Joseph Stalin - Biography - IMDb Joseph Stalin Biography Showing all 95 items Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (3) | Trade Mark (3) | Trivia (71) | Personal Quotes (12) Overview (5) 5' 6" (1.68 m) Mini Bio (1) Joseph Stalin (a code name meaning "Man of Steel") was born Iosif (Joseph) Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili in 1879 in Gori, Georgia, the Transcaucasian part of the Russian Empire. His father was a cobbler named Vissarion Dzhugashvili, a drunkard who beat him badly and frequently and left the family when Joseph was young. His mother, Ekaterina Gheladze, supported herself and her son (her other three children died young and Jopseph was effectively an only child) by taking in washing. She managed, despite great hardship, to send Joseph to school and then on to Tiflis Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tbilisi, hoping he would become a priest.

However, after three years of studies he was expelled in 1899, for not attending an exam and for propagating communist ideas and the books of Karl Marx . Since 1898, Stalin became active in the Communist underground as the organizer of a powerful gang involved in a series of armed robberies. After robbing several banks in southern Russia, Stalin delivered the stolen money to V.I. Lenin to finance the Communist Party. Stalin's gang was also involved in the murders of its political opponents; Stalin himself was arrested seven times, repeatedly imprisoned, and twice exiled to Siberia between 1902 and 1913. During those years he changed his name twice and became more closely identified with revolutionary Marxism. He escaped many times from prison and was shuttling money between Lenin and other communists in hiding, where his intimacy with Lenin and Bukharin grew, as did his dissatisfaction with fellow Communist leader Leon Trotsky . In 1912 he was co-opted on to the illegal Communist Central Committee. At that time he wrote propaganda articles, and later edited the Communist paper, "Pravda" (Truth).

As Lenin's apprentice he joined the Communist majority (Bolsheviks), and was responsible for the consolidation of several secret communist cells into a larger ring. Stalin's Communist ring in St. Petersburg and across Russia played the leading role in the Russian Revolution of 1917. After the revolution the Bolsheviks Communists grabbed the power, then Communists murdered the Tsar and the Russian royal family. Stalin and Lenin took over the Tsar's palaces and used the main one in Kremlin as their private residence. Lenin appointed Stalin the People's Commissar for Nationalities in the first Soviet government and a member of the Communist Politburo, thus giving him unlimited power. Stalin led the "Reds" against anti-Communist forces known as the "Whites" and also in the war with Poland. He also organized "Red Terror" in Tsaritsin (later renamed Stalingrad). With his appointment as General Secretary to the Party Central Committee in 1922, a post he held for the next 30 years, until his death, he consolidated the power that would ensure his control of the country after Lenin's death in 1924.

He also took, or gave himself, other key positions that enabled him to amass total power in the Party and Soviet government. Stalin was known for his piercing eyes and terrifying stare, which he used to cow his opponents into submission during private discussions. In 1927 Stalin requested medical help for his insomnia, anger and severe anxiety disorder. His doctors diagnosed him as having "typical clinical paranoia" and recommended medical treatment. Instead, Stalin became angry and summoned his secret service agents. The next day the chief psychiatrist, Dr. Bekhterev, and his assistants died of poisoning. In addition, before the doctors' diagnosis about Stalin's mental condition could become known, he ordered the executions of intellectuals, resulting in the murders of hundreds of thousands of doctors, professors, writers, and others. Stalin's policy of amassing dictatorial power under the guise of building "socialism in the country" resulted in brutal extermination of all real and perceived anti-Communist opposition.

His purges of the Soviet military brought about the execution of tens of thousands of army officers, many of them experienced combat veterans of the Revolution, the Civil War, the Polish campaigns and other military operations (this decimation of the Russian officer corps would result in the Soviet Union's initial defeats at the hands of Nazi invaders at the beginning of World War II). He also isolated and disgraced his political rivals, notably Trotsky. Stalin's economic policies of strict centralized planning (i.e., the "five-year plans") resulted in the near ruination of the Soviet economy and mass famines in many areas of the Soviet Union, notably in Central Russia and the Ukraine. Popular resistance to Stalin's policies, such as nationalization of private lands and collective farming, by independent farmers ("kulaks"), brought about brutal retaliation, in which millions of kulaks were either forced off their land or executed outright. Altogether Stalin's economic and political policies resulted in the deaths of up to 10 million peasants during 1926-1934.

Between 1934 and 1939 he organized and led massive purge (known as "The Great Terror") of the party, government, armed forces and intelligentsia, in which millions of so-called "enemies of the Soviet people" were imprisoned, exiled or executed. In the late 1930s, Stalin sent some Red Army forces and material to support the Spanish Republican government in its fight against the rebels led by Gen. Francisco Franco and aided by troops and material from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Stalin made the Non-Aggression Pact with Adolf Hitler in 1939, which bought the Soviet Union two years' respite from involvement in World War 2. After the German invasion in 1941, the USSR became a member of the Grand Alliance and Stalin, as war leader, assumed the title of Generalissimus. He had no formal military training and scorned the advice of his senior officers, due to suspicion and his rising paranoia, actions that resulted in horrific losses to the Russian military in both men and material (not to mention civilian losses).

He rejected military plans made by such experienced officers as Marshal Georgi Zhukov , and insisted they be replaced by his own plans, which led to even more horrific losses. Towards the end of WWII he took part in the conferences of Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam with Franklin D. Roosevelt , Winston Churchill and Harry S. Truman . The agreements reached in those conferences resulted in Soviet military and political control over the liberated countries of postwar Castern and Central Europe. From 1945 until his death Stalin resumed his repressive measures at home, resulting in censorship of the arts, literature and cinema, forced exiles of hundreds of thousands and the executions of intellectuals and other potential "enemies of the state". At that time he conducted foreign policies that contributed to the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West. Stalin had little interest in family life, although he was married twice and had several mistresses. His first wife (Ekaterina Svanidze, married c.

