Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin is a Soviet military and political figure.
Early years
He was born on December 18, 1879 in the city of Gori, Russian Empire. His father was engaged in craftsmanship, and his mother worked as a cleaner. Dzhugashvili’s childhood years were difficult: at an early age he fell ill with smallpox, and later received a serious injury to his left hand, which eventually became shorter than his right.
At the age of 8, he began studying at a theological school in Gori, and in 1894 he went to the Tiflis Orthodox Seminary for further education.
At the age of 15, Dzhugashvili began to be interested in Marxist views and attend various ideological circles.
He was actively involved in revolutionary activities: he organized demonstrations and strikes, and also participated in armed robberies of banks. In 1902, he was arrested and exiled to forced labor in Eastern Siberia, but later he managed to escape. After that, he took part in two party congresses of the Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party held outside the Russian Empire.
October rebellion and coming to power
In 1912, at the request of Vladimir Lenin, he wrote an article “Marxism and the National Question”. After the publication of the work, he began to be perceived as an authoritative theorist on interethnic relations. It was during this period that Dzhugashvili took the pseudonym “Stalin”, but for his inner circle he had the nickname “Koba”.
Later, returning to Russia, he was again detained and sent into exile in Siberia. This time the escape failed – he stayed there for 4 years, until the revolution of 1917.
After the revolution, all the Bolsheviks who were under arrest were released. At first, Dzhugashvili expressed support for the Provisional Government, but later, under the influence of Lenin, he changed his position. In October, the events that led to the fall of the Provisional Government began, after which Soviet power came to power. In the newly created government of the Soviets of People’s Commissars, Stalin dealt with issues of national policy.
During the Civil War, he took part in hostilities for some time and led the defense of Tsaritsyn, but was later removed from office. Despite his conflicts with Trotsky, Lenin had a favorable attitude towards Dzhugashvili. However, after a while, the relationship between them became less warm. After the end of the Civil War, Stalin held high government posts.
In the period from 1926 to 1929, Stalin concentrated power in his hands. At the end of the 1920s, forced collectivization began, designed to eliminate the kulaks as a class.
Stalinist repressions
In December 1934, Sergei Kirov, who had authority in party circles, was killed. Stalin did not leave this without a reaction, and in the following years a wave of large-scale repression began.
The exact number of victims remains unknown. Repressions did not bypass many Ukrainian poets. Stalin inflicted the most devastating blow on Ukraine during the years of collectivization. At the same time, according to his instructions, the policy of grain procurement was changed, which caused the mass death of millions of peasants from starvation.
World War II
In 1939 , a non-aggression pact known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed between the USSR and Germany. Over the next year, the Soviet Union included territories that had previously belonged to the Russian Empire, including Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Shortly thereafter, the Great Patriotic War began.
At the time of the attack, the country was completely unprepared for war. Despite numerous warnings from intelligence, Stalin did not attach importance to them, which led to heavy losses among the Soviet population – hundreds of thousands of people died.
Stalin concentrated all political and military power in his hands. In the period from June 30, 1941 to September 4, 1945, he headed the State Defense Committee, and also served as Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the USSR. In addition, from July 19, 1941 to March 15, 1946, he was the People’s Commissar of Defense of the USSR and personally participated in the development of military strategies.
During World War II, Stalin, together with US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill , initiated the formation of an anti-Hitler coalition. He represented the Soviet Union in negotiations with the Allies during the conferences in Tehran (1943), Yalta (1945) and Potsdam (1945).
After the end of the war, during which Soviet troops occupied a significant part of the territories of Eastern and Central Europe, Stalin became the main ideologist of the concept of creating the so-called “world socialist system”. This later became one of the factors in the beginning of the Cold War and the military-political confrontation between the USSR and the United States.
On June 27, 1945, Stalin was awarded the military rank of Generalissimo of the Soviet Union.
On March 19, 1946, during the reform of the government structure, Stalin was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and also took the post of Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
In the post-war years, he focused on rebuilding the country’s economy, which was destroyed during the war, paying special attention to strengthening the country’s defense potential, as well as the technical modernization of the army and navy. He also played a role in the initiation and implementation of the Soviet “atomic project”.
Stalin died on March 5, 1953 as a result of a stroke and cerebral hemorrhage.
Joseph Stalin: interesting facts
Here are some interesting facts from Stalin’s life:
- during the first 10 years of his tenure in leadership positions in the party, Stalin submitted a request for resignation three times. At the same time, these actions were often a way to test the loyalty of associates;
- In 1916, due to a hand injured in childhood, he was declared unfit for military service;
- He spoke Georgian, Russian and Ancient Greek, and also knew Church Slavonic well since the time of the seminary. Some researchers claim that he also knew English and German, and the books he read left notes in Hungarian and French;
- he was fond of reading – he had large libraries in his apartment, office and in the country;
- in documents, correspondence and various official materials, Stalin’s written language was especially literate;
