Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born as Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili) (18 December 1878 – 5 March 1953) (Name in Georgian იოსებ ბესარიონის ძე ჯუღაშვილი; Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин) was a Georgian-born Russian revolutionary and politician who was the 2nd leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He replaced Vladimir Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union. His ideas and policies turned the Soviet Union into a powerful, relatively modern country, as the largest on Earth. His way of thinking was called Marxism-Leninism, and his form of government was later called Stalinism.