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2. VLADIMIR LENIN
Born, Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, he changed his surname to Lenin to help conceal his identity while working on clandestine party activities following his arrest and exile in Siberia. Lenin is widely regarded as one of the most significant political figures of the twentieth century. He was the founder of the Russian Communist Party known as the Bolsheviks and was the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. In the first of the two revolutions, the imperial Russian government was overthrown in March 1917. The second placed Lenin’s Bolsheviks in power in October 1917.
Lenin’s radical political beliefs stemmed from the fact that his brother was hanged for attempting to assassinate the Tsar, Alexander III. Lenin’s extreme political views resulted in his expulsion from university where he was studying law (he had to complete his studies as an external student). While in power, Lenin ruthlessly destroyed all opposition to his rule. During the three years of civil war which followed the Bolsheviks seizing of power Lenin crushed all resistance to his leadership within the civilian population in a campaign which became known as “Red Terror.”
Lenin narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in August 1918 in which he was shot twice but survived. Lenin’s health was never the same again and he suffered two strokes in 1922. He suffered another stroke in March 1923 which left him unable to speak. Lenin suffered another stroke on January 21, 1924, and died later that evening in Gorki. Afterwards, Lenin’s corpse was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum in Moscow’s Red Square.