Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky (7th November 1879 – 4th September 1938), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein was a Russian revolutionary, and Soviet politician.
History
Initially supporting the Menshevik-Internationalist faction within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, he joined the Bolsheviks just before the October Revolution, immediately becoming a leader within the Communist Party.
During the early days of Soviet Russia, he served first as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and later as the founder and commander of the Red Army, with the title of People's Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs.
Following the death of Vladimir Lenin, Trotsky was involved in an inter-party struggle regarding Lenin's successor, which he lost to Joseph Stalin and Nikolai Bukharin. He would later be removed from all positions in the Soviet government. He would die on September 4th, 1938 at his home in Bereslavka, Ukraine.
Death and autopsy
Following Trotsky's death, a standard medical evaluation was undertaken by a team of Soviet physicians. The report stated that the cause of death was extreme head trauma, caused by an external blow to the parietal region of the skull.
Reports state that the impact was caused by a blunt, hard object. However, it is unspecified which objects this may refer to. The remainder of the medical analysis had been classified by the Soviet government, since its completion in early 1939 and had disappeared after the collapse of the USSR.
Trivia
In real life, much like in The New Order, Trotsky was one of Lenin's possible successors, although unlike in The New Order, Stalin was ultimately the one who came out on top. He died later in real life than he did in The New Order (August 21, 1940), and unlike in The New Order, was assassinated while living in exile in Mexico with an icepick.
Due to how the developers explained his death (namely, he was "killed by a sledgehammer"), being "sledgehammered" has become somewhat of a meme regarding historical figures who are not accounted for in The New Order (i.e. Joseph Goebbels).
In vanilla Hearts of Iron 4, Trotsky is a possible leader for the Soviet Union if one does not take the "The Great Purge" focus before the Fourth International and can become the leader of the Soviet Union, if one fights a civil war after he returns. Additionally, he can also become the leader of communist Mexico in the game if one invites him to the government when he seeks asylum, and the country later becomes communist (if Man the Guns is installed) through the "Communist Revolution" focus (the player can complete "Jefe Mexico" - which otherwise locks Trotsky out of leading Mexico - if they wait until after Trotsky has been invited to the government to take the focus).