Leon D. Trotsky (1879–1940)

The Russian revolutionary, and communist politician and thinker Leon Trotsky (born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, 1879–1940) – shown here in a photograph from 1923 – is considered the main organiser of the October Revolution in 1917, which brought Lenin to power. As the founder of the Red Army, he played a central role in its victory over the White Army in the Russian Civil War. After Lenin’s death in 1924, Trotsky was increasingly undermined by Stalin, ultimately resulting in his expulsion from the Politburo and the Communist Party. From 1929 onward, he lived in exile – initially in Turkey, subsequently in France and finally in Mexico, where he was murder in 1940 by a Soviet agent.