7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 7

government demanded exorbitant concessions from

Lenin’s government, including the Russian territories of

Poland, the Caucasus, and Ukraine. When the terms of

the proposed peace agreement became known, Lenin’s

political opponents accused the Bolsheviks of outright

treason. Nevertheless, in March 1918 the Bolshevik gov-

ernment hesitatingly signed the Brest-Litovsk peace

agreement, ending the war with Germany. The treaty

sparked civil war in Russia, which raged for three years.

Lenin instituted drastic measures known as War

Communism, designed to aid the Red Army war effort

against the Whites. Groups of armed brigades were sent

to the countryside to appropriate by force food from the

peasantry. A new secret police, named the Cheka, was

formed by Lenin to weed out criminals, political oppo-

nents, and counterrevolutionary agitators. In July 1918,

the Bolshevik government issued the most notorious of

its edicts when, fearing a promonarchist backlash, it

ordered Red Army troops to carry out the murder of

Russian emperor Nicholas II and his entire family.

The civil war exacted its toll on Russia and on Lenin.

By the time of the final Bolshevik victory in 1921, the coun-

try lay in absolute ruin. Lenin then instituted the New

Economic Policy, which allowed for a modest resumption

of capitalist relations. Other restrictions were gradually

reduced but never repealed. Lenin suffered two strokes in

1922 and a third in 1923 that severely impaired his ability to

function. A final stroke on January 21, 1924, ended his life.

Sir Winston Churchill

(b. Nov. 30, 1874, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, Eng.—d. Jan. 24,

1965, London)

S

tatesman, orator, and author Sir Winston Leonard

Spencer Churchill twice served as prime minister of