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Birth
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin is born in Gori, Georgia, to parents Besarion Jughashvili and Ekaterine Geladze -
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Life
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Stalin Studies at Tbilisi Spiritual Seminary
Stalin spends five years studying to become a priest at the Tbilisi Spiritual Seminary until he declares himself an atheist and leaves in 1899. While studying here, Stalin is first introduced to and devotes himself to Marxist Socialism, attending banned workers' meetings and meeting Georgian socialist party leaders. -
Tampere conference of 1905
Conference held in Finland by Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. This conference is best remembered for being the first time Stalin met Lenin. The exact date of this conference is debated but is agreed to have been some time in late December. -
Bloody Sunday
On Sunday, January 22nd 1905 a mass group of workers being led by Georgy Apollonovich Gapon marched into St. Petersburg to Czar Nicholas II's winter palace to make demands for change. After ignoring the imperial army's orders to leave or proceed in smaller gatherings, the army began shooting into the crowd. The shootings caused an unknown number of deaths, with moderate estimates placing it around 1000 deaths with more injuries, and lead to riots and the removal of the Czar from power. -
First Marriage
Joseph Stalin and Ekaterine Svandize get married in Georgia -
Birth of Stalin's First Son
Stalin's eldest son Yakov Dzhugashvilim is born -
Death of Ekaterine
Stalin's first wife Ekaterine Svanidze dies, just nine months after the birth of their son. -
Bolshevik Party Split
The Bolshevik party splits from the RSDLP to become its own party, and Stalin is appointed to the Central Committee -
Marxism and the National Question
In january of 1913 Stalin writes and releases Marxism and the National Question, a short work on Marxist theory. -
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World War 1
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February Revolution
A massive series of protests primarily in Petrograd result in a large number of deaths and the eventual abdication of the throne by the Czar and all successors. A Provisional Government is put in place to replace him, though it is weak. -
October Revolution
A mostly bloodless coup is staged in Petrograd by the Bolsheviks under the primary command of Leon Trotsky, and they successfully overthrow the provisional government. Stalin plays a small part. -
Russia Exits WW1
Russia agrees to exit World War One as a result of its internal national struggles -
Second Marriage
Stalin marries his second wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva while she is 18 -
Birth of Stalin's Second Son
Stalin's second son Vasily Stalin is born -
Stalin Appointed General Secretary
Stalin is appointed to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party in March and assumed the position on April 3 -
Socialism in One Country
Stalin promotes his idea of Socialism in One Country, a more nationalistic view of communism than traditionally held by Marxists, which would eventually be put in place as state policy. The idea primarily revolves around the idea that Russia needed to strengthen itself from the inside instead of its focus on spreading communism around the globe. -
Lenin's Death
After suffering several strokes over the prior few years, Vladimir Lenin succumbs to illness and falls into a coma, dying very shortly after. Leon Trotsky at the time posed the biggest threat to Stalin, and he spent the following years destroying his career and ousting him from the country with the help of the triumvirate he had formed with Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev. -
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Stalin Turns Against Kamenev and Zinoviev
Personal differences led Kamenev and Zinoviev to side with Trotsky and turn against Stalin after Lenin''s death. In response, Stalin spent years turning others in the government against them and destroying the opposition they were leading against him. Stalin put a stop to the factional activity they had been heading and later would exile both Zinoviev and Trotsky from the party, with Zinoviev being deported to Kazakhstan -
Birth of Stalin's Third Child
Stalin's third child, Svetlana Alliluyeva is born -
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Stalin's Rule over the Soviet Union
Stalin rules over the Soviet Union after securing his seat at the head 4 years after the death of Vladimir Lenin until his own death in 1953 -
Stalin Moves Against Bukharin
Stalin next moves to rid the party of another former ally of his whose ideas did not perfectly align with his own: Nikolai Bukharin. He accused him of various anti-soviet crimes and weakened his reputation. By the end of the year, he had him removed from the politburo. -
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Famine
Between these two years, the Soviet Union suffered from a horrible famine, which killed several million people. While there is no direct proof of it. many believe the famine to have been orchestrated by Stalin's government, as many of his policies had led to conditions that in time lead to it. -
Suicide of Nadezhda
