...Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili Ruthless and ambitious, Joseph Stalin grabbed control of the Soviet Union after the death of V.I. Lenin in 1924. As a member of the Bolshevik party, Joseph Stalin (his adopted name, meaning "Man of Steel") had an active role in Russia's October Revolution in 1917. He maneuvered his way up the communist party hierarchy, and in 1922 was named General Secretary of the Central Committee. By the end of the 1920s, Joseph Stalin had expelled his rival Leon Trotsky, consolidated power, and was the de facto dictator of the Soviet Union. In the 1930s Stalin executed his political enemies and started aggressive industrial and agricultural programs that were supposed to lead to miraculous improvements in production, but instead left untold thousands of peasants dead. During World War II, Joseph Stalin was the commander of the Soviet military, first making a non-aggression pact with Adolf Hitler (1939) and then joining the Allies after Germany invaded Russia in 1941. Stalin attended the postwar conferences at Yalta, Teheran and Potsdam that determined the shape of the postwar world. He endured as maximum leader until his death in 1953; years later he was denounced by his successor, Nikita Khrushchev, and "Stalinism" was officially condemned. Brief Bio Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1929 to 1953. Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was transformed from a peasant society into an industrial...
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...Joseph Stalin: Man of Steel Only a few years after the end of World War I, a new leader came to power in Russia. This man quickly became a threat to any potential enemies of the Soviet Union by showing his competence militarily. His military leadership would prove itself more admirable in World War II. Also, being a leader in a leader in an underground revolutionary group and a member of the Bolsheviks could only add to his intimidating persona. The name most commonly matched to said persona is that of an important, tyrannical former leader of the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin’s political reign is that of violence and war, but his story still influences politics today and influenced the decisions of other world leaders along the way. Joseph Stalin lived a fairly normal early life. He was born on December 21, 1879. His birthplace was Gori, a small town in the Russian province Georgia. Only later did he adopt the surname ‘Stalin’. His actual birth name was Joseph Vissarianovich Dzhugashvili (Schlesinger 14). So how does a boy from a small town grow up to kill millions in a military dictatorship? Stalin is the perfect example of someone being influenced by the media. One particular book made a huge influence on his future and his feelings towards Russia. When Stalin was young, he read a book about a character by the name of Koba, a Georgian equivalent to Robin Hood. This Robin Hood-like character despised Russians and how they treated the people of Georgia (Schlesinger 16). The...
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...the leaders; however, other countries are unfortunate to have the good leader become weak and powerless. Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin are two of the greatest leader of China and Soviet Union all over the world. A great leader can influence a country for a long period of time and the impact can ever last for generations, for instance Mao’s impact on China which lasts for years until now. As the leader of the World Communist Party and the leader of Communist Party in China, Stalin and Mao share very similar thought and concept about the path of developing and Communist revolution, however, there is more divergence between them. Some scholars believe that they are both partners and competitors and this can be proved through many evidences. Although Mao and Stalin were two legend leaders of the Communist Party, it could not be denied that there are merits and demerits through their entire life. In the beginning, Mao was not as infusive as Stalin in the world in many aspects and he made important and strategic decisions with listening to the Stalin’s advices. There are few records or letters recording the communications between Mao and Stalin, however the left ones show that they once had very close and frequent communication with each other. Some scholars also believe that Stalin and Mao were not so satisfied with each other and Mao sometimes disagreed with Stalin’s decisions very much but forced to accept because of some certain realistic factors for example the Anti-Japanese War and...
