Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin was born on December 18th, 1879. He was successful in school and later came in contact with the socialist/communist ideas of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. He began devoting his time to the revolutionary movement, where he joined the Social Democratic Party and began working under Stalin. After the revolution in 1917, various individuals struggled for positions of control, and Stalin was appointed to a newly created Communist Party. From there he was able to seize power and gradually make his way as dictator of the Soviet Union by eliminating all opposition. Stalin reversed Bolshevik agrarian policies by taking away land previously given to peasants. He believed in collectivization and caused a famine that lead to the death of millions of Russian peasants. Stalin's policies quickly strengthened the Russian economy and modernized the nation as a whole, but at the cost of millions of lives. As World War II got closer, Stalin made the decision of allying with Hitler. On the 22nd of June 1941, Hitler declared war on Russia, making it part of the Allies throughout the rest of WWII. Despite suffering massive casualties the Russian army was able to push back Hitler into Germany and helped the Allies win the war in Europe. Regardless of their alliance in WWII, Stalin and the rest of the allies did not maintain stable relationships both during and after the war over territorial matters. Stalin wanted to keep most of East Europe under Soviet control after the war ended, thus bringing what was called the Iron Curtain over Eastern Europe. Stalin passed on March 5th, 1953, but his influence reigned over Europe until the 1990s where the Soviet Union was finally taken down.