Russian Civil War 1

Russian Civil War

Russian Civil WarPart of World War I and the Revolutions of 1917–23

A Red Army detachment during the war

Date November 1917 – October 1922[1]

Location Former Russian Empire, Mongolia, Tuva, Persia

Result • Victory for the Red Army in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, South Caucasus, Central Asia, Tuva, and Mongolia• Victory for pro-independence movements in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland

Territorialchanges

Establishment of the Soviet Union; Independence of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland[2]

Belligerents Russian SFSR and other Soviet republics

Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine (1918–21) Left SR (until March 1918) Green armies (until 1919)

White Movement

Newly emerged republics

Allied Intervention

Pro-German armies

Commanders and leaders Vladimir Lenin Leon Trotsky Mikhail Tukhachevsky Mikhail Frunze

Nestor Makhno

Alexander Kolchak  Lavr Kornilov † Anton Denikin Pyotr Wrangel Nikolai Yudenich

Strength3,000,000

103,000 Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine

2,400,000 White Russians

Casualties and losses

1,212,824 casualties The records are incomplete.[] At least 1,500,000

Various anti-soviet factions also fought each other, for example pro-German armies fought against Baltic countries while Armeniaand Azerbaijan fought each other etc.

Russian Civil War 2

The Russian Civil War (Russian: Гражданская война́ в Росси́и Grazhdanskaya voyna v Rossiy) (November 1917– October 1922) was a multi-party war in the former Russian Empire fought between the Bolshevik Red Army andthe White Army, the loosely allied anti-Bolshevik forces. Many foreign armies warred against the Red Army,notably the Allied Forces and the pro-German armies.[3] The Red Army defeated the White Armed Forces of SouthRussia in Ukraine and the army led by Aleksandr Kolchak in Siberia in 1919. The remains of the White forcescommanded by Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel were beaten in the Crimea and were evacuated in the autumn of 1920.Many pro-independence movements emerged after the break-up of the Russian Empire and fought in the war. Anumber of them – Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland – were established as sovereign states. The rest ofthe former Russian Empire was consolidated into the Soviet Union shortly afterwards.

Background

February RevolutionAfter the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the Russian Provisional Government was established during theFebruary Revolution of 1917.

Creation of the Red ArmyIn the wake of the October Revolution, the old Russian Imperial Army had been demobilized; the volunteer-basedRed Guard was the Bolsheviks' main military force, augmented by an armed military component of the Cheka, theBolshevik state security apparatus. In January, after significant reverses in combat, War Commissar Leon Trotskyheaded the reorganization of the Red Guard into a Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, in order to create a moreprofessional fighting force. Political commissars were appointed to each unit of the army to maintain morale andensure loyalty.In June 1918, when it became apparent that a revolutionary army composed solely of workers would be far toosmall, Trotsky instituted mandatory conscription of the rural peasantry into the Red Army.[4] Opposition of ruralRussians to Red Army conscription units was overcome by taking hostages and shooting them when necessary inorder to force compliance,[5] exactly the same practices used by the White Army officers.[6] Former Tsarist officerswere utilized as "military specialists" (voenspetsy),[7] sometimes taking their families hostage in order to ensureloyalty.[8] At the start of the war, three quarters of the Red Army officer corps was composed of former Tsaristofficers. By its end, 83% of all Red Army divisional and corps commanders were ex-Tsarist soldiers.[9]

Anti-Bolshevik movement

Anti-Bolshevik Volunteer Army in South Russia,January 1918

While resistance to the Red Guard began on the very next day after theBolshevik uprising, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the political banbecame a catalyst[10] for the formation of anti-Bolshevik groups bothinside and outside Russia, pushing them into action against the newregime.

A loose confederation of anti-Bolshevik forces aligned against theCommunist government, including land-owners, republicans,conservatives, middle-class citizens, reactionaries, pro-monarchists,liberals, army generals, non-Bolshevik socialists who still hadgrievances and democratic reformists, voluntarily united only in theiropposition to Bolshevik rule. Their military forces, bolstered by forced conscriptions and terror and by foreign

influence and led by General Yudenich, Admiral Kolchak and General Denikin, became known as the White movement (sometimes referred to as the "White Army"), and they controlled significant parts of the former Russian

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Empire for most of the war.A Ukrainian nationalist movement known as the Green Army was active in Ukraine in the early part of the war.More significant was the emergence of an anarchist political and military movement known as the RevolutionaryInsurrectionary Army of Ukraine or the Anarchist Black Army led by Nestor Makhno. The Black Army, whichcounted numerous Jews and Ukrainian peasants in its ranks, played a key part in halting General Denikin's WhiteArmy offensive towards Moscow during 1919, later ejecting Cossack forces from the Crimea.

Russian soldiers of the anti-Bolshevik SiberianArmy in 1919

The remoteness of the Volga Region, the Ural Region, Siberia, and theFar East was favourable for the anti-Bolshevik powers, and the Whitesset up a number of organizations in the cities of these regions. Some ofthe military forces were set up on the basis of clandestine officers'organisations in the cities.

The Czechoslovak Legions had been part of the Russian army andnumbered around 30,000 troops by October 1917. They had anagreement with the new Bolshevik government to be evacuated fromthe Eastern Front via the Port of Vladivostok to France. The transportfrom the Eastern Front to the Port of Vladivostok slowed down in thechaos, and the troops became dispersed all along the Trans-Siberian

Railway. Under pressure from the Central Powers, Trotsky ordered the disarmament and arrest of the legionaries,which created tensions with the Bolsheviks.

