Joseph Stalin And The Soviet Union

Stalin’s childhood seems to be what formed him into the person he became. When Stalin was only five, his father left him and his mother. At the age of seven Stalin contracted smallpox, leaving his face scarred. With the scars on Stalin's face the other children often teased him. Stalin and his family experienced poverty that was widespread throughout Russia during the nineteenth century.

Joseph Stalin’s youth began in December 18, 1879, when he was born as the son of Besarion Jughashivili in Georgia. His youth was plagued by his

Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union for more than a quarter of a century, overseeing its transformation from a backward nation to a superpower. Creator of the most vast and inhumane prison system in world history, Stalin was a one-time invaluable ally to democracy in World War II. He quickly turned into the most feared enemy with the fall of the Iron Curtain. His death ended a reign of terror, yet his spirit still overshadows the pieces of his dismantled empire.

Joseph Stalin was a callous dictator who governed the Soviet Union for nearly thirty years. He rose to power as the General Secretary of the Communist Party and became the dictator of Russia after Vladimir Lenin’s death in 1924. Stalin was known for his Marxist-Leninist ideology, but his policies soon became known as Stalinism. He rose through the ranks and became one of the most powerful leaders and communist revolutionaries that Russia had ever seen. A few of Stalin’s policies did in fact benefit the social, political and economic prosperity of the country, but overall, his leadership was detrimental to the Soviet Union and its people.

Joseph Stalin was both a blessing and a curse for Russia. He ruled with an iron fist, had harsh tactics, and treated people as obstacles in his way on the path to power. While Stalin is most commonly known for killing millions of his very own people, most people also forget that he was the man who transformed Russia into an industrialized state with infrastructure and a strong military. One could even argue that without Stalin Russia might not have lasted the test of time and make it into modern times.

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.

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.

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

For his role in leading the Soviet Union through WWII, one of the worst crises that the country has ever faced, Joseph Stalin is remembered as a leader who held his nation together. Stalin however, is also responsible for the deaths of millions of Soviet Union citizens, ranging in ethnicity from Polish to Russian to Ukrainian. Abuses of power such as the Great Famine of 1932-1933 resulted in the deaths of 7-8 million people, due to Stalin implementing policies of collectivism that fitted his view of an ideal communist society (Midlarsky 265). Many similar instances of massive abuses of power, from executing and exiling political opponents to ethnic cleansing to prevent nationalistic uprisings, mar the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. His extremist ideology that advocated violent revolution, as well as a childhood filled with abuse and violence and a chaotic environment influenced him, creating the man that would terrorize and murder millions of people. He would not however, been able to abuse his power without first obtaining the authority and capability to do as such. Stalin’s political manipulation and shrewdness were peerless, and they granted him positioning to take over and consolidate power within the communist party, as well as establish himself as the legitimate heir to Lenin. Stalin’s establishment of a cult of personality around his past actions helped to eliminated future opposition to his power, and provided stability against potential overthrowing of his

The society and environment that he developed in as a child was a pivotal in the formation of his renowned, stern character. Joseph Stalin was born into a poor family in Georgia 1879. Throughout his childhood, Stalin and his mother were both subjugated to violence and domestic abuse from his alcoholic father. , this undeniably would have additionally lead to Stalin's tyrannical persona and totalitarian governance. Throughout Josephs life he was groomed to be a priest, he was enrolled in numerous church schools and was even indoctrinated into the Tiflis theological seminary school in Georgia's capital. During this period of history there was a rapid increase for the russification of neighbouring Slavic states, like Georgia under orders of the Russian czar, this in turn may have also lead to Stalin's hate towards the tsarist monarchy and participation in revolutionary groups during later years. For most life in the seminary school was a tedious, structured routine in which students were only allowed to read books approved by the schools authorities, this further sparked his hatred towards authority and continued through his own political thought. As well as

Joseph Stalin ruled the USSR. He was a very bad ruler. He also ruled for quite a long time. He rule from 1929 to 1953. That is 24 years. Stalin absolutely transformed russia. He made them very strong. Stalin did not rule like you think a ruler would. It was not good. He turned the Ussr from a peasant country to a great military superpower. When Stalin got into office he killed all potential threats. He killed anybody that he thinks could have hurt him or done something to get him out of office. Stalin killed lots of people and lived a terrible life. Millions of people died while Stalin was the ruler. Fun fact : Stalin killed more people than hitler did. Stalin was born into poverty. He was very poor as a child which led him to do bad things like criminal and gang activity.

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.

Joseph Stalin, from the time that he was a low level revolutionary to the years that he spent as the dictator of the Soviet Union, always knew what he needed to do to achieve his goals. His organized rise to power allowed him to gain a steady flow of followers who would support him for decades to come. Stalin received a minor government position in 1917, but by the time a new leader was needed in 1924, he “had turned the largely routine post of Party general secretary into the most powerful office in the Soviet Union” (“Joseph Stalin) and “had built a personal empire for himself through his control over committee appointments at all levels . . . expand[ing] the leading Party organs with his supporters, who then voted against his rivals”

Stalin was very harsh and strict about his rules as a leader. He went too far when anyone who didn’t agree with his rules were sent away to Siberian ¨work¨ camps, and for the Ukrainians who wouldn't give up their farms they got all of their crops confiscated. Causing the starvation of 10 million Ukrainian people. When the depression hit Japanese exports to the USA and Europe stopped because they had to focus on their own industries. That cost a lot of jobs in Japan, silk farmers suffered and the rice crops also failed and caused famine. People became frustrated and started to blame the government.They were angry and needed to do something about it. Japan went too far when they invaded Manchuria in 1931. Hitler was a very powerful influential

Joseph Stalin used his intellect, and power, to outmanoeuvre his rivals to become leader of the Soviet Union. Using carefully planned propaganda including, painting, statues, and a series of cultivated posters Stalin immortalised and glorified his leadership. These state-manufactured images created a ‘cult of personality' around him, subsequently, creating an image of a heroic worshipped figure, who was associated with every aspect of soviet society. Stalin controlled the media and according to the historian Moshe Lewin, Stalin single handily, ‘become the system,’ (Lewin in Pittaway, 2008, p.137.)