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Birth
Joseph Vissarionovich Dzugashvilli was born on December 21,1879 in Gori, Georgia. He grew up in a violent household in which his drunken father often beat him and his mother. It got so bad that he and his mother left.(Byers 394) His Mother's main goal was for Joseph to become a bishop, and he got a scholarship to a religious seminary in Tifilus,but later got expelled for being a revolutionary. Later in his life he changed his name to "Stalin," which means "Man of steel" (Byers 393-396). -
First Gasoline Powered Car Invented
On January 29, 1886 German, Karl Friedrich Benz invented the first gasoline powered automobile. It was powered by an internal combustion engine, which was an engine that created mechanical power by the combustion of fuel. Benz was also one of the founders of the luxury brand, Mercedez-Benz (loc.gov). -
First Flight
On December 17, 1903 The Wright brothers performed the first flight by a powered airplane. Although their first flight lasted about 12 seconds and traveled about 120 feet, it was revolutionary to the innovation of powered flight. Orville and Wilbur Wright were pioneers on this day in North Carolina to the development of airplanes (eyewitnesshistory.com). -
Prohibition in USA
In 1920, the 18th amendment was signed banning the production, transportation, and drinking alcohol in the USA. It was a period known as prohibition, and its purpose was to lower crime rates and corruption in the country because most crimes were alcohol related. In 1933 the 20th amendment was signed ending prohibition because it was proven to be bad for the economy, an estimated 11 million dollars was lost from it. So many jobs and businesses were gone because of it (History.com). -
Rise to power by eliminating rivals
After Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin wanted power. To get it, he had to eliminate 3 of his collegues,Trotsky, Zinoviev, and Kamenev who were all of higher ranks.The 1st person he took down was Trotsky and he did so by turning the others against him, saying that he was often opposed to Lenin's ideas. Now that Trotsky was gone, Stalin felt as if he had enough power and influence on the party to forget the others, and the party members followed. By 1929, Stalin gained all power (Blassingame 80-88). -
First Five Year Plan
Joseph Stalin's first 5 year plan was a plan to rapidly industrialize the Soviet Union. Stalin ordered a 110% increase in the mining and production of coal , a 200% increase in production of iron for , and a 335% increase in electric power. He claimed if this did not happen, then rapid industrialization would not happen.He concentrated an effort on building factories rather than consumer goods, which in the end turned them into the second most powerful industrial nation in the world (Archer 95). -
Famine Strikes
In 1932-1933 Joseph Stalin set to attack a class of people, the peasants because he did not trust them. He did this by sending troops into villages to take any food that they could find, causing the villagers to starve. Anyone who did not die was sent to the gulags which were labor camps. Stalin also introduced a law that said that anyone who had the slightest amount of food was to be shot. Over 9 million deaths occurred during this terrible forced famine. (historylearningsite.co). -
Wife commits suicide
On November 9,1932 Joseph Stalin's 2nd wife,Nadezhda Alliluyeva shot herself after a dispute with her husband. It was announced as an appendicitis, but really she shot herself and it wasn't public knowledge. It is said that their marriage revolved around arguments, which did not help her mental health issues. She killed herself because the Soviet union was so famine stricken, and because her husband drove her crazy into doing it. Stalin was pretty disturbed by her death as well. (nytimes.com) -
The Great Purge
The Great Purge or Great Terror was a period in which Stalin executed or exiled anyone who he felt was an enemy to the state.If anyone had even the slightest mark on their record of being associates with an enemy, Stalin immediately took action.The 1934 assassination of Sergei Kirov who Stalin felt of as a threat because of his popularity with the people began them.These purges showed how paranoid Stalin was of losing power, so he eliminated anyone who could potentially take it (blogs.bu.edu). -
Babe Ruth Retires
Arguably the best baseball player this world has ever seen, George "Babe" Herman Ruth retired after his 22nd season in the Major leagues. The "Great Bambino," as some called him retired with 714 home runs which was an all time until 1974 when Hank Aaron broke the record. He retired with 10 World Series championships won, and left his legacy in the baseball world as many strive to be just like him (baberuth.com). -
Golden Gate Bridge Opened
On May 27, 1937, the Golden Gate bridge opened in San Francisco, California. The Purpose of the bridge was to connect San Francisco to Marin County California over the San Francisco Bay. Before the bridge was built, the only way to get to the city was by ferry. This bridge is a steel suspension bridge and it spans 8981 feet long which was the longest bridge in the world at the time of its construction (History.com). -
The Battle of Stalingrad
In 1942-43 the Battle of Stalingrad occurred which was known as the turning point of WWII. The axis powers wanted to advance into the Soviet Union and the Soviet forces did not allow them to do so. Hitler's goal was to attack the city because it was named after Stalin and it would be hard to recover if it was taken down. This battle was seriously detrimental to the axis powers because they had a total of 800,000 casualties. After the battle the allies were favored to win the war (history.com). -
The Tehran Conference
On December 1, 1943, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin met to discuss strategy for World War II. In order for Stalin to cooperate and accept the fact that Germany needed to be defeated, he said that they needed to accept that Soviet Dominance in Eastern Europe and support of Yugoslav partisans. Also, Operation Overlord was discussed, which was a plan to rid the Germans from France (rarehistoricalphotos.com). -
Debut of Today Show
On January 14, 1952, the first episode of "Today Show," was aired. The 4th longest running news broadcast debuted from New York, and was hosted by Dave Garroway. Every day since then, the show has been on and has covered important events that happen throughout the world. It is run by NBC studios and it was one of the first news shows that set news standards for the broadcasts of the future (today.com). -
Death
On March 5, 1953, Stalin died at his residence in Kuntsevo, Dacha. The cause of his death was said to be a Cerebrovascular accident. He died as one of the most brutal dictators the world has ever seen responsible for the deaths of almost 50 million of his own citizens, His body was entombed with Lenin's in the public of Red Square. (Byers 396) -
Body removed from Red Square
On October 31, 1961 Stalin's body was removed from his public tomb in Red Square and was placed inside the Kremlin Wall. This was because Nikita Kruschev and other soviets attacked the cult of Joseph Stalin. They declared that he was a tyrant, a terrorist, and that he falsified history using self glorification. (Byers 396)
