Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin (from the Russian name meaning “man of steel”), born in 1878, was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the USSR), commonly referred to as the Soviet Union. Under his power, the Soviet Union was transformed from a peasant society to a military and economic superpower. Stalin gained control of the party after the Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin, died in 1924. Stalin remained in power by executing his potential enemies or putting them into forced labor camps. During World War II, which lasted from 1939 until 1945, Stalin allied with Great Britain and the United States. But Stalin was so malicious that after his death in 1953, the Soviets even had to initiate a "de-Stalinization process.”
Stalin's Childhood and Years Prior to Dictatorship
Stalin grew up as a poor, only child. His mother was a laundress, but he also suffered much abuse from his alcoholic father. When Stalin was a teenager, he attended a seminar in the city of Tblisi to study for the priesthood of a Georgian Orthodox Church. While studying, Stalin became interested in the revolutionary movement against the Russian monarchy. However, in 1899, Stalin was expelled for skipping exams, but he claimed that it was for Marxist propaganda (of Karl Marx). After Stalin left school, he partook in labor demonstrations and strikes as he became an underground political agitator. Stalin later joined the “more militant wing,” of the Marxist Social Democratic movement, also known as the Bolsheviks, that was led by Vladimir Lenin. From then on, Stalin partook in multiple criminal activities, and between the years of 1902 and 1913, he was arrested multiple times and even subjected to exile in Siberia. Throughout his life, Stalin married twice but also fathered many children out of wedlock.
Rise to Power
Vladimir Lenin appointed Joseph Stalin to serve on the first Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party in the year of 1912. The Soviet Union was founded in 1922 after the Bolshevik Revolution gained the Soviet Union control in Russia. During this time, Stalin had continued to move up the party ladder. In 1922, he gained the position of secretary general of the Central Committee of the Communist Party; this, in turn, enabled him to appoint officials who supported him into the government, ultimately leading to him building a strong foundation of political support. Stalin took over when Lenin died in 1924 and soon became the dictator of the Soviet Union near the end of the 1920s.
Stalin ruled with a “totalitarian grip” in the midst of terror as he worked to eliminate those who opposed him. Stalin additionally built a colossal cult of personality around himself throughout all of the Soviet Union. This entitled cities to be renamed, history books to be rewritten in order to give him more prominent credit in the revolution, as well as Stalin’s name becoming part of the Soviet national anthem.
Stalin ruled with a “totalitarian grip” in the midst of terror as he worked to eliminate those who opposed him. Stalin additionally built a colossal cult of personality around himself throughout all of the Soviet Union. This entitled cities to be renamed, history books to be rewritten in order to give him more prominent credit in the revolution, as well as Stalin’s name becoming part of the Soviet national anthem.
Becoming Allied
Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler signed a nonaggression pact in 1939. However, Germany soon broke this pact when they invaded the USSR in June of 1941. The Soviet Union was unprepared for war but the tides soon turned with the Battle of Stalingrad that lasted from August of 1942 to February of 1943. This ultimately led to the Soviet Union joining the Allied Forces during World War II.