In December 1878, Joseph Stalin was born. His real name was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. The last name given to him by an acquaintance, Stalin, means “man of steel” in Russian. An interesting fact about Stalin is that he was an avid fan of American cowboy films. He played them in his private cinema for his friends. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Joseph Stalin was born a peasant in Gori, Georgia. He was the son of Besarion Jughashvili, who was a shoemaker, and Ketevan Geladze, who was a washerwoman. Stalin's parents had three other sons, but two died as babies. As a child, he was very frail and had smallpox, which left scars on his face and slightly deformed his arm. He had two toes attached to his left foot. He was also involved in an accident when he was twelve years old. A carriage damaged his arm. It healed with extensive surgery, but remained shorter than his other arm and made his joint stiff. Joseph's father was an alcoholic and abused his mother and Joseph. His father eventually abandoned him and his mother. He was treated cruelly and made to feel less important than the others. The undeserved and cruel abuse inflicted on his father is probably the origin of his spirit of vengeance. The physical limitations he had due to different events in his childhood were also a possible reason for him to feel inferior. We are sure that children were cruel then as they are today. In an attempt to make himself equal with everyone else, he became power mad. It is also believed that the undeserved beatings his father inflicted on him contributed to his need for control. He was a megalomaniac, meaning he was obsessed with power and the things he didn't have. His mother wanted him to become a priest, so he was enrolled in the parish school. He studied Russian Orthodox Christianity until the age of 20. He excelled and won a scholarship to the theological seminary in Tiflis. He was expelled from the Seminary in 1899. Joseph decided to stay in Tifilis, where he spent most of his time in the revolutionary movement. He worked undercover for a decade. It was he who took care of most of the organization, such as calling meetings, organizing strikes and publishing announcements. Although Joseph was raised as Georgian Orthodox, he became an atheist. He was guided by the idea that having a certain religion would prevent him from forming the ideal communist community. The government promoted atheism by teaching atheist classes, engaging in propaganda, passing discriminatory laws, and waging a terrorist campaign. Throughout his life he married twice, but both of his wives died. He also had two sons, Yakov and Vasili, and a daughter, Svetlana. After many years, he became general secretary of the Communist Party. He was a Soviet dictator who pushed for rapid industrialization of the country and a communist government. As a result, starvation became widespread and others were sent to camps. He also contributed to the destruction of the Nazis. “People just need to know that there were elections. The people who voted don't decide anything. It’s those who count the votes who decide everything.” This quote shows evidence of his view of power and those who possess it versus those who are victims of it. Even though he may do this because of a difficult past, he felt no sympathy for other people in similar situations. You can see this fromthrough the many times he used food deprivation as a tactic to pursue his ambitions. He also took the opportunity to break down possible regional opposition. He was so insecure that he had several artists shot for not having painted him to his liking. Although he is not generally considered a peaceful person, he was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He was also named Times Magazine's Person of the Year, twice as well. There was a series of strikes following the industrial depression. Stalin was involved in the oil workers' strike in 1904. The strike was a success. In January 1906, he wrote an article entitled “Two Clashes: Concerning January 9.” This article was about the first anniversary of the nonviolent march, when large numbers of workers marched to the Winter Palace. This march was the most memorable event and caused Bloody Sunday. Another notable event took place when he robbed the Tiflis bank in 1907. There were 40 deaths and 341,000 rubies stolen. In 1922, Stalin was appointed general secretary of the Communist Party. This position gave him control over all nominations of party members, allowing him to build his base. He created ridiculous appointments and exercised his power in such a way that, in due time, almost every member owed his position to him. When people finally realized what he had done, it was already too late. No one could take control back from Stalin. Lenin, who was seriously ill at the time, was powerless against Stalin. In 1917, the Russian Revolution was crushed by the Tsarist government. Russia was governed by a provisional government. This took place from March to November and they planned for a democratically elected assembly. However, continued war with Germany paved the way for a Bolshevik coup