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Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (later Joseph Stalin) Born
On this day, the infamously brutal leader of the USSR was born in Gori, Georgia. He was the son of a cobbler and a washerwoman and was "a frail child". As a young child, he was treated cruelly by other children for his small frame and scarred face. This inflicted a sense of inferiority that lasted through his life. Because of this early event, he took on "a quest for greatness and respect". He also turned this cruelty around on those who crossed him in his later life. (Biogrpahy.com) -
Stalin Begins To Gain Power in the Government
He changed his last name to Stalin, "steel" in Russian, and took part in the Russian Revolution in 1917. He joined the Social Democratic Labor Party and when the Soviets took control of the government, he was awarded the position of secretary. This gave him "control over all member appointments" and allowed him to "build his base" in the government. (Biogrpahy.com) After Lenin died, he "had people removed through...shuffling and denunciation". This was his path to total control. -
Stalin Gains Total Power
Many tactics were used by Stalin while in power. When he first had total power, he set out to "purge the party ranks" (Rykov) and terrorized the nation with "widespread arrests and executions" (Rykov) to keep opponents out of his way. In addition, he massacred, starved, and sent off millions of innocent citizens in the Soviet Union to keep order and rule with fear. One of the most known instances of this was Holodomor in Ukraine, meaning "to kill with starvation". -
Stalin's First Five-Year-Plan Implimented
Stalin would often use propaganda to influence public opinion of his communist regime and ideas. Three tactics he used were: "idol worship...revolutionary zeal...[and] the bandwagon technique" (mtholyoke.edu). Idol worship would depict Stalin as kind, but serious, and always looking over smiling workers or soldiers. Revolutionary spirit fed off of the recent Bolshevik Revolution in early years. The bandwagon technique was designed so that anyone who did not join the effort would be criticized. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
This battle was a crucial turning point of WWII and was a confrontation between Germany and Stalin's Soviet Republic. This battle also showed Stalin's tactics in battle. The Soviet army was very defensive and prone to counter-attack, which they did here against the unexpected German attack. Even though it did result in a Russian victory, they did not have the "limitless manpower" that many people believe they did. In fact, Stalin was "extremely wasteful" of Russia's limited manpower. (Overy, 2) -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact unified all of the Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe and was formed to combat the development of NATO. One reason that Stalin was able to acquire so many states to join was due to the "gratitude of many Eastern Europeans for their liberation from Nazism" (schoolshistory.org.uk) and the virtually nonexistent ability of these nations to resist. The final reason was the stress of western countries to "bring the boys back home" (schoolshistory.org.uk) instead of providing aid.
