How Did Joseph Stalin Impact Modern Europe

Napoleon and the Modern Europe
“Like comets, they flashed across the sky of world politics; obsessed with power, they mobilized enormous masses of people for their ambitious goals ,” the three historic leaders - Napoleon, Stalin and Hitler - all greatly influenced the world till today. Despite the fact that Hitler led Nazi Germany to start WWII and Stalin transformed Soviet Union and started the Cold War, I believe that Napoleon had the greatest impact on modern European history, because he not only established a new order of Europe with his conquest, giving birth to nationalism and the idea of European unity, but also promoted Enlightenment ideas and scientific inquiry that paved the way for modern world, and promulgated a new Civil Code which was adopted as the basis of law system in many European nations.
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Before Stalin’s rise to power, the USSR’s industrial system lagged decades behind other powerful nations. In the 1930s, Stalin transformed USSR to an industrial power with his five-year plans . He also demanded a “liquidation of the kulaks” and brought the traditional peasant life to a violent end . During WWII, Stalin well transformed Soviet’s Red Army with his policies , and the Soviet military helped defeat the Axis power in the end. When Soviet Union rose as the new superpower, Stalin furthered Communists’ interests and started the nuclear arms race with United States, which led to the Cold War. Nonetheless, I believe Stalin had less impact than Napoleon because his reforms benefited Soviet Union only, and the communist rule he imposed did not affected most European countries except those in Eastern Europe. Napoleon, on the contrary, instituted reforms in different countries and spread the revolutionary and Enlightenment ideas over the entire European