1904) died three years after their marriage and left a son, Jacob (also known as Yacov), an officer in the Russian army during World War II who was captured by the Nazis and died in a POW camp (his father refused German offers to exchange him for captured German officers). His second wife (Nadezhda Alliluyeva, married 1919) attempted to moderate his politics, but she died by suicide, leaving a daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva , and an alcoholic son, Vasili Stalin , who later died in exile. Increasingly paranoid, Stalin launched attacks on such intellectuals as Osip Mandelstam, Vsevolod Meyerhold , Anna Akhmatova , Dmitri Shostakovich , Sergei Prokofiev , Boris Pasternak , Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and many other cultural luminaries. Stalin personally intervened in the fate of "counterrevolutionary" Yiddish writers and changed their sentences from exile to execution.

Thirteen of them were executed by the Soviet secret police; their leader, Perets Markish , was executed in the typical KGB manner by a single gunshot to the head on August 12, 1952, in Moscow. Stalin died suddenly on March 5, 1953, under somewhat mysterious circumstances, after announcing his intention to arrest Jewish doctors, whom he believed were plotting to kill him. The "official" cause of death was announced as brain hemorrhage. Stalin's apprentice, Georgi Malenkov , took the power, but was soon ousted by Nikita Khrushchev . Three years after death, Stalin was posthumously denounced by Nikita Khrushchev at the 20th Party Congress in 1956 for crimes against the Party and for building a "cult of personality." In 1961 Stalin's body was removed from Lenin's Mausoleum, where it had been displayed since his death, and buried near the Kremlin wall. In 1964 Leonid Brezhnev dismissed Khrushchev and brought back some of Stalin's hard-line policies.

After 1986 Mikhail Gorbachev initiated a series of liberal political reforms known as "glasnost" and "perstroika", and many of Stalin's victims were posthumously rehabilitated, and the whole phenomenon of "Stalinism" was officially condemned by the Russian authorities. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Lester A Dinerstein <lester1@earthlink.net> Spouse (3) Gruff voice Trivia (71) Stalin was diagnosed with "Typical clinical form of paranoia" in 1927, by the leading psychiatrist Doctor Bekhterev and his assistant doctors. Next day Doctor Bekhterev and his assistant died of poisoning. Clinical paranoia explains ruthless killings of millions and brutal treatment of his own wives and children. Was responsible for the most deaths in Europe between the end of World War I and the end of World War II. His legacy of sacrificing soldiers, starving civilians, mass executions and genocide resulted in more deaths than those caused by the regimes of Adolf Hitler , Benito Mussolini , Hirohito , Zedong Mao and Pol Pot . Supported the production of Sergei M.

Eisenstein 's films Battleship Potemkin (1925) (US title: "Battleship Potemkin"), October (Ten Days that Shook the World) (1928) (US title: "October") and Alexander Nevsky (1938), but prevented the completion of Eisenstein's trilogy about Czar Ivan IV, Ivan the Terrible (1938). Has been portrayed in movies by actors including F. Murray Abraham , Michael Caine , Robert Duvall , José Ferrer , Bernard Hill , and Andro Kobaladze . Much of the early archive footage of Stalin is actually an actor portraying him in scenes taken from October (Ten Days that Shook the World) (1928). He was an admirer of the Polish author Boleslaw Prus , in particular his novel "The Pharaoh and the Priest", filmed as Pharaoh (1966). His real birthday is actually December 18, 1878 (or December 6 on the Julian calendar, used in Russia during the 19th century), but he had it changed to December 21, 1879 in official papers for unknown reasons.

First wife died of tuberculosis, second wife committed suicide. Stalin's adopted revolutionary name -- "Stalin" -- literally means "Man of steel" in Russian. His mother called him "Soso," his undercover party nickname was "Koba." Two sons, Yakov (b. 1907, d. 1943 in a Nazi camp) and Vasili Stalin (b. 1921, d. 1962 in exile), and one daughter, Svetlana (b. 1926, d. 2011, defected to USA). Once stated that the happiest time of his life was when he was in exhile in Siberia. There, in the north, Stalin felt that the true spirit of Russia resided. Stalin loved the "Tarzan" movies and often watched them at the Kremlin. For some reason, he was amused by the concept of a man being able to communicate with apes. Stalin ordered an expedition in Africa, which gathered over 100 apes and monkeys for his plans of breeding an obedient soldier. The secret research center was set in Sukhumi for breeding experiments on apes and monkeys under personal patronage of Stalin.

After several years of non-results Stalin ordered the principal scientists executed and lost interest in breeding soldiers from apes. Today this research center is known as "Obeziannii pitomnik" in Sukhumi. Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" (1939) In March 2001, Russian Independent Television NTV discovered a previously unknown grandson of Stalin, Yuri Davydov, living in Novokuznetsk, Siberia. Davydov told NTV that his father had told him of his lineage but, because the campaign against Stalin's cult of personality was in full swing at the time, told him to keep quiet about it. NTV said several historians, including Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn , mention a son being born to Stalin and his common-law wife, Lida, in 1914 during his exile in northern Siberia. At the funeral of his first wife, Ekaterina, Stalin commented that any warm feelings he had for people died with her, for she was the only person who was able to melt his heart. He later ordered Ekaterina's relatives shot. The rate of which the USSR was industrialised under his rule, was the fastest in history.

