Joseph Stalin | |
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General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union | |
In office 3 April 1922 – 16 October 1952[a] | |
Preceded by | Vyacheslav Molotov (as Responsible Secretary) |
Succeeded by | Nikita Khrushchev (as First Secretary) |
2nd Leader of the Soviet Union | |
In office 21 January 1924 – 5 March 1953 | |
President | |
Premier |
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Preceded by | Vladimir Lenin |
Succeeded by | Georgy Malenkov |
4th Premier of the Soviet Union | |
In office 6 May 1941 – 5 March 1953 | |
President |
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First Deputies |
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Preceded by | Vyacheslav Molotov |
Succeeded by | Georgy Malenkov |
Minister of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union[b] | |
In office 19 July 1941 – 3 March 1947 | |
Premier | Himself |
Preceded by | Semyon Timoshenko |
Succeeded by | Nikolai Bulganin |
People's Commissar for Nationalities of the Russian SFSR | |
In office 8 November 1917 – 7 July 1923 | |
Premier | Vladimir Lenin |
Preceded by | Office established |
Succeeded by | Office abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili 6 December 1878 Gori, Russian Empire (present-day Georgia) |
Died | 5 March 1953 Moscow, Soviet Union | (aged 74)
Resting place |
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Political party | CPSU (from 1912) |
Other political affiliations | |
Spouse(s) | |
Children | |
Parents |
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Alma mater | Tiflis Theological Seminary |
Awards | Full list |
Signature | |
Military service | |
Nickname(s) |
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Allegiance | |
Branch | Red Army |
Years of service | 1918–1920 |
Rank | Generalissimo (from 1945) |
Commands | Soviet Armed Forces (from 1941) |
Battles/wars |
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin[c] (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili;[d] 6 December – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian-born Russian revolutionary and politician who was the second leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 and the fourth premier of the Soviet Union from 1941 until his death in 1953. His ideas and policies turned the Soviet Union into a powerful, relatively modern country, as the largest on Earth. He formalised his Leninist interpretation of Marxism as Marxism–Leninism, while the totalitarian political system he established became known as Stalinism.
Stalin invaded Poland on 18 September 1939. In the subsequent World War II, Stalin stayed neutral but signed a peace deal with Germany's leader Adolf Hitler. He then led a bloody war after Germany invaded the Soviet Union known as Operation Barbarossa, and after the end of the war Stalin gained control of all Eastern Europe including part of Germany. There, a series of loyal Marxist-Leninist single-party states were set up, extending his power and making the Soviet Union a superpower.
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