Stalin
Joseph Stalin holds the title as one of the most powerful and murderous dictators in all of history. Under his 25 year rule as the supreme ruler of the Soviet Union, there was death and suffering for over 10 million people. However brutal and tyrannical he may have seemed some of his accomplishments of the time included overseeing the production of a war machine that defeated Nazism.
Stalin was born under the name Iosil Vissarionovich Dzhugoshuvili in December of 1879. In his youth he studied at the Theological Seminary where he developed a taste for Marxist writings. Although he attended the school, he never graduated considering he focused more on revolutionary movements which were occurring at that time. He was later arrested for being an activist against the Russian Monarchy and sent to Serbia as punishment.
Years later, Stalin joined the army. He did not play a major role in the Bolsheviks seizure of power in 1917 but this event did help him move his way up amongst the ranks. In 1922 he became the General Secretary of the Communist Party. This allowed him to set up a base if people who all supported him. That being said, when Lenin died and Stalin claimed that he should be Lenin's political heir, all of his supporters agreed with this decision. This decision made Stalin the dictator of the Soviet Union.
Stalin went about everything wrong once he was in power. He forced collectivasion of agriculture, which ended up costing millions of
lives due to the food shortages. He also introduced a program of rapid industrialization. This program did increase the rate of production for
products and economic growth. However this did cause the population to suffer dramatically due to the working conditions and little pay. The
population suffered the most during the Great Terror of 1930 where Stalin decided to purge all of the "enemies of the people". This resulted in thousands being executed and millions being sent to work at slave camps.This destruction of the population highly decreased the availability
of the Red Army. With this in mind, when Hitler attacked in 1941, Stalin was not prepared. Miraculously, he somehow managed to lead his troops to victory but at a great cost for human life, which did not appear to bother him.After WWII and the nuclear age began to settle in, Stalins increased paranoia caused him to have a stroke and die in March 5th 1953.
Stalin was born under the name Iosil Vissarionovich Dzhugoshuvili in December of 1879. In his youth he studied at the Theological Seminary where he developed a taste for Marxist writings. Although he attended the school, he never graduated considering he focused more on revolutionary movements which were occurring at that time. He was later arrested for being an activist against the Russian Monarchy and sent to Serbia as punishment.
Years later, Stalin joined the army. He did not play a major role in the Bolsheviks seizure of power in 1917 but this event did help him move his way up amongst the ranks. In 1922 he became the General Secretary of the Communist Party. This allowed him to set up a base if people who all supported him. That being said, when Lenin died and Stalin claimed that he should be Lenin's political heir, all of his supporters agreed with this decision. This decision made Stalin the dictator of the Soviet Union.
Stalin went about everything wrong once he was in power. He forced collectivasion of agriculture, which ended up costing millions of
lives due to the food shortages. He also introduced a program of rapid industrialization. This program did increase the rate of production for
products and economic growth. However this did cause the population to suffer dramatically due to the working conditions and little pay. The
population suffered the most during the Great Terror of 1930 where Stalin decided to purge all of the "enemies of the people". This resulted in thousands being executed and millions being sent to work at slave camps.This destruction of the population highly decreased the availability
of the Red Army. With this in mind, when Hitler attacked in 1941, Stalin was not prepared. Miraculously, he somehow managed to lead his troops to victory but at a great cost for human life, which did not appear to bother him.After WWII and the nuclear age began to settle in, Stalins increased paranoia caused him to have a stroke and die in March 5th 1953.