Page 92 - All About History - Issue 33-15

HISTORY ANSWERS

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What was the
Trotsky was always against Stalin’s
rise to power, and his preferred form
of communism, ‘Trotskyism’, was at key battle of the
ideological loggerheads with ‘Stalinism’
Spanish Civil War?
Mark Boyd,
FRANCISCO FRANCO Maidstone
Nationality: Spanish
Born-died: 1892-1975 The ad-hoc
nature of the
A former chief of staff civil war meant
Brief in the Spanish Army, small skirmishes
Francisco Franco was
Bio a right-winger in a were more
left-wing world. When common than
the country’s economy began large battles.
to nosedive, Franco joined the
growing rebel movement and The Battle of
became so influential that when Guadalajara is
the war ended he became head
of state on 1 October 1936. often cited as a
major battle, and
was an important victory for the Republicans
against the Italian-supported Nationalists, but
the 1938 Battle of the Ebro claims the title
for bloodiest and perhaps most key battle.
After surprise Republican attacks in July, the
Nationalists were initially surrounded, but quick
thinking by Franco turned the battle on its
head. Fighting lasted until November when the
Republicans were eventually exhausted with
losses of 75,000 men. The battle was the most
What happened to Leon Trotsky? brutal of the war and helped extend the war
as both sides reeled from their losses. The last
Republicanoffensiveofthewar,theeffectswere
Nick Connors, Macclesfield StalinandthenewSovietgovernment. Asaresult, felt harder by them as the Nationalists launched
OnceamajorplayerintheBolshevikseizeof Trotskywasnamedanenemyofthepeopleand16 an offensive into Catalonia.
power, Trotskywas,atatime,secondonlyto ofhisallieswereexecuted.Heeventuallysettled
Lenininthecommunistpeckingorder. Afterthe in Mexico in 1936 and resided there for four years
deathofLenin,therewasapowerstruggle,and beforeamachine-gunattackonhishouse. Trotsky
despite being Lenin’s preferred successor, Trotsky survived,butacommunistassassinbythename
was outmanoeuvred and lost out to fellow party of Ramón Mercader, debatably sent by Stalin,
member Joseph Stalin. Subsequently, he was infamously attacked him with an ice pick. Trotsky’s
banishedtoAlma-AtainCentral Asia.Hewas skull was punctured and he died in hospital the
later exiled and lived abroad in various countries, next day aged 60. Since Stalin’s demise, Trotsky’s
including Turkey, Britain and Norway. Enraged memory has been put into a more positive light The Nationalists also lost 60,000 men,
andbitteroverhisshunningfromthecountryhe andifhehadledtheUSSR,historycouldhave meaning it was a pyrrhic yet important
victory for Franco and his supporters
helped transform, he wrote frequently criticising been very different.
Thisdayinhistory 10 December

1510 1817 1868 1884

O Portuguese conquest of Goa O Mississippi becomes a state O First traffic lights O Huckleberry Finn published
Portugal expands its overseas empire Just like Indiana a year earlier, InstalledoutsidethePalaceof WrittenbyMarkTwain,thebook
as it conquers Goa, a prosperous Mississippi becomes the 20th Westminster in London, the soonbecomesafavouriteinthe
trading port on India’s west coast. state of the United States of signals are gas lit rather than United States. The novel’s story
ThePortuguese,ledbyAdmiral America. It would go on to gain electric powered. Leaks made the basesitselfaroundHuckand
Afonso de Albuquerque, capture Goa a reputation as a reactionary inventiondangerousbutitput hisbestpalTomSawyer.The
withinadayandslaughterthelocal state and was the last to repeal thewheelsinmotionforelectric Mississippi and American life are
Muhammadan population. prohibition in 1966. versions in the future. constant themes.

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