History Series / Trotsky

* GutturalGrowler: Felix Dzerzhinsky, head of the Cheka, has a noticeably deep and raspy voice.

* NotSoDifferent: Trotsky is shown over time not to be very different from the Tsarist government he loathed, nor his foe Stalin, surpassing the latter in brutality even while the former simply did more of the same.

** [[spoiler: He sets up Markin, his best and perhaps only friend, to be killed because he despises the fact that a lowly sailor has the nerve to treat him like a normal human being.]]]

* ThoseTwoGuys: Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev, much as in real life, are really seen without the other, and tend to function as a unit.

* AGodAmI: Trotsky actually considers himself to be even ''greater'' than God because unlike God, people can actually see and hear him and therefore have a much greater reason to worship and follow him.

* WellDoneSonGuy: Trotsky admits that, though confident in his beliefs and choices, he still wants his father's approval, while feeling guilty for doing things he dislikes.
%%This isn't a specific trope, but an index. Replace with one that fits.* YourCheatingHeart: Trotsky is never faithful in any of his romantic relationships and cheats on both his wives. Despite this he seems to genuinely love Natalia and remains on good terms with his first wife.

* AssInAmbassador: Trotsky's stint as the Commissar of Foreign affairs is a total disaster as he not only openly treats the German ambassador with contempt but also fails to move the negotiations forward at all.

** The Kronstadt Rebellion was in March 1921. In the show, it's said to be March 1918. Yet they retained a referenced to the Bolsheviks being in power for three and a half years. That would have been right by the real date, but not in what is given.

* PersecutedIntellectuals: In 1922 the Soviet government starts rounding up all kinds of dissident intellectuals, mostly poets and university professors. They initially want them shot, but Trotsky successfully convinces the government to just exile them (in a rare moment of mercy, though he says it's practical as mass executions could alientate many Western Communist sympathizes, urged on by Maxim Gorky).

* WellDoneSonGuy: Trotsky admits that, though confident in his beliefs and choices, he still wants his father's approval, still feeling guilty for doing things he dislikes.
* YourCheatingHeart: Trotsky is never faithful in any of his romantic relationships and cheats on both his wives. Despite this he seems to genuinely love Natalia and remains on good terms with his first wife.

* RightThroughHisPants: Trotsky's sex scenes with both Natalia and Laisa Reissner don't show him completely undressing.

* PersecutedIntellectuals: In 1922 the Soviet government starts rounding up all kinds of dissident intellectuals, mostly poets and university professors. They initially want them shot, but Trotsky successfully convinces the government to just exile them (in a rare moment of mercy, though he says it's practical as mass executions could alientate Western Communist sympathizes, urged on by Maxim Gorky).

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Trotsky was jailed for opposing the Tsarist government, who murdered unarmed protestors in the streets. He ends up using the same tactics or being part of a government which does and approving them, rising into an greater height. Gorky tries to urge him against this, but it only makes Trostky relent once, having some dissident intellectuals exiled rather than just shot.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Trotsky was jailed for opposing the Tsarist government, who murdered unarmed protestors in the streets. He ends up using the same tactics or being part of a government which does and approving them, which go to even greater heights. Gorky tries to urge him against this, but it only makes Trostky relent once, having dissident intellectuals exiled rather than just shot.

* TheExile: Dissident intellectuals in 1922 are made to leave the Soviet Union for good, on pain of death if they ever return. Their only other choice is ''also'' death.

* TheCasanova: Despite being pretty average looking, Trotsky's charisma is enough that he's with four different beautiful woman (while marrying two and having children by them).

* TheExile: Dissident intellectuals in 1922 are made to leave the Soviet Union for good, on pain of death if they ever return.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Trotsky was jailed for opposing the Tsarist government, who murdered unarmed protestors in the streets. He ends up using the same tactics or being part of a government which does and approving them, which go to even greater heights. Gorky tries to urge him against this, but it only makes Trostky relent once, having dissident intellectuals exiled rather than just shot.