Part 2/9:
Trotsky was born into a modest Jewish family in Yanovka, Ukraine. Raised in relative isolation, he became a voracious reader and quickly developed a rebellious streak, evident in his early school years where he organized a strike against a teacher. The socio-political climate of late 19th-century Russia heavily influenced his inclinations; the country was undergoing significant changes characterized by industrialization, urbanization, and emerging revolutionary fervor. The famine of 1891 catalyzed a new wave of socialist thought, birthing movements that Trotsky aligned himself with as a young man.