Timeline of Stalin's Life
- December 1879 - Born as Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili to Ekaterina and Besarion Djugashvili on the 18th in Gori, Georgia, Joseph was frequently mistreated in his youth. This is believed to contribute to his desire for power.
- 1885 - At the age of six (some sources state seven), Joseph (also known as "Soso", which means "foe" in English) was left with facial scars from smallpox.
- Later on in life, a carriage incident (some sources state it was a beating from his father) left his legs and left arm injured, causing unusual walking for the remainder of his life.
- Iosif was the third son of to Ekaterina and Besarion Djugashvili.
- Besarion (also referred to as "Beso"), Joseph's father, was a shoemaker (cobbler) in Gori. He was an alcoholic and often beat his wife and son.
Teenage Years: 1891 - 1899
- Ekaterina (also referred to as "Keke") wanted Joseph to become a Russian Orthodox priest.
- While Joseph was a student displaying great potential for success by earning good grades, he also led a gang and greatly pleased in his acts of violence.
- 1894 - Joseph was accepted into the Tifilis Spiritual (some sources state it was "Theological," not "Spiritual") Seminary at the age of 15 after acing the entrance exams.
- Joseph adapted the new name "Koba" from a merciless Robin Hood-esque character from a Georgian novel after reading forbidden (banned) Marxist books.
- 1899 - Joseph was kicked out of the Tifilis Spiritual Seminary after he was caught reading banned Marxist texts. He had already been failing after his return in the season of fall.
- Koba met Lenin and his Bolsheviks in Finland and began engaging in acts of terrorism (i.e robbery) with his gang, "the Outfit".
- The Bolsheviks wanted a sudden, violent revolution while the Mensheviks wanted gradual compromise. Koba was one who wanted to have things his way and his way only.
- Between 1908 and 1913, Koba was arrested and exiled five times to tiny, remote villages in the far north and east of Russia.
- Koba adopted another nickname when he published an article and signed it as "Stalin", which is Russian for "Man of Steel."
- 1922 - Stalin was appointed to the recently created position of General Secretary of the Communist Party. This position effectively gave Stalin control over every party member appointment, allowing him to appoint anyone to a position as and when he desired.
- Stalin amassed a large amount of loyal followers by appointing trustworthy people to government positions (e.g the secret police and lower officials).
- Early 1924 - Lenin's Testament, a document written shortly before his death, instructed that Stalin would be removed from his position as General Secretary due to his "rudeness."
- Early 1924 - After Lenin's incapacitation from stroke from a ruptured blood vessel and death, Joseph Stalin began working towards power.
- November 1927 - Thanks to his loyal following, Stalin maintained his position and had his allies vote his rivals (Leon Trotsky, Kamenev, and Zinoviev) out of the Communist Party.
- 1929 - Trotsky was exiled out of the country.
- During Stalin's "Great Purges", people were arrested at night and put on trials.
- By creating paranoia and accusing of those who got in his way as "traitors", he paved the way for him to seize control, removing anyone that dared to intercept him.
- After seizing control, Stalin began seizing private farms from peasants to create larger, state-owned collective farms. This was his first Five-Year Plan.
- The KGB (Комите́т госуда́рственной безопа́сности) were the secret police of the Soviet Union who sought to remove (kill or exile) anyone who questioned Stalin's rule.
- August 23, 1939 - German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact was signed. No attack was to be made between the two countries for the next 10 years.
- During the pact, Germany invaded Poland. The Soviet Union then invaded afterward.
- June 22, 1941 - This pact ended after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa.
- June 22, 1941 - The Red Army (Soviet Army) held off the German invasion of Moscow until winter. The bitter cold caused the invasion to fail as weaponry failed and supplies were depleted. The Nazis had failed just as Napoleon did.
- March 1942 - The Lend-Lease Act takes effect in Russia. U.S goods, such as weaponry, equipment, and food, were sent to allies of the U.S during the war, which included Russia.
- November 1942 - The Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a counter-attack to the Nazi assault on Stalingrad.
- February 2, 1943 - The German general surrendered after much encirclement and blockading.
- Russia, along with the Allies, won World War II in Europe on May 8, 1945 and in the Pacific on September 2, 1945, respectively.
Death
- On March 5, 1953, Joseph Stalin died of suffocation from stroke.
Sources;
http://ukrmap.su/program2009/wh11/Maps/12.jpgBilbiography for future research:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2292123/Stalin-died-natural-causes-Autopsy-published-time-says-Soviet-leader-suffocated-suffering-stroke.html
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Five-Year-Plans
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Great_Terror.html?id=ubXQSk2qfXMC
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/german-soviet-nonaggression-pact
http://www.simonsebagmontefiore.com/youngstalin.aspx
http://ukrmap.su/program2009/wh11/Maps/12.jpg
Stalin by Sean McCollum
Joseph Stalin: Dictator of the Soviet Union by Brenda Haugen
Stalin by Stephen Kotkin
http://ukrmap.su/program2009/wh11/Maps/12.jpgBilbiography for future research:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2292123/Stalin-died-natural-causes-Autopsy-published-time-says-Soviet-leader-suffocated-suffering-stroke.html
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Five-Year-Plans
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Great_Terror.html?id=ubXQSk2qfXMC
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/german-soviet-nonaggression-pact
http://www.simonsebagmontefiore.com/youngstalin.aspx
http://ukrmap.su/program2009/wh11/Maps/12.jpg
Stalin by Sean McCollum
Joseph Stalin: Dictator of the Soviet Union by Brenda Haugen
Stalin by Stephen Kotkin