Joseph Stalin | |
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General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union | |
In office 3 April 1922 – 27 April 1923 | |
Premier | Vladimir Lenin |
Preceded by | Vyacheslav Molotov |
Succeeded by | Grigory Zinoviev |
Personal details | |
Born | Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili 18 December 1878 Gori, Russian Empire |
Died | 13 March 1938 Zaragoza. Spain | (aged 59)
Political party | CPSU (Nationalist) |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Soviet Union
Spanish Republic |
Service/branch | International Brigades |
Years of service | 1936-1938 |
Rank | Military advisor to the International Brigades |
Battles/wars | Spanish Civil War |
Joseph Stalin (18 December 1878 - 5 March 1938) was a Georgian Bolshevik and Soviet military leader who briefly served as General Secretary of the Communist Party. After being expelled from the position following the publishing of Lenin's Testament, Stalin became a prominent figure in the Comintern. He is most well known for serving as a military advisor to the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War until his assassination in 1938.
After the declaration of the Soviet Union, Stalin was made the General Secretary of the Communist Party. He worked on strengthening his position, but this was ruined by the publishing of Lenin's Testament, which suggested he should be expelled from the position. Shortly after the end of the 12th Party Congress, Stalin was removed from power.
When Lenin died and Leon Trotsky became the new Premier, Stalin realized his ideas were no longer welcome, and he instead offered his services to the Comintern. He became a prominent military leader and acted as an advisor to various Communist revolutions throughout the world. During the Spanish Civil War, the Comintern sent Stalin as its main representative, and he became a popular military advisor to the International Brigades.
In 1938, shortly after the beginning of the Aragon Offensive, a group of Nationalist agents attacked Stalin at his base and successfully assassinated him. This proved a devastating blow to both the International Brigades and the Spanish Republic as a whole. Afterwards, a conspiracy began circling among Stalin's supporters in the Soviet Union that his assassination had actually been ordered by Trotsky and that the Nationalists had been framed.