Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
In his rule, Stalin murdered thousands of his own people, as well as the obvious groups who opposed him like the Kulaks. Stalin also went to purge many people within his own party and in Russian institutions in order to strengthen his grip over the country. Stalin used his secret police, known as the NKVD, to assassinate, imprison and exile thousands of Russian people (Jones, 2002). He went after people who published research that went against the progress he tried to show his government policies were showing. Stalin even went after many within the Communist Party that either slightly opposed his policies or did not perform up to the level of his extremely high expectations. The research suggests that there was "absurdly minor infractions for which individuals were sentenced to ten years in labor camps -- a standard death sentence" (Jones, 2002). He ruled over Russia with an iron fist, using fear as a primary tactic to keep people in line.
Still, there are those who might believe Stalin to have been less cruel than one would assume looking at the evidence. Someone from this perspective might bring up the fact that Stalin was brought up very religious. In fact, he even attended the Tiflis Theological Seminary, which would have taught virtues to be kind and respectful as a ruler (Spartacus Educational, 2012). However, Stalin was actually expelled from the seminary, and his later actions as a rule clearly show how he had not truly...
Moreover, some might argue that Stalin was just ruling with fervor that he gained from struggling long and hard against the Czarist regime. For decades, Stalin fought the oppressive forces that were exploiting labor. He was so passionate, that Vladimir Lenin, the first ruler of Communist Russia after the revolution, became impressed with him (Spartacus Educational, 2012). Yet, later on Stalin showed his true ruthlessness, and Lenin did not want to endorse him as the next ruler in fear of what he would do. Thus, Lenin had originally backed Leon Trotsky, who was much milder than Stalin. Even Lenin had doubts about Stalin's rule.
Overall, it is clear that Joseph Stalin was a cruel leader. He refused to allow a fair government that would in any way threaten his absolute rule over Russia. He committed mass genocide against groups like the Kulaks, and even murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people. Stalin placed Russia in a modern dark age. Millions were impacted by his cruelty, and there are still remnants of his absolute power seen in the country today as it is still trying to recover from Communist cruelty.
References
Spartacus Educational. (2012). Joseph Stalin. Primary Sources. Web. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSstalin.htm
Jones, Adam. (2002). Stalin's purges. Genocide Watch. Web. http://www.gendercide.org/case_stalin.html
In other words, the Soviet Union has lost in men several times more than Britain and the United States together." Stalin's reply to Churchill reflects his nations' sentiments of fear and vulnerability, even while he disingenuously rages that Eastern Europe has 'chosen' communism and alliance with the Soviet block in the Warsaw Pact: "One can ask therefore, what can be surprising in the fact that the Soviet Union, in
Adolf Hitler vs. Joseph Stalin Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin are two individuals that most people think about when they come across terms like genocide, warfare, and absurd cruelty. These people demonstrated that it is actually possible for a human being in the twentieth century to influence millions of others into adopting hostile attitudes in regard to morality. Although the two fought against each-other and influenced many others in doing so,
In many ways, Russia is still recovering from it, trying to deal with the fact that only a few decades ago, it inflicted on itself one of the worst holocausts in human memory" (Hochschild, 1993). Therefore, the purges were used on the one hand to discourage the people and the elites in particular from establishing a dissident opposition or a negative pole of power that could have countered the
Communist Party During the Stalin Period (1928 to 1953) In order to examine the changes undergone by the Communist Party during the reign of Stalin, let us first look at some background on one of the most notorious mass murderers in history, Joseph Stalin, for by the end of his reign, he had become the Party. Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin was born Ioseb Jughasvili on December 21, 1879 in Gori, Georgia.
They began to worship Lenin, and Stalin encouraged this by playing a prominent role at Lenin's funeral and encouraging the Party to collect and display some of Lenin's personal belongings and important documents. He made the people believe that he had supported Lenin and Lenin supported him, even though that was not true. While publicly he seemed humble and meek, in reality he was now waging war against Trotsky.
World War II Economical and military abilities of major participants of the war - Germany Soviet Union France Great Britain Important military campaigns France (including Belgium and Holland) Balkan campaign (Greece and Yugoslavia) Russian campaign Industrial production in 1943 World War II is the most tragic but extremely interesting period of human history of al centuries. It was a regular continuation of previous absurd bloody conflict - World War I. New war began after Germany was defeated in WWI and after