Difference between revisions 8004238 and 8009009 on simplewiki

{{Infobox officeholder
| name  = Joseph Stalin
| birthname =
| image = JStalin Secretary general CCCP 1942.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Stalin in 1942
| office       = [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General secretary]] of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]] of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
| term_start   = 3 April 1922
(contracted; show full)

Stalin continued to rule over the Soviet Union until he died. He also militarized Russia by focusing the country's time and energy towards weapons, vehicles, and the armed forces.

==Death==
Stalin died on March 5, 1953. It was officially said to be because of a [[stroke]].<ref name=bbc/>
 In 2003 a group of Russian and American historians said that Stalin had been poisoned with powerful rat poison [[warfarin]], possibly by the men who took over the government after Stalin died.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://english.pravda.ru/history/29-12-2005/9457-stalin-0/ |title=Secret documents reveal Stalin was poisoned |date=29 December 2005 |work=PRAVDA.Ru}}</ref> Bear in mind, however, that Stalin was in his mid-seventies when he died, and modern [[pharmacology]] was in the future ([[statin]]s etc). Those facts make it likely that his death was natural.

Led by [[Lavrentiy Beria]], the leading group in the Kremlin were [[Vyacheslav Molotov]] and [[Georgy Malenkov]] and [[Nikita Krushchev]]. Much later, Krushchev began a process of "De-Stalinization", which meant taking apart much of the political system that Stalin made. Stalin was denounced as a tyrant. After outsmarting and defeating his rivals, Krushchev established a personal control over the government comparable to Stalin's own. Krushchev is himself a fascinating figure in Soviet history. His attempts to expand Soviet influence ended with the [[Cuban missile crisis]].

===Conspiracy theory===

In 2003 a group of Russian and American historians claimed that Stalin had been poisoned with powerful rat poison [[warfarin]], possibly by the men who took over the government after Stalin died.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://english.pravda.ru/history/29-12-2005/9457-stalin-0/ |title=Secret documents reveal Stalin was poisoned |date=29 December 2005 |work=PRAVDA.Ru}}</ref> Bear in mind, however, that Stalin was in his mid-seventies when he died, and modern [[pharmacology]] was in the future ([[statin]]s etc). Those facts make it likely that his death was natural.⏎
⏎
==Legacy==
Stalin is a  [[controversy|controversial]] figure in history. Many historians see him as a ruthless dictator, though some praise him as the Father of the Soviet State.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/gallacher/1953/04/stalin.htm |title=CPGB: Tribute to Stalin |publisher= www.marxists.org |accessdate= 2009-03-27 |last=|first=}}
(contracted; show full)[[Category:Politicians from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Joseph Stalin]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Heads of government of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Smallpox survivors]]
[[Category:Soviet people of World War II]]
[[Category:Time People of the Year]]
[[Category:World War II political leaders]]