Early Life:
Joseph Stalin, given the name Iosif Vissarionovich
Dzhugashvili was born on December 21st, 1879 in Gori,
Georgia. Stalin was the only son of his father, a cobbler, who later died in
1891, and his mother, an illiterate peasant, who sent Stalin to a seminary as a
teen. Stalin was then kicked out of the seminary before graduating for his
destructive views.
After being
expelled from the seminary, Stalin became part of the Marxist movement and
became a member of the Tpilisi committee. Consequently, Stalin was imprisoned
and banished to Siberia. Stalin escaped banishment in Siberia and rejoined the
Marxist movement and identified himself with the Bolsheviks. Lenin, an existing
member of the Bolshevik party, brought Stalin into the Central Committee of the
Bolshevik Party.
" The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." - Joseph Stalin
Start of Soviet Rule:
During the
civil war Stalin established himself as a powerful military commissar and
eventually rose to the most powerful man in Soviet Russia behind Lenin.
Seemingly, Lenin valued Stalin for his accomplishments and talents. During
Lenin’s final illness Stalin took control of Lenin’s medical care and was
basically in charge of Lenin’s life. When Lenin died Stalin took control,
eliminated any other power figures and rulers and had complete dictatorial
control over Soviet Russia.
After gaining
complete control Stalin proposed the “Five Year Plan” in order to industrialize
Russia and advance the, in comparison to other countries around the world. Part
of this plan was to change the job network in Russia and anyone that did not
agree or take part in this change was sent the gulags, labor camps created by
Stalin. This plan got out of hand and
Stalin started sending innocent people to the gulags and publically killing
innocent people, this time was known as “ The Reign of Terror”. During this
time it is estimated that 1 million people were executed and another 7 million
died in the gulags.
Decline of Rule:
Germany,
under Hitler’s rule, surprised Stalin with an attempt to invade Russia. This
eventually led to the start of World War II, Russia, the United States, Great
Britain along with other countries fighting against Germany, Italy and Japan.
After endless fighting Stalin defeated Hitler and Germany and was rewarded with
admiration in Russia and other countries. Soon after Stalin was the first to
invade and take over the capital of Germany, this then led to Stalin’s control
over most of Eastern Europe.
Stalin saw
his final days in a state of extreme paranoia. Most people hoped that after
defeating Germany and Eastern Europe Stalin would change his ways of ruling
Russia but nothing changed he went directly back to his harsh control. Stalin
died from a stroke in 1953 after just starting a new series of killings.
Stalin’s death left the Soviet Union in a state of long and brutal recovery
from his rule.
*Link below to a timeline of Stalin's life
"Joseph Stalin." Encyclopedia of
World Biography. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag.
World History in
Context. Web. 15 Dec. 2014. <http://ic.galegroup.com/
ic/whic/ReferenceDetailsPage/
ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=WHIC&windowstate=normal&conten
tModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&u=meri7541
1&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_withi
n_results=&p=WHIC%3AUHIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7C
K1631006207>.
"Stalin, Joseph." Encyclopedia of
World Biography. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag.
World History in
Context. Web. 15 Dec. 2014. <http://ic.galegroup.com/
ic/whic/ReferenceDetailsPage/
ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=WHIC&windowstate=normal&conten
tModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&u=meri7541
1&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_withi
n_results=&p=WHIC%3AUHIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7C
CX3411800073>.
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ReplyDeleteThis was really well done. It was interesting to learn about all aspects of Stalin's life from beginning to end. I remember in class someone was wondering if anything good came from Stalinist's rule, and after reading this passage it seems like he was not purely evil. He was played an important role in WWII, in defeating the Nazis and was one of the United State's most crucial allies throughout the war. Stalin also rapidly industrialized much of the Soviet Union through the "5 year plan." However, the 20 million deaths that Stalin caused, the horrors of the gulag (documented by One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich) and generally Stalin's horrific oppression of his own people greatly supersede all his benign accomplishments and are what he is remembered for today.
ReplyDeleteThis blog was very informative. It is very interesting that Stalin changed his name just like Lenin did. This makes me wonder if it was common in Russia to change your name, especially when one took control. To add I thought that you did a very good job of portraying Stalin as a person. After reading the blog it seems as though Stalin, despite being a ruthless ruler, also cared very much about his mother Russia. And that this passion for his country lead him to attempt to industrialize the country in order to advance it on the backs of millions of gulag campers.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how different Joseph Stalin is from his birth name and how he was harsh and had such destructive views that he wasn't afraid to share from a young age. It makes you wonder if he was born as someone who enjoyed and wasn't afraid of destruction or if his views developed due to his environment. I also found it interesting that he spent time banished to Siberia because it shows he knew how harsh the conditions were when he banished so many people to Gulags. The quote, "How can you expect a man who's warm to understand a man who's cold?" does not apply to Stalin because he spent time himself in Siberia. I thought this quote, "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." was a great choice because it demonstrates Stalin's cold-heartedness and lack of guilt. It was terrible that Stalin began sending innocent people to gulags or just killing them during the reign of terror.
ReplyDeleteThis blog wraps up what I'm sure what was a lot of information into a readable blog post very well. I always wondered if Stalin was the classic high-school bully who had problems of his own and that was why he took it out on everyone else. According o his upbringing that might be a minor part of why he did what he did, but I think it is more then just that. I think he definitely had some moral issues to work on. You demonstrated who Stalin was not only through paragraphs, but through excellent quotes and videos.
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ReplyDeleteThis blog was very nicely summarized and very easy to comprehend. I find it interesting that Stalin was showing bad behavior from his childhood, so his behavior when he was a grown man was not surprising. I also found interesting that Stalin basically took over Lenin's life and used his death as an advantageous situation for him. It's scary to think that Stalin had this much power over the people of Russia and could kill anyone for no reason at all, as well as send anyone to the Gulags. Stalin obviously wanted Russia to dominate as much land as possible, and was somewhat successful in conquering other countries and expanding territory. I also really liked your explanation of Stalin's role in World War II, it was easy to read and now makes complete sense to me.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Ivan Denisovich was probably one of the innocent people that was thrown into the gulags for no reason.
DeleteInformative and in depth. Stalin had a very unfortunate upbringing and when he was attending the seminary it was interesting to see how he already had his view set in stone. It was also interesting to learn about two oppressive rulers who had an agreement to not interfere with each other due to the threat to there daily life that a conflict would cause. It was also ironic how Stalin practices not trusting anyone for his protection, but in his later days it turned into paranoia.
ReplyDelete