Joseph Stalin (1878 - 1953) was a Georgian-born revolutionary and Soviet political leader who ruled the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953. He transformed the country into an industrial and military power while presiding over a system of mass repression that caused the deaths of millions. [1]
Early life and rise
Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, later known as Stalin, was born on 18 December 1878 in Gori, Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire. He joined the Bolshevik movement as a young man and, after the 1917 Russian Revolution, rose through the Communist Party. As General Secretary from 1922 he accumulated power, and following the death of Lenin he outmanoeuvred his rivals to become the undisputed leader. [1]
Rule of the Soviet Union
Stalin drove rapid, forced industrialisation and the collectivisation of agriculture, which contributed to a devastating famine. During the Great Purge of the 1930s, millions were imprisoned, exiled to the Gulag or executed. [1][2]
The Second World War and after
After the German invasion of 1941, Stalin led the Soviet Union to victory in what became known as the Great Patriotic War, at an immense human cost, and emerged as one of the principal Allied leaders. In the post-war years the Soviet Union became a superpower and Cold War rival of the United States. Stalin died in 1953. [2]
