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This article will discuss the goals of Stalin and the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the Second World War. The Soviet Supreme leader was a very ambitious man and had great hopes for the expansion of his Empire, after the defeat of the Third Reich and the Empire of Japan. The article will discuss the goals of Stalin after the successful conclusion of the war and how he went about attaining his objectives. It will argue that Stalin sought several key objectives, these were the security of the Soviet Union, the expansion of Communism and the creation of puppet regimes around the worldan empire. All of these objectives contributed to the start of the Cold War.

The Soviets led by Stalin were keen on regaining lost territories and Yalta Conference was their best chance to do that. As a result , Stalin even agreed to enter the Pacific war against Japan in exchange for more territories granted, including portions of Sakhalin, Port Arthur, Manchurian railroads and the Kurile Islands. However, already in poor health, President Roosevelt failed to acknowledge Stalin’s true objectives. Roosevelt readily met Stalin’s conditions, since the Soviets eventually agreed to join the United Nations and Pacific war. The two leaders even secretly negotiated a voting formula with a veto power granted solely to the permanent members in the UN Security Council, providing themselves with more control in the world affairs and greatly weakening the UN power in the oncoming disputes. Overall, Roosevelt and the other Allies felt confident that Yalta had been successful. Nevertheless, the true Conference winner was once again Joseph Stalin.

The German invasion in , the USSR and pressing back to victory in the East required a tremendous sacrifice by the Soviet Union. And Stalin skillfully used that during the wartime conferences in pursue pursuit of his postwar Soviet empire expansion. Soviet military casualties totaled approximately 35 million with over 15 million killed, missing or captured. One in four Soviets was killed or wounded. More than 1 700 towns and 70 000 villages were destroyed and the Soviet civilian death toll reached over 25 million. Thereafter, Stalin was often referred to as one of the most influential men in human history. Although, Stalin was responsible for the deaths of over 20 million people during his brutal rule, he was even nominated for Nobel Peace Prize twice – in 1945 and 1948. He continued to prosecute a reign of terror, purges, executions, exiles to labor camps and persecution in the postwar USSR, suppressing all dissent and anything that represented foreign–especially Western–influence. Stalin established communist-satellite governments throughout Eastern and Central Europe.

Stalin prime aim at the various wartime conferences and in the immediate aftermath of the war, it has been argued was the defene defense of the Soviet Union. The Communist country had suffered greatly during the war and had suffered millions of casualties. Furthermore, Russia had been invaded during the First World War and had been invaded many times in its history. Stalin, a key student of histroy history was very aware of this and he wanted to protect the Soviet Union, from further invasions. This partly expalined explained his apparently inexhaustable inexhaustible hunger for land and territory<ref.> Boobbyer, Phillip The Stalin Era (Routledge, London, 2000), p. 278</ref> . Stalin may have driven the Germans from eastern Europe and after a brief war, drove the Japanese out of Northern China and Norhtern Northern Korea, however, he did not free these countries. In effect , these countries had communist regimes imposed on them. Local communists, were elevated to positions of power in the liberated regiosn regions and nations and with the support of Stalin, they eventualy eventually became part of the Communsit Communist Bloc, which was led by StlainStalin, in Moscow. Stlain Stalin was eager to extend the terriories territories under his control in order to establish friendly nations on his borders,ref>Boobyear, p. 234</ref>. The Soviet Supreme leader knew that if friendly governemnts governments ruled the territories surrounding his country, that they would be less likely to assist any enemy in attacking Russia. Furthermore, Stalin wanted frindly friendly governments around his nations, in order to act as a buffer and to protect the Soviet Union from any invasion. Stalin also wanted to control countries that traditionally had threatened Russia and later the Soviet Union, such as Poland and Germany. This was all done to protect the Soviet Union from further attacks and invasions, especially from his former allies, the British and the Americans. He, like other communists, believed that a confrontation between Communist system and the Capitalist system was inevitable<ref> Conquest, Robert, Stalin, Breaker of Nations. Viking-Penguin, Hammondsworth, 1999), p. 212</ref> .

Stalin is often portrayed as a blood -thirsty and power mad dictator. This is true, but he was also a committed communist and was a firm beleiver believer in the tenets of Marxism-LenninismLeninism. This Communist doctrine foresaw a global revolution in which all the nations of the world would become communists and property and wealth would be distributed equally. The ultimate aim of Communism was to reform society and transform humanity by the common sharing of goods, which would end exploitation and conflict. Stalin, had previously favoured developing communism in the Soviet Union, in opposition to the call of TrostskyTrotsky, to export communist revolution around the world. By 1944-1945, Stalin was well-aware that the Red Army and its victories allowed an unprecedent unprecedented opportunity to expand Communism,<ref> Conquest, p. 234</ref>. This led him to adopt the policy of supporting Comunist Communist parties in eastern Europe. In the years after the Soviet liberation of countries, such as Bulgaria, Romanina , and Hungary, the Soiet Soviet Supreme leader, staged coups that deposed often democratically elected governments, often pro-western and replaced them with Communist adminstrationsadministrations<ref> Applebaum, Anne. Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944–1956 (Doubleday, London 2012), p. 117</ref>. Stalin went to great lengths that the new governemnts governments were sympathetic to the particular brand of Communism espoused by him. He made sure that the Comunist Communist governments carried out his wishes and conformed to his repressive form of Communism. The desire to expand communsim communism was one of the m key drivers of Soviet policy in the aftermath of the end of the war<ref> Boobyear, p. 277</ref>. However, this alarmed the west, especially Washingtom Washington and this persuaded them to see Moscow as its chief enemeyenemy. ==Stalin as Empire Builder==Stalin has often been referred to as the 'Red Tsar'. He wanted to build a great empire for himself and his nation. The Supreme Soviet Leader believed that the Soviet Union had all but won the war against the Germans, on its own. This meant that they were entitled to the spoils of war and that because of their great victory that they had won the right to dominate, politically and economically, smaller countries<ref> Montefiore, Simon Sebag. Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003), p. 317</ref>. Stalin believed that the Soviet Union was entitled to be regarded as a great power. Now great powers, such as Britain and France had empires and so the Soviet Union was entitled to a great empire. Stalin's desire to establish an empire from the countries that his Red Army had recently liberated was one of the main goals of the communist leader, in the post-war period. He wanted an empire not only for political reasons but also for economic reasons. He wanted to establish puppet regimes in eastern Europe and they would provide the Soviet Union with resources and markets for their goods<ref> Applebaum, p. 113</ref>. Stalin envisaged a series of puppet states in Eastern Europe that would be exploited so that they could help to make the Soviet Union prosperous. This was to be ultimately a mistake as in fact, that the Soviet Union came to subsidize the Communist countries in the East of Europe. Stalin's domination of Eastern Europe was to greatly antagonize the west and was a contributory factor in starting the Cold War<ref> Montefiore, p. 332</ref>.  ==Conclusion==Stalin believed that the Soviet Union's sacrifices meant that he and his nation were entitled to be treated like a great power and that they could create an Empire for their own strategic and economic benefit. The Soviet leader was eager to expand his territory in an effort to create a buffer around the USSR, in a bid to protect it from any invasion, possibly from the western powers. Stalin as a committed communist was also eager to expand communism around the world and to promote a global revolution, that would sweep away the capitalist system. Stalin did achieve many of his goals<ref> Applebaum, p. 143</ref>. By the time of his death, he ruled or influenced almost one-fifth of the world's landmass and the USSR was acknowledged as only one of two Superpowers in the world. However, his ambitions meant that he caused the Cold War, that for four decades, threatened to turn into a nuclear conflict between the Communist bloc and the democratic western powers.