What does Trotsky’s murder reveal about Stalin’s determination to destroy his rivals? Join Anita, William and Giles Milton, author of The Stalin Affair, for Episode 3 of our Stalin series. Link to the full episode in replies👇

In August 1940, Ramón Mercader entered Trotsky’s study in Mexico. Trotsky believed he was a friend. Mercader was working for Stalin’s secret police. He struck Trotsky with an ice axe. Trotsky died the next day. Exile had offered no escape.

Trotsky continued to attack Stalin’s rule from abroad. His revolutionary reputation made him a symbol of opposition to Stalin, even after he had lost power. For anyone who believed Stalin had betrayed the revolution, an alternative voice remained.

Trotsky had helped lead the Bolshevik Revolution and built the Red Army. But after Lenin’s death, he lost the struggle for power to Stalin. Expelled from the Soviet Union, he eventually found refuge in Mexico. Why wasn’t exile enough?

🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 Stalin: Killing Trotsky (Ep 3) Why did Stalin want Trotsky dead, even in exile thousands of miles away? Anita Anand and William Dalrymple join Giles Milton to explore one of history’s most infamous political murders. 🧵

But how did a revolutionary from Georgia work his way into Lenin’s inner circle? Watch the first episode to find out...

Revolution needed money, and Stalin helped raise it through bank robberies and raids on cash shipments. Operating in Georgia’s criminal underground, he helped fund the Bolsheviks, turning banditry into a weapon against the Tsarist state.

Stalin entered the seminary in Tiflis to train as a priest. But alongside his religious studies, he secretly read Marx and became drawn to revolution. By the time he left in 1899, his ambitions had turned from serving the Church to overthrowing the established order.

Stalin grew up in Gori, Georgia, the son of a cobbler who drank heavily and violently beat him. Poverty and abuse marked his early years. But his mother had plans for him...the priesthood.

🚨NEW SERIES🚨 STALIN: FROM POET-PRIEST TO DICTATOR How did a boy training to be a priest become one of the most ruthless dictators in world history? Our new Empire series begins in Georgia, with the childhood of Joseph Stalin. 🧵👇

We have some wonderful news to share... We’ve surpassed 100 million downloads! Thank you to everyone who tunes in. You’ve made this incredible milestone possible, and we appreciate you more than you can possibly imagine. Here's to the next 100 million... 👀

William Dalrymple's most incredible historical parallel to date...😅

In August 1998, al-Qaeda bombed the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. How did the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal complicate America’s response?

A declaration of war. A network of extremists. Who were the other signatories behind bin Laden’s infamous 1998 fatwa, and what brought them together? Peter Bergen helps unpack the people and ideas behind it.

What was it like to sit opposite Osama bin Laden? In 1997, Peter Bergen produced a television interview with Osama Bin Laden. Now he joins William and Anita to revisit that encounter in Part 5 of Empire’s Road to 9/11. A THREAD 🧵

Then, in 1988, a small office meeting formalised a new organisation. Names were recorded. Roles were assigned. A structure was established. Al-Qaeda was born not on the battlefield, but through bureaucracy.