Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin.
I literally only knew that the name was a bad thing. I knew Stalin was a bad man. I knew basically nothing about him.
My friend has suggested to me (several times) that I write about Joseph Stalin. This week, I decided to take this challenge.
Joseph Stalin, or in his native tongue, Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin, was born on December 18, 1878 in Gori in the Russian Empire.
The name his parents gave him was not even Stalin. His name was Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili. He changed his own name to Iosif Stalin and used it as a pen name later in life.
When Ioseb was a child, he and his mother were abused severely by his alcoholic father. He was also plagued by health issues. When he was born, he had two conjoined toes on his left foot. When he was 7, he had smallpox and had permanent scars on his face from it. When he was 12, he had an accident with a horse-drawn carriage and it made his left arm shorter and stiffer than his right arm.
At 16, Ioseb recieved a scholarship to attend the Georgian Orthodox Tiflis Spiritual Seminary.
While Ioseb was a very good student, he was expelled in 1899. One reason was because he missed his final exams. He also may not have been able to pay his tuition fees.
The official Soviet reason that he was expelled though, was that he was reading illegal literature and forming a social Democratic study circle.
Around this time in his life, Ioseb began reading the works of Vladimir Lenin. Because of this, he decided to become a Marxist revolutionary.
As part of this revolution, Ioseb began working with a group that had him doing a lot of very illegal things. He helped rob banks to raise money for their cause, aided in ransoming kidnappings, and became part of extortion.
One incident in particular stands out, and would play a role in his political career. He aided in the 1907 Tiflis bank robbery, which resulted in 40 deaths.
Of course, the authorities noticed what was going on, and Ioseb was banished from Russia on 7 different occasions. The last time he was banished, he was conscripted into the Russian army to help fight in World War 1, but he was unable because of his arm.
In 1906, Ioseb married a woman named Ekaterina Svanidze.
Ioseb and Ekaterina had only one son, Yakov.
Ioseb seemed to have very little affection for his son, and was very harsh. Yakov attempted suicide by shooting himself, although he was unsuccessful and survived the attempt.
Ioseb's response to his son attempting to kill himself, due to Ioseb's harshness?
"He can't even shoot straight."
It really no wonder why his son didn't like him.
Later in life, after Ekaterina's death, Ioseb is reported to have said that she was the only person in life, other than his mother, that he had really and truly loved. He said about her that "this creature softened my heart of stone. She died, and with her died my last warm feelings for humanity."
While Ioseb committed many heinous crimes against his fellow man, he apparently was still able to love at least one creature on this earth.
In 1919, Ioseb remarried, this time to a woman named Nadezhda Alliluyeva (no, I cannot pronounce any of the names in this post).
Nadezhda and Ioseb had two children, a boy named Vasily, and a girl named Svetlana.
I have no idea if this picture gives an accurate description of the relationship between Svetlana and Ioseb, however, there are rumors of him being abusive to her. The rumors though, seem to be unfounded, and everyone in the family, including Svetlana herself, said that he had not hurt her. While Ioseb seemed by all accounts to be a very harsh man, Svetlana, being his only daughter, may have held a special place in his heart, though he did not see her often. This picture seems to suggest that they shared at least one happy moment.
According to a close friend of Nadezhda's, her and Ioseb's marriage was always very strained and they argued quite often. Nadezdha allegedly suffered from a mental disorder, probably she was bipolar, and had frequent mood swings, which might account for the frequent spats between them. It also probably didn't help matters that Ioseb became abusive towards her towards the end of her life.
After a public argument during a dinner party, Nadezhda was found dead in her room, a revolver in her hand.
The official ruling was that she had died from appendicitis, and the gun just happened to be there, as she slept with it by her bed anyway, but more likely it was a suicide, or as some speculate, a murder, at the hands of her own husband.
I don't personally think that Ioseb murdered her, because apparently he was quite disturbed by the matter. Perhaps he felt remorse for how he had treated her, perhaps the thought that he was so hard to live with that *two* people tried to commit suicide because of him was a hard pill to swallow. Or maybe he was just disturbed that he was a widower twice, and was once again alone.
After she died, Ioseb rarely saw his children, and they were raised by nannies. Svetlana moved the the United States where she gained citizenship and wrote her autobiography. Vasily became a distinguished airman in the Soviet Airforce during World War 2.
Ioseb died on March 5, 1953 from a stroke.
Clearly, Ioseb was not a good man. I could go on for probably a book's worth about what I found on Wikipedia alone about all the things he did.
However, because the war and politics are what everyone else focuses on in the life of Joseph Stalin, I'm going to leave it there, with his family life.
No, this isn't like my usual History Tuesdays. There is so much information on Stalin that there is no way that I could possibly write the story of his life. Because I find the story of him and his family life much more interesting than anything else, I chose to focus on that instead.
Sorry that this post is so short, I can't really make myself write about his whole life story, there's just so much out there about him.
Yes, I know that Stalin did some terrible things in his life. I also know that he seemed to have a passionate, deep love for his first wife, claiming that she was the only person he ever loved. I kind of think that might be why he did some of the things he did, out of despair. Perhaps he tried to turn off his emotion after he lost her.
