Joseph Stalin

Stalin was absolute ruler of the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. Stalin presided over the industrialisation of the Soviet economy and was the supreme war leader during the Second World War. In consolidating his absolute power, he ordered many ‘purges’ in which people in positions of power were executed or sent to gulags. Stalin was also instrumental in the formation of the Cold War and annexation of Eastern European countries after the end of WWII.