How Did Joseph Stalin Die ?
There is a lot of mystery surrounding the death of Joseph Stalin. Some claim that he died due to ill-health, while others claim that he was assassinated. However, the question still looms how did Joseph Stalin die. |
Stalin was a heavy smoker and because of this he was diagnosed with atherosclerosis. As the Second World War was nearing its end his health became worse. Thereafter, it was revealed that Stalin had suffered from a small stroke while the Victory Parade was going on and then in 1945 October he had a massive heart attack. All this further deteriorated his health.
On March 1st, 1953, during the early hours, Stalin was in his home, around fifteen kilometers from Moscow with other members of the politburo. After his meeting with them, Stalin went off to his bedroom to sleep. However, the same morning when he did not come out of his bedroom at dawn, the usual time that he used to get up, the guards standing outside his room found it strange. However, they were given strict instructions that they should not disturb him. So, the guards did not enter the room to check on Stalin.
It was only at around ten in the night that Peter Lozgachev, who was the deputy commandant to Kuntsevo, went inside the bedroom to find out why Stalin had not come out the whole day. On entering, he was shocked to see Stalin lying prone on the floor with urine stains on his pyjamas.
Immediately Lozgachev rushed to Stalin to find out what had happened, but the Soviet supremo could not speak. He just made some unrecognizable sounds. Immediately, a good doctor was called for, but the doctor arrived only after a few hours on March 2nd.
Stalin stayed in this state for 4 days and finally succumbed on March 5th, 1953 when he was seventy-four years old. On March 9th, his body was embalmed and kept in Lenin’s Mausoleum right until October 31, 1961.
As per the official report, Stalin suffered from brain hemorrhage that led to his death. However, there were whispers of him being assassinated. Avtorkhanov, an ex-communist, was the first one to openly claim that Stalin was assassinated. This comment was made in 1975. Then in the year 1993, Vyacheslav Molotov claimed in his memoirs that the assassination was ordered by Levrenty Beria, who boasted about how he had poisoned Stalin.
Thereafter, in the year 2003, American and Russian historians claimed that Stalin had eaten warfarin, which is a potent rat poison and also an anticoagulant that can make a person prone to a brain stroke.
Till today it is a mystery how Stalin died. And, most probably this will be one mystery that will never be solved.
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The Cold War between erstwhile USSR and the western nations started during the Second World War. However, there is a history why the Russians began looking at the West suspiciously which ultimately led to the Cold War that went on for decades until the fall of the Iron Curtain in the late 1980s. 