Born Josef Vissarionovich Jughashvili (later changed to Stalin, Russian for "man of steel") to Besarion Jughashvili, a shoemaker with a penchant for insobriety and general debauchery, and Ekaterina Georgievna, a washerwoman, Joseph Stalin grew up in poverty. Stalin was born in the village of Gori, in the Russian province of Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire, on December 18, 1878, or December 6, 1878, according to the old Julian calendar, however, he would later invent a new calendar birth date for himself same: December 21, 1879. Stalin grew up in a dysfunctional, poverty-stricken family; he would emerge and become one of the most influential and hated dictators of the 20th century. Suffering from a traumatic childhood due to a slightly malformed arm, a contraction of smallpox, and a brutal and abusive father, Stalin constantly felt treated unfairly. This developed a strong desire for power and respect. When he was but a young boy, Stalin's father, Besarion Jughashvili, left the small town of Gori to look for work in Tiflis. Because of his father's leave, his mother, Ekaterina Georgievna, had a deeper influence on Stalin: it was she who administered his education; he first attended Gori Church School and obtained a scholarship to the Tiflis Theological Seminary, where his mother hoped the young Stalin would become a priest. While studying at the seminary, Stalin began to secretly read Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto; Stalin finally indulged in the revolutionary movement against the Russian monarchs. His mother's hopes would be dashed when her son was expelled from the seminary in 1899 and became a staunch supporter of a Marxist revolution. Following his dismissal of... middle of paper... those who lived during During his reign, however, Hitler was not the most fearsome and deluded person of World War II, or perhaps in history. Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin may easily be the most dysfunctional human being there is. He executed at least twenty million people without remorse. According to Stalin: “The death of a man is a tragedy. The death of millions of people is a statistic. "Works Cited"Joseph Stalin." BBC News. BBC and Web. 05 April 2014."Joseph Stalin." History.com. A&E Television Networks and Web. 06 April 2014."Joseph Stalin." Joseph Stalin. Np, n.d. Web. 06 April 2014."Joseph Stalin." PBS and Web. 06 April 2014. "Joseph Stalin Quotes". 06 April 2014."Joseph Stalin." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 4 March 2014. Web. 04 April. 2014.