American troops in Vladivostok during the Alliedintervention in the Russian Civil War (August

1918)

The Western Allies also expressed their dismay at the Bolsheviks, (1)upset at the withdrawal of Russia from the war effort, (2) worriedabout a possible Russo-German alliance, and perhaps most importantly(3) galvanised by the prospect of the Bolsheviks making good theirthreats to assume no responsibility for, and so default on, ImperialRussia's massive foreign loans. In addition, there was a concern, sharedby many Central Powers as well, that the socialist revolutionary ideaswould spread to the West. Hence, many of these countries expressedtheir support for the Whites, including the provision of troops andsupplies. Winston Churchill declared that Bolshevism must be"strangled in its cradle".[11] The British and the French had supportedRussia on a massive scale with war materials. After the treaty, it looked like much of that material would fall into thehands of the Germans. Under this pretext began allied intervention in the Russian Civil War with the UnitedKingdom and France sending troops into Russian ports. There were violent confrontations with troops loyal to theBolsheviks.

The German Empire created several short-lived satellite buffer states within its sphere of influence after the Treaty ofBrest-Litovsk: the "United Baltic Duchy", "Duchy of Courland and Semigallia", "Kingdom of Lithuania", "Kingdomof Poland", the "Belarusian People’s Republic", and the "Ukrainian State". Following the defeat of Germany inWorld War I in November 1918, these states were abolished.Finland was the first republic that declared its independence from Russia in December 1917 and established itself inthe ensuing Finnish Civil War from January to May 1918. The Second Polish Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, andEstonia formed their armies immediately after the abolition of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty and the start of the Sovietwestward offensive in November 1918.

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Geography and chronology

  Bolshevik control, February 1918  Bolshevik control, Summer of1918  Maximum advance of the anti-Bolshevik armiesEuropean theatre of the

Russian Civil War

In the European part of Russia, the war wasfought across three main fronts: the eastern, thesouthern, and the northwestern. It can also beroughly split into the following periods.The first period lasted from the Revolutionuntil the Armistice. Already on the date of theRevolution, Cossack General Kaledin refusedto recognize it and assumed full governmentalauthority in the Don region,[12] where theVolunteer Army began amassing support. Thesigning of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk alsoresulted in direct Allied intervention in Russiaand the arming of military forces opposed tothe Bolshevik government. There were alsomany German commanders who offeredsupport against the Bolsheviks, fearing aconfrontation with them was impending aswell.

During this first period, the Bolsheviks tookcontrol of Central Asia out of the hands of theProvisional Government and White Army,setting up a base for the Communist Party inthe Steppe and Turkestan, where nearly twomillion Russian settlers were located.[13]

Most of the fighting in this first period wassporadic, involving only small groups amid a fluid and rapidly shifting strategic scene. Among the antagonists werethe Czechoslovaks, known as the Czechoslovak Legion or "White Czechs",[14] the Poles of the Polish 5th RifleDivision, and the pro-Bolshevik Red Latvian riflemen.

The second period of the war lasted from January to November 1919. At first the White armies' advances from thesouth (under General Denikin), the east (under Admiral Kolchak), and the northwest (under General Yudenich) weresuccessful, forcing the Red Army and its leftist allies back on all three fronts. In July 1919, the Red Army sufferedanother reverse after a mass defection of Red Army units in the Crimea to the anarchist Black Army under NestorMakhno, enabling anarchist forces to consolidate power in Ukraine.Leon Trotsky soon reformed the Red Army, concluding the first of two military alliances with the anarchists. InJune, the Red Army first checked Kolchak's advance. After a series of engagements, assisted by a Black Armyoffensive against White supply lines, the Red Army defeated Denikin's and Yudenich's armies in October andNovember.The third period of the war was the extended siege of the last White forces in the Crimea. Wrangel had gathered theremnants of Denikin's armies, occupying much of the Crimea. An attempted invasion of southern Ukraine wasrebuffed by the anarchist Black Army under the command of Nestor Makhno. Pursued into the Crimea by Makhno'stroops, Wrangel went over to the defensive in the Crimea. After an abortive move north against the Red Army,Wrangel's troops were forced south by Red Army and Black Army forces; Wrangel and the remains of his army wereevacuated to Constantinople in November 1920.

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Warfare

October RevolutionIn the October Revolution, the Bolshevik Party directed the Red Guard (armed groups of workers and Imperial armydeserters) to seize control of Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), and immediately began the armed takeover of cities andvillages throughout the former Russian Empire. In January 1918, the Bolsheviks dissolved the Russian ConstituentAssembly, and proclaimed the Soviets (workers’ councils) as the new government of Russia.

Initial anti-Bolshevik uprisings

Summer 1917 in Russia near Moscow. In thepark of the dacha, a German babushka and her

two granddaughters. The children flew with theirSwiss parents (probably in 1921) to Switzerlandin a dramatic escape, living first in the South ofRussia (Rostov-on-Don), later fleeing throughOdessa by sealed cattle carriage to Warsaw.

When the family arrived in Basel, they had toendure an obliged quarantine.

The first attempt to regain power from the Bolsheviks was made by theKerensky-Krasnov uprising in October 1917. It was supported by theJunker Mutiny in Petrograd but was quickly put down by the RedGuard, notably the Latvian rifle division.

The initial groups that fought against the Communists were localCossack armies that had declared their loyalty to the ProvisionalGovernment. Kaledin of the Don Cossacks and Semenov of theSiberian Cossacks were prominent among them. The leading Tsaristofficers of the old regime also started to resist. In November, GeneralAlekseev, the Tsar's Chief-of-Staff during the First World War, beganto organise the Volunteer Army in Novocherkassk. Volunteers of thissmall army were mostly officers of the old Russian army, militarycadets and students. In December 1917, Alekseev was joined byKornilov, Denikin, and other Tsarist officers who had escaped from thejail where they had been imprisoned following the abortive Kornilovaffair just before the Revolution.[15] At the beginning of December1917, groups of volunteers and Cossacks captured Rostov.

