Stalin despite the fact that he had several purges and human rights abuses is today is Russia applauded for his leadership. I believe that we can see Stalin’s influence on Russia today in three effects, first we have the idea of a strong leader who represents the government interest and governs in a top down manner, next the tendency of the Russian state to control the media and set the narrative, and third a continued interest and interference in the state of the affairs of Eastern Europe. During the Stalinist period of Russia, the entire government and society were centered around stalin. After the initial success of the German invasion, Stalin created the People’s Commissariat for Defence(GKO), which according to Bellamy per its charter, …show more content…
Stalin, long driven by communist ideology, believed that the Soviet Union would win outlast . This led to the aligning of various nations across the world aligning with either the Soviet Union or the U.S. It also resulted in the involvement of the USSR into the affairs of nations, particularly in Europe. Attempting to avoid Western economic influence, Stalin mandated that states within his sphere of influence to reject the Marshall Plan by not attending the Paris Conference.In addition, to mandating rejection of the Marshall Plan he, abandoned the proposition of waiting for the countries of Central Europe, per soviet ideology and instead, he required that they become Stalinized and rigidly subordinate to Kremlin policies. This included the purge of Tito’s Yugoslavia in 1946, due to his own hatred of those controlling the leaders of the communist party there. Granted, Russia is no longer a communist state, but that is not to say it is no longer influenced by its soviet past. Recent actions taken by the Putin regime show that the view of a sort of great power game is still a force in Russia. The recent invasion and Russian annexation of Crimea, following the rise of a pro-western government in Ukraine, shows the extent Russia will go to uphold its control over other European states to create a buffer zone between it and the
Following the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1914, Joseph Stalin took up his position as leader of the Soviet Union. After rising to power, Stalin made drastic changes to Russia that was still torn from war at the time. With his power, Stalin aimed to bring Russia to the top of the world. In the end, while he pushed the Soviet Union’s economy to new heights, his methods were cruel and had negative impacts. After the war, Stalin was determined to turn Russia into a great industrial power.
Alexander II had the Okrana and Stalin had the NKVD. Anyone who was seen as being a threat or suspicious to the state were either imprisoned in Gulags, exiled, or
“He was determined to establish a sphere of influence that would safeguard Soviet periphery for all time.” (doc. 12) Stalin’s goal was to promote a great country, and he did. His footprint was left behind, as effects of his work is still shown throughout the previous countries of the
Many Western Nation in Europe saw the Soviets actions as a threat to global democracy. The Soviet Union wanted to maintain their power and spread their communist ideology throughout the world. A longtime democracy advocate, the United States came to Europe’s aid. Through the Marshall Plan, the
Joseph Stalin became dictator of the Soviet Union in 1928 (“Joseph Stalin – Powerful Communist Ruler”) after the death of Russia’s former ruler Vladimir Lenin (“Joseph Stalin”). In the late 1920’s he created a sequence of five year plans which were created to alter the Soviet Union from a peasant society into a country that was industrially advanced (“Joseph Stalin.”) after he realised Russia was far behind in comparison to the west (“Joseph Stalin.”). The idea was for the government to control the economy in which they forced collectivization of Soviet agriculture, the idea in which the government controlled farming.
Throughout Russia’s history, there have been many rulers that tried to manage their country in different ways. Even though, all of these rulers had their own unique ways of ruling, all of them were seen as terrible by the people. This eventually led to a tipping point for the Russian citizens and the Russian Revolution took place. The goal for these people was to gain freedom from their oppressive czar but instead, they got an even worse leader. Joseph Stalin was a leader of the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1953 and he was known for his ability to strike fear into people.
