Russia
A. Explain Trotsky's contribution to the success of the Bolsheviks up to 1922?
Trotsky was born in 1879 in a remote part of the Southern Ukraine. He was from a wealthy, Jewish family. Trotsky was at first a Menshevik and did not join the Bolshevks until 1917. this meant that those Bolsheviks who had been in the partry for many years were suspicious of him. He returned to Petrograd from exile in May 1917 and played a major part in organizing the Bolshevik takeover in October. Preferred to work as an individal rather than part of a team. Unwilling to work towords gaining support from other Bolsheviks.
In many towns and cities the workers began to form new organisations called soviets the role of the soviets was to coordinate strikes and petition for the rights of the workers. the most powerful was the St Petersburg Soviet, it became a powerful body which threatened the Tsar. An important and popular figure in the soviet was Trotshy.
After the Bolsheviks gained power, Trotsky became commissar of foreign affairs in the new government led by Lenin. Trotsky was a principal figure in negotiations with Germany and the other in early 1918. In March of that year, however, Trotsky resigned from his post in protest of the , which made severe demands on Russia. Trotsky then became commissar of war and chairman of the Supreme Military Council of Russia. Both Trotsky and Lenin realized that it would be impossible to create a strong Soviet army without using officers who had experience fighting under the imperial government. From remnants of the imperial army, Trotsky formed an efficient military force known as the . Although Trotsky lacked military training, he was a good organizer and easily won the respect and loyalty of his troops. It was largely because of Trotsky’s military leadership that the Bolsheviks won the (1918-1921), which was fought between the Bolsheviks and their adversaries, most notably the counterrevolutionary White armies.
