Joseph Stalin, Soviet Head of State

1942: Joseph Stalin, Soviet Head of State - "Had German legions swept past steelstubborn Stalingrad and liquidated Russia's power of attack, Hitler would have been not only man of the year, but he would have been undisputed master of Europe, looking for other continents to conquer. He could have diverted at least 250 victorious divisions to new conquests in Asia and Africa. But Joseph Stalin stopped him. Stalin had done it before — in 1941 — when he started with all of Russia intact. But Stalin's achievement of 1942 was far greater. All that Hitler could give he took — for the second time." —From TIME, January 4, 1943. (Stalin also won in 1939.) Above: Stalin in 1941