Following an intense argument at the end of a turbulent marriage, Nadezhda commits suicide by gunshot in her room in the Kremlin. The official announcement of her death stated she had instead died of apendicitus. Even their children would not learn the truth for many years. -
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The Great Purge/The Great Terror
This period marked the massive political repression campaign of Joseph Stalin. This program involved repression of peasents, purges of governing officials not entirely aligned with Stalin, ethnic cleansing campaigns, widespread espionage campaigns, mass arrests, and arbitrary executions. -
First Show Trial
In his final move against Zinoviev and Kamenev, Stalin urged to hold the first of three major "show" trials against his political rivals. Here, Zinoviev, Kamenev, and fourteen other men were tried for a range of anti-Soviet crimes, primarily the organization of a terror group whose goal was to kill Stalin. All sixteen defendants were found guilty and quickly executed. -
Second Show Trial
Similar to the first show trial, a large group of figures who had opposed Stalin were put on trial, and all were found guilty. Most were quickly executed while a few were instead sent to work in labor camps. All those sent to camps were killed there. -
Third Show Trial
In the third and final show trial, Stalin sought to finish the process he had begun with the first and oust the rest of his major political opponents. This trial included 21 defendants including Nikolai Bukharin, and as with the previous trials, all were found guilty. The accusations were wild and many saw them as absurd, but many would plead guilty after coercion. All but three were quickly executed after the trial, with the remaining few being sent to prison, where they would also die. -
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World War 2
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German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact
German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop flies to Moscow to meet with Stalin and Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov to discuss a pact of nonaggression as Adolf Hitler was planning his attack on Poland, and did not want to face an immediate two-front war. The Soviets had at the time held a treaty with France that would have made the war difficult for the Germans. The treaty was signed late in the day and paved the way for the start of World War 2 -
Trotsky's Assassination
After many failed assassination attempts and the creation of a special spy network dedicated to the task, Leon Trotsky is successfully assassinated by Ramón Mercader, an agent of Stalin, in Mexico City. -
German Invasion of the Soviet Union
On this day the German army violates the German-Soviet nonaggression pact and invades the Soviet Union. This marks a major escalation in the war as it both opens up a second front to the war, but also pivots the Soviets to the allied side of the war. -
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Batlle of Stalingrad
The massive-scale battle between German forces and those of the Soviet Union over control of the city of Stalingrad (which is now known as Volgograd). Having an estimated casualty count of over 2 million, it is known as one of the bloodiest battles in history. The Germans leveled much of the city through bombing runs at the start of the attack, and the Germans fought against all odds to try and hold the city, including being airdropped supplies, until they surrendered on February 2nd, 1942 -
The Tehran Conference
Winston Chuchill, Joseph Stalin, and Franklin Roosevelt meet in Tehran, Iran to discuss their military strategies against Germany and Japan and make other key decisions concerning the future after World War 2 Image Source -
Yalta Conference
Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill meet once again to discuss post-war plans for the restructuring of Europe, liberating its people, and plans for lasting peace.
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Soviets Assume Control Over Eastern Europe
Early in 1948, the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia takes control, which marks the Soviet communist control over the Eastern part of Europe. -
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The Berlin Blockade
In what would come to be considered the first major event in the Cold War, the Soviet Union moved through the Ally-controlled Berlin and set up a massive blockade across the Allied railway, road, and canal access to western Berlin. In response to this, the allies organized the Berlin Airlift, in which they airdropped massive amounts of supplies to those in the west over the course of the year-long blockade. -
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The Doctor's Plot
Over the course of these few years, a long-range of arrests were made as a supposed plot by a collection of primarily Jewish doctors to overthrow and assassinate Stalin. The arrests were followed by an increase in the amount of antisemitic publications in the media. This scheme was dropped for lack of evidence not long after Stalin's death, and it is believed the entire plot was fabricated by Stalin or his subordinates as a start to another great terror or purge. -
Death
Joseph Stalin dies of a cerebral hemmorhage