How Did Joseph Stalin Lead To The Rise Of Soviet Communism

Soviet Communism’s impact on the world before, during, and immediately after World War II cannot be understated. There were three distinct evolutionary periods of soviet communism; the rise of pre-WWII Stalinist policy in Russia, WWII itself, and the early Cold War.

While Adolf Hitler was planting the seeds of his rise to dominance in the west, a man by the name of Joseph Stalin was gaining momentum in his own right in the east. He was unlucky in the weeks following the death of Vladimir Lenin in early 1924, who had lead the revolution to install the communist government, and who had become the effective absolute ruler of Russia. In his testament, Lenin made it very clear that he thought there needed to be changes in the government, specifically,

The eventual aim of the deal was to create an independent state in the Korean Peninsula. This idea was quickly put aside by the two superpowers as their distrust in each other got the best of them. The soviets put in place a communist government in North Korea headed by Kim Il-sung. 2 years after the Russians withdrew, the Korean War broke out. The fuel for this war came from the Soviets. With pressure from the North Korean government and some military leaders in his own regime, Stalin focused the USSR’s military support behind North Korea in a war against the South. North Korea began invasion of the South on the 25th of June, 1950. The war lasted three years, with the North Koreans initially pushing back the South almost to defeat. Then, the UN, lead by the United States, intervened. This time, it was the South that pushed back the North to a near breaking point. As the frontlines approached the Chinese border, China decided to intervene themselves, pushing back the South. Fighting ended on July 27th, 1953 with an armistice that basically restored what the border had already been before the war. This was the first major indirect conflict of the USSR and the US, and when the Cold War really started to heat up. The Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, was the other large indirect conflict of the USSR and the US early on in the Cold War. It lasted from November 1st, 1955 until April 30th, 1975. The conflict began with the Northern Viet Cong(the communists) executing civilians and members of the Southern government. The two sides clashed for about 8 years until the president of South Vietnam was deposed and assassinated. South Vietnam eventually established a government that was up and running two years later. One of the two leaders of this new government phased out the other by holding fraudulent elections. This