Transcript Joseph Stalin - Cloudfront.net

Joseph Stalin
By: April Tou
Early Life
 Born on December 21, 1879, in Gori
 Real Name: Iosif Vissarionovich Djugashvili
 Father was an unsuccessful shoemaker;
was said to have been cruel to his son and
a drunkard
 Mother became a washerwoman to help
support their family
 Had three older siblings who had died
shortly after birth; grew up an only child
Connection to Vladimir
Ilyich Lenin
 Lenin was concerned that Stalin didn’t
strongly oppose the provisional gov’t
 Lenin arrived from exile, criticizing Stalin
for not taking strong Bolshevik stand
 Had history books rewritten saying he led
the revolution with Lenin
 Lenin named Stalin commissar of
nationalities after becoming head of gov’t
Rise to Power
 Active on southern military front
 Became one of five members of Politburo
(Political Bureau)
 Elected general secretary of the
Communist Party’s Central Committee
 Plotted quietly; power built
 Was unable to be removed by Lenin
Life as Dictator
 Started the first of the five-year plans for
economic development
 Tried to destroy middle classes in Baltic
countries and set up Communist
governments
 Set up a police system
 Started a purge (elimination) of most of
the old Bolsheviks associated with Lenin
Death
 Started to replace top men in the Soviet
government
 Planned a great purge
 Was announced to have suffered a brain
hemorrhage on March 1, 1953
 Died on March 5, 1953, in Moscow
1935 – Stalin’s Great Purge
 Stalin began a great purge on
Communist members
 Most of the old Bolsheviks associated with Lenin
 Also, chiefs and officers of the Soviet army
 Reasons:
 No one to threaten his power
 No one to oppose his policies
1939 – The Nonaggression Pact
 What it is: treaty which two or more nations
agree not to attack each other
 World War I and World War II – many nations
signed non aggression pacts because there was no
international force strong enough to prevent
aggression
 Between the U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics) and Germany
 The Secret part: Stalin and Hitler planned to
divide Poland between themselves
1945 – Yalta Conference
 One of the most important meetings of key Allied
leaders during World War II
 Location: Yalta, Crimea
 “Big Three”: Prime Minister of Britain, President of
the United States, and Premier of the Soviet Union
 Agreements were made:





Accept structure of the world
Establish order
Divide Germany
Support the Soviet-backed gov’t
Force Germany to give resources
to the Soviet Union
1945 – The Cold War
 The term used to describe intense rivalry
between Communist and non-Communist
nations after World War II.
 Did not actually lead to fighting
 Germany was divided into four zones
 Non-Communist nations were against the
U.S.S.R. and its satellites (controlled
countries)
 Tried to halt the spread of Communism
1953 – Stalin’s Death
 Was honored; put in a tomb beside Lenin
 Later, all towns, cities, and factories named after
him were renamed
 Was took out of the tomb and buried in a simple
tomb
 Stalinism (Stalin’s style of rule) was still
used by Communist governments
 Eliminates all opposition by using terror
 Used until Communism collapsed in the Soviet
Union and Eastern Europe
Bibliography
 Marrin, Albert. "Stalin, Joseph." World Book Online Reference
Center. 2008. [Place of access.] 18 Nov. 2008
<http://worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar528360>.
 Clemens, Diane Shaver. "Yalta Conference." World Book Online
Reference Center. 2008. [Place of access.] 19 Nov. 2008
<http://worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar612480>.
 Pranger, Robert J. "Nonaggression pact." World Book Online
Reference Center. 2008. [Place of access.] 19 Nov. 2008
<http://worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar393120>.
 Kaufman, Burton I. "Cold War." World Book Online Reference
Center. 2008. [Place of access.] 19 Nov. 2008
<http://worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar122880>.