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...Joseph Stalin was born 18th December 1878 and died on 5th March 1953, was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953. Holding the post of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he was effectively the dictator of the state. Stalin was born in Gori in the Tiflis Governorate of the Russian Empire, to Besarion Jughashvili, a Georgian cobbler who owned his own workshop, and Ketevan Geladze, a Georgian who was born a serf. He was the youngest of their three boys; their two previous sons died in infancy. Stalin's chief aim was to expand industrial production. For this, he developed three Five-year Plans between 1928 and 1938. Gosplan, the state planning agency, drew up targets for production for each factory. The first two plans concentrated on improving heavy industry - coal, oil, steel and electricity. Some keen young Communists, called Pioneers, went into barren areas and set up new towns and industries from nothing. There were champion workers called Stakhanovites, named after a coal miner who broke the record for the amount of coal dug up in a single shift. Education schemes were introduced to train skilled, literate workers. The Soviet Union also gave opportunities to women - crèches were set up so they could also work. Women became doctors and scientists, as well as canal diggers and steel workers. At the same time, many of the workers were slave workers and kulaks from the gulag. Strikers were...
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...Analyze the conditions that enabled one left-wing leader to become the ruler of a single-party state. Joseph Stalin was one of the most important leaders that was at the head of the USSR. He established the political and economic structure that remained in place until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. As Bruce Pawley states, “The Politburo, the Party’s leading organ, had become his rubber stamp. Now, at last, he no longer had to play the role of a moderate”[1], Stalin was very sly and gained his position by “stabbing in the back” his rivals, of any type. Historians all agree that the conditions that enabled Stalin’s rise to power were mainly three; Stalin and Lenin’s relationship combined to Lenin’s death (1924), the unpopularity of Trotsky and ultimately his ability as persuader. Stalin success in rising to power could be mostly attributed to Lenin’s decision and to his death in 1924. In 1917, Stalin – not yet a full member of the Communist party leadership – was appointed Commissar for Nationalities. Stalin had supported the idea of gaining control in October and had been an old member of the Bolshevik Party. However, Stalin started to disagree with Lenin when he gained the title of National Commissar. Lenin alleged that republics of Russian Empire were able to clasp a communist revolution and could be trusted in joining the Soviet Union. However, Stalin had a more pragmatic view. He wanted to be sure that all republics would bind tightly to the Bolshevik...
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...With an emphasis on the John Lewis Gaddis article, illustrate how the United States went from being an ally of the Soviet Union to being a rival during the Cold War. How and why did the United States implement “Containment” in Europe from 1945-1950? It all began at Yalta Conference, wartime meeting with the heads of government from the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union. Franklin Roosevelt, president of the United states, Winston Churchill representing Great Britain and Joseph Stalin the Soviet Union, otherwise known as the “Big Three.” Here they discussed how the world was going to be divided peacefully and fairly regarding mutual and individual interests. The division of Europe is known as the Spheres of Influence. The United States wanted access to markets worldwide and influence in Latin America. Great Britain wanted the Mediterranean, the Middle East and also retain its colonies. The Soviet Union wanted influence in Eastern Europe. Also, Stalin had agreed at Yalta to allow free elections in Eastern Europe. This was one of a few agreements he did not honor. Stalin had broken every agreement he had made in Yalta. The creation of the atomic bomb was also another conflict of trust between the three unions, especially distrust from the Soviet Union towards the United States and Great Britain. Secretly the United States and Great Britain had developed the bomb for use against Germany. An example of the lack of trust, the Anglo-Americans did not...
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...War. The soviet attitudes were straight-forward. Stalin´s main aim was to safeguard and rebuild the Soviet Union. However, his actions created hostility over the West. His foreign policy was based on taking advantage of the military situation in Europe to strengthen the Soviet influence and prevent another invasion from the west. To the nations of the west this was seen as evidence of the expansionist nature of communism, but Soviet aims were based on attitudes that were more complicated than this. Russia had been invaded from the west 3 times in the 20th century; by Germany in WWI, by those helping the whites during the russian civil war, and by Germany again in WWII. Each time russian loses had been substantial, but the sacrifice required during the WWII was unprecedented. The need to ensure such a devastating war was was not again inflicted upon the Soviet Union was undoubtedly a weighty and pressing concern. The situation in Europe in 1945 provided Stalin with an opportunity to establish a buffer zone of Soviet-influenced states in Eastern Europe, which would act as a barrier against further invasion of the USSR from the West. The soviet obsession with security was difficult for the American government to understand. To the American government, the USSR was more interested in spreading communism. While it would be understandable for a communist state to want to spread its own ideology when the opportunity presented itself, this does not seem to have been Stalin's prime concern...
