It is Snowball who will work out a strategy for the battle and lead the animals to victory, as Trotsky did during the Russian Civil War. Napoleon is cunning and can usually turn events to his advantage.ĭuring the first attack on the farm, Napoleon is nowhere to be seen. Snowball is similar to Leon Trotsky well-educated and wanted everyone’s lives to be improved, not just a minority. Napoleon can be compared with the young Stalin poorly educated and power hungry.

Napoleon and Snowball emerge as rivals, like Stalin and Trotsky, and they seldom agree. Some time later he takes the puppies and secretly educates and indoctrinates them. Napoleon soon starts to take charge of the food, firstly the milk which he commandeers for the pigs, suggesting that all animals are not equal.

Napoleon is not as clever as Snowball and when Old Major dies it is Snowball who takes the lead leaving Napoleon in the background. This can be seen as quite ominous and sinister. Napoleon represents Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union from the late twenties to the early fifties.Īt the start of the book, Napoleon is described as a young Berkshire boar who was large and fierce looking, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way.

Napoleon animal farm