Josef Vissarionovich Stalin's ascent to ruling the USSR was neither easy nor inevitable. His bid for power came at a time of political instability in the USSR after the incapacitation of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Lenin suffered three strokes from May 1922 to March 1923 which may have led to his death at the age of 54 on 21st January, 1924. Leon Trotsky, Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, Nikolai Bukharin and Stalin fought to fill the political vacuum left by Lenin's …showed first 75 words of 2129 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2129 total…as others, not as good an orator and was Georgian, an ethnic minority. However, while others made numerous mistakes he picked out the correct option at every turn. This skill in particular led to one of the most fateful turning points in modern history. His 'crowning' as party leader on his 50th birthday was to unleash his psychotic and paranoid side and commence one of, if not the most murderous regimes humanity has ever seen.