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...Qualities of a Strong Leader: Resourcefulness as the Basis Leadership Strength Strong leaders are consistently present in flourishing nations. Japan, for example, is one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world despite a lack of many natural assets. Africa, on the other hand, is the world’s poorest and most underdeveloped continent in the world despite overwhelming amounts of minerals, rich soil, forests, and several other natural resources. Struggling nations in the world, such as many African nations, are often plagued with a great deal of political turmoil and frequently lack the kind of leadership that exists in thriving states like Japan. A nation’s downfall or rise to power is due to a ruling body’s decision-making rather than resource availability, domestic lifestyles, or even luck. World leaders, as result, are under constant scrutiny from average citizens to pundits. Critics evaluating a leader’s strength do not think that strong leaders are people who simply have a lot of state power; an autocrat is not necessarily “strong.” Effective, strong leaders are considered “strong” because of their resourcefulness. Turmoil is inevitable, and a leader must be prepared for the worst. If French and American colonial leaders were unprepared to respond to the oppression they felt respectively from the French and British monarchies, neither the United States nor the French Republic, two very powerful states, would have ever been formed. Similarly, the decline of...
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...acknowledge the contextual background that inspired it. Orwell personifies many political ideologies as anthropomorphised animals in order to expose the events surrounding Soviet socialism which he presents in the form of a Beast Fable. Napoleon, the main antagonist, can be seen as an allegory of Joseph Stalin, the second leader of the Soviet Union. ‘Animal Farm’ was published in 1945 but follows the events leading to the Russian Revolution in 1917 and also mirrors events in Stalin’s leadership of the Soviet Union. Napoleon’s rise to power can be reflected to the rise to power of Joseph Stalin. A fable can be defined as a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral. Fables can be considered a fixed literary custom. Although Animal Farm is a fable taken from Aesop. La Fontaine, the main influence was 20th Century Russian history and the idea of socialism in one country and Russia’s move to a more...
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...During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union fought together as allies against the Axis powers. However, the relationship between the two nations was a tense one. Americans had long been wary of Soviet communism and concerned about Russian leader Joseph Stalin’s tyrannical. For their part, the Soviets resented the Americans’ decades-long refusal to treat the USSR as a legitimate part of the international community as well as their delayed entry into World War II, which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of Russians. After the war ended, these grievances ripened into an overwhelming sense of mutual distrust and enmity. Postwar Soviet expansionism in Eastern Europe fueled many Americans’ fears of a Russian plan to control the world. So, U.S. adopted “containment” defense strategy Two strongest countries in the world, and they didn’t want to war, so the National Security Council: use military force to “contain” communist expansionism In response to severe economic problems and growing political ferment in the USSR, Gorbachev took office in 1985 and introduced two policies that redefined Russia's relationship to the rest of the world: "glasnost," or political openness, and "perestroika," or economic reform. Soviet influence in Eastern Europe waned. In November 1989, the Berlin Wall–the most visible symbol of the decades-long Cold War–was finally destroyed, just over two years after Reagan had challenged the Soviet premier in a speech at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin:...
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...cannot be the only one responsible for the origins of the Cold War. As we know, Joseph Stalin was an evil dictator, propelled by an evil Communist ideology to attempt world domination. But also it is important to mention that the Cold War was also the result of the suspicion and rivalry between Truman and Stalin. Also, the Cold War was caused by the social climate and tension in Europe at the end of World War II and by the increasing power struggles between the Soviet Union and the United States. Economic separation between the Soviets and the west also heightened tensions, along with the threat of nuclear war. Moreover the contradictory agreements Roosevelt negotiated with Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at Yalta in 1945 failed to establish a successful framework for peaceful postwar cooperation between the Soviet Union and the West. In the article, “The Atomic Bomb and the Origins of the Cold War”, Martin J. Sherwin mentions that instead of promoting American post war aims, war time atomic energy policies made them more difficult to achieve. American’s aggressive efforts to contain Soviet influence, to intimidate the Soviets with the atomic bomb and to pursue American economic interest around the globe were also responsible for starting the old War as well as economic interest around the globe were responsible for the Cold War. We can conclude that Stalin’s continued threats of aggression, and the Soviet’s development of an Atomic weapon...
