When we think of Joseph Stalin, we think of
a dictator that helped to defeat Hitler during the Second World War, and a leader who oversaw
the Soviet Union with brutality, purges and mass executions.

Stalin led the Soviet Union for almost 30
years, and during his time consolidated his power through instilling a reign of terror
overseen by the NKVD.

He had come from a poor family, and became
one of the most powerful men in the world.

He was seen as an icon of communism, and he’s
considered one of the 20th centuries most important people.

He had a cult of personality, and was seen
as a champion of the working class, however in 1953 at the age of 74 he passed away.

His final years were a big departure from
the strength he was seen to exert during World War 2, and he infact went down hill very quickly
with regards to his health.

Today we look at, ‘The Painful Death Of
Joseph Stalin, the Leader of the Soviet Union.

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Stalin for decades had been seen as a sign
of power within the Soviet Union.

For example to instil his dictatorship and
to ensure that no-one dissented against him, he ordered the NKVD to carry out a number
of bloody purges, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of his own people.

If someone didn’t like his policies, they
were either going to meet their end in a NKVD execution chamber, or in the horrific forced
labour camps known as the Gulags.

These methods ensured Stalin had little dissent,
and he placed the power to administer such brutality in a few people.

Lavrentiy Beria was the Chief of the NKVD
from 1941, and Beria for example was responsible for huge purges and massacres, and even during
WW2 he organised the Katyn Massacre which resulted in the mass execution of 22,000
polish officials and officers.

Beria was swift in his actions, and expanded
the gulags to support Stalin’s reign of terror and to send thousands to after they
had been interrogated.

Even towards the end of the Second World War,
Stalin’s health however was beginning to decline.

He smoked very heavily and suffered from atherosclerosis,
a condition linked to the narrowing of the arteries.

Preventing this condition is usually done
by maintaining a health weight and also by not smoking, neither of which Stalin did.

Because of this condition around the time
of the Victory Parade in May 1945, a huge military spectacle to celebrate the might
of the Soviet Union defeating Nazi Germany, Stalin had a mild stroke.

He had this a month before the parade took
place, but he was regarded as well enough to attend the huge celebration, and on top
of Lenin’s mausoleum he stood with other dignitaries to watch the proceedings.

Stalin it was said allegedly intended himself
to ride through the parade, but during a rehearsal he fell from his horse and then handed this
over to General Zhukov to do so.

However in October 1945, he had a rather severe
heart attack that was very serious.

It was clear that the dictator was ill, however
he did manage to live for a number of years following this.

He was told by doctors to work less and relax
more, and he took longer holidays away from his seat of power.

In 1950 and 1951 he took long breaks, even
holidaying for 5 months however he began to look towards his doctors with disdain.

He thought they might be involved in a treasonous
plot to oust him, and in January 1952, he ordered that one doctor should be imprisoned
after they suggested that to improve his health, and chances of living longer then he should
stand down as dictator alltogether and retire.

Later more doctors were arrested mostly for
plotting allegedly to kill senior politicians, but Stalin still showing his brutal side in
his final days ordered that these men be tortured for information and a confession.

From 1946 to the day he died, Stalin’s public
appearances began to become few and far between, and he only gave three public speeches during
this time, two were very brief only lasting a couple of minutes.

He also wrote less and seemingly sought to
spend the last few years of his life living how he wished to do so.

His last book was published in 1952 titled
Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR.

Near the end of his life, Stalin spent most
of his time at his dacha in Moscow.

When he was left on his own, he often became
rather depressed and wished for his close friends and inner circle to join him for dinner
or to watch a film.

Kruschev later stated, ‘As soon as he woke
up, he would ring us, the four of us, referring to Georgy Malenkov, Lavrentiy Beria and Kruschev,
and either invite us to see a film or start some long conversation about a question that
could have been resolved in two minutes.

’ He relied on these 4, and it was considered
his likely successor would be Malenkov.

In 1953, he was 73 years old and of very poor
health, since his heart attack and strokes.

He also became rather paranoid too, which
is why he criticised his own doctors.

He also liked to keep his inner circle on
their toes, even in his final moments as it was said, ‘he liked to repeat to us, you
are blind like kittens, without me the imperialists will throttle you.

’ On the 28th February 1953, Stalin summoned
a small group of his inner circle, Malenkov, Molotov, Kruschev, Beria and a few others
to get together for an evening of films, entertainingment and drinking.

