Biography of Joseph Stalin

World leaders are leaders with high governmental power in the world. Every leader, not just world leaders, is either great or corrupt; they are rarely both. Most of Russia’s history is filled with corrupt leaders. Joseph was one of those leaders. Stalin killed millions of people during his rule. But Stalin also led the Soviet Union almost to the top in world power. Stalin had many influences that led him to his Soviet Leadership in which gave him many admirers but even more non-supporters.

Myths, surrounding Stalin have played a major role in the construction of Stalin’s reputation, in both a positive and negative way. This essay will look at Plate 1.5.8 in the illustration book, and discuss how the myth of Stalin presented in this image differs from earlier and later mythic presentations of him.

Germany and the Soviet Union had signed what is known as “Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact” of 1939 in order to acquire Poland’s land together. Although Hitler and Stalin did not like one another, they decided to put their differences aside for the moment in order to seize the opportunity. Hitler was interested in what was known as the Polish Corridor which had separated Germany from another piece of its property due to the Treaty of Versailles. Stalin was simply interested in expansion of Russia, and had plans to attack Germany once taking over Poland was successful. Germany took part in what was known as the

Almost everyone knows what a monster Adolf Hitler was, but most people do not know that one of the great ally leader of World War II, Joseph Stalin, had committed even greater atrocities than Hitler. Joseph Stalin was a ruthless and yet diligent dictator of the Soviet Union, whose rise to power influenced a multitude of major events in his country’s history. Due to Stalin’s impactful reign, he made the Soviet Union become a global superpower, underwent difficult hardships such as the Great Famine in the Soviet Union, and after his death, caused the Soviet Union to go through a process known as de-Stalinization.

Joseph Stalin greatly influenced Russia in the years 1924 through 1932. His rise to this power can be explained by the Russian Revolutionary experience that allowed him to gain authority in Russia. Although historians often refer to Stalin as a ruthless, mindless dictator, he redirected the Russian Revolution to major economic development. Stalin’s character in Russia during the Revolution catalyzed the many events that took place during the time period. Because of Stalin’s ability to both appeal to the masses, and take advantage of events, like Lenin’s death, Stalin was able to rise to power. Essentially, the Russian Revolution fostered the development of Stalin’s dictatorship leading the country into a state of economic growth and influence. The Revolution fostered Stalin’s ability to maintain a central leadership, use violence to gain control, and regenerate a previously disconnected economy.

In 1939 the world was plunged into World War II because of the Munich Agreement. The Munich Agreement was an agreement regarding the Sudetenland Crisis between the major powers of Europe after a conference held in Munich in Germany in 1938. The Sudetenland was an important region of Czechoslovakia. The Treaty of Versailles was the peace treaty created as a result of six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, which put an official end to World War I between the Allies and Central Powers. The Munich Agreement caused many disagreements between European countries. Collective security was a more effective response to aggression than appeasement because more European countries disagreed than agreed

Joseph Stalin was born on December 6, 1878, in a place called Gori, Georgia, a country just south of Russia. Stalin’s childhood was rather rough because he was quite poor to the fault of his parents’ jobs. His father was an alcoholic shoemaker and his mother was a laundress. After reaching the age five, his father left his family to go work in the capital of Georgia, leaving Joseph and his mother to continue on without him. Stalin and his mother moved homes to live with a priest. Another unfortunate occurrence happened when Stalin turned 7, he caught an illness, Smallpox, which made his life harder because it left his skin and face with scars. He also got a blood poisoning which made his right arm longer this his left. Although Stalin’s appearance wasn’t the most handsome, he still received high grades and loved participating extracurricular activities. After Stalin graduated, his mother enrolled in a seminary, Stalin was accepted but was later expelled to the fault of missing his final exams. After being expelled, Stalin joined the Bolshevik Revolutionaries, an underground group who followed Karl Marx's communist writings.

When Joseph Stalin was in control on Russia it meant that the people lost freedom. Everything that was done in the USSR had to be approved by the government. The people of Russia had no access to the media. Stalin believed that capitalist societies were driven by self-interest and oppressed people. In Churchill's "Iron Curtin Speech" he is talking about the necessary actions to maintain peace in Europe. Stalin's response to him seems like he's provoking other European nations to initiate warfare against Russia. Stalin compares Chruchill's words to those of Hitler regarding "racial theory" and says "Churchill only calls to the English-speaking nations of the world" (Joseph Stalin: Reply to Churchill, 1946). When Stalin made this accusation,

The signing of the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was extremely significant in regards to the outbreak of war in Europe. Both Germany and Russia possessed considerable motives for signing the pact.

Adolf Hitler used the non-aggression pact to make sure Germany was able to invade Poland unopposed. It also contained a secret agreement, in which the Soviets and Germans agreed how the two countries would later divide up Eastern Europe. British and American intelligence warned Stalin about Hitler invading the Soviet Union, but Stalin believed he would stick to the pact Hitler had signed before the war. The Non-Aggression pact was signed as an advantage to Hitler and Germany.

Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union from 1922-1953, when he died. He was responsible for one of the most notable and devastating genocides, the Great Purge. His vicious reign took the lives of around 20-60 million people by his rigid and cruel treatment. Through his exploitation of the lower class and his manipulative abuse of power, Stalin created one of the worst examples of leadership in history. It takes an interesting character to be able to execute the cruelties displayed in his regime and the traits that Stalin developed into his cult of personality were likely acquired as a child and adolescent.

Joseph Stalin's Leadership Through World War Two Stalin (1927-1953) led the Soviet State through the challenges of World War II. Although the war was a terrible drain on the already impoverished and exhausted society, it resulted, paradoxically in strengthening the Soviet dictatorship.

Hitler and Stalin represented the two political extremes. It was obvious to the world that this treaty of 'peace' would not last for long. Western Europe had been safely conquered, except for Britain, which was so weak it would not be able to attack for several years. As Germany was still at war with Britain when Operation Barbarossa was beginning, it seemed to Hitler that if the Soviet Union could be defeated it would make the British more willing to accept peace terms. The Nazi reputation would have received a huge boost - people would become even more fearful of their power.

Joseph Stalin’s three decade long dictatorship rule that ended in 1953, left a lasting, yet damaging imprint on the Soviet Union in political, economic and social terms. “Under his inspiration Russia has modernised her society and educated her masses…Stalin found Russia working with a wooden plough and left her equipped with nuclear power” (Jamieson, 1971). Although his policies of collectivisation and industrialisation placed the nation as a leading superpower on the global stage and significantly ahead of its economic position during the Romanov rule, this was not without huge sacrifices. Devastating living and working standards for the proletariat, widespread famine, the Purges, and labour camps had crippling impacts on Russia’s social

During Stalin’s reign, there were many problems in the USSR: economic problems, social problems and political. Due to these problems Stalin developed many domestic policies in order to counter these problems and try to avoid an uprising. These plans were put into motion almost immediately during Stalin’s reign, but they proved unsuccessful and Stalin was unable to solve the problems that existed within the Soviet Union.