Killing Trotsky

On August 20, 1940, in a quiet Mexico City study, one of the last living architects of the Russian Revolution was struck down, not by a rival revolutionary, but by an ice axe wielded by a Soviet assassin. Leon Trotsky's murder was the climax of a decades-long battle over power, ideology, and the very soul of socialism. In this gripping episode, we uncover the story behind the assassination of Leon Trotsky, his rise as Lenin's brilliant right hand, his fall at the hands of Stalin's machinery, and his final years in exile, hunted by the regime he once helped build. This is not just a story of betrayal and espionage, it's a story of history rewritten by force. In this episode, we explore: Trotsky's revolutionary beginnings and rise alongside Lenin The brutal power struggle with Stalin after Lenin's death Exile, isolation, and the founding of the Fourth International The NKVD's global campaign to erase Trotsky The failed May 1940 raid and the shocking success of Ramón Mercader Trotsky's final words, legacy, and the symbolic weight of his murder How Stalin's regime rewrote history—and how Trotsky refused to vanish from it   DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A RATING OR A REVIEW! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! SPONSORED BY THE PODCAST REPUBLIC: https://www.podcastrepublic.net/    LEARN MORE AT: www.historyshortspodcast.com SUPPORT THE SHOW: https://www.patreon.com/c/HistoryShortsPodcast ADVERTISE: https://www.historyshortspodcast.com/advertise    SUPPORT THE SHOW: https://www.patreon.com/c/HistoryShortsPodcast LEARN MORE: https://www.historyshortspodcast.com/