Health care and education were also dramatically improved. Had two nicknames during his lifetime. His mom called him "Soso," his undercover party nickname was "Koba." His father was an alcoholic who often physically abused his son. As a youth, he was struck down and almost killed by a runaway carriage. The accident left him with a stiff left shoulder and for the rest of his life he was unable to use his left arm. He suffered recurrent bouts of smallpox as a child, which badly disfigured his face as he grew older. He despised his son Yakov so much that when Yakov attempted suicide, Stalin was reported to have said: "Ha! He couldn't even shoot straight!" During their historic meeting he asked Winston Churchill if he ever had any of his subordinates shot. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt thought it was a joke and went along with the "gag", but the question terrified Churchill so much that he allegedly never openly spoke to Stalin again. His body was moved from the Lenin Mausoleum to the Kremlin Wall in 1961. His trademark hat sat atop the coffin at his funeral.

So much was the disbelief at his death that his coffin had a bubble top over his head so that passersby could see it was actually him. Was referred to as "Uncle Joe" by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt . Stalin was not ethnically Russian. He was a native of Georgia, a Transcaucasian part of the Russian Empire and later a Southern part of the Soviet Union. Stalin was bilingual and spoke Russian fluently, but had a heavy Georgian accent. Early in his life, Stalin had entered an Orthodox seminary to study for the priesthood. He left, partly because the priests discovered his dabbling in communist and anarchist thought, as well as his growing resentment towards authority. Among his most heinous crimes was the forced, intentional famine within the Ukraine, meant to force the destruction of the land-owning "kulak" farmers. It is believed that as many as 10 to 30 million died in the wave of famine that ran rampant throughout the late '20s-early '30s. However according to R.J.

Rummel, a political scientist at the University of Hawaii who has studied mass killing Joseph Stalin was responsible for 43 million dead, from 1929-'53. Raised money for the Communist Party by committing several armed robberies. Called "Old Whiskers" behind his back, usually by prisoners in the gulags he sent them to. Staunchly believed Adolf Hitler would honor the Nazi-Soviet nonaggression treaty. When Hitler's forces attacked, Stalin locked himself in his rooms and refused to believe it for several days; his denial caused unnecessary huge numbers of MIAs and millions of Russian civilians taken into Nazi death camps. Stalin had a secret plan to invade Western Europe in 1944. He believed that by then Europe and Germany would be so exhausted by war that it would be an easy conquest. When the full impact of Adolf Hitler 's betrayal of the Nazi-Soviet nonaggression treaty struck Stalin, he locked himself in his rooms for several days, leaving the country leaderless. Stalin did not wish to share a historic legacy with anyone, so he ordered the creation of revisionist history which wiped out all mention of Leon Trotsky and actually removed him from existing photographs. Ordered the assassination of Leon Trotsky .

Somewhat ironically, he was a huge fan of movies starring John Wayne , Hollywood's most vocal anti-Communist and a rabid supporter of blacklisting and the McCarthy witch hunts. His mother had the same name as his first wife. His mother was a washerwoman and a seamstress. Even after Stalin's rise to power, his mother refused to leave her home in the Caucasus. When Stalin would enter the Soviet Politburo people would applaud him, sometimes for hours. The reason the clapping went on so long was because everybody was afraid to be the first one to stop. In a testament written just before his death, Lenin denounced Stalin's ambitions and tried to warn the other Soviet leaders about them. Unfortunately, Stalin managed to blunt the effect of the testament and still seized power after Lenin's death anyway. Was known for completely erasing any and all record of a person's existence as punishment and ascribing Their accomplishments to others or himself. In an ironic turn of events, this also happened to Stalin himself after Khrushchev's secret speech to a certain extent (in Yugoslavia this happened to Stalin even earlier, due to the Tito-Stalin split).

While he was never completely written out of history, he was marginalized and became a scapegoat for most problems in the USSR, while his positive achievements were ascribed to Lenin instead. In addition, most of his statues were torn down, and streets and towns named for him were re-named. Finally, his body was removed from Lenin's mausoleum. It is believed by some historians that Stalin's lust for power and the reasons behind many of his decisions and actions were the result of a tendency as a child to slip into fantasies about what he would have done if he were in charge of the country as a means of escaping his abusive father. Was a voracious reader and had a personal library of 20,000 academic books (including a handful of basic German texts), and checked out an annual average of 500 books from state libraries. He personally annotated many drafts of Russian-language texts with 'suggestions', and supported Mikhail Sholokhov and Mikhail Bulgakov, authors of the some of the best Russian-language literature ever produced.

Although known for his stoic, reserved and unemotional demeanor, he was far less reserved in private and noted by his closest underlings and his enemies as being given to explosive rages and crushing depressions. He could be quite kind to people whom he only met in passing. There is one account of him making sure a man was set free from the Gulag after receiving a letter from the man's young daughter. Another instance was when he and some of his staff had to stay at a old lady's cottage for the night while traveling between Moscow and a military headquarters during the war, he ensured the woman was compensated for the trouble despite the lady declaring that she was happy to provide the service for free. The first time Lenin mentioned Stalin in a 1917 memo he forgot his name, mad a guess at it, then scribbled it out and just called him 'that Georgian guy'. Stalin's health deteriorated towards the end of World War II. He suffered from atherosclerosis from his heavy smoking. He had a mild stroke around the time of the Victory Parade, and a severe heart attack in October 1945. Stalin is estimated to have killed far more people than Adolf Hitler .

