The Stalin era was an extremely closed and mysterious period in Soviet history, with many intrigues and power struggles hidden behind it.
During this period, there was a mysterious figure who was both the head of Soviet secret services and Stalin's most important minions, and he was saddled with many secret missions that could not be put on the table.
After Stalin's death, however, he faced a perilous struggle for supreme power and was eventually secretly executed.
This person is Beria, the head of the Soviet secret service.
The rise of Beria
Lavier Beria was born in 1899 in a small town in the Georgian Empire.
He grew up in a poor family whose financial difficulties had a profound impact on his childhood.
However, Beria did not become depressed, on the contrary, he showed excellent intelligence and ambition.
During his teenage years, Beria showed academic excellence, and he achieved excellent results in local schools.
It was during this period that Beria first came into contact with Bolshevik ideas and gradually developed a keen interest in revolutionary movements.
After the October Revolution of 1917, Beria joined the Bolshevik Party led by Lenin and took an active part in the Russian Civil War.
His outstanding organizational and military skills were quickly valued by the party's top brass.
Stalin, who had begun to cultivate power in secret, also favored him.
As Stalin's position within the CPSU gradually increased, he needed reliable people to help him consolidate power and implement his policies.
And Beria's ingenuity and excellent execution intrigued him very much.
Thus, Beria, who joined Stalin's team, was promoted by Stalin to a key member of the special service - the Main Directorate of State Security (NKVD), and soon became the leader of this body.
Since then, Beria has demonstrated excellent leadership in the organization, and he has built the NKVD into an efficient secret service.
He intensified surveillance and investigation inside and outside the Soviet Union, striking at hostile forces and opposition, which made Stalin develop great trust in him.
Soon, Beria became Stalin's right-hand man, and Stalin entrusted him with many secret tasks that could not be put on the table.
He secretly manipulated the intelligence network in the Soviet Union, gathering and analyzing intelligence on internal and external hostile forces.
In addition, Beria led a massive crackdown to purge people deemed counter-revolutionaries from Soviet society.
Especially during the darkest period in Soviet history, Beria played a crucial role.
He oversaw the concentration camp system and carried out large-scale arrests, trials, and executions.
These actions made him Stalin's most loyal and reliable subordinate.
It was these actions that also allowed Beria to accumulate enormous power, allowing him to compete for supreme power after Stalin's death and become the new leader of the Soviet Union.
However, his ambition eventually led to his defeat and tragic end.
Stalin's death and the struggle for power
The death of Joseph Stalin in Moscow on March 5, 1953, shocked the world and marked a major turning point in Soviet politics, triggering a power vacuum.
Under Stalin's rule, Soviet politics was highly centralized, and Stalin became a symbol of absolute power.
He maintained his dominance through large-scale repression and persecution and brutal attacks against hostile forces at home and abroad.
However, his death left the Politburo in chaos.
With the emergence of a power vacuum at the top of the CPSU, power strife began dominated by Beria, Malenkov, Khrushchev and other bigwigs of the CPSU.
Beria, as the head of the secret service who wielded the power of the Soviet dark power and one of Stalin's closest partners, quickly saw this opportunity and tried to compete for supreme power and become the new leader of the Soviet Union.
Beria has a powerful secret service and intelligence network, and he uses these resources to obtain information and manipulate key figures. He engaged in power disputes with other high-ranking officials, using various means to expand his power.
However, Beria's ambitions aroused the vigilance and resistance of Khrushchev and others.
He is seen as a dangerous careerist and the embodiment of a lust for power.
Khrushchev, Malenkov and other high-ranking officials began to unite and win over the military boss Zhukov in an attempt to stop the expansion of Beria's power and protect their own interests.
Final fate
On June 26, 1953, the Central Committee of the CPSU convened a joint meeting of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers and the Presidium of the Central Committee, Beria was charged with multiple crimes on the spot, and the moment he took out his pistol, Marshal of the Soviet Union Zhukov led people to control him.
Beria's ambition and hasty character eventually led to his collapse and end.
After his detention, the Soviet government launched a thorough investigation and examination of him, and as the investigation progressed, Beria's crimes gradually surfaced.
He was accused of abuse of power, persecution of the innocent, espionage, and participation in large-scale repression and executions.
These accusations shed light on the crimes and atrocities committed by Beria under the Soviet regime.
In December 1953, Beria was sentenced to death in a secret trial.
However, his execution remained secret until the opening of Soviet archives after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Beria's secret execution symbolized the end of the Stalinist era of power struggles and the failure of his personal ambitions.
The effect of the disappearance of Beria on the USSR
The disappearance of Beria had a profound effect on the USSR.
After his deprivation of power, the special services NKVD also underwent restructuring and reform.
The Soviet government, trying to get rid of the reign of terror of the Stalin era, investigated and liquidated the crackdowns.
In addition, the disappearance of Beria also had a shock in the Soviet Union. People began to realize the seriousness of the tyranny and persecution of the Stalin era, which led to a series of calls for political and social reforms.
Epilogue:
Beria, as an important figure in Stalin's era, was burdened with many secret missions and was Stalin's closest partner.
However, after Stalin's death, he was secretly executed for losing the struggle for power.
His story is not just the collapse and defeat of one person, but also reveals the dark side of Stalin's era and the brutality of the power struggle.