Does something in his youth or childhood have any bearing at all on his political history?
We know that Stalin was born and grew up in Georgia, and studied for the priesthood before switching around to atheist and communist. He was just as merciless to Georgians as he was to Ukrainians, Tartars or Russians. He was an equal-opportunity mass murderer. His Georgian youth is only marginally relevant.
If any info on Putin’s youth or childhood is relevant, please disclose.
Would not parental influence define pretty much anyone? If you are labeling something “History of Putin” how can you possibly exclude parents and upbringing?
For example, he had two brothers. Both died before his birth, one in infancy in the 1930s and one in 1940 of starvation during Germany’s siege of Leningrad.
His father was wounded during WW II and his maternal grandmother killed by the Germans during that war, as well as various maternal uncles. All dead during WW II.
One would think any reasonable person would evaluate these realities as influencing a person’s psyche.
He speaks 3 languages fluently, Russian, German and English. Is this not character influencing?
You’re way off base in this matter.
Putin’s grandfather was a cook for Lenin and Stalin. His parents had two sons before him. One died in infancy. The other died of starvation in the siege of Leningrad. He took up judo in his youth. That’s about all I know.
His smaller size than Western leaders has been commented on. I suspect that comes from the sparcity of food in his youth or in his parents’ lives. If he was smaller than his peers growing up that could account for his taking up judo.
Stalin’s father was a mean, abusive, drunken failure, but not everybody whose father was a mean, abusive, drunken failure became Stalin. In other circumstances Stalin might have had to choose between becoming a gangster and becoming a political activist. In his environment he could be both, so that’s the way he went.