This is a biography of Leon Trotsky, a dominating figure of the Russian Revolution. He was largely responsible for building the Red Army, and advocated the system of state terror which was ultimately to lead to the nightmare of Stalinism. Trotsky was widely regarded as Lenin's likely successor, but he was outmanoeuvred by his enemy, Stalin, and found himself being written out of the history of the Revolution. After Stalin's assumption of power, Trotsky was forced to go into exile. In 1940 he was finally murdered in Mexico by Stalin's agents. Dmitri Volkogonov's access to formerly secret Soviet archives has enabled him to include unknown information in this biography which caused a sensation when it was published in Russia.