Having stated in the November 1917 “Declaration of Rights of Nations of Russia” that any nation under imperialRussian rule should be immediately given the power of self-determination, the Bolsheviks had begun to usurp thepower of the Provisional Government in the territories of Central Asia soon after the establishment of the TurkestanCommittee in Tashkent.[16] In April 1917, the Provisional Government set up this committee, which was mostlymade up of former tsarist officials.[17] The Bolsheviks attempted to take control of the Committee in Tashkent on 12September 1917, but their mission was unsuccessful, and many Bolshevik leaders were arrested. However, becausethe Committee lacked representation of the native population and poor Russian settlers, they had to release theBolshevik prisoners almost immediately due to public outcry, and a successful takeover of this government bodytook place two months later in November.[18] The success of the Bolshevik party over the Provisional Governmentduring 1917 was mostly due to the support they received from the working class of Central Asia. The Leagues ofMohammedam Working People, which Russian settlers and natives who had been sent to work behind the lines forthe Tsarist government in 1916 formed in March 1917, had led numerous strikes in the industrial centers throughoutSeptember 1917.[19]

However, after the Bolshevik destruction of the Provisional Government in Tashkent, Muslim elites formed anautonomous government in Turkestan, commonly called the "Kokand autonomy" (or simply Kokand).[20] The WhiteRussians supported this government body, which lasted several months because of Bolshevik troop isolation fromMoscow.[21]

In January 1918 the Soviet forces under Lieutenant Colonel Muravyov invaded Ukraine and invested Kiev, where the Central Council of the Ukrainian People's Republic held power. With the help of the Kiev Arsenal Uprising, the

Russian Civil War 6

Bolsheviks captured the city on 26 January.[22]

Peace with the Central PowersThe Bolsheviks decided to immediately make peace with the German Empire and the Central Powers, as they hadpromised the Russian people before the Revolution.[23] Vladimir Lenin's political enemies attributed that decision tohis sponsorship by the foreign office of Wilhelm II, German Emperor, offered to Lenin in hope that, with arevolution, Russia would withdraw from World War I. That suspicion was bolstered by the German ForeignMinistry's sponsorship of Lenin's return to Petrograd.[24] However, after the military fiasco of the summer offensive(June 1917) by the Russian Provisional Government, and in particular after the failed summer offensive of theProvisional Government had devastated the structure of the Russian Army, it became crucial that Lenin realize thepromised peace.[25][26] Even before the failed summer offensive the Russian population was very sceptical about thecontinuation of the war. Western socialists had promptly arrived from France and from the UK to convince theRussians to continue the fight but could not change the new pacifist mood of Russia.[27]

On 16 December 1917, an armistice was signed between Russia and the Central Powers in Brest-Litovsk and peacetalks began.[28] As a condition for peace, the proposed treaty by the Central Powers conceded huge portions of theformer Russian Empire to the German Empire and the Ottoman Empire, greatly upsetting nationalists andconservatives. Leon Trotsky, representing the Bolsheviks, refused at first to sign the treaty while continuing toobserve a unilateral cease fire, following the policy of "No war, no peace".In view of this, on 18 February 1918, the Germans began Operation Faustschlag on the Eastern Front, encounteringvirtually no resistance in a campaign that lasted eleven days. Signing a formal peace treaty was the only option in theeyes of the Bolsheviks because the Russian army was demobilized, and the newly formed Red Guard was incapableof stopping the advance. They also understood that the impending counterrevolutionary resistance was moredangerous than the concessions of the treaty, which Lenin viewed as temporary in the light of aspirations for a worldrevolution.The Soviets acceded to a peace treaty, and the formal agreement, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, was ratified on 6March. The Soviets viewed the treaty as merely a necessary and expedient means to end the war. Therefore, theyceded large amounts of territory to the German Empire.

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Ukraine, South Russia, and Caucasus 1918

February 1918 article from The New York Timesshowing a map of the Russian Imperial territoriesclaimed by Ukraine People's Republic at the time,

before the annexation of the Austro-Hungarianlands of the West Ukrainian People's Republic.

Under Soviet pressure, the Volunteer Army embarked on the epic IceMarch from Yekaterinodar to Kuban on 22 February 1918, where theyjoined with the Kuban Cossacks to mount an abortive assault onYekaterinodar.[29] The Soviets recaptured Rostov on the next day.[30]

General Kornilov was killed in the fighting on 13 April, and GeneralDenikin took over the command. Fighting off its pursuers withoutrespite, the army succeeded in breaking its way through back towardsthe Don, where the Cossack uprising against Bolsheviks had started.

The Baku Soviet Commune was established on 13 April. Germanylanded its Caucasus Expedition troops in Poti on 8 June. The OttomanArmy of Islam (in coalition with Azerbaijan) drove them out of Bakuon 26 July 1918. Subsequently, the Dashanaks, Right SRs andMensheviks started negotiations with General Dunsterville, thecommander of the British troops in Persia. The Bolsheviks and theirLeft SR allies were opposed to it, but on 25 July the majority of theSoviet voted to call in the British, and the Bolsheviks resigned. TheBaku Soviet Commune ended its existence and was replaced by theCentral Caspian Dictatorship.

