The History Book Buffs

In this episode of History Book Buffs, Antonia Senior talks to historian Josh Ireland about his gripping book The Death of Trotsky, which tells the extraordinary story of how Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin hunted down his greatest rival, Leon Trotsky.
After the Russian Revolution, Trotsky seemed destined to inherit power from Vladimir Lenin. Instead, Stalin outmanoeuvred him politically, forced him into exile, and then spent years trying to have him killed.
Eventually Trotsky ended up in Mexico, surrounded by spies, assassins and political fanatics. There, in 1940, Stalin’s agents finally succeeded.
Antonia and Josh explore the rivalry between Stalin and Trotsky, the psychology of revolutionary power, the Spanish Civil War networks that helped Soviet intelligence, and the extraordinary lives of the people drawn into the assassination plot — including Ramon Mercader, the man who ultimately killed Trotsky.
The result is one of the most dramatic stories of the 20th century: revolution, exile, espionage, ideology and murder.
Buy the book here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789467078

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-death-of-trotsky/josh-ireland/9781789467075

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-Death-of-Trotsky-by-Joshua-Ireland/9781789467075

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-death-of-trotsky-joshua-ireland/

https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/joshua-ireland/the-death-of-trotsky/

The incredible story of the Cambridge Five spy ring and how their intelligence helped advance Stalin’s global ambitions.
Buy the book here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/000856622X

https://www.waterstones.com/book/stalins-apostles/antonia-senior/

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Stalins-Apostles-by-Antonia-Senior/

https://bookshop.org/p/books/stalins-apostles-antonia-senior/

https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/stalins-apostles-antonia-senior

The rivalry between Stalin and Trotsky

How Stalin consolidated power after Lenin’s death

Trotsky’s exile across Europe and eventually Mexico

Stalin’s obsession with eliminating his rival

Soviet intelligence operations abroad

Ramon Mercader and the assassination plot

The role of the Spanish Civil War networks

Trotsky’s strange final years in Mexico, including his connection with Frida Kahlo

Writing narrative history from archives and primary sources

Subscribe to History Book Buffs for interviews with the best history writers and discussions of the most fascinating books in history.
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@HistoryBookBuffs

📚 Buy the Books MentionedThe Death of Trotsky – Josh IrelandStalin’s Apostles – Antonia SeniorTopics Discussed in the EpisodeListen / Watch History Book Buffs

In March 1948, Jan Masaryk, the Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia and son of the country's founding president, was found dead beneath the window of the Foreign Ministry in Prague.
Was it suicide?
Or was it murder ordered by Stalin’s agents?
Masaryk’s death came just weeks after the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia, and many across Europe saw it as the moment when any lingering hope of democracy in Eastern Europe finally died.
In this episode of History Book Buffs – Buffs in Brief, Antonia West and Roger Moorhouse explore:
• The Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1948
• Stalin’s strategy of “salami tactics” in Eastern Europe
• The Marshall Plan crisis that pushed Prague towards Moscow
• The mystery of Masaryk’s death — suicide or assassination?
• Why this moment helped crystallise the Cold War divide in Europe
Was this tragic death a personal act of despair — or one of the first political murders of the Cold War?
📚 Norman Naimark – Stalin and the Fate of Europe
📚 Timothy Snyder – Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
📚 Keith Lowe – Savage Continent
📚 Anne Applebaum – Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe
Books Mentioned

In this episode of History Book Buffs, Antonia Senior and Roger Moorhouse dive into the extraordinary story of Grigori Rasputin—the mystic, healer, and alleged holy man who gained an astonishing hold over Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra.
From his arrival in St Petersburg to his influence over the royal family through the illness of the Tsarevich Alexei, Rasputin became one of the most controversial figures in Russian history. To some he was a saintly healer; to others a drunken charlatan and sexual predator corrupting the imperial court.
But how much of the legend is true?
Using Antony Beevor’s gripping new book, the Buffs explore the political chaos, aristocratic mysticism, and cultural instability that allowed Rasputin to rise—and how his presence helped undermine the Romanov dynasty just months before the Russian Revolution.
Was Rasputin truly pulling the strings of power? Or was he simply the most visible symptom of a collapsing regime?
Along the way we discuss assassination plots, court scandals, the crisis of the First World War, and the strange cultural moment that made Rasputin possible.
Rasputin and the Downfall of the Romanovs — Antony Beevor

Nicholas and Alexandra — Robert K. Massie

Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs — Douglas Smith

Natasha's Dance — Orlando Figes

108 years ago, Lenin signed one of the most punishing peace treaties in modern history.
In this 10-minute Buffs in Brief, Antonia Senior and Roger Moorhouse examine the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk — the deal that took Russia out of the First World War but stripped it of Ukraine, the Baltic states, Finland, and a third of its population.
Why did the Bolsheviks accept such draconian terms?
Did it shape the Treaty of Versailles?
And are there echoes of Brest-Litovsk in today’s geopolitics?
📚 Books mentioned:
The Forgotten Peace – John Wheeler-Bennett

The Eastern Front – Nick Lloyd

Russia: Revolution and Civil War – Antony Beevor

Subscribe for more 10-minute histories of the days that changed the world.

A burning parliament. A communist caught at the scene. Within weeks, German democracy was effectively dismantled.
Was the Reichstag Fire a Nazi conspiracy — or a brilliantly exploited accident?
In this ten-minute deep dive, we unpack what happened and why it mattered — and recommend two excellent books if you want to go further:
Burning the Reichstag by Benjamin Carter Hett

The Reichstag Fire by Sven Felix Kellerhoff