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...From 1929 to 1953, Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Soviet Union in Russia. Stalin wanted to industrialize Russia so he developed five-year plans to help with the process. The plans caused rapid industrialization for oil, steel, and coal productivity and a booming economy for Russia. The plans were enforced strictly in the factories and anyone who didn’t do as was instructed was persecuted or executed as an enemy of Russia. Although Stalin’s plans for industrialization were successful, many people suffered at the expense of it. Collectivisation Stalin started collectivisation in Russia which led to famines in 1929. Collectivisation is the grouping together of all farming under the government. Millions of farmers were opposed to this and...
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...Cold War: Postwar Estrangement The Western democracies and the Soviet Union discussed the progress of World War II and the nature of the postwar settlement at conferences in Tehran (1943), Yalta (February 1945), and Potsdam (July-August 1945). After the war, disputes between the Soviet Union and the Western democracies, particularly over the Soviet takeover of East European states, led Winston Churchill to warn in 1946 that an "iron curtain" was descending through the middle of Europe. For his part, Joseph Stalin deepened the estrangement between the United States and the Soviet Union when he asserted in 1946 that World War II was an unavoidable and inevitable consequence of "capitalist imperialism" and implied that such a war might reoccur. The Cold War was a period of East-West competition, tension, and conflict short of full-scale war, characterized by mutual perceptions of hostile intention between military-political alliances or blocs. There were real wars, sometimes called "proxy wars" because they were fought by Soviet allies rather than the USSR itself -- along with competition for influence in the Third World, and a major superpower arms race. After Stalin's death, East-West relations went through phases of alternating relaxation and confrontation, including a cooperative phase during the 1960s and another, termed dtente, during the 1970s. A final phase during the late 1980s and early 1990s was hailed by President Mikhail Gorbachev, and especially by the president...
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...Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Soviet Union from 1924 to March 5, the day of his death. During Stalin’s reign he not only killed many of his enemies ,but many of his own people as well. Stalin's dictatorship affected millions of people and transformed Russia from a backward country into a superpower. Before Stalin was in power he was studying to become a priest in the capital of Georgia (now Tbilisi). Stalin never finished his studies instead getting involved with the cities revolutionary groups risking arrest everyday. Stalin was never much of a public speaker or even much for debates and instead specialized in the organization of activities of the revolutionary groups like spreading propaganda and robbing trains to fund the revolution. Lenin had valued Stalin loyalty and after the revolution gave him many various low priority leadership positions in the new government. Later in 1922 being appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee. (“Biography: Joseph Stalin”)....
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...Tiffany Hahn Soviet Union Vladimir Lenin: As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years (1917–1924), as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a socialist economic system. Call to the Russian people: April Thesis (peace, food, land). Joseph Stalin: Premier of the Soviet Union. Brought about the October Rev in Russia in 1917 and held the General Secretary of the Communist Part. Stalin’s USSR entered into a non-aggression pact w/ Nazi Germany that divided their spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. Alexander Kerensky: political leader before and during the Russian Rev of 1917. Served as the second Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Gov. until Vladimir was elected. Leon Trotsky: Try to implement Marx’s vision: war communism. Founder/first leader of the Red Army. Served as People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs. Major figure in the Bolsheviks victory in the Russian Civil War. Woodrow Wilson: 14 points – no reparations, international peace keeping body (League of Nations), nationality self-determination. Socialist Revolutionaries: Key player in the Russian Rev. First-ever democratic elections. Collectivism: enforced under Stalin. Goal of this policy was to consolidate individual land and labour into collective farms. The Soviet was confident that the replacement of individual peasant farms would increase the food supply for the urban populations, supply of raw materials, and agricultural...
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