Joseph Stalin

=== 1918–1921: Military command ===
After the Bolsheviks seized power, both right and left-wing armies rallied against them, generating the [[Russian Civil War]].{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=165|2a1=Kotkin|2y=2014|2pp=268–270}} In May 1918, amid a dwindling food supply, Sovnarkom sent Stalin to [[Tsaritsyn]] to take charge of food procurement in Southern Russia.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=77|2a1=Volkogonov|2y=1991|2p=39|3a1=Montefiore|3y=2003|3p=27|4a1=Service|4y=2004|4p=163|5a1=Kotkin|5y=2014|5pp=300–301|6a1=Khlevniuk|6y=2015|6p=54}} Eager to prove himself as a commander,{{sfn|Service|2004|p=173}} once there he took control of regional military operations.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=164|2a1=Kotkin|2y=2014|2pp=302–303}} He befriended two military figures, [[Kliment Voroshilov]] and [[Semyon Budyonny]], who would form the nucleus of his military and political support base.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1pp=78, 82|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2p=28|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=55}} Believing that victory was assured by numerical superiority, he sent large numbers of [[Red Army]] troops into battle against the region's anti-Bolshevik [[White movement|White armies]], resulting in heavy losses; Lenin was concerned by this costly tactic.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=81|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=170}} In Tsaritsyn, Stalin commanded the local Cheka branch to execute suspected counterrevolutionaries, sometimes without trial{{sfnm|1a1=Volkogonov|1y=1991|1p=46|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2007|2p=27|3a1=Kotkin|3y=2014|3pp=305, 307|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4pp=56–57}} and — in contravention of government orders — purged the military and food collection agencies of middle-class specialists, some of whom he also executed.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1pp=78–79|2a1=Volkogonov|2y=1991|2p=40|3a1=Service|3y=2004|3p=166|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4p=55}} His use of state violence and terror was at a greater scale than most Bolshevik leaders approved of;{{sfn|Service|2004|p=171}} for instance, he ordered several villages to be torched to ensure compliance with his food procurement program.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=169}}

In December 1918, Stalin was sent to [[Perm, Russia|Perm]] to lead an inquiry into how [[Alexander Kolchak]]'s White forces had been able to decimate Red troops based there.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1pp=83–84|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=172|3a1=Kotkin|3y=2014|3p=314}} He returned to Moscow between January and March 1919,{{sfn|Service|2004|p=172}} before being assigned to the Western Front at Petrograd.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=85|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=172}} When the Red Third Regiment defected, he ordered the public execution of captured defectors.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=172}} In September, he was returned to the Southern Front.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=172}} During the war, he proved his worth to the Central Committee, displaying decisiveness, determination, and willingness to take on responsibility in conflict situations.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=173}} At the same time, he disregarded orders and repeatedly threatened to resign when affronted.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=173, 174}} He was reprimanded by Lenin at the [[8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|8th Party Congress]] for employing tactics which resulted in far too many deaths of Red Army soldiers.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=185}} In November 1919, the government nonetheless awarded him the [[Order of the Red Banner]] for his wartime service.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=86|2a1=Volkogonov|2y=1991|2p=45|3a1=Kotkin|3y=2014|3p=331}}

The Bolsheviks won the Russian Civil War by the end of 1919.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=175}} By that time, Sovnarkom had turned its attention to spreading proletarian revolution abroad, to this end forming the [[Communist International]] in March 1919; Stalin attended its inaugural ceremony.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=91|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=175}} Although Stalin did not share Lenin's belief that Europe's proletariat were on the verge of revolution, he acknowledged that as long as it stood alone, Soviet Russia remained vulnerable.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=176}} In December 1918, he drew up decrees recognising Marxist-governed Soviet republics in [[Commune of the Working People of Estonia|Estonia]], [[Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (1918–19)|Lithuania]], and [[Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic|Latvia]];{{sfn|Service|2004|p=199}} during the civil war these Marxist governments were overthrown and the Baltic countries became fully independent of Russia, an act Stalin regarded as illegitimate.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=203, 190}} In February 1920, he was appointed to head the [[Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate]];{{sfn|Service|2004|p=174}} that same month he was also transferred to the Caucasian Front.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=178}}

[[File:Stalin 1920-1.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|right|Joseph Stalin in 1920]]
Following [[Soviet westward offensive of 1918–19|earlier clashes]] between Polish and Russian troops, the [[Polish–Soviet War]] broke out in early 1920, with the Poles invading Ukraine and taking [[Kiev]] on 7 May.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=176|2a1=Kotkin|2y=2014|2pp=352–354}} On 26 May, Stalin was moved to Ukraine, on the Southwest Front.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=178|2a1=Kotkin|2y=2014|2p=357|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=59}} The Red Army retook Kiev on 10 June and soon forced the Polish troops back into Poland.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=176–177}} On 16 July, the Central Committee decided to take the war into Polish territory.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=177}} Lenin believed that the Polish proletariat would rise up to support the Russians against [[Józef Piłsudski]]'s Polish government.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=177}} Stalin had cautioned against this; he believed that [[Polish nationalism|nationalism]] would lead the Polish working-classes to support their government's war effort.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=177}} He also believed that the Red Army was ill-prepared to conduct an offensive war and that it would give White armies a chance to resurface in [[Crimea]], potentially reigniting the civil war.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=177}} Stalin lost the argument, after which he accepted Lenin's decision and supported it.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=178}} Along the Southwest Front, he became determined to conquer [[Lvov]]; in focusing on this goal, he disobeyed orders in early August to transfer his troops to assist [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky]]'s forces that were attacking Warsaw.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=87|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=179|3a1=Kotkin|3y=2014|3p=362|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4p=60}}

In mid-August 1920, the Poles [[Battle of Warsaw (1920)|repulsed the Russian advance]], and Stalin returned to Moscow to attend the Politburo meeting.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=180, 182|2a1=Kotkin|2y=2014|2p=364}} Tukhachevsky blamed Stalin for his defeat at the Battle of Warsaw.{{sfn|Brackman|2004|p=135}} In Moscow, Lenin and Trotsky also blamed him for his behaviour in the Polish–Soviet War.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=182}} Stalin felt humiliated and under-appreciated; on 17 August, he demanded demission from the military, which was granted on 1 September.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=182|2a1=Kotkin|2y=2014|2pp=364–365}} At the 9th Bolshevik Conference in late September, Trotsky accused Stalin of "strategic mistakes" in his handling of the war.{{sfnm|1a1=Davies|1y=2003|1p=211|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2pp=183–185|3a1=Kotkin|3y=2014|3pp=376–377}} Trotsky claimed that Stalin sabotaged the campaign by disobeying troop transfer orders.{{sfn|Kotkin|2014|p=377}} Lenin joined Trotsky in criticising him, and nobody spoke on his behalf at the conference.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=184–185|2a1=Kotkin|2y=2014|2p=377}} Stalin felt disgraced and his antipathy toward Trotsky increased.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=185}} The Polish–Soviet War ended on 18 March 1921, when [[Peace of Riga|a peace treaty]] was signed in [[Riga]].{{sfn|Kotkin|2014|p=392}}