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Background:
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (1870-1924), better known by his pseudonym 'Lenin', was the
principal leader of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the leader of the Bolshevik party
and the first Premier of the Soviet Union.
During World War One, the Russian Empire was crumbling. Czar Nicholas II was gradually
losing more and more control over his country and his army as the German war machine
rolled on. Encouraged by these defeats, the Germans allowed Lenin to travel back to
Russia to help futher the ongoing revolution. This he did, and with great success.
Within years, the Czar was dead, peace had been made with Germany and Lenin and his
Bolsheviks had drawn all power to them.
Lenin's goal was to turn Russia, a poor country of peasants, into an industrial power-
house. This turned out to be harder than he thought.. On August 30, 1918 Lenin was
almost assassinated. He survived the attempt, but the bullets couldn't be removed
with the medical technology of the time. One of the bullets was lodged in his neck,
too close to his spine. Many historians consider this to be the start of Lenin's
health problems. After the assassination attempt, his health declined and led to two
strokes, one shortly after the other. He was left partially paralyzed and resigned
from active politics. Soon after his third stroke, the revolutionary leader died..
Many people know Lenin as 'the man in the tomb'. He was embalmed and preserved for
permanent display at the Lenin Mausoleum at Moscow. Due to Lenin's unique role in
the creation of the very first Communist state, his character was elevated to the
point of near religious reverence. By the 1980's, every manor city in the Soviet
Union had a statue of Lenin in it's central square, either a Lenin street or Lenin
square near the center and often 20 or more smaller statues and busts thoughout its
territory..
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the level of reverence for Lenin has gone down
considerably, but he's still considered an important figure by the people who grew up
during the Soviet period. Many statues of Lenin have been torn down and the city of
Leningrad, named after him three days after his death, returned to its original name:
St. Petersburg..
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