Stalin's purge of the army after Tukhachevsky's apparent correspondence with the Nazis shows that Stalin feared his military leaders would conspire with external forces to destroy his regime. The limitation of this source is in that it does not fully examine Stalin's psyche when he orchestrated the purge of the army. The source does not make clear if Stalin was opportunistic and took advantage of Tukhachevsky's alleged betrayal to justify existing plans to purge the army, or if Stalin truly felt threatened by the risk of his army conspiring with the Nazis. Another limitation of the source is that it was published prior to opening of the Soviet archives in 1991, thus the evidence presented is likely to have been
Therefore, his paranoia was important in generating more rapid change than anyone had thought possible. As an individual, Khrushchev managed to reverse the social changes of Stalin that had repressed Russia. Oxley’s convincing argument that de-Stalinization would enable Russia to “set a new course” to reform “industry and agriculture” shows how Khrushchev created a backlash against Stalin to ease the repression that was stunting Russia, both nationally and internationally. Khrushchev’s secret speech enabled him to distance himself from Stalin’s terror and drive reform. Khrushchev was pushed to this by his political opposition Malenkov, therefore opposition is a more important factor than the individual in de-Stalinization.
Along the historical time of events, leaders and governments have put effort to exercise power and to control their people. Among the main leaders, two are very important, who are Louis the 14th of France & Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. The steps taken by these leaders and their government styles had made a major impact on their people and society. The reign of France’s Louis XIV (1638-1718), known as the Sun King, lasted for 72 years, longer than that of any other known European sovereign. In that time, he transformed the monarchy, ushered in a golden age of art and literature, presided over a dazzling royal court at Versailles, key territories and established his country as the dominant European
Introduction Joseph Stalin is perhaps one of the most important and discussed people in Russian history. He was arguably a feared tyrant cursed and despised by many. At the same time, one finds sufficient evidence for the adoration and worship of Stalin that used to exist in the minds of the citizens of the Soviet Union. One reason for this worship was the existence of the so called ‘Cult of Personality’ where Stalin was celebrated as a wise leader, father of all people, and the architect of victory of the Second World War. In his book, The Stalin Cult: A Study in the Alchemy of Power, Jan Plamper states that Stalin’s cult of personality was largely a visual phenomenon.
Post WWl, Russia was still not industrialized, suffering economically and politically and in no doubt in need of a leader after Lenin’s death. “His successor, Joseph Stalin, a ruthless dictator, seized power and turned Russia into a totalitarian state where the government controls all aspects of private and public life.” Stalin showed these traits by using methods of enforcement, state control of individuals and state control of society. The journey of Stalin begins now.
Process of Findings The first part of this report will discuss the evidence pertaining to the “genuinely concerned, pragmatic” side to Joseph Stalin’s leadership. Stalin was a leader who was honoured and praised by many of his people in the USSR for various reasons. He was portrayed on propaganda posters as a kind, caring and genuinely concerned leader particularly towards children who were the future of the USSR (Source A). By Stalin being portrayed as a leader who shows genuine concern and care for the children of his country, it propagates the message that children and the entire population of the USSR will have an “enlightened future” under his leadership13 (Source A), and would in turn help Stalin gain more support for himself.
IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF SOURCES The focus of this investigation will be “What were the causes of Stalin’s purges during 1936-1940?” and this book will analyze based on historians did he really consolidate his power over Russia during late 1930’s . For the purposes of investigation it will solely focus on late 1930’s to answer the question in more depth .Thus, The Great Terror: A Reassessment by Conquest Robert is source of great value and strength for this investigation because book focus completely on time frame of 1935- 1940 and also begins book with description of purges and goes in more depth of why according to the author Stalin started purges in Russia and lastly by the end of the book author
However, this only scratches the surface of what Stalin put the Soviet Union through. Stalin was a very persuasive man, his writings make it seem as if he is in the right and is innocent. To support this statement, two pieces of Stalin's writings were
The thing that was not in doubt however, was that Stalin would try to defend the state depite fear and lack of strategy. He would go on to use the same courage, boldness and endurance that he showcased during the Bolshevik Revolution. His words to the people “ The German invaders want a war of extermination aginist the people of USSR. Well, if the Germans want a war of extermination, they will get it” were convincing (Sakwa 254). His actions during the revolution proved decisive given that there were reports indicating that after approimately 3 million Red Army troops became prisoners of war by October 1941, Stalin was contemplating soliciting for peace as the Nazis began invading Moscow (Sakwa 244-245).