Documents released at the end of the Cold War showed Stalin was preparing to attack German forces in Eastern Europe. However he did not think Adolf Hitler would invade the Soviet Union until the war in the West had ended. On 25 November 1940 he suggested formally entering World War II on the side of the Axis Powers. However this may have been a delaying tactic as he prepared for war with the European Axis Powers. Violated the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact by annexing Bukovina in 1940. Supplied all the fuel the German Luftwaffe used to blitz the UK in 1940-41. In 1939-40 he invaded Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Bessarabia and Bukovina. These invasions brought him into conflict with the Axis Powers in the Balkans. Deliberately waited until 17 September 1939 before launching his invasion of Poland, knowing that the UK and France would be unable to declare war on both Germany and the Soviet Union.

Although at war with the European Axis Powers from 22 June 1941, Stalin deliberately did not declare war on the Empire of Japan until 9 August 1945 when his forces simultaneously invaded Manchuria. Initially supported the creation of Israel in 1948, as he felt this would weaken the British Empire. However Stalin soon turned against the new country and publicly denounced it. He has been accused of deliberately starving up to 12 million people to death in the Holodomor. If it could be proven that the intention was to destroy Ukrainian nationalism the Holodomor would be considered a genocide. It is officially recognized as a genocide by 25 countries, including independent Ukraine. Held secret talks with the UK and France in 1939 on the possibility of forming an anti-German alliance. However Stalin's demands, which included full Soviet control of eastern Europe and the Baltic States, were considered excessive and no agreement was reached, especially after the Polish government refused to allow Soviet forces to be stationed on its territory. As a result Stalin instead signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Germany, which agreed the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland and eastern Europe.

During World War II he refused to use his huge air force to bomb the death camps. At the end of World War II he wanted to invade Spain, due to the considerable help the Franco regime had given to the Axis from 1940 to 1943. The British and Americans persuaded Stalin to settle for an economic blockade of Spain instead. Publicly denounced the British and French declarations of war against Germany as imperialist actions designed to preserve their colonial empires. He maintained this stance until the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. He was shocked by Winston Churchill 's landslide defeat in the 1945 General Election. Stalin had privately predicted that Churchill would win the election with a large majority of about 70. May have been planning a new holocaust at the time of his death, in the Doctor's Plot. Ordered the Katyn massacre on 5 March 1940. During the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 he refused to airdrop weapons or provide air cover. He actively prevented Polish and American airplanes from doing that, while arresting Polish underground fighters. Stalin was accused of deliberately halting his forces so the uprising could be crushed.

Supplied all the fuel the Germans used to invade France and the Low Countries in 1940. Admitted deliberately sacrificing 750,000 Soviet troops in order to delay a possible Axis attack on Moscow in the summer of 1941. Vladimir Putin has made unlawful all published mention of the cruelties Stalin's regime inflicted on its own citizens - including executing an estimated 300,000 soldiers for alleged desertion or cowardice - in order to prevail during World War II. Books by Antony Beevor and Max Hastings are banned in Russia because they describe the Red Army's campaign of rape and pillage in Germany. Signed the German-Soviet Commercial Agreement on 11 February 1940. Personal Quotes (12) A single death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic. Death solves all problems. 10 Most Important Leaders In 20th Century 10 Most Important Leaders In 20th Century 6 This is a list of the most important and influential leaders in the history of 20th Century. Most of them were dictators. All have fans and haters. All of them change the world.

Some in a good way and some were evils may be. Don’t care about order, because it is really impossible to decide this. Anyways here is 10 Most Important Leaders In 20th Century … 10 – Mao Tse-tung Mao Tse-tung Chairman of the People’s Republic of China (1949 – 1976) Mao Zedong, and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976), was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution. He was the architect and founding father of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949, and held control over the nation until his death in 1976. His theoretical contribution to Marxism–Leninism, along with his military strategies and brand of policies, are collectively known as Maoism.

09 – Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela President of South Africa (1994 – 1999) Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (18 July 1918)[1] served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and he was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was a militant anti-apartheid activist, and the leader and co-founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). 08 – Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Lenin Leader of the Soviet Union (1917 – 1924) Vladimir Ilyich Lenin 22 April [O.S. 10 April] 1870 – 21 January 1924) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years (1917–1924), as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a socialist economic system.

07 – Joseph Stalin Joseph Stalin Leader of the Soviet Union (1924 – 1953) Stalin was one of the most powerful and murderous dictators in history. He was the supreme ruler of the Soviet Union for a quarter of a century. His regime of terror caused the death and suffering of tens of millions, but he also oversaw the war machine that played a key role in the defeat of Nazism. 06 – Adolph Hitler Adolph Hitler Dictator of Germany (1933 – 1945) Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei).He was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and dictator of Nazi Germany (as Führer und Reichskanzler) from 1934 to 1945. Hitler is commonly associated with the rise of fascism in Europe, World War II, and the Holocaust.

05 – Eva Peron Eva Peron First Lady of Argentina (1944 – 1952) María Eva Duarte de Perón (7 May 1919 – 26 July 1952) was the second wife of President Juan Perón (1895–1974) and served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She is often referred to as simply Eva Perón, or by the affectionate Spanish language diminutive Evita. Eva Duarte de Perón became a legendary figure in Argentine politics. 04 – John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy President of the United States (1961 – 1963) John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy pronunciation (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until 1963.

On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, JFK was killed by an assassin’s bullets as his motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was the youngest man elected President; he was the youngest to die. 03 – Indira Gandhi Indira Gandhi Prime Minister of India (1966-1977, 1980-1984) Indira Priyadarshini Nehru; (19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms (1966–77) and a fourth term (1980–84). Gandhi was the second female head of government in the world after Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, and she remains as the world’s second longest serving female Prime Minister as of 2012. She was the first woman to become prime minister in India.