In June 1918, the Volunteer Army, numbering some 9,000 men, startedits second Kuban campaign. Yekaterinodar was encircled on 1 Augustand fell on the 3rd. In September–October, heavy fighting took place atArmavir and Stavropol. On 13 October, General Kazanovich's division took Armavir, and on 1 November, generalPyotr Wrangel secured Stavropol. This time Red forces had no escape, and by the beginning of 1919, the wholeNorthern Caucasus was free from Bolsheviks.

In October, General Alekseev, the leader for the White armies in southern Russia, died of a heart attack. Anagreement was reached between Denikin, head of the Volunteer Army, and PN Krasnov, Ataman of the DonCossacks, which united their forces under the sole command of Denikin. The Armed Forces of South Russia werethus created.

Eastern Russia and Siberia, 1918The Revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion broke out in May 1918,[31] and the legionaries took control of Chelyabinskin June. Simultaneously, Russian officers' organisations overthrew the Bolsheviks in Petropavlovsk and in Omsk.Within a month the Whites controlled most of the Trans-Siberian Railroad from Lake Baikal to the Ural regions.During the summer, Bolshevik power in Siberia was eliminated. The Provisional Government of AutonomousSiberia formed in Omsk.By the end of July, the Whites had extended their gains westwards, capturing Yekaterinburg on 26 July 1918.Shortly before the fall of Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918, the former Tsar and his family were executed by the UralSoviet to prevent them falling into the hands of the Whites.The Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries supported peasants fighting against Soviet control of food supplies.[citation needed] In May 1918, with the support of the Czechoslovak Legion, they took Samara and Saratov, establishing the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly – known as the "Komuch". By July, the authority of the Komuch extended over much of the area controlled by the Czechoslovak Legion. The Komuch pursued an ambivalent social policy, combining democratic and even socialist measures, such as the institution of an eight-hour working day, with "restorative" actions, such as returning both factories and land to their former owners.

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After the fall of Kazan Vladimir Lenin called for the dispatch of Petrograd workers to the Kazan Front: "We mustsend down the maximum number of Petrograd workers: (1) a few dozen 'leaders' like Kayurov; (2) a few thousandmilitants 'from the ranks'".After a series of reverses at the front, War Commissar Trotsky instituted increasingly harsh measures in order toprevent unauthorized withdrawals, desertions, or mutinies in the Red Army. In the field, the Cheka specialinvestigations forces, termed the Special Punitive Department of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission forCombat of Counter-Revolution and Sabotage, or Special Punitive Brigades, followed the Red Army, conductingfield tribunals and summary executions of soldiers and officers who deserted, retreated from their positions, or failedto display sufficient offensive zeal.[32][33] Trotsky extended the use of the death penalty to the occasional politicalcommissar whose detachment retreated or broke in the face of the enemy.[citation needed] In August, frustrated atcontinued reports of Red Army troops breaking under fire, Trotsky authorized the formation of barrier troopsstationed behind unreliable Red Army units, with orders to shoot anyone withdrawing from the battle-line withoutauthorisation.[34]

Bolsheviks killed by Czechoslovak legionaries ofthe 8th regiment at Nikolsk Ussuriysky, 1918.

In September 1918, Komuch, the Siberian Provisional Government,and other local anti-Soviet governments met in Ufa and agreed to forma new Provisional All-Russian Government in Omsk, headed by aDirectory of five: three Socialist-Revolutionaries (Nikolai Avksentiev,Boldyrev, and Vladimir Zenzinov) and two Kadets, (VA Vinogradovand PV Vologodskii).

By the fall of 1918, Anti-Bolshevik White Forces in the east includedthe People's Army (Komuch), the Siberian Army (of the SiberianProvisional Government) and insurgent Cossack units of Orenburg,Ural, Siberia, Semirechye, Baikal, Amur, and Ussuri Cossacks,nominally under the orders of general VG Boldyrev, Commander-in-Chief, appointed by the Ufa Directorate.

On the Volga, Colonel Kappel's White detachment captured Kazan 7 August, but the Reds re-captured the city on 8September 1918 following the Red counter-offensive. On the 11th, Simbirsk fell, and on 8 October, Samara. TheWhites fell back eastwards to Ufa and Orenburg.In Omsk, the Russian Provisional Government quickly came under the influence of the its new War Minister,Rear-Admiral Kolchak. On 18 November, a coup d'état established Kolchak as dictator. The members of theDirectory were arrested and Kolchak proclaimed the "Supreme Ruler of Russia".By mid-December 1918, White armies in the east had to leave Ufa, but they balanced this failure with a successfuldrive towards Perm. Perm was taken on 24 December.

Central Asia 1918In February 1918 the Red Army overthrew the White Russian-supported Kokand autonomy of Turkestan.[35]

Although this move seemed to solidify Bolshevik power in Central Asia, more troubles soon arose for the Red Armyas the Allied Forces began to intervene. British support of the White Army provided the greatest threat to the RedArmy in Central Asia during 1918. Great Britain sent three prominent military leaders to the area. One wasLieutenant-Colonel Bailey, who recorded a mission to Tashkent, from where the Bolsheviks forced him to flee.Another was General Malleson, leading the Malleson Mission, who assisted the Mensheviks in Ashkhabad (now thecapital of Turkmenistan) with a small Anglo-Indian force. However, he failed to gain control of Tashkent, Bukhara,and Khiva. The third was Major-General Dunsterville, who the Bolsheviks drove out of Central Asia only a monthafter his arrival in August 1918.[36] Despite setbacks due to British invasions during 1918, the Bolsheviks continuedto make progress in bringing the Central Asian population under the influence of their party. The first regionalcongress of the Russian Communist Party convened in the city of Tashkent in June 1918 in order to build support fora local Bolshevik Party.[37]

Russian Civil War 9

London Geographical Institute’s 1919 map ofEurope after the treaties of Brest-Litovsk and

Batum and before the treaties of Tartu, Kars, andRiga

Left SR uprising

In July, two Left SR and Cheka employees, Blyumkin and Andreyev,assassinated the German ambassador, Count Mirbach. In Moscow LeftSR uprising was put down by the Bolsheviks, using the Cheka militarydetachments. Lenin personally apologised to the Germans for theassassination. Mass arrests of Socialist-Revolutionaries followed.

