Joseph Stalin Essay, Research Paper
Much like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin was one of the most ruthless and diabolical people in the history of the world. Hitler once said of Stalin, ” He is a beast, but he’s a beast on a grand scale who must command our unconditional respect. In his own way, he is a hell of a fellow!” (Stalin Breaker of Nations, p.xvi) What Hitler said of Stalin is only his opinion, and it is not a valid one at that. For you must consider the source, it takes a beast like Adolf Hitler to know a beast and Stalin was a horrible beast. He was also a murderer. Stalin abused his people when he starved them to death, and systematically murdered them. Stalin also abused his country by halting Russia’s progress and economic growth. Stalin was a breaker of nations. Stalin first enter the Russian political system in the early nineteen teens. With the help form Lenin, Stalin proposed an answer to the National Question, which was self determination. Stalin’s ruthlessness is first discovered by Lenin, when Stalin is sent to Georgia to convince the Georgia leader not to practice self determination. When the leader does not agree with what Stalin has to say, Stalin punches the man out and threaten to kill them all. Years after that incident Lenin end up dying and Stalin takes over as the leader of Russia. Because Trotsky was hated by many of the influential political figures in Russia, Stalin becomes the leader of Russia even after Lenin’s dying last wishes. 1929 was the first of many years in which Stalin stunted Russia’s growth. In that year the “Engineer Trials” were held. During these trials the Russian elite was brought forth by Stalin on the account of treason. Confessions by the elite which consisted of engineers, doctors, lawyers, teachers and clergy were extracted by many means including torture. After these trials were through thousands of the Russian elite were murdered, with their blood on Stalin’s hands. These trails had a horrific effect on the progress of Russia, there was now nobody left to lead Russian into the future, and the few elite’s that still remained in Russia lived in constant fear of their lives. Around 1932, Stalin had put his plan into action that was later called the Terror Famine. In the Terror Famine, Stalin started to order grain requisitions from the lower class in the Ukraine. Stalin used his army to retrieve the grain from the people, following the orders by Stalin, the army takes too much grain and causes a famine among the lower class. Stalin justified the taking of the grain by saying that it was just a way for the state to regulate the price of grain. By doing this Stalin ended up breaking the back of the Georgians and the Ukrainians. Knowingly, Stalin eliminated millions upon millions of Russian, between 30 and 50 million, in his attempt at an absolute totalitarian rule in Russia. By killing so many of the Russian’s who were the ones which the economy was supported on, Stalin has broken the nation of the Ukraine.
From around 1936 through 1938 Stalin extracted his Great Terror. The Great Terror consisted of many events including the Purge Trials and the Katyn Massacre. During the purge trials, Stalin once again haltered Russian progress. The Purge Trials eliminated many military officers and engineers. The numbers are not exact, but between 250,000 to 500,000 Russians died because of Stalin’s orders. These trials caused mass paranoia of the elite’s, afraid to make a difference, for if they did then they would ultimately end up dead. Stalin not only haltered the growth of his own country, but he haltered the growth of neighboring counties, on being Poland. In Poland during the Great Terror, Stalin ordered the Katyn Massacre to occur. The top 15,000 officers in the Polish army were rounded up and killed in the forests of Belarus. This was a deep wound, the stunted the Polish progress, since now there were would be no more experienced leaders in Poland’s future, since Stalin killed most of their military elite. Once again Stalin had broken another nation. During all this time, Stalin was also methodically killing off all of his political opponents, or anyone who posed as to be the most remote of a threat to him. Unlike what Hitler thought of Stalin, the opposite is true. Stalin showed mercy to no one, he evil incarnate, killing innocent Russians and severely damaging any possible of future progress for Russia. Stalin had broken the Russian nation.