02 – Margaret Thatcher Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979 – 1990) Margaret Hilda Thatcher, (born 13 October 1925) is a British politician and the longest-serving (1979–1990) British prime ministerof the 20th century, and the only woman ever to have held the post. A Soviet journalist nicknamed her the “Iron Lady”, which later became associated with her uncompromising policies. As prime minister, she implemented conservative policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism. 01 – Mustafa Kemal Ataturk Mustafa Kemal Ataturk 1st President of the Republic of Turkey (1923 – 1938) Mustafa Kemal Atatürk , (1881 – 1938) was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey. Atatürk was a military officer during World War I. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, he led the Turkish national movement in the Turkish War of Independence.

A magazine theme would make ur blog look nicer 🙂 cei1 Dominated by communists. Chuck Jones I have a few amendments. Hitler should be number 1, Lenin number 2, maybe Mustafa at number 3, Mao at number 4, winston churchill at number 5, FDR at number 6, Gorbachev at number 7, Mandela at 8, Mrs Gandhi at number 9, Den Xioping at number 10. I will now explain. Most important should mean who has made the most difference, not who we are most familiar with. Obviously world war II would not have happened but for Hitler and that was the most significant event of this century. Number 2 – The Russian revolution was probably the second most, not only was it a massive change to the biggest country in the world (which is impressive in itself), it meant the first communist revolution, which influence obviously spread in the rest of the century.

Number 3 – if he did lead to the downfall of the Ottomans then obviously he is incredibly significant since that covered so much, although the partitioning of the Empire was largely done by the British and the PARTITION is what is more important today what with the troubles in the middle east, meaning I’m not ENTIRELY sure on this one. Number 4 – Again, changed the lives of 1 billion people immensely with both the revolution and with the famine. Number 5 – obvious, if the British hadn’t stood up to Hitler, he would have won – he was the lone voice against appeasement. He was also very significant in the world war one and the maintenance of the British empire, which was also very influential. Number 6 – Well we wouldn’t have won without the yanks, so he also gets a place here for bringing america into the war. He was also influential in saving the world economy AND made a major push for decolonization of ALL european powers, including Britain. Number 7 – without Gorbachev, the cold war would still be going on… or we would have all killed each other. Number 8 – completely revolutionized his country from evil, while maintaining peace.

Number 9 – second female head of government, again, being leader of a billion makes you pretty important in itself. Number 10 – started China’s rise as a world power. People like Margaret Thatcher made big changes in their own countries but were less influential outside of it. I don’t really understand JFK being here – was in office for 3 years and hardly got any of his promises through – e.g. civil rights Act wasn’t passed until Johnstone. I also don’t really get Eva Peron – maybe I’m just ignorant but what did she actually do? Yeah I know there’s a musical about her and everything… are you sure you aren’t being influenced by her place in pop culture? Adam Richardson Chuck you probably don’t know about history but I will enlighten you about Hitler Lenin and Mustafa, Hitler was the strong leader but he made massacre to jewish people, so you can’t make him 1st. Lenin and Mustafa could share top but also Lenin was a communist leader however Mustafa was the anti-imperialist leader.

The difference between them is the ideology that lenin created (communism) is obtained only 8 countries today but anti-imperialism is the fact valid for every country even in states when we investigate about Usa intervention of Afghanistan and Iraq. By the way Turkey fought against 7 countries and won that war. As I know that war is not won by the military force, with the civil people voluntarily crusade by the leadership of Mustafa. You should search well for writing comments about historical leaders. Saurabh Ho Chi Minh Ho Chi Minh Overview Ho Chi Minh fashioned the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and wrote a declaration of independence that stated, "All men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." During a cruel land reform after Ho became president of North Vietnam, an estimated 50,000 North Vietnam citizens lost their lives, between 50,000 and 100,000 were imprisoned, and freedom of speech was restricted.

Ho Chi Minh, (Nguyen Ai Quoc or Nguyen Sinh Cung), which roughly means "he who enlightens," stood as the prevailing symbol of unification of North and South Vietnam. Engaging in a long conflict with France, followed by pre- World War II Japan, post-World War II France, and then with the United States, Ho Chi Minh would not see his lifelong dream of the reunification of North and South Vietnam under a single rule before his death in 1969. Among the 20th century revolutionaries, Ho Chi Minh waged the longest ï¿½ and in terms of human lives sacrificed, the costliest ï¿½ battle against European colonial power. The forces he led, fought and defeated the Japanese, the French, and finally the Americans in his fight for Vietnamese independence. The affectionate name given to him by his countrymen, "Uncle Ho," suggests a kindly relative. Yet Ho Chi Minh was a lifelong revolutionary, who used any and all means to achieve his ends. Ho first led an insurrection against Japanese occupiers. In 1945, his commandos took Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital.

In one of the ironies of history, Ho Chi Minh paraphrased a future enemy`s benchmark of freedom ï¿½ the U.S. Declaration of Independence ï¿½ while addressing an enormous crowd following the success against the Japanese. Ho Chi Minh proclaimed: "All men are born equal. The Creator has given us inviolable rights: life, liberty, and happiness!" Background The French began to take control of Vietnam in the 1860s. The entire country was made a French "protectorate" in 1883. Under French colonial rule, the Vietnamese were prohibited from traveling outside their districts without identity papers. Freedom of expression and organization were restricted. As land was progressively co-opted by large landholders, the number of landless peasants grew. Neglect of the education system caused the literacy rate to fall. Vietnamese anticolonial movements began to coalesce early in the 20th century, but were vigorously suppressed by the French. Youth and early years Ho was born May 19, 1890, in the village of Kim Lien in Annam province, central Vietnam. His father was a public servant attached to the imperial court.

