Joseph Stalin is known to be “one of the most powerful and murderous dictators in history” (bbc.co.uk). Stalin became general secretary of the Communist Party, which had given him the control that he had been looking for (bbc.co.uk). Soon after, he was granted dictatorship of the Soviet Union after Vladimir Lenin had died (historyplace.com). Many people did not like the way that Stalin was ruling. People wanted their own independence from Stalin and he did not take that very well. In 1929, Stalin had believed that many Ukrainian scholars, scientists, religious leaders, etc. were planning a riot against him. Without even being listened to during a trial, they were killed or deported immediately to prison camps (blogspot.com).
Joseph Stalin was the Soviet leader of Russia for over 25 years. Stalin was very paranoid and executed anyone he deemed to be a threat. In 1934, Kirov, the leader of the Communist Party and also a workplace colleague so to speak, was murdered, probably on Stalin's orders this is widely acknowledged as the even that started the ‘Purges’. Stalin used Kirov’s death as an example to order massive purges in which anybody suspected of being disloyal was murdered, sent to prison camps known as ‘Gulags’ or exiled to Siberia. This example Stalin used at the start of the purges demonstrates the length Stalin was willing to go to achieve his goals and the level of his paranoia.
Joseph Stalin was a cunning and adroit politician and a stalwart leader for the Soviet Union.
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.
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
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.
Throughout the 1920's and 30's Joseph Stalin was able to rise to power and build a totalitarian state. After Vladimir Lenin died in 1924, Stalin was able to maneuver his way to the top. Stalin was able to rise to power, build a totalitarian state, and was able to disrupt and transform soviet society by using propaganda.
""As known as there is no one can save from criticism? Stalin was actually super self-conscious about the way he looked, having a shorter left arm and mark. So, Stalin was responsible for the death of at least 20 million people. He said it himself: “One death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic,” and Stalin sure left one. But in another side, his policies greatly improved the industry in Russia. He forced people for collectivism on the people, and many Russians considered collectivism as a bad thing, but it helped the Russian economy and industry too much. Stalin and most party leaders supported the NEP, believing it necessary to strengthen the Soviet Union and protect the revolution"."
Joseph Stalin ruled as dictator of the Union Soviet Socialists Republic (USSR) from 1929-1923. Stalin manipulated and outmanoeuvred his political opponents for control of the party. During his rule Stalin used terror and violence to transform the Soviet Union from a peasant society to an industrial and military superpower, killing millions along the way (http://www.history.com/topics/joseph-stalinv). Stalin was born in rural Georgia, Russia in 1879. By the time of his birth, the Georgia nation had become disaffected by the years of Russian domination through the forced assimilation of ethnic minorities and suppression of its distinctive culture under tsarist rule (Joseph Stalin, A Biographical Companion). Stalin attended a seminary school where he began secretly reading the works of Karl Marx and became interested in the revolutionary movement against the Russian monarchy. Stalin was eventually expelled from the seminary for missing too many exams. After Stalin was expelled he began taking part in labor strikes and demonstrations, which eventually led him to join the Bolsheviks (a militant wing of the Marxist Social Democratic,) led by Vladimir Lenin. In 1912, Lenin
Stalin like Hitler “used propaganda, censorship, and terror to force his will on the Soviet people. Government newspapers glorified work and Stalin himself. Secret police spied on citizens, and anyone who refused to praise Stalin and the state faced severe punishment, even death” (“The Soviet”, n.d.).
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
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.
As leaders, Adolf Hitler was more brutal than Stalin. Hitler was very manipulative, thus, having the ability to convince and sway his country to ignore the law and murder millions of people. Hitler as a person was a lot worse than Stalin because he was determined have world domination. Hitler was very scheming, which lead to the Holocaust. He had the power to convince Nazis to murder 6 million out of 9 million jews living in Europe at the time1. Hitler had made the Germans believe that in case of another war, the Germans will not be exterminated, but instead the Jews would. As Albert Speer quoted, “I was present in the Reichstag session of January 30, 1939 when Hitler guaranteed that, in the event of another war, the Jews, not the Germans,
Joseph Stalin was one of the biggest terrors in the time of world war 2.