What evidence is there that Lenin died because he was poisoned?
Upvote:13
It's hard in history to prove that something did not happen, which is along the lines of the "impossible to prove a negative" concept. However, I think most historians do not believe Lenin was poisoned.
This article is a nice and quick write-up of the issues Lenin dealt with, which included infections and an assassination attempt. Beyond being a megalomaniac, he was also a workaholic and forming a government that was under siege from all sides, yet trying to revise almost all aspects of Russian life. Given the standards of health care for Russia in this period, Lenin's medical history, age, work habits and a guess at his stress levels, it's not surprising that strokes hit him when they did.
The article above also provides a bit of conjecture about the poisoning scenario but I think it is simply conjecture. The article talks about the rivalry between Lenin and Stalin, but I believe a lot of historians misconstrue it.
When Lenin's strokes started to occur, it sidelined Lenin who would have otherwise been front and center in all decisions. This created a large power vacuum that had to be filled if the Soviet movement was to put the civil war in the bag and move on. The vacuum had to be filled and Lenin didn't want anyone else to fill it, and so he chafed when moves were made to fill the void without him. I believe his Testament was to lash out at those who were closing out his involvement with the government and to still exercise the control he was used to wielding.
Also, Stalin at this time was not one of the central figures in the Party or government yet, although he was an up-and-comer. I don't think Stalin would have made such a move against Lenin either - Stalin didn't have the coalition to challenge Lenin while Lenin was alive and had such a plot been discovered, he would have had no effective coalition to save himself. Stalin didn't assemble the ruling coalition as we know Stalin's regime today for several years later after Lenin's death.
More post
- 📝 Did Jinnah in 1947 or 1946 forsake his demand for Pakistan on the condition of maximum autonomy for the provinces within the united India?
- 📝 Why was Salzburg called „Stadt der Lebensforschung“ by the Nazis?
- 📝 Why does the parish register show more baptisms than burials?
- 📝 Why weren't Baden, Würtemberg and Bavaria independent states ever restored, unlike Austria?
- 📝 Did Nazi Germany ever actually make it illegal to practice Judaism?
- 📝 What exactly were the dealings of Ea-Nasir ("The Worst Businessman Of The 18th Century BC")?
- 📝 How true is the Soviet killing quota under Stalin?
- 📝 When and where did just war theory originate?
- 📝 Was Marine Corps B. Gen. Evans Fordyce Carlson -- leader of the Carlson Raiders -- suspected of being a communist?
- 📝 Where was Olitei?
- 📝 When did armies seriously consider tank-vs-tank warfare to be possible?
- 📝 How many suicide attack (kamikaze) pilots died and how many of them successfully hit ships during World War II?
- 📝 Were cities that enacted lockdowns during the 1918 flu pandemic successful in preventing any infections?
- 📝 Was high-altitude naval bombing ever effective in World War II?
- 📝 Why was Kentucky not admitted to the Union in 1789?
- 📝 What was the impact of Fischer vs. Spassky 1972 on the relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union?
- 📝 How do we know the patricians of Rome?
- 📝 What are the height units of contours on this WW2 topographic map?
- 📝 What were the circumstances surrounding Forrest's injury at Shiloh?
- 📝 Did pagan tribes in the Arab peninsula use bells for superstitious or religious reasons before and with the introduction of Islam?
- 📝 Why did the Spartans learn to read and write if they weren't allowed to keep records?
- 📝 Exactly what time of the day was the UN charter official?
- 📝 Evidence of diets that were exclusively vegetarian
- 📝 Names of articles worn by men of ~11th century European nobility
- 📝 Why do musketeers shoot in volley?
- 📝 What was considered an epoch by the Phoenicians?
- 📝 Major power shift in Gaul circa 350 B.C
- 📝 Was there an increased interest in 'the spirit world' in the aftermath of the First World War?
- 📝 Why did native Americans and Europeans mix in South America but not in North America?
- 📝 Is "losing around 100 000 men" and "100 000 casualties" the same thing?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What evidence is there that Lenin died because he was poisoned?
- 📝 What hard, physical evidence is there that Davy Crockett actually died at the Alamo?
- 📝 Is there any evidence to support the claim that the United States was "suckered into WW1" by Zionists, made by Benjamin Freedman in his 1961 speech?
- 📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
- 📝 What kind of ink was used by medieval scribes in Iceland, given that there were no plant galls for iron-gall ink?
- 📝 What is the evidence to claim that political order in ancient Rome was sufficiently different under "kingdom", "republic" and "empire"?
- 📝 What documentary evidence is there that Roman crucifixion victims were completely nude?
- 📝 Is there convincing evidence that the language of Bulgars (proto-Bulgarians) was not Turkic, but Indo-European?
- 📝 Is there evidence that working for the Pony Express was dangerous, or not dangerous?
- 📝 What evidence is there that English Political divisions from the 1600s are replicated in American politics today?
- 📝 What evidence support the theory that the killing of unwanted children was practiced in ancient Athens?
- 📝 Is there evidence to suggest that vampire fiction was invented to satirize Lord Byron?
- 📝 Is there evidence that scrubbing floors on one's hands and knees was a commonplace drudgery for women in the past?
- 📝 What evidence supports the claim that Shivaji's father was Muslim?
- 📝 Is there any evidence that the book of Isaiah was written before Cyrus?
- 📝 What evidence is there that Alfred paid the Danes to leave Wessex in 876?
- 📝 Is there evidence that Harald Bluetooth died from an arrow to the rear?
- 📝 Why was there calm in Indian-held Kashmir until 1989? What happened in 1989 that triggered the public unrest that still continues to this day?
- 📝 Is there any evidence to corroborate the claim that Rudolf Höss was physically abused by the Allies after his capture?
- 📝 What evidence is there to suggest that 'fear of the bomb' is culturally specific?
- 📝 Is there any evidence that Sally Hemings' relationship with Jefferson was consensual on her part?
- 📝 What evidence is there that Bell stole the telephone design from Gray?
- 📝 Is there any evidence in history to suggest that there was a Melanchro (dark-skinned) population in Colchis as claimed by Herodotus?
- 📝 Is there evidence to suggest the British Parliament was reluctant to deal with the Nassau Pirates because they made a convenient bogeyman?
- 📝 What evidence is there that Jesus went to India?
- 📝 Is there any evidence that the US strategy at Midway was deliberate?
- 📝 Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
- 📝 Are there historical examples of audiences drawn to a work that was "so bad it's good"?
- 📝 What was the first solar eclipse that was demonstrably predicted in advance?
- 📝 Is there any evidence that Cleopatra and Caesarion considered fleeing to India to escape the Romans?