At around 4am, the guests left and Stalin
then retired to his quarters with instructions that he was not to be disturbed until he had
awoken himself.

It was said ‘We said goodbye to Comrade
Stalin and departed, I remember that when we were in the entrance hall, Stalin came
out as usual to see us off.

He was in a jocular mood and joked a lot.

He waved his index finger or his fist and
prodded me in the stomach, calling me Mikola.

He always used the Ukranian form of my name
when he was in good spirits.

Well, we left in good spirits too, since nothing
had happened during the dinner.

Those dinners did not always end on a happy
note.

’ However time passed and no sounds were heard
throughout the day, and at 11pm on the 1st March, his housekeeper went into the room
and found him collapsed on the floor, in a shirt and pyjama trousers.

Stalin was on the floor unconscious and had
wet himself, and attempts to wake him up failed.

In the early morning of the 2nd March, Beria
accompanied by a number of doctors examined Stalin, and he was noted to have high blood
pressure, and had become paralysed on the right side of his body.

Stalin’s history of high blood pressure
had led to a stroke, and a very serious one affecting the left middle cerebral artery.

He was then transferred over to the dining
room sofa, and was covered over with a rug.

Over the next few days he was treated by doctors
in many different ways to try and decrease his blood pressure.

It rose to 210 over 120, and to help bring
this down he had 8 leeches placed over his face and neck to try and bring this down,
but things got worse.

It was said that the doctors who looked after
him were very worried as they were worried they could be accused of trying to kill Stalin.

He continued to go downhill, and on the 5th
March 1953 he passed away at 9:50pm.

He had previously been vomitting blood, and
his stomach began to haemorrhage, causing his death.

The next day, the public were informed that
Joseph Stalin had passed away.

An autopsy was carried out and it was said
that, ‘Pathologic examination revealed a large hemorrage, localised to the area of
the subcortical centres of the left cerebral hemisphere.

The haemorrhage destroyed important areas
of the brain, and resulted in irreversible changes in the respiration and circulation.

There were found significant hypertrophy of
the left ventricle of the heart, numerous haemorrhages in the myocardium, in the stomach
and intestinal mucosa, changes in the vessels more prominent in the cerebral arteries.

These are the result of hyper tension or high
blood pressure.

The results of the examination revealed the
irreversible character of Joseph Stalin’s disease from the moment of brain hemorrhage.

Therefore all treatment attempts could not
have led to a favourable outcome and prevent a fatal end.

’ It was also said of Stalin’s death that,
‘the death agony was terrible, he literally choked to death as we watched.

’ There was suspicion of foul play, especially
relating to the conduct of Lavrentiy Beria.

He was noted to have saying, ‘I took him
out,’ but he did stall medical treatment reaching Stalin.

However the autopsy confirmed that the symptoms
and problems experienced by Stalin in his final moments were consistent with that of
other stroke victims.

It was even alleged that Stalin had been poisoned,
but this is considered purely speculation.

It’s believed that he could possibly have
been spiked with a blood thinner that affected his stomach causing the hemorraging, however
Beria if he did manage to kill Stalin, he within months was executed himself.

On the 6th March 1953, Stalin’s body was
put on display inside the Hall of Columns in the House of the Unions and it stayed here
for 3 days on display.

His body on the 9th March was then taken to
Red Square before it was interred in Lenin’s Mausoleum where it lay in state until 1961.

After the coffin was brought to the Mausoleum,
speeches were given by Molotov, Malenkov, Beria and Khruschev, and as his body was interred
there was a national minute of silence.

The bells of the Kremlin tower chimed and
sirens and horns played and a 21 gun salute was fired inside the Kremlin.

As the public attempted to pay their respects,
many people were crushed by a crowd rush and were trampled to death.

It’s been estimated that 109 people died
inside the crush, but this could have been even more in the thousands.

The death of Joseph Stalin signalled the end
of one of the most important figures in the 20th century.

He was a man who rose to the very top inside
of the Soviet Union, and swathes of the population loved their dictator.

He was the man who defeated Hitler, however
in his final moments he was a shadow of his former self.

It’s clear that his death had been brought
about by years of his unhealthy lifestyle, and that his high blood pressure led to his
fatal stroke.

He had been ill for a while and for years,
with his final years in office being dominated by longer periods of rest and holiday.

He still remains one of the most captivating
figures in world history.

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Once again thanks for watching.