Then you ' re kinda of OK for me , but you still have to actually read some of Stalin or Lenin works . Your mention of Ivan the Terrible actually shows what you know about history . 1 There was great French revolution . They had persons like JeanPaul Marat or Napoleon Bonaparte , and I ' m sure that no French thinks that they were criminals . Talk about victims and how many innocent people died , I dare you . 2 US Civil war . No one will tell you that Linkoln was horrible . 3 Germany , Otto von Bismark . Try to explain that how he was horrible and that he shouldnt use warfare to unite Germany . and now we are talking about 4 1917 , Russian revolution . The worse people in the world except Hitler of course , Lenin and Stalin . And now is the question why Ivan the Terrible is that bad compared to Karl IX who lived in the same time and didnt stop varfolomey night ? The answer because he was Russian When it comes to russian history , all metrics somehow become different . People who could be great persons in US or europe are treated like murderers . Instead of but it was an tragedic catastrophe , it happened by itself we have those were people who made that , they were horrible . The difference is only in double standards . People who are blaming Lenin and Stalin for being megalomaniacal didnt even read their works . Lenin has 55 volumes , Stalin has 13 . But no , people just look , i read some posts about Stalin , and he said ' there is no man there is no problem '. To learn math you at least have to spent 10 k hours on equations and different problems . To learn music spend 10 k hours on a piano or violin . But to learn who were great people of Russia ? Just open the newspaper and in 1 hour you ' ll know everything about Stalin . Those were people who had several libraries of broad knowledge in their heads . To get into their head you have to at least read some of their works and which problems did they actually solve .