|
Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ბესარიონის ძე ჯუღაშვილი, Ioseb Besarionis Dze Jughashvili ; Russian: Ио́сиф Виссарио́нович Джугашви́ли (help·info) , Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili ) (December 18 [O.S. December 6] 1878 - March 5, 1953), better known by his adopted name, Joseph Stalin (Иосиф Сталин, Iosif Stalin ; stalin meaning "made of steel" ), was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. During that time, he established the eponymous regime, Stalinism . Although Stalin's formal position originally had little significant influence, his office being nominally one of several Central Committee Secretariats, Stalin's increasing control of the Party from 1928 onwards led to his becoming the de facto party leader and the dictator of his country , in full control of the Soviet Union and its people. His crash programs of industrialization and collectivization in the 1930s and his campaigns of political repression cost the lives of millions of people. However, it helped industrialize the Soviet Union making it a Great power by 1931. Only six years later, the Soviet Union had become the second largest industrial nation in the world. During Stalin's reign, the Soviet Union played a major role in the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War (1939 - 1945) (more commonly known in Russia and post-Soviet republics as the Great Patriotic War). Under Stalin's leadership, the Soviet Union went on to achieve recognition as one of just two superpowers in the post-war era, a status that lasted for nearly four decades after his death.
|
