Josef Stalin is arguably the most influential person who affected the Cold War. It was he who started it, and he lived on several after years after his death in the ideas of Communism.
Stalin was born with the name Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili on December 21st, 1897 in Georgia (No, NOT the state Georgia). As a young boy he was nicknamed "Soso". He had a sickly childhood, with disease and poverty taking a toll on his life. In life he maxed out in height a 5'4". He had dark hair, yellow eyes, and a ruddy complexion. Stalin later accepted the name of "Stalin" in 1913 because it means "Man of Steel".
Stalin had a son named Yakov Dzhugashvili. But he was captured while serving for the Red Army when the Germans invaded the USSR in 1941. The Germans offered to exchange Yakov, but Stalin. Stalin felt that his son might be a spy.
Stalin then went on to serve in the military, but his rise to power came after he ousted Leon Trotsky. Then Stalin began great purges where he would sweep through the people beneath him and kill anyone he suspected was not 100% loyal to him. Very few people beneath Stalin stayed there for long. Stalin then started several five-year plans. Soon the USSR was a superpower, and it was because Stalin brought them there. The ride there was not so easy, many peasant farmers were forced onto collective farms. Those who refused were shot.
Stalin realized that the United States was important. He would often go out of his way to encourage business contracts with America. Most of all, Stalin was a practical politician. At Yalta Stalin claimed that since the Soviet Union had made more sacrifices, that it was the Soviet Union that should get more of the war spoils. It was then pointed out by Churchill that it was the pact between the Soviet Union and Germany that started the war, and Britain for two years had to fight alone while the Soviet Union remained neutral. Stalin did in 1953 before the Cold War really heated up, but he was one of the figures that helped shape it.
