, regardless of cost, which eventually led to mistrust within the empire. Russia was indeed a world power, influencing and controlling its neighbours. Having built such a vast empire was only part of Peter's public appeal, he was a very ruthless but enlightened leader, the kind that appealed to the Russian people. In one of the bloodier cases, he had 1000 members of a coup d'état assassinated, a punishment that he himself helped administer. Upon his death, many school children were then raised to see Peter as a hero, and a model leader. Perhaps then it is not so surprising that in the decades to follow, his accepted ruthlessness would be passed down into the next generations of leaders, this time having stricter doctrines within the regimes.
             As Karl Marx's ideas of socialism spread across a desperate nation several men stepped forward to end the oppression and starvation of their beloved country. The Russian revolution in 1917 seemed to be a refreshing change compared to the imperialism of the old regime and so countries such as Ukraine, Poland and Belarus joined willingly, hoping to find guidance for their country. Regardless of the many positive changes in the late 1920's, Joseph Stalin gained sole control of the Soviet Union and was more or less as ruthless as Peter the great himself. He began expanding and militarising the union, putting the state above each and every man. In the Ukraine, profitable farms were condensed into collective farms hoping to support industrialisation, and as a result there was a great famine and an estimated 5 to 7 million Ukrainians died. Even in Ukraine's darker period, because of their many natural resources, they were still considered very important to the Soviet Empire, almost its backbone.
             The Ukraine was not the only country to be used by the Soviets. Since the USSR spanned eight time zones, the land occupied was enormous; in fact it was the largest in the world. With such diverse ...