What place or country is associated with Joseph Stalin or event in terms of totalitarianism?

Answer 1

Stalin was head of the both the Communist Party and the Government in the Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics from the 1920s until he died in the early 1950s.

The "USSR", also referred to as the "Soviet Union" consisted of 15 Soviet Socialist Republic, the largest of which was Russia. When the Soviet Union fell apart in the 1990s, new nations were formed from the former republics:

Russia

Moldova

Belorussia

Ukraine

Latvia

Lithuania

Estonia

Uzbekistan

Kirghistan

Kazakhstan

Georgia

Turkmenistan

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Tajikistan

Stalin was a vicious and brutal dictator under whom an estimated 60 million Soviet citizens died due to his mistakes and meanness. His economic policies were disastrous, leading to mass starvation. His foreign policy decisions, including his alliance with Adolph Hitler's Third Reich was instrumental in starting World War II and his military prowess was unmatched in its stupidity. During a mass murder of potential opposition in the 1930s Stalin killed or imprisoned most of the Red Army's officer corp. He then ordered the invasion of Finland, a former part of the Russian Empire. The Red Army was defeated, encouraging Hitler to break his pact with Stalin and invade the Soviet Union.

Fortunately for free persons everywhere, Stalin had not killed General Zhukov, who came out of the prison camps and led the Red Army to completely destroy the German 6th Army (under Von Paulus) at the famous battle of Stalingrad. Zhukov was then able to push the Germans back to Berlin for a final defeat of Germany 3 years later.

The city of Stalingrad is now called Volgograd. Stalingrad was the most important battle in human history and you can get a quick and fun synopsis of the battle by watching the movie "Enemy At the Gates" or by reading "Stalingrad" by Theodor Pliever.