Stalin In History Of the many noted dictators in history, Stalin will go down as one of the most, if not the most formidable. He personally had control over a greater number of people for a longer period of time than perhaps any other dictator, or leader, for that matter. During his life as leader of the Soviet Union, his influence upon his world and the world at large was formidable. In addition to his still-critical influence on the world's largest country, he extended Stalinism to the countries of Eastern Europe, where his influence and methods were practiced right up until 1989. The Chinese and Mao patterned a great deal of their post-1949 society after the s