Joseph Stalin's Determination

Joseph Stalin’s determination greatly affected his leadership and led to the beginnings of the Cold War. His determination allowed him to rise to power and destroy all opposition against his reign. The Great Purge, one of the greatest terrors in history, was also done due to his determination to stay in power. This same determination led to, as well as shaped, many of the events of World War 2. His leadership was very similar to the leadership of Adolf Hitler, yet because of his determination, was quite different, and quite possibly more effective. In the end his determination for power led to the events of the Cold War.

This determination greatly affected Stalin’s rise to power, and allowed him to completely decimate all opposition to his

Within two years, Stalin’s administration imprisoned and murdered millions of people on accusations of treachery. Though the purge targeted traitors, Stalin used it largely as an excuse to terminate all of the Soviet Union’s political leaders who posed a threat to his leadership. Determined to completely ensure his leadership position, Stalin repressed large groups of minorities, many of whom were of polish descent. The Soviet’s secret police, known as the NKVD, led many operations targeting the political leaders and minorities, resulting in one of the greatest repressions in history. All of the murder and imprisonment was a part of Stalin’s paranoia and determination to consolidate his position of power. By committing such a large scale atrocity, Stalin was able to remove several high level leaders in both the Communist Party and the Red Army. Though it greatly weakened his army in the coming war, it removed many of his political rivals and was a huge power play in protecting his seat as the Soviet Union’s leader. In fact, the Great Purge was such a large scale atrocity that it can only truly be rivaled by the actions of Adolf Hitler during World War

Stalin was determined to get control of as much power and territory as possible, thus he initially signed a nonaggression pact with Adolf Hitler, Germany’s leader, allowing Germany to invade the country of Poland. By agreeing not to attack Germany during its invasion, the USSR received a portion of the territory Hitler had invaded, and also unintentionally started World War 2. At first Russia stayed out of the war, yet as Germany’s power grew Stalin began to become concerned about future invasions into Russia. This led him to build up his army in preparation; however, due to the termination of many of his military leaders during the Great Purge, Stalin was unable to defend against the German’s initial assaults, and it is said that Stalin suffered an anxiety attack from the current stress he was facing. Yet Stalin’s determination could not be rivaled, and he had soon organized the military and was holding the German army back. At the beginning of Germany’s invasion into Russia Stalin was forced to use tactics that damaged both the enemy and his own forces, such as the Scorched-Earth policy, but soon his Red Army was beginning to win out against the enemy. This new advantage against the Germans allowed him to join forces with the United States and Great Britain in the war against Germany. With Stalin’s support,