Russian founder of the Bolsheviks and leader of the Russian Revolution and first head of the USSR (1870-1924)

Vladimir Ilyich (1870-1924) Leader of the Bolshevik revolution and the first head of state in Soviet Russia, 1917-24. Lenin was returned from exile into Russia aboard a German military train in April 1917. Wanting no part in the Allied war effort, he was the driving force behind the separate peace treaty concluded by Russia with Germany at Brest-Litovsk 11 months later.