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Joseph Stalin: Man of Steel

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Joseph Stalin: Man of Steel
Only a few years after the end of World War I, a new leader came to power in Russia. This man quickly became a threat to any potential enemies of the Soviet Union by showing his competence militarily. His military leadership would prove itself more admirable in World War II. Also, being a leader in a leader in an underground revolutionary group and a member of the Bolsheviks could only add to his intimidating persona. The name most commonly matched to said persona is that of an important, tyrannical former leader of the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin’s political reign is that of violence and war, but his story still influences politics today and influenced the decisions of other world leaders along the way. Joseph Stalin lived a fairly normal early life. He was born on December 21, 1879. His birthplace was Gori, a small town in the Russian province Georgia. Only later did he adopt the surname ‘Stalin’. His actual birth name was Joseph Vissarianovich Dzhugashvili (Schlesinger 14). So how does a boy from a small town grow up to kill millions in a military dictatorship? Stalin is the perfect example of someone being influenced by the media. One particular book made a huge influence on his future and his feelings towards Russia. When Stalin was young, he read a book about a character by the name of Koba, a Georgian equivalent to Robin Hood. This Robin Hood-like character despised Russians and how they treated the people of Georgia (Schlesinger 16). The impression this novel left on Stalin would come into play later in his political career, when he chose it as an alias (Cunningham 11). The next time the world heard from Koba he was a member of the Marxist underground. This was Stalin’s alias in the society hoping to overthrow Russia’s current form of government. Prior to his political career, he was also a member of the Russian secret

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