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• Joseph Stalin is a former Soviet dictator and former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee. He lead the soviet union from 1924 to 1957, until his death. He modernized infrastructure, and prepared the nation for World War II. He is criticized for causing famines due to farm collectivization and being a ruthless leader. He is credited with making the USSR a superpower. He remains one of the most known figures of Russia, even though he was Georgian.

• Fast Facts

  1. Birth Name: Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili
  2. Born: December 21, 1878 in Gori, Georgia, Russia
  3. Leader of the U.S.S.R. from 1928 to 1953
  4. Political party: Communist
  5. 3 wives: Rosa Kaganovich, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, Ekaterina Svanidze
  6. Died: March 5, 1953
  7. Stalin means "man of steel"
  8. His son Yakov and wife Alliluyeva are suspected of committing suicide
  9. Physically abused by his alcoholic father
  10. Inspired by the writings of Vladimir Lenin

• Timeline

  1. 1894: Receives scholarship to Tbilisi Theological Seminary
  2. 1903: Inspired by Lenin, becomes a Bolshevik
  3. 1919: Elected political commissar of Red Army
  4. 1929: Following Bolshevik victory in Civil War and Lenin's death, Stalin becomes dictator of USSR
  5. 1936-1938: The "Great Purge"
  6. 1945: Nazis retreat from Russia, Stalin establishes "Iron Curtain" over Eastern Europe

• The Great Purge

  During the so-called Great Purge that was set in motion during the 1930s, Stalin brutally eliminated all potential political rivals to maintain a complete hold on his dictatorship in the USSR. The campaign, sometimes referred to as the "Soviet Holocaust" or "The Great Terror," has death estimates ranging from around 700,000 into the millions. There is no known exact number of people killed.

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Bolshevik | Vladimir Lenin | Communist Party | Nikita Khrushchev | Winston Churchill | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Soviet Union | Kremlin | Nazis | Benito Mussolini | Communism | Auschwitz Blueprints | Hitler Testicle | John Demjanjuk

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