20 Mind-Blowing Facts About Joseph Stalin

15. He Wanted To Create An Army Of Ape-Men

One of the more "out there" stories about Stalin (and indeed, the Second World War) is that he got the ball rolling on a plan to create an entire army of half-human half-ape hybrid soldiers. No, really. The idea being that soldiers, such as they are, are weak, feel pain, and need to be fed frequently, Stalin theorised that an Ape hybrid would be the perfect military tool.

Strong, ferocious, cheap to look after, and without any of those troublesome feelings of morality and conscience. Whilst the validity of Stalin's role in this is still debated to this day, the actual programme to make it happen is well documented, with scientist Ilya Ivanov performing some very real (and horrifying) experiments.