Battles & Wars › Between the wars › World War II
Joseph Stalin
1878–1953; Soviet leader c. 1924–53· Person· Europe
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Georgian-born Bolshevik who ruled the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until 1953, through forced industrialization, terror and victory over Nazi Germany.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Born Ioseb Jughashvili in Gori, Georgia, in 1878, Stalin became the Communist Party's general secretary in 1922 and outmaneuvered rivals after Lenin's death. His forced collectivization and five-year plans built heavy industry but caused famines, including in Ukraine; his 1937–38 purges executed about 680,000 people, including much of the army's high command. He signed a pact with Hitler in 1939, was caught by surprise in 1941, then led the war to victory and imposed communist rule on Eastern Europe.
Why it matters
He built the industry that outproduced Germany, led the Soviet side of the war's largest front, and shaped the Cold War and Korea's division and war.
Legacy and how we know
Soviet archives opened after 1991, including secret-police execution records and his own notes on documents; records of Allied conferences; and memoirs of those around him.
Still debated
Total deaths from his famines, purges, camps and deportations are estimated at roughly 6 to 20 million. Many in Russia today still see him as the war's great leader.
Connections (6)
▸Franklin D. Roosevelt met at Tehran and Yalta with Joseph StalinWell documented
The connection
Roosevelt and Stalin first met at Tehran, with Churchill, where Stalin won a firm date for the invasion of France and promised to fight Japan after Germany's defeat. At Yalta they agreed on occupation zones in Germany and the United Nations; Stalin pledged war on Japan in return for land in Asia, and promised free elections in Poland.
When and how
Tehran, Iran, November 28 – December 1, 1943; Yalta, Crimea, February 4–11, 1945; with Winston Churchill and their interpreters.
How we know
Official minutes and interpreters' notes, published in the US Foreign Relations series and in Soviet records, and memoirs by Churchill and others.
Debates and open questions
Critics say an ailing Roosevelt gave away Eastern Europe at Yalta; defenders reply the Red Army already held it. Roosevelt also informally proposed a trusteeship for Korea there.
▸Joseph Stalin demanded no retreat at Battle of StalingradMostly agreed
The connection
On July 28, 1942, as German armies drove toward the Volga, Stalin issued Order No. 227, 'Not one step back!', creating blocking units behind the front and penal battalions. The city bore his name, raising the stakes for both him and Hitler. He then approved Zhukov and Vasilevsky's plan, Operation Uranus, which trapped the German Sixth Army.
When and how
Moscow and Stalingrad, July 1942 – February 1943; Stalin, Generals Georgy Zhukov and Aleksandr Vasilevsky, and Vasily Chuikov of the 62nd Army.
How sure are we?
The text of Order No. 227, published in 1988, Soviet war archives, and memoirs by Zhukov, Vasilevsky and Chuikov.
Debates and open questions
How many Soviet soldiers were shot or sent to penal units at Stalingrad is disputed; historian Antony Beevor's figure of about 13,500 executions is challenged by others.
▸Joseph Stalin ignored warnings before Operation BarbarossaWell documented
The connection
In spring 1941 Stalin received dozens of warnings: from his spy Richard Sorge in Tokyo, agents in Berlin, Churchill, and German deserters. He dismissed them as British tricks and feared mobilizing would provoke Hitler. When Germany struck on June 22, much of the Soviet air force was destroyed on the ground; millions of soldiers were soon killed or captured.
When and how
Moscow, spring 1941 to June 22, 1941; Stalin, his intelligence chiefs, Sorge, and the Soviet armies along the new western border.
How we know
Soviet intelligence reports released after 1991 carry Stalin's own dismissive notes, including his crude rejection of a Berlin agent's report on June 17, 1941.
Debates and open questions
Why he ignored the warnings is debated. Writer Viktor Suvorov's claim that Stalin was about to attack first is rejected by most historians.
▸Joseph Stalin led the Soviet side early in Cold WarWell documented
The connection
After 1945 Stalin installed communist governments across Eastern Europe, from Poland to Czechoslovakia in 1948. He blockaded West Berlin in 1948–49, kept his bloc out of the Marshall Plan, and tested a Soviet atomic bomb in 1949, helped by spies. The West answered with containment, NATO and an arms race.
When and how
Eastern Europe and Germany, 1945–53; Stalin and Truman; Churchill's 'Iron Curtain' speech, March 1946; Berlin, June 1948 – May 1949.
How we know
Soviet and Eastern European archives opened after 1991, Western diplomatic records, and documents published by the Cold War International History Project.
Debates and open questions
Who was more to blame is a long debate. Since the archives opened, many historians, such as John Lewis Gaddis, put more weight on Stalin; others stress Western actions too.
▸Joseph Stalin approved the North Korean attack that began Korean WarWell documented
The connection
Kim Il-sung asked repeatedly for permission to invade South Korea. Stalin refused in 1949, then agreed in early 1950, after the Communist victory in China and the first Soviet atomic bomb, provided Mao also agreed. Soviet officers helped plan the attack and supplied tanks and planes. Later, Soviet pilots secretly flew MiG-15s against American jets.
When and how
Moscow, January–April 1950, including Kim's visit; Beijing, May 1950, Mao's consent; the invasion across the 38th parallel, June 25, 1950.
How we know
Soviet documents released in the 1990s, some handed by Boris Yeltsin to South Korean President Kim Young-sam in 1994, show Stalin's approval in detail.
Debates and open questions
Why Stalin changed his mind, and whether he expected the US to stay out, is debated. North Korea still says the South attacked first.
▸Lend-Lease sent about $11 billion in aid to Joseph StalinWell documented
The connection
From late 1941 the US sent the USSR about $11 billion in goods: roughly 400,000 trucks and jeeps, about 2,000 locomotives, aircraft, tanks, food, explosives and aviation fuel. It traveled on Arctic convoys to Murmansk, through Iran, and across the Pacific to Vladivostok. American trucks carried much of the Red Army's later advance.
When and how
Arctic, Persian Gulf and Pacific routes, October 1941 – 1945; Stalin's government and US aid officials such as Harry Hopkins.
How we know
US shipping records and Soviet receipts; at Tehran in 1943 Stalin toasted American production as vital to victory.
Debates and open questions
Stalin's real view is unclear: he praised the aid in private and at Tehran, but Soviet histories later played it down.