Estonia, Latvia, and Petrograd

Estonia cleared its territory from the Red Army by January 1919.[38]

Baltic German volunteers captured Riga from the Red LatvianRiflemen on 22 May, but the Estonian 3rd Division defeated the BalticGermans a month later, aiding to establish the Republic of Latvia inpower.

General Nikolai Yudenich.

This rendered possible another threat to the Red Army – one fromGeneral Yudenich, who had spent the summer organizing theNorthwestern Army in Estonia with local and British support. InOctober 1919, he tried to capture Petrograd in a sudden assault with aforce of around 20,000 men. The attack was well-executed, using nightattacks and lightning cavalry maneuvers to turn the flanks of thedefending Red Army. Yudenich also had six British tanks, whichcaused panic whenever they appeared. The Allies gave large quantitiesof aid to Yudenich, who, however, complained that he was receivinginsufficient support.

By 19 October, Yudenich's troops had reached the outskirts of the city.Some members of the Bolshevik central committee in Moscow werewilling to give up Petrograd, but Trotsky refused to accept the loss ofthe city and personally organized its defenses. He declared, "It isimpossible for a little army of 15,000 ex-officers to master a workingclass capital of 700,000 inhabitants." He settled on a strategy of urbandefense, proclaiming that the city would "defend itself on its ownground" and that the White Army would be lost in a labyrinth of fortified streets and there "meet its grave".[39]

Trotsky armed all available workers, men and women, ordering the transfer of military forces from Moscow. Withina few weeks the Red Army defending Petrograd had tripled in size and outnumbered Yudenich three to one. At thispoint Yudenich, short of supplies, decided to call off the siege of the city and withdrew, repeatedly askingpermission to withdraw his army across the border to Estonia. However, units retreating across the border weredisarmed and interned by order of the Estonian government, which had entered into peace negotiations with theSoviet Government on 16 September and had been informed by the Soviet authorities of their 6 November decisionthat, should the White Army be allowed to retreat into Estonia, it would be pursued across the border by the Reds. Infact the Reds attacked Estonian army positions, and fighting continued until a ceasefire came into effect on 3 January1920. Following the Treaty of Tartu most of Yudenich's soldiers went into exile.The Finnish general Mannerheim planned a Finnish intervention to help the Whites in Russia capture Petrograd. Hedid not, however, gain the necessary support for the endeavor. Lenin considered it "completely certain, that theslightest aid from Finland would have determined the fate of Petrograd".

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Northern Russia 1919The British occupied Murmansk and, alongside the Americans, seized Arkhangelsk. With the retreat of Kolchak inSiberia, they pulled their troops out of the cities before the winter trapped their forces in the port.

Siberia 1919

Admiral Kolchack reviewing the troops, 1919.

At the beginning of March 1919, the general offensive of the Whiteson the eastern front began. Ufa was retaken on 13 March; bymid-April, the White Army stopped at theGlazov-Chistopol-Bugulma-Buguruslan-Sharlyk line. Reds startedtheir counter-offensive against Kolchak's forces at the end of April.The Red Army, led by the capable commander Tukhachevsky,captured Elabuga on 26 May, Sarapul on 2 June, and Izevsk on the 7thand continued to push forward. Both sides had victories and losses, butby the middle of summer the Red Army was larger than the WhiteArmy and had managed to recapture territory previously lost.

Following the abortive offensive at Chelyabinsk, the White armieswithdrew beyond the Tobol. In September 1919, White offensive was launched against the Tobol front, the lastattempt to change the course of events. But on 14 October, the Reds counterattacked and then began theuninterrupted retreat of the Whites to the east.

On 14 November 1919, the Red Army captured Omsk. Admiral Kolchak lost control of his government shortly afterthis defeat; White Army forces in Siberia essentially ceased to exist by December. Retreat of the eastern front byWhite armies lasted three months, until mid-February 1920, when the survivors, after crossing Lake Baikal, reachedChita area and joined Ataman Semenov's forces.

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South Russia 1919The Cossacks had been unable to organize and capitalize on their successes at the end of 1918. By 1919 they hadbegun to run short of supplies. Consequently, when the Soviet counter-offensive began in January 1919 under theBolshevik leader Antonov-Ovseenko, the Cossack forces rapidly fell apart. The Red Army captured Kiev on 3February 1919.

White propaganda poster "For united Russia"representing the Bolsheviks as a fallen

communist dragon and the White Cause as acrusading knight.

Denikin's military strength continued to grow in the spring of 1919.During the several months in winter and spring of 1919, hard fightingwith doubtful outcomes took place in the Donets basin where theattacking Bolsheviks met White forces. At the same time, Denikin'sArmed Forces of South Russia (AFSR) completed the elimination ofRed forces in the northern Caucasus and advanced towards Tsaritsyn.At the end of April and beginning of May, the AFSR attacked on allfronts from the Dnepr to the Volga, and by the beginning of thesummer they had won numerous battles. French forces landed inOdessa but after having done almost no fighting, withdrew their troopson 8 April 1919. By mid-June the Reds were chased from the Crimeaand from the Odessa area. Denikin's troops took the cities of Kharkovand Belgorod. At the same time White troops under Wrangel'scommand took Tsaritsyn on 17 June 1919. On 20 June, Denikin issuedhis famous "Moscow directive", ordering all AFSR units to get readyfor a decisive offensive to take Moscow.

