.[3] Many victims of the Aviators Affair were rehabilitated during the De-Stalinization period of the 1950s.[8]
In subsequent historiography, the event has been described as a purge,[8] and the case, as fabricated.[4]
See also
[edit]- 1941 Red Army Purge
- Case of the Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization
- Doctors' plot
- Leningrad affair
- Shakhty Trial
References
[edit]- ^ Harrison, Mark (March 2003). "The Political Economy of a Soviet Military R&D Failure: Steam Power for Aviation, 1932 to 1939". The Journal of Economic History. 63 (1): 178–212. doi:10.1017/S0022050703001773. ISSN 1471-6372.
- ^ a b c d e f Pringle, Robert W. (2015-07-29). Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Intelligence. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-4422-5318-6.
- ^ a b Kuznetsov, I. I. (1999-03-01). "Stalin's minister V.S. Abakumov 1908–54". The Journal of Slavic Military Studies. 12 (1): 149–165. doi:10.1080/13518049908430382. ISSN 1351-8046.
- ^ a b Zubkova, Elena (2004-03-01). "The Soviet Regime and Soviet Society in the Postwar Years: Innovations and Conservatism, 1945–1953". Journal of Modern European History. 2 (1): 134–152. doi:10.17104/1611-8944_2004_1_134. ISSN 1611-8944.
- ^ Harrison, Mark (March 2003). "The Political Economy of a Soviet Military R&D Failure: Steam Power for Aviation, 1932 to 1939". The Journal of Economic History. 63 (1): 178–212. doi:10.1017/S0022050703001773. ISSN 1471-6372.
- ^ a b c d Mccauley, Martin (2014-01-14). The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union. Routledge. pp. 277–279. ISBN 978-1-317-86783-8.
- ^ Taylor, Brian D. (2003). Politics and the Russian army: civil-military relations, 1689-2000. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-521-81674-8.
- ^ a b c Roberts, Geoffrey (2012). Stalin's General: The Life of Georgy Zhukov. London: Icon Books. pp. 11, 244–245. ISBN 978-1-8483-1443-6 – via Google Books.
- ^ Gorlizki, Yoram; Khlevniuk, Oleg (2004-01-15). Cold Peace: Stalin and the Soviet Ruling Circle, 1945-1953. Oxford University Press. pp. 25–27. ISBN 978-0-19-534735-7.
- ^ Brandenberger, David (2004). "Stalin, the Leningrad Affair, and the Limits of Postwar Russocentrism". The Russian Review. 63 (2): 241–255. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9434.2004.00315.x. ISSN 0036-0341. JSTOR 3664083.
- ^ Parrish, Michael (2004). Sacrifice of the Generals: Soviet Senior Officer Losses, 1939-1953. Scarecrow Press. pp. 214, 224, 319, 338, 346, 356. ISBN 978-0-8108-5009-5.
- ^ Waldron, Peter (2018-01-18). The Soviet Union. Routledge. p. 322. ISBN 978-1-351-14518-3.
- ^ a b c Stotland, Daniel (2017-11-15). Purity and Compromise in the Soviet Party-State: The Struggle for the Soul of the Party, 1941–1952. Lexington Books. p. 158. ISBN 978-1-4985-4063-6.
- ^ Gorlizki, Yoram; Khlevniuk, Oleg (2004-01-15). Cold Peace: Stalin and the Soviet Ruling Circle, 1945-1953. Oxford University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-19-534735-7.
- ^ Rieber, Alfred J. (2022-08-23). Stalin as Warlord. Yale University Press. p. 226. ISBN 978-0-300-26900-0.