Background
Joseph Stalin was born on December 18, 1878 in Gori, Georgia. Stalin’s birth name was actually Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugahvili, which was later changed to Stalin, which is the Russian word for Steel (Joseph Stalin’s Biography). Joseph Stalin was a …show more content…
Stalin forced rapid industrialization in Russia, and although it killed many people by destroying farmland, it brought money into Russia and brought them up to speed with the modern world. Stalin and his Red Army also crushed Germany. Without the help from the Russians on Germany’s eastern front Germany may have eventually conquered Europe (MacKinnon). After WWII Stalin became obsessed with the thought of an invasion from the west. Stalin started planning what he would do if that ever happened, he started creating Soviet outposts in Eastern Europe, effectively creating a large buffer zone so that the east would have to push to get to the mainland. With these buffer zones, it would have made it very easy for Russia to invade Eastern Europe if they wanted too. Because of this, the Eastern nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty to counter the Soviet Influence in Europe. This treaty still exists today, but is less influential (Joseph Stalin’s