Although Great Britain had withdrawn its own troops from the theater,it continued to give significant military aid (money, weapons, food,ammunition, and some military advisors) to the White armies during1919.After the capture of Tsaritsyn, Wrangel pushed towards Saratov, butTrotsky, seeing the danger of the union with Kolchak, against whomthe Red command was concentrating large masses of troops, repulsed his attempts with heavy losses. WhenKolchak's army in the east began to retreat in June and July, the bulk of the Red Army, free now from any seriousdanger from Siberia, was directed against Denikin.

Denikin's forces constituted a real threat and for a time threatened to reach Moscow. The Red Army, stretched thinby fighting on all fronts, was forced out of Kiev on 30 August. Kursk and Orel were taken. The Cossack Don Armyunder the command of General Konstantin Mamontov continued north towards Voronezh, but there Tukhachevsky'sarmy defeated them on 24 October. Tukhachevsky's army then turned towards yet another threat, the rebuiltVolunteer Army of General Denikin.The high tide of the White movement against the Soviets had been reached in September 1919. By this timeDenikin's forces were dangerously overextended. The White front had no depth or stability: it had become a series ofpatrols with occasional columns of slowly advancing troops without reserves. Lacking ammunition, artillery, andfresh reinforcements, Denikin's army was decisively defeated in a series of battles in October and November 1919.The Red Army recaptured Kiev on 17 December, and the defeated Cossacks fled back towards the Black Sea.While the White armies were being routed in the center and the east, they had succeeded in driving Nestor Makhno'sanarchist Black Army (formally known as the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine) out of part ofsouthern Ukraine and the Crimea. Despite this setback, Moscow was loath to aid Makhno and the Black Army andrefused to provide arms to anarchist forces in Ukraine.

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The main body of White forces, the Volunteers and the Don Army, pulled back towards the Don, to Rostov. Thesmaller body (Kiev and Odessa troops) withdrew to Odessa and the Crimea, which it had managed to protect fromthe Bolsheviks during the winter of 1919–1920.

Central Asia 1919By February 1919 the British government had pulled their military forces out of Central Asia.[40] Despite thissuccess for the Red Army, the White Army’s assaults in European Russia and other areas broke communicationbetween Moscow and Tashkent. For a time, Central Asia was completely cut off from the Red Army forces inSiberia.[41] Although this communication failure weakened the Red Army, the Bolsheviks continued their efforts togain support for the Bolshevik Party in Central Asia by holding a second regional conference in March. During thisconference a regional bureau of Muslim organizations of the Russian Bolshevik Party was formed. The BolshevikParty continued to try and gain support among the native population by giving them the impression of betterrepresentation for the Central Asian population and throughout the end of the year were able to maintain harmonywith the Central Asian people.[42]

Communication difficulties with the Red Army forces in Siberia and European Russia ceased to be a problem bymid-November 1919. Due to Red Army success north of Central Asia, communication with Moscow wasre-established, and the Bolsheviks were able to claim victory over the White Army in Turkestan.

South Russia, Ukraine, and Kronstadt 1920–21

Victims of the Russian famine of 1921.

By the beginning of 1920, the main body of the Armed Forces of SouthRussia was rapidly retreating towards the Don, to Rostov. Denikinhoped to hold the crossings of the Don, rest, and reform his troops, butthe White Army was not able to hold the Don area and at the end ofFebruary 1920, started a retreat across Kuban towards Novorossiysk.Slipshod evacuation of Novorossiysk proved to be a dark event for theWhite Army. About 40,000 men were evacuated by Russian and Alliedships from Novorossiysk to the Crimea, without horses or any heavyequipment, while about 20,000 men were left behind and eitherdispersed or captured by the Red Army.

Following the disastrous Novorossiysk evacuation, Denikin stepped down, and the military council elected Wrangelas the new Commander-in-Chief of the White Army. He was able to restore order with dispirited troops and reshapean army that could fight as a regular force again. This remained an organised force in the Crimea throughout 1920.After Moscow's Bolshevik government signed a military and political alliance with Nestor Makhno and theUkrainian anarchists, the Black Army attacked and defeated several regiments of Wrangel's troops in southernUkraine, forcing him to retreat before he could capture that year's grain harvest.[43] Stymied in his efforts toconsolidate his hold, Wrangel then attacked north in an attempt to take advantage of recent Red Army defeats at theclose of the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–1920. This offensive was eventually halted by the Red Army, and Wrangel'stroops were forced to retreat to the Crimea in November 1920, pursued by both the Red and Black cavalry andinfantry. Wrangel and the remains of his army were evacuated from the Crimea to Constantinople on 14 November1920. Thus ended the struggle of Reds and Whites in Southern Russia.

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Red Army troops attack Kronstadt sailors inMarch 1921.

After the defeat of Wrangel, the Red Army immediately repudiated its1920 treaty of alliance with Nestor Makhno and attacked the anarchistBlack Army; the campaign to liquidate Makhno and the Ukrainiananarchists began with an attempted assassination of Makhno by theCheka agents. Angered by continued repression by the BolshevikCommunist government and its liberal use of the Cheka to put downpeasant and anarchist elements, a naval mutiny erupted at Kronstadt,followed by peasant revolts. Red Army attacks on the anarchist forcesand their sympathizers increased in ferocity throughout 1921. Trotskyinstituted mass executions of peasants in Ukraine and other areassympathetic to Makhno and the anarchists.

