Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, or Lenin (1870 - 1924), was the first president of the Soviet Union.
In 1898, Lenin married Nadezhda Krupskaya in Siberia where both had been exiled. They never had children.
After exile in Siberia adopted the pseudonym "Lenin. The word Lenin is believed to derive from the Russian river Lena.
Although Lenin and Stalin were political enemies already at the end of Lenin's life, Stalin created a cult around Lenin after his death to glorify the history of the revolution.
St. Petersburg was known as Leningrad from 1924 to 1991, when it returned to its original name after the collapse of the communist regime.
Alexander, Lenin's older brother, was arrested and executed in 1887 for his involvement in a plan to assassinate Emperor Alexander III.
Lenin's grandfather on his mother's side, Srul Moishevich Blank, was a Jew, who changed his name to "Aleksandr Dmitrievich" when he abandoned Judaism for Christianity and thus pursued his medical career unimpeded.
At his death, Lenin's brain was extracted before embalming his body. The Soviet rulers hired a well-known German neuroscientist, Oskar Vogt, to study Lenin's brain and locate the brain cells responsible for his genius.
Lenin was characterized by his emotionless rationality.
Lenin survived an assassination attempt in August 1918. In April 1922 one of the bullets of that attack was finally extracted from his neck.
Before dying, Lenin noted the need for profound changes within the government. He also criticized several of the governing members, Stalin in particular.