Ho attended the prestigious National Academy school in Hue, but left before graduation. He worked for a short time as a teacher before travelling to Saigon , where he attended a course in navigation. In 1911 he found work as a kitchen hand on a French steamer traveling from Saigon to Marseilles. Moving on to London in 1917 during World War I , then back to France in 1919, Ho took the name Nguyen Ai Quoc (Nguyen the Patriot). He stayed in Paris until 1923, working in menial jobs while he became active in the socialist movement. During the 1919 Versailles Peace Conference , Ho attempted to present U.S. president Woodrow Wilson with a proposal for Vietnam`s independence, but is turned away. The proposal was never officially acknowledged. The Revolutionary Leaving Paris in 1923, Ho traveled to Moscow for training at the headquarters of the Communist International (Comintern) and assumed an active role in its fifth congress, criticising the French Communist Party for not opposing colonialism more vigorously. He also urged the Comintern to actively promote revolution in Asia.

In 1924 Ho traveled to Guangzhou (Canton) in southern China, a stronghold of the Chinese communists, where he trained Vietnamese exiles in revolutionary techniques. By 1925 he had organized the exiles into the Viet Nam Thanh Nien Cach Menh Dong Chi Hoi (Revolutionary Youth League). Going by the name Ly Thuy, he formed an inner group within the Revolutionary League, the Thanh Nien Cong San Doan, or Communist Youth League (CYL). The CYL concentrated on the production of an independence journal that was distributed clandestinely inside Vietnam. In 1926 Ho wrote Duong Cach Menh (The Revolutionary Path), which he used as a training manual. In 1927 the communists were expelled from Guangzhou in April, following a coup by Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek. Ho found refuge in the Soviet Union. In 1928, he traveled to Brussels and Paris, then Siam (now Thailand), where he spent two years as a representative of the Comintern in Southeast Asia. His followers remained in South China.

Ho presided over the founding of a unified Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) at a conference of the Thanh Nein in Hong Kong on February 3, 1930. A program of party objectives drafted by Ho was approved by the conference. The objectives included the overthrow of the French, establishment of an independent Vietnam ruled by a people`s government, nationalization of the economy and cancellation of public debts, land reform, the introduction of an eight-hour work day, and universal education. Meanwhile, the weight of a worldwide economic depression began to be felt in Vietnam. Peasant demonstrators in the provinces began to demand reform. When their demands were ignored, riots broke out. Peasants seized control of some districts and, with the aid of ICP organisers, formed local village associations called "soviets." In September 1930 the French reacted to the ICP`s rising popularity by sending in Foreign Legion troops. More than 1,000 suspected communists and rebels were arrested and 400 were given lengthy prison sentences. Eighty, including some party leaders, were executed. Ho was condemned in absentia to death.

He sought refuge in Hong Kong and again operated as a representative of the Comintern in Southeast Asia. By 1932 there were more than 10,000 French political prisoners held in Vietnam`s jails. Prison and communist study Ho was arrested in Hong Kong by the British police during a crackdown on political revolutionaries in 1931. He remained in prison until 1932. Upon his release, he traveled to Moscow, where he spent much of the next seven years studying and teaching at the Lenin Institute. Ho returned to China in 1938 and served as an adviser to the Chinese communist armed forces during the Second Sino-Japanese War. On the eve of the Second World War, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact. The French government in Vietnam immediately banned the French Communist Party, then outlawed all Vietnamese political parties, including the ICP, and cracked down on political activities. The ICP reacted by focusing its operations on rural areas, where the French held less sway. Early in 1940, Ho returned to southern China, where he reestablished contact with the ICP and began to plan.

Ho and his lieutenants Vo Nguyen Giap and Pham Van Dong saw the defeat of the French by the Germans as an opportunity to free Vietnam from the French regime. Heading south from territory they occupied in China, Japanese troops invaded Vietnam on September 22, 1940. The French quickly negotiated a cease-fire that allowed their colonial administration to remain during Japanese rule. But peace was not to last. The defeat of the French by the Germans was an opportunity to finally free Vietnam from the French regime. Ho began to use the name Ho Chi Minh. Home In January 1941, Ho entered Vietnam for the first time in 30 years and organized the Vietnam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi (League for the Independence of Vietnam), or Viet Minh. A liberation zone was established near the border with China, from which the Viet Minh worked to muster the discontent of urban nationalists and the rural poor into a unified movement for the liberation of Vietnam. While in southern China (1942) to meet with Chinese Communist Party officials, Ho was arrested by the Chinese nationalist government and imprisoned for two years.

In September 1944 Ho was allowed to return to Vietnam with a guerilla force of 18 men trained and armed by the Chinese. He vetoed an ICP plan for a general uprising, but approved a propaganda campaign. Declaration of independence and national leadership In 1945, Ho Chi Minh, leader of the communist Viet Minh organization, declared Vietnamï¿½s independence from Japan, in a speech that invoked the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the French Revolutionï¿½s Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. However, the French quickly reasserted the control they had ceded to the Japanese, and the First Indochina War (1946ï¿½54) was underway. In December 1949 Ho Chi Minh sent envoys to Beijing, China, to request that the Chinese Communist Party provide military advisors, weapons that could equip three divisions, and financial aid of $10 million. At the time, the CCP did not completely satisfy Ho Chi Minhï¿½s demands because it was still engaged in the war to unify China, and because it possessed limited financial resources.

