7 March 1922
The Russian Civil War has been raging since 1917. The Whites are nearly defeated, and the Bolsheviks are deciding who should lead the new "Soviet Union." Joseph Stalin is clearly the most popular canidate when suddenly, while in Moscow, a Tsarist assassin shoots him. Stalin dies in a hospital two days later. Nikolai Bukharin, one of Stalin's allies, takes the helm as the first leader of the Soviet Union.