Siberia and the Far East 1920–22In Siberia, Admiral Kolchak's army had disintegrated. He himself gave up command after the loss of Omsk anddesignated Grigory Semyonov as the new leader of the White Army in Siberia. Not long after this, Kolchak wasarrested by the disaffected Czechoslovak Corps as he traveled towards Irkutsk without the protection of the army andturned over to the socialist Political Centre in Irkutsk. Six days later, this regime was replaced by aBolshevik-dominated Military-Revolutionary Committee. On 6–7 February, Kolchak and his prime minister VictorPepelyaev were shot and their bodies thrown through the ice of the frozen Angara River, just before the arrival of theWhite Army in the area.[44]

Remnants of Kolchak's army reached Transbaikalia and joined Grigory Semyonov's troops, forming the Far Easternarmy. With the support of the Japanese Army, it was able to hold Chita, but after withdrawal of Japanese soldiersfrom Transbaikalia, Semenov's position become untenable, and in November 1920 he was repulsed by the Red Armyfrom Transbaikalia and took refuge in China. The Japanese, who had plans to annex the Amur Krai, finally pulledtheir troops out as the Bolshevik forces gradually asserted control over the Russian Far East. On 25 October 1922,Vladivostok fell to the Red Army, and the Provisional Priamur Government was extinguished.

Aftermath

Ensuing rebellionIn central Asia, Red Army troops continued to face resistance into 1923, where basmachi (armed bands of Islamicguerrillas) had formed to fight the Bolshevik takeover. The Soviets engaged non-Russian peoples in Central Asia,like Magaza Masanchi, commander of the Dungan Cavalry Regiment, to fight against the Basmachis. TheCommunist Party did not completely dismantle this group until 1934.[45]

General Anatoly Pepelyayev continued armed resistance in the Ayano-Maysky District until June 1923. The regionsof Kamchatka and Northern Sakhalin remained under Japanese occupation until their treaty with the Soviet Union in1925, when their forces were finally withdrawn.

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Casualties

Victims of Red Terror in Crimea, 1918

Street children during the Russian Civil War

The results of the civil war were momentous. Soviet demographerBoris Urlanis estimated total number of men killed in action in theCivil War and Polish-Soviet war as 300,000 (125,000 in the RedArmy, 175,500 White armies and Poles) and the total number ofmilitary personnel dead from disease (on both sides) as 450,000.[46]

During the Red Terror, the Cheka carried out at least 250,000 summaryexecutions of "enemies of the people" with estimates reaching above amillion.[47][48][49][50]

Some 300,000–500,000 Cossacks were killed or deported duringdecossackization, out of a population of around three million.[51] Anestimated 100,000 Jews were killed in Ukraine, mostly by the WhiteArmy. Punitive organs of the All Great Don Cossack Host sentenced25,000 people to death between May 1918 and January 1919.Kolchak's government shot 25,000 people in Ekaterinburg provincealone.

At the end of the Civil War, the Russian SFSR was exhausted and nearruin. The droughts of 1920 and 1921, as well as the 1921 famine,worsened the disaster still further. Disease had reached pandemicproportions, with 3,000,000 dying of typhus alone in 1920. Millionsmore were also killed by widespread starvation, wholesale massacresby both sides, and pogroms against Jews in Ukraine and southernRussia. By 1922, there were at least 7,000,000 street children in Russia as a result of nearly 10 years of devastationfrom the Great War and the civil war.[52]

Refugees on flatcars.

Another one to two million people, known as the White émigrés, fledRussia – many with General Wrangel, some through the Far East,others west into the newly independent Baltic countries. These émigrésincluded a large part of the educated and skilled population of Russia.

The Russian economy was devastated by the war, with factories andbridges destroyed, cattle and raw materials pillaged, mines flooded,and machines damaged. The industrial production value descended toone seventh of the value of 1913, and agriculture to one third.According to Pravda, "The workers of the towns and some of thevillages choke in the throes of hunger. The railways barely crawl. The houses are crumbling. The towns are full ofrefuse. Epidemics spread and death strikes – industry is ruined."[citation needed]

It is estimated that the total output of mines and factories in 1921 had fallen to 20% of the pre–World War level, andmany crucial items experienced an even more drastic decline. For example, cotton production fell to 5%, and iron to2% of pre-war levels.War Communism saved the Soviet government during the Civil War, but much of the Russian economy had groundto a standstill. The peasants responded to requisitions by refusing to till the land. By 1921, cultivated land had shrunkto 62% of the pre-war area, and the harvest yield was only about 37% of normal. The number of horses declinedfrom 35 million in 1916 to 24 million in 1920, and cattle from 58 to 37 million. The exchange rate with the U.S.dollar declined from two rubles in 1914 to 1,200 in 1920.

Russian Civil War 15

With the end of the war, the Communist Party no longer faced an acute military threat to its existence and power.However, the perceived threat of another intervention, combined with the failure of socialist revolutions in othercountries, most notably the German Revolution, contributed to the continued militarization of Soviet society.Although Russia experienced extremely rapid economic growth in the 1930s, the combined effect of World War Iand the Civil War left a lasting scar in Russian society, and had permanent effects on the development of the SovietUnion.British historian Orlando Figes has contended that the root of the Whites' defeat was their inability to dispel thepopular image that they were dually associated with Tsarist Russia and supportive of a Tsarist restoration.[53]

