Rise Of Joseph Stalin Essay
The rise of Joseph Stalin.
Joseph Stalin was the authoritarian leader of the Soviet Union for 31 years between 1922 and his death in 1953. During this time, he revolutionised the Russian economy with a combination of rapid industrialisation and centralised economic collectivism, reforms that in some instances caused massive devastation in rural parts of the country (including the famine of 1932-1933, in which up to 6m people starved to death). A hugely controversial figure on the global political stage, Stalin carried out ruthless purges of the Soviet military, political and judicial classes (Applebaum, 2004), sending political opponents to work in work camps (or gulags) in Siberia from which few ever returned.
He also led Russia into …show more content…
This earned him the respect and trust of Vladimir Lenin, who invited Stalin to join the highest levels of Bolshevik power, although others - including Leon Trotsky - subsequently criticised the brutality of Stalin and his troops while suppressing counter-revolutionary insurgents in Poland and Ukraine. By 1921, Stalin had been asked by Lenin to help secure his power base against a perceived threat from Trotsky, culminating in Lenin's victory at the Tenth Party Congress later that …show more content…
These efforts were cut short by his sharp deterioration in health between 1922 and 1924, which effectively allowed Stalin to take control in the developing vacuum of power. Although Lenin had been fiercely critical of Trotsky by this point, there is evidence to suggest that he saw him as a preferable alternative to Stalin, and that had he lived longer Lenin might have engineered a situation in which Trotsky, possibly supported by Kamenev and Zinoviev, would have assumed power in the place of Stalin (Montefiore, 2008). However, Stalin took advantage of Lenin's weakness in order to firmly establish his own
Joseph Stalin was the authoritarian leader of the Soviet Union for 31 years between 1922 and his death in 1953. During this time, he revolutionised the Russian economy with a combination of rapid industrialisation and centralised economic collectivism, reforms that in some instances caused massive devastation in rural parts of the country (including the famine of 1932-1933, in which up to 6m people starved to death). A hugely controversial figure on the global political stage, Stalin carried out ruthless purges of the Soviet military, political and judicial classes (Applebaum, 2004), sending political opponents to work in work camps (or gulags) in Siberia from which few ever returned.
He also led Russia into …show more content…
This earned him the respect and trust of Vladimir Lenin, who invited Stalin to join the highest levels of Bolshevik power, although others - including Leon Trotsky - subsequently criticised the brutality of Stalin and his troops while suppressing counter-revolutionary insurgents in Poland and Ukraine. By 1921, Stalin had been asked by Lenin to help secure his power base against a perceived threat from Trotsky, culminating in Lenin's victory at the Tenth Party Congress later that …show more content…
These efforts were cut short by his sharp deterioration in health between 1922 and 1924, which effectively allowed Stalin to take control in the developing vacuum of power. Although Lenin had been fiercely critical of Trotsky by this point, there is evidence to suggest that he saw him as a preferable alternative to Stalin, and that had he lived longer Lenin might have engineered a situation in which Trotsky, possibly supported by Kamenev and Zinoviev, would have assumed power in the place of Stalin (Montefiore, 2008). However, Stalin took advantage of Lenin's weakness in order to firmly establish his own