However, the CCP leadership did instruct its military units in southern China to provide as much assistance to the Viet Minh as possible. Mao Zedong paid serious attention to Ho Chi Minhï¿½s struggle, and to his request for Chinese aid. Behind the scenes, China took up the struggle against the French. The Russians under Josef Stalin also supported Ho Chi Minh`s struggle for freedom and unification. America steps in In 1950, the U.S. recognized the Associated State of Vietnam (ASV - South Vietnam) and dispatched a group of military advisors to train the South Vietnamese in the use of U.S. weapons. China reacted by recognizing the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV - North Vietnam) and agreeing to provide it with limited assistance. Official recognition of the DRV by the Soviet Union soon followed. In 1951 the ICP, which had been dissolved in 1945 to obscure its communist affiliation, was reestablished and renamed the Vietnam Workers` Party (VWP). Ho was elected party chairman. The French captured the strategic village of Dien Bien Phu in 1953. Ho indicated a willingness to consider a French peace plan.

To maximise their leverage at the bargaining table, the Viet Minh decided to to take Dien Bien Phu just before the conference began. More than 100,000 Viet Minh troops and nearly 100,000 transport workers descended on the area. The siege of the town entrapped 15,000 French troops, cut off from all support and supplies. The French surrendered on May 7, 1954, the day before the Geneva negotiations were set to begin. The Geneva peace conference began on May 8, as planned, and a compromise agreement was signed. A Country divided The agreement was endorsed by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, France, Britain, China and the Soviet Union. The United States and the ASV withheld approval. The country was effectively divided at the 17th Parallel into a communist North and a noncommunist South. On October 24, U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower offered direct economic aid to South Vietnam, which began in January 1955. In October, South Vietnam declared itself as the Republic of Vietnam.

An election, to be held in 1956 to reunite the country under a democratically elected leader, was never held. South Vietnam, backed by the United States, refused to participate in the elections, fearful that Ho Chi Minh would win. War continued. Epilogue As president of North Vietnam, Ho led the armed struggle against the South ï¿½ and its United States allies ï¿½ to reunite the country. Although the U.S. opposed Ho Chi Minh because he was a communist, the leader once explained, "It was patriotism, not Communism, that inspired me." Ho`s loyal supporters (northern troops and southern guerillas) waged a protracted war against the United States, finally causing the superpower to withdraw from the peninsula. Ho died of heart failure at age 79 on September 2, 1969, in Hanoi. Vietnamese reunification was finally achieved in 1975, just six years after his death. The victory came at a staggering price: An estimated three million North and South Vietnamese were killed in the struggle. Following their victory, the communists put Ho`s embalmed body on display, but the act defied his final wishes.

Ho Chi Minh, a practical man who looked to the peasants for his support, wanted his remains to be scattered over three Vietnamese hilltops. Explained an elderly Ho Chi Minh, "Not only is cremation good from the point of view of hygiene, but it also saves farmland." Off-site search results for "Ho Chi Minh"... Joseph Stalin Biography - Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline Historical Personalities Joseph Stalin Biography Joseph Stalin was a communist revolutionary, who played a key role in the Russian Revolution of 1917. Stalin went on to become the ruler of Soviet Union. Quick Facts Communist Revolutionary & Ruler of former USSR Nationality Communist Party of the Soviet Union Born on Gori, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire Died on Kuntsevo Dacha near Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union Grouping of People Nadezhda Alliluyeva (m. 1919â1932), Ekaterina Svanidze (m.

1906â1907) children Svetlana Alliluyeva, Vasily Dzhugashvili, Yakov Dzhugashvili education - Hero of the Soviet Union More Awards - Order of the Red Banner - Jubilee Medal Image Credit Joseph Stalin was one of the greatest leaders of the former Soviet Union and General Secretary of the Communist party of the Soviet Union serving from 1922 until his death in 1953. While in power, Joseph crushed his contemporary prominent party leaders and opponents he gained popularity among the low-working class people for his socialist-economic policies. He introduced the concept of âFive-Year-Planâ in Soviet Union seeking a rapid industrialization and economic collectivization. In the late 1930's, Stalin instigated a campaign against corruption and treachery both within the party and outside it what he called 'The Purge'. It resulted in a number of executions of party members as well as other sectors of the Soviet Union who appeared to be suspicious and not loyal to Stalin.

Under his leadership, the country joined the ally forces against the Nazi Germany after it violated the non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union that resulted in the defeat of Germany and a huge death toll in the Soviet Union. Childhood Joseph Stalin was born in Gori, Georgia on 21 December, 1879. Georgia was then a part of the Russian empire. Stalin’s original name was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. His father was a cobbler and an alcoholic. His mother worked as maid. As a child, Joseph experienced the poverty that most peasants had to endure in Russia at the end of the nineteenth century. At the age of seven he suffered from smallpox. He survived but the scars remained on his face. Due to this, he was called as “pocky” by his friends. Stalin's mother tongue was Georgian and was very strong in the Georgian accent. Even after long years, Stalin could speak in perfect Georgian accent. He studied the basic education, at Gori Church School, where every child, as per Tsar Alexander III’s policy, was forced to speak Russian only.

Education In, 1894, Stalin received a scholarship to the Tiflis Theological Seminary in the Georgian capital. Instead of devoting his time to the studies he involved himself into the revolutionary movement against the Russian monarchy. He joined a secret revolutionary organization called, “Messame Dassy”. They were demanding an independent Georgia from the clutches of Russian Monarch. It was through the people he met in this organization that Stalin first came into contact with the ideas of Karl Marx and Engel. However, when his allegiance to revolutionary activities was discovered, Stalin was expelled from the Seminary. Revolutionary Activities After being thrown out of the seminary, Stalin started giving private lessons to middle class children. Since, the job he was doing was not a regular and time bound, Stalin had sufficient time to motivate workers and peasants in organizing strikes and shutdown. He soon became popular among the laborers and low class working people. His popularity also caught attention of the “Okhrana”, secret police of the Monarch. On 3 April, 1901, the police launched a manhunt to capture the persons involved with revolutionary activities. Fearing his arrest, Stalin went underground.