in November. The new government was controlled by Lenin. They made peace with the Germans and began a three-year civil war. Leon Trotsky organized the Red Army and led the Bolsheviks to victory. After this war, the Bolsheviks were renamed the Communist Party. Stalin was rapidly increasing his power, without Russia's knowledge. Although Lenin began to doubt Stalin, no one believed him and so Stalin remained in his position as general secretary. He set out to destroy his rival Trotsky. Vladimir Lenin died in 1924. Joseph Stalin took advantage of this event to plan the destruction of the old party leadership and take control of it. First, he ousted people from power. Many were exiled to Europe and the Americas. Stalin soon began a great reign of terror. He kidnapped people at night and subjected them to show trials. People who appeared to pose a threat to him were executed, their belief being “enemies of the people.” Once satisfied with his power, he began to modernize Russia with a five-year plan. Which included establishing government control over the economy. He also thought it was a good idea to seize the land of the richest peasants. Because of this, almost ten million people died of starvation. His frustration led to a period in which all his rivals and anyone suspected of opposing him were either killed or sent to Siberian prisons. It was what was called the “Great Terror”. While all of this was happening in Germany, Hitler was beginning his rise to power. Stalin wanted to avoid war with Germany, so he signed an agreement that neither the Nazis nor the Soviets were to attack each other. In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviets,defying their pact. Russia retaliated for the betrayal and started war. As they got closer to victory, Stalin was determined to control all of Europe. Even as the war with Germany ended, Stalin began to pressure his allies with impossible demands. This is how the Cold War began. By 1928, the first year of his five-year plan, Stalin's rise to power was almost complete. His last act was the assassination of Trotsky in Mexico. He was exiled from the Soviet Union and had lived in Mexico since 1936. After Trotsky's assassination, only two members of the "Old Bolsheviks" remained: Stalin and Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Motolotov. Stalin seized land initially given to peasants and created collective farms. The peasants soon became serfs again. Stalin believed that these collective farms would lead to an increase in food production, but this angered the peasants. They did not want to abandon their land and work for the state. More than a million people lost their lives to forced labor or starvation. Stalin also created rapid industrialization. Industrialization was a success at the cost of millions of dollars and the sacrifice of millions of lives. The punishment for resistance was swift and deadly. Millions of people were forced to work in labor camps or executed. This forced will goes back to: “If the opposition disarms, so much the better. If he refuses to disarm, we will disarm him ourselves. He understood that even if we didn't give him the way, he would force his way. During World War II, Stalin signed a non-aggression contract with Adolf Hitler. Joseph Stalin believed that Hitler possessed honorable integrity, even though his military commanders warned him that Germany should not be trusted. When Germany attacked the Soviet army in 1941, it was completely unprepared. By the time Stalin was recovering from the German attack, Germany had already taken control of Ukraine and Belarus and surrounded Leningrad. To make matters worse, the purge of the 1930s turned Soviet citizens and the army into Soviet people. The Germans withdrew to Stalingrad in 1943. He then demanded that the Allies open a second front against Germany. Both the British and Americans claimed that this would result in the deaths of many people. This further increased Stalin's suspicions of the West. The war was now in favor of the Allies. There was a meeting between President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Joseph Stalin. At this meeting they discussed post-war affairs. Stalin demanded that they open a second front against Germany, which they agreed to in 1944. In February 1945, they met again. Stalin, aware of his strong negotiating position, negotiated carte blanche to rebuild the government. He agreed to participate in the war against Japan after the defeat of the Germans. He distrusted the Allies, which led him to establish a buffer zone between Western Europe and Russia. Europe took this as a sign that Stalin was planning to bring Western Europe under communist control. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was forced to counter Stalin's actions. Stalin hoped to take control of Berlin and therefore implemented an economic blockade. When the Allies realized this, they forced Stalin to retreat by organizing a massive airlift and supplying the city. Stalin suffered another defeat in foreign policy because of Kim Il Jung. Stalin had ordered the Soviet representative to boycott the decision of the United Nations Security Council.