Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. The Soviet Union was a huge country made up of Russia and many neighbors, formed after a revolution in 1917. Stalin ruled it as a dictator, meaning one person held nearly all the power. He is remembered as one of the most powerful leaders of the twentieth century, and also one of the most feared.

He was born in 1878 in a small town in Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire. His real name was Iosif Dzhugashvili. As a young man, he joined a group of revolutionaries who wanted to overthrow the Russian czar. He took the name Stalin, which means "man of steel" in Russian. After the revolution of 1917, he rose quickly through the new government. When the leader Vladimir Lenin died in 1924, Stalin pushed aside his rivals and took control.

Once in power, Stalin tried to turn the Soviet Union into a modern industrial country very fast. He forced farmers to give up their land and work on huge government farms. Millions of people starved during these changes, especially in Ukraine, where the famine of 1932 to 1933 killed an estimated 3 to 5 million people. That is more people than live in the entire state of Connecticut today.

Stalin also ruled by fear. He sent millions of people to harsh prison camps in Siberia called gulags. During the late 1930s, in a period called the Great Purge, he ordered the arrest or execution of anyone he saw as a threat. This included army officers, scientists, writers, and even old friends. Historians estimate that Stalin's policies caused the deaths of somewhere between 6 and 20 million people. The exact number is still debated, because Soviet records were kept secret for many years.

During World War II, Stalin led the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany. The fighting on the eastern front was the largest and deadliest part of the war. About 27 million Soviet citizens died. After the war, Stalin took control of much of Eastern Europe, which began the long standoff with the United States known as the Cold War.

Stalin died in 1953 at age 74. In Russia today, opinions about him are sharply divided. Some people remember him as the leader who defeated the Nazis. Others remember him as a man who killed millions of his own people. Both things are true.