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The destruction wrought by World War I did not lead to peace. Rather, the depression and alienation that followed the war, along with the feelings of anger against the victors, led to the creation of political parties designed to right perceived wrongs. The Soviet Union, as Russia was now called, underwent a dramatic transformation. Lenin's death in 1924, coupled with the rise of Joseph Stalin, led to reign of terror which would last until Stalin's death in 1953. Stalin changed the face of the Soviet Union, altering the economic system, the political structure, and even the society itself. The Soviet Union's efforts to reinvent itself paid off, as the country grew increasingly powerful. In time, even the western powers would recognize the power of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was not the only country reinventing itself. Germany rebuilt from the ground up, creating an entirely new government under the leadership of the National Socialist Party and its leader, Adolf Hitler. The United States, devastated by the depression, created the makings of a welfare state under the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. The events of World War II, sparked by the ambition of Hitler, led to destruction unlike any the world had seen, culminating with the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Japan in 1945. The world had more to recover from, and it was clear that there were two countries which were going to take the lead in the post-war world—the United States and the Soviet Union.
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