The First World War was one of the most important events of the 20th-century. It was also a crucial period in Leon Trotsky's political biography. This work is the first comprehensive examination of Trotsky's writings of 1914-1917 and the context in which they were produced. Its findings challenge Trotsky's autobiography and the standard account by Isaac Deutscher. Trotsky's war-time journalism is shown to be of continuing relevance to contemporary issues ranging from European unity to ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.

Leon Trotsky has aroused strong passions, and historians love and hate him in equal measure. This biography provides a full account of his political life, based upon a wealth of primary sources, including previously unpublished material. Ian D. Thatcher paints a new picture of Trotsky's standing in Russian and world history. Key myths about Trotsky's heroic work as a revolutionary, especially in Russia's first revolution of 1905 and the Russian Civil War, are thrown into question. Although Trotsky had a limited understanding of crucial contemporary events such as Hitler's rise to power, he...

This volume offers a detailed examination of the stability of the late imperial regime in Russia. Students and scholars will appreciate the lively summaries of the latest scholarship in political, economic, social, cultural, and international history. Accessible yet insightful, contributions cover the historiography of complex topics such as peasants, workers, revolutionaries, foreign relations, and Nicholas II. In addition, there are original studies of some of the leading intellectuals of the time. The late imperial economy is examined through the writings of Tugan-Baranovsky. There is an...

This is a stimulating and highly original collection of essays from a team of internationally renowned experts. The contributors reinterpret key issues and debates, including political, social, cultural and international aspects of the Russian revolution stretching from the late imperial period into the early Soviet state.

World War I was one of the most important events of the twentieth century. It was also a crucial period in Leon Trotsky's political biography. This work is the first comprehensive examination of Trotsky's writings of 1914-1917 and the context in which they were produced. Its findings challenge Trotsky's autobiography and the standard account by Isaac Deutscher. Trotsky's war-time journalism is shown to be of continuing relevance to contemporary issues ranging from European unity to ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.

This book contains fresh approaches to the interaction between regime and society in twentieth-century Russia. It offers new answers to familiar questions: * How useful is 'totalitarianism' as a model to categorise authoritarian regimes? * What chances existed for tsarism to establish itself as a constitutional monarchy? * Were Trotsky and Lenin dictators in waiting? * How did the Bolsheviks make the Lenin cult? * What opposition did intellectuals offer in the Soviet regime? * What is the nature of contemporary Russian constitutionalism? It is required reading for historians, political...