Person

Joseph Stalin

1878–1953 · 20th century · Also known as Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin

Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) was the leader of the Soviet Union from the late 1920s until his death. A Georgian Bolshevik, he rose through the post of general secretary of the Communist Party after Lenin's death and imposed forced collectivisation, rapid industrialisation and mass terror that cost millions of lives, including the famine of 1932–1933. He led the Soviet Union to victory over Nazi Germany and extended its control over Eastern Europe.

Joseph Stalin
Image: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 4 profiles

Russian SFSRSocioeconomySoviet UnionFoundationDictatorshipHistory, SummaryOne-party stateStrengths

Mentioned in 10 state histories

Ukrainian SSRArmenian SSRAzerbaijan SSRByelorussian SSRGeorgian SSRAbkhaz SSRTranscaucasian SFSRSoviet UnionSocialist Federal Republic of YugoslaviaHungarian People's Republic

Great speeches

Churchill: An Iron Curtain Has Descended5 March 1946

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Joseph Stalin. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/joseph-stalin
MLA
“Joseph Stalin.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/joseph-stalin. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Joseph Stalin.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/joseph-stalin.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Joseph Stalin’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/joseph-stalin (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