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dukeorsino

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Hi, 

 

My subject for the HI was originally going to be about how Stalin's Great Purge was more effective than the Bolsheviks' red terror.

I was going to look at the secret police, the influence on the civil war and the West's reaction.

 

My teacher said it was a good topic but it would be too much for 2000 words so I should pick either one or the other instead of doing a comparison.  But I can't figure out how to make it into a thesis in that case.  Can someone help me come up with a less broad subject?

 

Thanks. 

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You can do this several ways, but the two that would be easiest would be:

 

1. Compare both the Great Purge and the red terror, but focus on just one common element between them instead of multiple areas. For example, if the secret police was common to both the Great Purge and red terror, you could evaluate its effectiveness between the two eras and see if it was more important in one or the other in achieving that era's aims/goals, and your thesis could be something along the lines of "How effective was the use of the secret police during the Great Purge as compared to the red terror?"

 

2. Pick either the Great Purge or the red terror, and choose a method that was used during that time period and evaluate its effectiveness compared to other methods used during that time period. For example, if the secret police, propaganda, and economic policies were used during the Great Purge your thesis could be something like "To what extent was propaganda the most important tool used by Stalin in the Great Purge?"

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