The Petrograd Trials were a series of show trials held in the Russia at the instigation of German occupation authorities between 1945 and 1946. The defendants included most of the Soviet war time leadership, as well as the former leadership of the Soviet secret police. Most defendants were charged with planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression and other crimes against peace, engaging in various acts of political repression, and treason. The Petrograd Trials led to the execution of many of the defendants, including Joseph Stalin, and the trials are generally seen as part of the "White Terror" that occurred in immediate post- war Russia.