The Soviet Union is one country that took part in the World War II and helped to bring it to the end. The end of this war saw the Soviet Union become a world power. One person associated with involvement of Soviet Union in World War II is Joseph Stalin whose real name is Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. He was also referred to as “Koba”, a name referred to a Folk Hero in Georgia. His name “Stalin” is a corrugated version of various names, which is actually derived from Russian “stal”, which means steel with Lenin. Initially, this was a conspiracy name that later started to stick to him. He even continued to call himself “Stalin” after the Russian Revolution. Stalin is reported to have used dozens of other names for secret communication.

Stalin was vocal during World War II. In 1939, he made a pact with Nazi Germany. This pact was known as Molotov-Ribbentrop, which saw Eastern Europe divided between these two powers. In 1941, Hitler went against the pact and attacked the Soviet Union. Stalin, who was then the leader of Soviet Red Army, fiercely resisted though they were overpowered by the Nazi forces that were advancing. Stalin was wary of the Germans and did not allow his armies to embark on defensive positions. He retreated with hopes that the earlier signed pact would be respected, buying time to strengthen and modernize his forces. In December, Germans were spotted on the outskirts of Moscow though, and early winter as well, counter offensive tactics by the soviet stopped them. During the Stalingrad battle of 1942-43, the Red Army sacrificed over one million men and it was able to regain the war initiative. Soviet forces allies offered military and equipment offered so they were able to regain lost territories and at the same time, their enemies were pushed back to Germany.

In the end of 1944, sections of eastern Germany were now under the occupation of Stalin’s Soviet Union, and on 2nd May 1945, Berlin, the capital of Germany, was taken. Basing on the estimates of the history of World War II, one quarter of the population in Russia was wiped out during this war. This then led to a huge shortage in the generation of men of fighting age in Russia. To date, World War II is vividly remembered in Russia, while 9th May, which is Victory Day, has become one of the biggest national holidays.