To enlighten the workers and peasants Stalin wrote many provocative articles for a Georgian newspaper, called Brdzola Khma Vladimir. He spent the next few years as an activist and for a number of occasions was arrested and exiled to Siberia. Joins Bolshevik In 1903, while he was in Siberia, Stalin came to know about the split in the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. The faction under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin came to be known as the Bolsheviks while the admirers of Julius Martov formed the Mensheviks. Meanwhile, Stalin, producing false documents and certificates managed to return to Russia. He joined the Bolshevik faction of the party and started working very religiously against both the Mensheviks and Tsar Nicholar II. Vladimir Lenin was impressed with Stalin's efforts and achievements. In 1912, Stalin became the editor of Pravda, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Russia. Following the end of Tsarist rule, Alexander Kerensky formed a provisional government in Russia. After his return to Russia, Lenin on 3rd April, 1917, Lenin refusing to accept the Kerensky government urged the Bolshevik revolutionaries to pull down the government.

Stalin and other members of the Bolshevik Party were severely rebuked by Lenin for supporting the Kerensky government. Post Kerensky Period In mid-July 1917, armed revolutionaries under the leadership of Lenin came out in huge numbers to the streets of Petrograd. The masses were divided into two groups, led by Trotsky and Stalin. They seized Petrograd and formed the new revolutionary authority, the Council of People's Commissars. The entire power of the organization was concentrated into the hands of Lenin. He formed a five-member Politburo that included Stalin and Trotsky. During this time, only Stalin and Trotsky were granted the permission to see Lenin without any prior appointment Lenin also appointed Stalin as People's Commissar for Nationalities' Affairs. His task was to win over the people non-Russian origins and persuade them to support Lenin. Besides, a political commissar in the Red Army, Stalin was also appointed as People's Commissar of the Workers and Peasants Inspection in 1919, a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the republic in 1920 and a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Congress of Soviets in 1917.

Post Lenin Period There were lot of frictions between Stalin and Trotsky over a number of decisions of the party. Stalin even wrote to Lenin asking that Trotsky be relieved of his post. Lenin believed that Trotsky would prove a better leader than Russia. The difference between the two became more evident after the death of Lenin in January 1924. Lenin had wished Trotsky to serve as the Commander of the Communist Party after him. But it did not happen. Stalin shedding the traditional emphasis of the Bolshevik on international revolution framed a new policy of establishing "Socialism in Soviet. Trotsky wanted to spread the revolution across the world. He termed it “Permanent Revolution”. Stalin was so cunning and desperate to become the leader of the party that he manipulated his opponents and played them off against each other. He created the enmity between Trotsky and other prominent leaders like Zinoviev and Kamenev. Taking the opportunity, Stalin started campaigning against both Trotsky and Zinoviev. He claimed that there were lot of differences between Lenin and Trotsky. In 1927, both Trotsky and Zinoviev were expelled from the party and also sent to exile.

Stalin’s Dictatorship Following the exile of Trotsky and Bukharin, Stalin had become the supreme authority of Soviet. In 1928, Stalin launched the first Five-Year Plans in Soviet Union, emphasizing on the heavy industry to lay the foundations for future industrial growth. His policies gained popularity among the peasants and poor working class. Stalin's reign also stressed on the concept of collectivization of agriculture. This was done to increase agricultural output and bring the peasantry under more direct political control. Stalin was the head of the Politburo and enjoyed absolute power and authority. Besides the reforms on the path of socialism, Stalin also justified expelling opportunists and counter-revolutionary infiltrators. During Second World War, Stalin conducted a series of mass scale deportations estimating around 3.3 million to Siberia and the Central Asian republics. The reasons of the deportation, as cited by the authority, were separatism, resistance to Soviet rule and collaboration with the invading Germans The deportations had a profound effect on the peoples of the Soviet Union. The memory of the deportations played a major part in the separatist movements in the Baltic States, Tatarstan and Chechnya, even today.

The archives of Russia record that about 800,000 prisoners were executed under Stalin for either political or criminal offences, while around 390,000 perished during kulak forced resettlement. Death On March 1, 1953, after an all-night dinner in his residence in Krylatskoye, near Moscow with Lavrentiy Beria and Georgy Malenkov, Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev, Stalin did not emerge from his room, having probably suffered a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body. He died on March 5, 1953, at the age of 74. JOSEPH STALIN TIMELINE Stalin entered Gori Church School 1894: Stalin enrolled in Tiflis Theological Seminary 1899: Stalin was expelled from the Seminary 1902: Stalin arrested for the first time, exiled to Siberia 1903: The Social Democrats split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. 1905: Revolution in Russia.

Nicholas II announces constitutional reforms 1912: Bolsheviks officially separate from Social Democrats, Stalin appointed to the Party's Central Committee by Lenin. 1914: Outbreak of World War I. 1917: Beginning of Russian Revolution. The Tsar's government falls, replaced with a Provisional Government. Bolsheviks, including Stalin, hasten to St. Petersburg. 1917: Lenin returns from Switzerland, rebukes Stalin for supporting the Provisional Government. 1917: Bolsheviks overthrow Provisional Government, seize power. 1918-1920: Civil war in Russia. Trotsky organizes Red Army; Stalin commands forces in, Petrograd. 1922: Official founding of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 1922: Stalin elected General Secretary of the Communist Party 1923: Lenin suffers final stroke, loses his powers of speech 1924:

Question: The death of which dictator, closely associated with revolution and with World War II, happened in 1953 while he was in office as leader of his country?
Answer: Josef Stalin