Stalin had given strict orders not to be woken up after a big night of drinking with his inner circle several days earlier.
A housekeeper did not enter his room until 11pm the following night, to find him unconscious and unresponsive.
Joseph Stalin may have been murdered, though that would not be known for years after his death. (Public Domain)
Despite this, he was not examined by doctors until 7am the next morning.
He was treated for two days, including with leeches to decrease his blood pressure.
But he died after never regaining consciousness.
Doctors’ notes kept secret for decades showed he had suffered symptoms that indicated possible warfarin poisoning.
A large dose of the tasteless and colourless blood thinner may have been slipped into his drink the night he suffered the stroke.
It is now believed Lavrenti Beria murdered Joseph Stalin. (Public Domain)
Beria was part of the jostle among Stalin’s inner circle to rise to the top job.
It was later revealed Beria was a serial rapist who had likely murdered a number of his victims.
Beria would pick up women on the streets of Moscow, before taking them to his dacha to rape them.
The next morning they would be handed a bunch of flowers as they left. If they refused the flowers, Beria would have them arrested.
Joseph Stalin with his daughter. (Supplied)
Purportedly the first American to hear the news of Stalin’s death was a young Air Force radio operator named Johnny Cash. (US Army Air Force)
His sex crimes were suspected to be well-known among senior Soviets. When Stalin himself learned his teenage daughter was at Beria’s home, he called and demanded she leave immediately.
Cash would often detail how he received the news, though doubts have been cast as to the veracity of his story.
Nikita Khrushchev would take power after Stalin’s death.