Molotov was Stalin's first lieutenant from the mid-1920s and his head of government 1930-41. He was Soviet foreign minister 1939-1949 and negotiated with Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt and Truman. Apparently colourless, he was the only person who was prepared to disagree with Stalin, but he supported the Terror through conviction. Prior to his association with Stalin, Molotov was an active revolutionary in the period up to 1917, and one of Lenin's trusted aides in the new Soviet regime. Disgraced in Stalin's last years, after the dictator's death, Molotov was foreign minister again and a leading politician at home, until his quarrel with Khrushchev led to his downfall. This is the first comprehensive biography of Molotov and reflects the range of sources that have become available to historians since the fall of the USSR. It is a commentary on Soviet history. Molotov played his part in revolution, Civil War, Lenin's Russia, Stalin's struggle with the oppositions, collectivisation, industrialisation, the Terror, the Great Patriotic War, the beginnings of the Cold War, and the Khrushchev era.