Fact Check: Joseph Stalin wiped out half the world's population after Hitler was killed.

Fact Check: "Joseph Stalin wiped out half the world's population after Hitler was killed."

What We Know

The claim that "Joseph Stalin wiped out half the world's population after Hitler was killed" is not supported by historical evidence. Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953, is responsible for the deaths of millions, but estimates of his total death toll range from 6 million to 9 million people, primarily due to state-sponsored famines, purges, and forced labor camps (source-1, source-2, source-3). In contrast, the world's population during Stalin's rule was approximately 2.5 billion people, meaning that even if we consider the highest estimates of Stalin's death toll, it represents a small fraction of the global population, not half.

Analysis

The assertion that Stalin wiped out half the world's population is fundamentally flawed. Historical estimates indicate that Stalin's policies and purges resulted in the deaths of millions, but these figures do not approach the scale suggested by the claim. For instance, estimates of deaths caused by Stalin's regime due to famines, purges, and other forms of repression range from 6 million to 9 million (source-2, source-3).

Moreover, the timing of Stalin's most notorious actions, such as the Great Purge and the Holodomor (the man-made famine in Ukraine), occurred primarily in the 1930s and early 1940s, well before Hitler's death in 1945. By the time of Hitler's death, Stalin's regime had already caused significant suffering, but the idea that he could have wiped out half the global population afterward is not only exaggerated but also lacks any credible historical basis.

The sources used to support this claim often conflate the scale of Stalin's atrocities with the total global population, leading to misleading conclusions. For example, while historians like Norman Naimark discuss the genocidal aspects of Stalin's regime, they do not support the notion that he was responsible for half of the world's population being wiped out (source-1).

Conclusion

Verdict: False
The claim that Joseph Stalin wiped out half the world's population after Hitler was killed is false. Historical evidence indicates that while Stalin was responsible for the deaths of millions, this number is far from the half of the global population. The exaggeration of Stalin's death toll in this claim lacks credible support and misrepresents the scale of his actions in the context of world history.

Sources

1. Stalin killed millions. A Stanford historian answers the ...
2. Who killed more: Hitler, Stalin, or Mao | MCLC Resource Center
3. Excess mortality in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin
4. Joseph Stalin
5. Life and Death Between Hitler and Stalin: Mass Murder ...
6. How did joseph stalin change the world? - Dictators
7. Joseph Stalin - WWII Leader, Soviet Union, Dictator
8. Who Killed More: Hitler, Stalin, or Mao?