Dmitri Volkogonov - TROTSKY

1879

7 November

Lev Davidovich Bronshtein (Trotsky) born at Yanovka, near Yelizavetgrad (Kirovograd) in Ukraine.

21 December

Josef Stalin born at Gori, Georgia.

1886

Trotsky begins primary school.

1888

Enters St Pauls High School, Odessa.

1896

Completes secondary education in Nikolaev.

1896-97

Joins Social Democratic revolutionary group in Nikolaev.

1898

March

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) formed in Minsk. Trotsky arrested and exiled to Siberia for two years.

1899

Trotsky marries Alexandra Sokolovskaya in prison.

1900

Birth of Trotskys first daughter, Zinaida. Lenin and Martov start their newspaper Iskra (The Spark).

1902

Birth of Trotskys second daughter, Nina. Trotsky escapes from exile, adopts the name of Trotsky and leaves the country illegally. Meets Lenin for the first time in London.

1903

RSDLP splits at its Second Congress in London into Bolsheviks, led by Lenin,

and Mensheviks, led by a group including Martov and Trotsky. Trotsky marries Natalya Sedova.

1904-06

Russo-Japanese War.

1905

Trotsky returns to Russia and takes active part in first Russian revolution.

October

Tsar concedes political reform, including a legislative assembly, the State Duma.

December

Trotsky elected President of St Petersburg Soviet.

1906

Trial of Trotsky and other members of St Petersburg Soviet. Birth of Trotskys first son, Lev.

1907

Trotsky exiled to Western Siberia. Escapes abroad. First meeting with Stalin at Fifth Party Congress in London.

1908

Birth of Trotskys second son, Sergei.

1910

Death of Trotskys mother, Anna Bronshtein. Trotsky establishes his independent newspaper Pravda, which fails for lack of funds.

1912-14

Trotsky works as war correspondent in the Balkans and reporter in Paris for the newspaper Kievskaya mysl .

1914

Trotsky leaves Vienna for Zurich and later Paris.

August

Russia enters First World War.

1915-16

Trotsky collaborates with Menshevik Internationalists in Paris on newspaper Nashe slovo.

1916

Trotsky expelled from France to Spain, where he is arrested.

1917

Arrives in New York.

March

Tsar abdicates. Provisional Government formed in Petrograd.

March-May

Trotsky leaves for Russia. Arrested in Halifax, Canada. Arrives in Petrograd.

August

Trotsky enters Bolshevik Party at Sixth Party

Congress and becomes member of Central Committee.

August-September

Trotsky and other Bolsheviks arrested on charges of working for Germany. Soon released.

September

Trotsky becomes chairman of Petrograd Soviet.

October

Military Revolutionary Committee created with Trotsky as chairman. Trotsky appointed Peoples Commissar for Foreign Affairs in first Soviet government.

December

The Cheka, the Soviet political police, formed. Bolshevik-German armistice.

1918

January

Soviet-German peace talks at Brest-Litovsk. Trotsky heads Soviet delegation. Constituent Assembly dispersed by Bolsheviks after one session.

February

Chicherin replaces Trotsky as Peoples Commissar for Foreign Affairs and head of Brest-Litovsk delegation.

March

Brest-Litovsk peace treaty signed with Germany. Trotsky appointed Peoples Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs. Red Army founded.

April

Civil war begins in Russia.

July

Tsar and family executed in Yekaterinburg.

September

Trotsky appointed chairman of the Military Revolutionary Council of the Republic.

November

Allied-German armistice.

1919

March

Third Communist International (Comintern) founded in Moscow. Trotsky elected member of Comintern Executive Committee (ECCI).

1920

April

Poles invade Soviet Ukraine. October Armistice with Poland.

November

Civil war ends with defeat and evacuation of White armies in Crimea.

1921

March

Anti-Bolshevik uprising of Kronstadt

garrison. Tenth Party Congress adopts Lenins New Economic Policy and bans the formation of factions in the Party.

1922

February

Cheka renamed GPU. Trotskys father, David Bronshtein, dies of typhus.