Russia
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
1870–1924 Leader of the Bolsheviks; chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
Born Vladimir Ulyanov in Simbirsk, Lenin was radicalized when his elder brother was hanged for plotting against the Tsar in 1887. He became a Marxist, formed the Bolshevik faction in 1903 and spent most of the years before 1917 in exile. Returned to Russia in April 1917 in a train arranged with the German government, he gave his party a new program in the April Theses, spent the July Days in hiding in Finland, and in October persuaded a hesitant Central Committee to seize power. As head of the new government he took Russia out of the war, though at a heavy price in 1918. He survived an assassination attempt in August 1918 and died after a series of strokes.