This paper explains why Stalin's historical legacy is overwhelmingly negative. Although his policies transformed the USSR
from an agricultural
society into an industrialized nation with a powerful
military arsenal, the transformation was accomplished at the cost of millions of lives. This paper discusses how Stalin's militant distrust of the West and his assertion of Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe gave rise to the Cold War. His purges of society through violent police-led terror left a permanent scar on the collective memory of the people. And, ultimately, his system proved, in the long term, to be inflexible and unable to progress beyond a certain stage.