Kropotkin, the theorist of communist anarchism, is one of the most significant figures in anarchism. In the two volumes of his memoirs (Volume I: 1842 to 1861; Volume II to 1886), he vividly recounts his youth among the Russian high nobility, the military career that was a given for his family in a tsarist Cossack regiment, his political radicalization, and the resulting resignation from military service. He thrillingly describes his initial contacts with the First International, his arrest, and his imprisonment in the notorious Peter and Paul Fortress due to his membership in a Narodniki group. His adventurous escape takes him through Siberia to exile in Switzerland, where he participates in the disputes within the First International. His death sentence was pronounced in absentia following a successful assassination attempt.