Lenin was born in 1870. After a considerably rough childhood, with his father and mother both dieing when he was young, Vladimir emerged as a very powerful socialist leader. Believing heavily in the ideas of Marxism and tired of being under the Bolsheviks, Lenin lead a communist revolution and became the leader of the new Soviet Union. After his great success Lenin began to become corrupt with power and established a secret police, going against the very values he fought for. This led to an assassination attempt on his life, leaving a bullet in his neck. Strokes and bad health eventually led to Lenin's death at the age of 53 in the year 1924.