But I also know that he was not a very good father, as his oldest son tried to commit suicide because of him, and his second wife as well possibly. I also think that he wasn't a very good husband to his second wife, although I suspect she was hard to live with, given her mental disorder, so I bet that had a lot to do with his distaste for her.
As I said, I wrote this post because a friend asked me to. I personally think it's much easier to write about American history, because it's a lot easier for me to understand the culture, and therefor the background of the people I'm writing about. Also, American names are a lot easier to spell!
In the future, I'll probably just stick to writing the stories of the American (or maybe even British) men and women who've died before us. Russian history is a little hard for me to comprehend.
I literally only knew that the name was a bad thing. I knew Stalin was a bad man. I knew basically nothing about him.
My friend has suggested to me (several times) that I write about Joseph Stalin. This week, I decided to take this challenge.
The name his parents gave him was not even Stalin. His name was Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili. He changed his own name to Iosif Stalin and used it as a pen name later in life.
When Ioseb was a child, he and his mother were abused severely by his alcoholic father. He was also plagued by health issues. When he was born, he had two conjoined toes on his left foot. When he was 7, he had smallpox and had permanent scars on his face from it. When he was 12, he had an accident with a horse-drawn carriage and it made his left arm shorter and stiffer than his right arm.
At 16, Ioseb recieved a scholarship to attend the Georgian Orthodox Tiflis Spiritual Seminary.
The official Soviet reason that he was expelled though, was that he was reading illegal literature and forming a social Democratic study circle.
Around this time in his life, Ioseb began reading the works of Vladimir Lenin. Because of this, he decided to become a Marxist revolutionary.
As part of this revolution, Ioseb began working with a group that had him doing a lot of very illegal things. He helped rob banks to raise money for their cause, aided in ransoming kidnappings, and became part of extortion.
 |
| Ekaterina Svanidze |
Of course, the authorities noticed what was going on, and Ioseb was banished from Russia on 7 different occasions. The last time he was banished, he was conscripted into the Russian army to help fight in World War 1, but he was unable because of his arm.
In 1906, Ioseb married a woman named Ekaterina Svanidze.
Ioseb and Ekaterina had only one son, Yakov.
Ioseb's response to his son attempting to kill himself, due to Ioseb's harshness?
"He can't even shoot straight."
It really no wonder why his son didn't like him.
 |
| Nadezhda Alliluyeva |
 |
| Vasily |
While Ioseb committed many heinous crimes against his fellow man, he apparently was still able to love at least one creature on this earth.
In 1919, Ioseb remarried, this time to a woman named Nadezhda Alliluyeva (no, I cannot pronounce any of the names in this post).
Nadezhda and Ioseb had two children, a boy named Vasily, and a girl named Svetlana.
 |
| Ioseb with Svetlana |
According to a close friend of Nadezhda's, her and Ioseb's marriage was always very strained and they argued quite often. Nadezdha allegedly suffered from a mental disorder, probably she was bipolar, and had frequent mood swings, which might account for the frequent spats between them. It also probably didn't help matters that Ioseb became abusive towards her towards the end of her life.
After a public argument during a dinner party, Nadezhda was found dead in her room, a revolver in her hand.
The official ruling was that she had died from appendicitis, and the gun just happened to be there, as she slept with it by her bed anyway, but more likely it was a suicide, or as some speculate, a murder, at the hands of her own husband.
I don't personally think that Ioseb murdered her, because apparently he was quite disturbed by the matter. Perhaps he felt remorse for how he had treated her, perhaps the thought that he was so hard to live with that *two* people tried to commit suicide because of him was a hard pill to swallow. Or maybe he was just disturbed that he was a widower twice, and was once again alone.
After she died, Ioseb rarely saw his children, and they were raised by nannies. Svetlana moved the the United States where she gained citizenship and wrote her autobiography. Vasily became a distinguished airman in the Soviet Airforce during World War 2.
Ioseb died on March 5, 1953 from a stroke.
Clearly, Ioseb was not a good man. I could go on for probably a book's worth about what I found on Wikipedia alone about all the things he did.
However, because the war and politics are what everyone else focuses on in the life of Joseph Stalin, I'm going to leave it there, with his family life.
No, this isn't like my usual History Tuesdays. There is so much information on Stalin that there is no way that I could possibly write the story of his life. Because I find the story of him and his family life much more interesting than anything else, I chose to focus on that instead.
Sorry that this post is so short, I can't really make myself write about his whole life story, there's just so much out there about him.
Yes, I know that Stalin did some terrible things in his life. I also know that he seemed to have a passionate, deep love for his first wife, claiming that she was the only person he ever loved. I kind of think that might be why he did some of the things he did, out of despair. Perhaps he tried to turn off his emotion after he lost her.
But I also know that he was not a very good father, as his oldest son tried to commit suicide because of him, and his second wife as well possibly. I also think that he wasn't a very good husband to his second wife, although I suspect she was hard to live with, given her mental disorder, so I bet that had a lot to do with his distaste for her.
As I said, I wrote this post because a friend asked me to. I personally think it's much easier to write about American history, because it's a lot easier for me to understand the culture, and therefor the background of the people I'm writing about. Also, American names are a lot easier to spell!
In the future, I'll probably just stick to writing the stories of the American (or maybe even British) men and women who've died before us. Russian history is a little hard for me to comprehend.
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