Leon Trotsky

Trotsky, as chairman of the Petrograd Soviet's Military Revolutionary Committee, planned and executed the Bolshevik seizure of power on November 7, 1917. He coordinated the occupation of key government buildings, the Winter Palace, and the arrest of the Provisional Government, establishing Soviet rule.

As People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs from March 1918, Trotsky built the Red Army from scratch. He recruited former Tsarist officers, instituted conscription, and imposed strict discipline, including the use of political commissars and execution of deserters, creating a force of 5 million by 1920.

Trotsky personally directed Red Army campaigns against White forces across multiple fronts from 1918 to 1920. He organized the defense of Petrograd against General Yudenich, defeated Admiral Kolchak in Siberia, and crushed General Denikin's advance on Moscow, securing Bolshevik victory in the civil war.

Following Lenin's death in 1924, Trotsky lost the struggle for succession to Joseph Stalin. Stalin used his position as General Secretary to build a coalition against Trotsky, who was outmaneuvered in the Politburo, expelled from the Communist Party in 1927, and exiled to Central Asia in 1928.

Trotsky was expelled from the Soviet Union in February 1929, first to Turkey, then France, Norway, and finally Mexico. From exile, he continued to write critiques of Stalin's regime, developing the theory of 'degenerated workers' state' and calling for a Fourth International to revive world revolution.

Trotsky was assassinated at his home in Coyoac