Joseph Stalin Dbq Analysis

Over the course of time, rulers are known as sovereigns who protect their empire as well as their people. They are required to sustain order, harmony as well as being content with their empire. Throughout history we have seen many leaders the good & the bad. Not all leaders were willing to listen to their people, as well as giving them what they want but some enforced their power and struck fear into their people. Rulers did many things throughout the course of history to show and acquire dominance across their empire, Louis XIV of France & Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union are prime examples who used terror and manipulation to gain sovereignty of their empires. First, Louis XIV of France was an absolute ruler also known as the Sun King
Joseph Stalin established a modern totalitarian government in Soviet Russia. He is known as the “Man of Steel”. A totalitarianism is a type of government that takes total, centralized, state control over every aspect of public and private life of their people. His rule had changed the people of his empire in numerous ways. Stalin had total control over economic needs. According to document 6 “By 1940 Russia produced more pig iron than Germany, and far more than Britain or France. Numbers of cattle grew in the 1920s, but fell increasingly during the collectivization of agriculture after 1929, and by 1940 hardly exceeded the figure for 1920. Since 1940 the industrial development of the Soviet Union has been impressive, but agricultural production has continued to be plumiding”. The document illustrates how pig iron had significantly increased as a result of the “Five Year Plan”, however heavy industry led to expense of food supplies. This would cause limited production of consumer goods. It caused a step back because of the severe shortages of housing, food, clothing as well as other necessary goods. The Five Year Plan didn’t help much to excel their economic as Stalin hoped, it impacted by creating famine. Stalin rising to power promised an economic boom for Russia however, in that process many people suffered and died of starvation. According to document 5, “The purge began its last,
Louis XIV and Joseph Stalin both used force any means necessary to sustain their empires. They both impacted their dynasty for the good and the bad. They both had control over the economies by using the money in the way they saw fit. This led to a society where people lived in fear or anger at the government and wanted change. Louis XVI rule lead to the French Revolution which finally gave the people a change and fair treatment. Joseph Stalin rule lead to Russia’s involvement in World War II. Both rulers had ruled their empires how they saw fit but only to run their empires to the