← Modern History syllabus

NSWModern History

Section III (Personalities): Leon Trotsky, Revolutionary and Theorist of Permanent Revolution

13 dot points across 13 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

What role did Trotsky play in the 1905 Revolution, and what did the experience teach him?

How was Trotsky assassinated, and what does the operation tell us about Stalin's reach?

How did Trotsky perform as Commissar for Foreign Affairs, and what was the significance of Brest-Litovsk?

What was Trotsky's background, and how did his early life shape his political development as a Marxist?

Where did Trotsky live in exile, and what did he write there?

Why did Trotsky found the Fourth International in 1938, and what was its programme?

How have historians interpreted Leon Trotsky, and how has the verdict changed over time?

How did Trotsky respond to the Moscow Trials, and what was the Dewey Commission?

What was Trotsky's role in the October Revolution of 1917?

What was Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution, and why did it matter politically?

How did Trotsky build and lead the Red Army during the Russian Civil War?

What was Trotsky's analysis of Stalinism in The Revolution Betrayed (1936)?

How and why did Trotsky lose the struggle with Stalin in the 1920s?