Includes bibliographical references and index.

Oxford professor David Priestland tells the epic story of a movement that has taken root in dozens of countries across two hundred years, from its birth after the French Revolution to its ideological maturity in nineteenth-century Germany to its rise to dominance (and subsequent fall) in the twentieth century, and shows how Communism, in all its varieties, appealed to different societies for different reasons.

Prologue: Classical crucible -- A German Prometheus -- Bronze horsemen -- Under western eyes -- Men of steel -- Popular fronts -- The east is red -- Empire -- Parricide -- Guerrillas -- Stasis -- High tide -- Twin revolutions -- Epilogue: Red, orange, green... and red?