Today in History: Joseph Stalin died on March 5, 1953 of a cerebral hemorrhage. He had ruled the Soviet Union beginning in 1922. The death of Stalin can best be summed up through his own words: Death is the solution to all problems - no man, no problem. His death marked the end of an era for the Soviet Union filled with famine, purges, and a complete bastardization of the ideals of the Bolshevik Revolution carried out in 1917.