In fiction

Literature• The Road to Calvary (1922–41) by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy• Chapaev (1923) by Dmitri Furmanov• The Iron Flood (1924) by Alexander Serafimovich• Red Cavalry (1926) by Isaac Babel• The Rout (1927) by Alexander Fadeyev• How the Steel Was Tempered (1934) by Nikolai Ostrovsky• Optimistic Tragedy (1934) by Vsevolod Vishnevsky• And Quiet Flows the Don (1928–1940) by Mikhail Sholokhov• The Don Flows Home to the Sea (1940) by Mikhail Sholokhov• Doctor Zhivago (1957) by Boris Pasternak• The White Guard (1966) by Mikhail Bulgakov• Byzantium Endures (1981) by Michael Moorcock• Chevengur (novel) (ru) (written in 1927, first published in 1988 in the USSR) by Andrei Platonov.• Fall of Giants (2010) by Ken Follett

Film• Arsenal (1928)• Storm Over Asia (1928)• Chapaev (1934)• Thirteen (1936), directed by Mikhail Romm• We Are from Kronstadt (1936), directed by Yefim Dzigan• Knight Without Armour (1937)• The Year 1919 (1938), directed by Ilya Trauberg• The Baltic Marines (1939), directed by A. Faintsimmer• Shchors (1939), directed by Dovzhenko• Pavel Korchagin (1956), directed by A. Alov and V. Naumov• The Forty-First (1956), directed by Grigori Chukhrai• And Quiet Flows the Don (1958)• The Wind (1958), directed by A. Alov and V. Naumov• Doctor Zhivago (1965)• The Elusive Avengers (1966)• The Red and the White (1967)• The Flight (1970), directed by A. Alov and V. Naumov• Reds (1981)

Russian Civil War 16

• Corto Maltese in Siberia (2002)• Admiral (2008)

References[1][1] Mawdsley, pp. 3, 230[2][2] Bullock, p. 7 "Peripheral regions of the former Russian Empire that had broken away to form new nations had to fight for independence:

Finland, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan."[3] Russian Civil War (http:/ / www. britannica. com/ EBchecked/ topic/ 513737/ Russian-Civil-War) Encyclopaedia Britannica Online 2012[4] Read, Christopher, From Tsar to Soviets, Oxford University Press (1996), p. 237: By 1920, 77% of the Red Army's enlisted ranks were

composed of peasant conscripts.[5] Williams, Beryl, The Russian Revolution 1917–1921, Blackwell Publishing Ltd. (1987), ISBN 978-0-631-15083-1, ISBN 0-631-15083-8:

Typically, men of conscriptible age (17–40) in a village would vanish when Red Army draft units approached. The taking of hostages and afew exemplary executions usually brought the men back.

[6] Orlando Figes, A people's tragedy – History of the Russian Revolution (Penguin Books 1996): To mobilize the peasants Kolchak's armyresorted increasingly to terror. There was no effective local administration to enforce the conscription in any other way, and in any case theWhites' world-view ruled out the need to persuade the peasants. It was taken for granted that it was the peasants place to serve in the Whitearmy, just as he had served in the ranks of the Tsar's, and that if he refused it was the army's right to punish him, even executing him ifnecessary as a warning to the others. Peasants were flogged and tortured, hostages were taken and shot, and whole villages were burned to theground to force the conscripts into the army. Kolchak's cavalry would ride into towns on market day, round up the young men at gunpoint andtake them off to the Front. Much of this terror was concealed from the Allies so as not to jeopardize their aid. But General Graves, thecommander of the US troops, was well informed and was horrified by it. As he realized, the mass conscription of the peasantry 'was a longstep towards the end of Kolchak's regime'. It soon destroyed the discipline and fighting morale of his army. Of every five peasants forciblyconscripted, four would desert: many of them ran off to the Reds, taking with them their supplies. Knox was livid when he first saw the Redtroops on the Eastern Front: they were wearing British uniforms. From the start of its campaign, Kolchak's army was forced to deal withnumerous peasant revolts in the rear, notably in Slavgorod, south-east of Omsk, and in Minusinsk on the Yenisei. The White requisitioningand mobilizations were their principal cause. Without its own structures of local government in the rural areas, Kolchak's regime could dovery little, other than send in the Cossacks with their whips, to stop the peasants from reforming their Soviets to defend the local villagerevolution. By the height of the Kolchak offensive, whole areas of the Siberian rear were engulfed by peasant revolts.

[7] Overy, R.J., The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, W.W. Norton & Company (2004), ISBN 0-393-02030-4, ISBN978-0-393-02030-4, p. 446: By the end of the civil war, one-third of all Red Army officers were ex-Tsarist voenspetsy.

[8] Williams, Beryl, The Russian Revolution 1917–1921, Blackwell Publishing Ltd. (1987), ISBN 978-0-631-15083-1, ISBN 0-631-15083-8[9] Overy, R.J., The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, W.W. Norton & Company (2004), ISBN 0-393-02030-4, ISBN

978-0-393-02030-4, p. 446:[10][10] John M. Thompson, A vision unfulfilled. Russia and the Soviet Union in the twentieth century (Lexington, MA; 1996) 159.[11] Cover Story: Churchill's Greatness. (http:/ / www. winstonchurchill. org/ i4a/ pages/ index. cfm?pageid=282) Interview with Jeffrey Wallin.

(The Churchill Centre)[12] Каледин, Алексей Максимович. A biography of Kaledin (in Russian) (http:/ / www. hrono. info/ biograf/ kaledina. html)[13][13] Geoffrey Wheeler, The Modern History of Soviet Central Asia (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1964), 103.[14] The Czech Legion (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ dna/ h2g2/ A4241062)[15][15] Mawdsley, p. 27[16][16] W. P. and Zelda K. Coates, Soviets in Central Asia (New York: Philosophical Library, 1951), 72.[17][17] Wheeler, The Modern History of Soviet Central Asia, 104.[18][18] P. and Coates, Soviets in Central Asia, 70.[19] P. and Coates, Soviets in Central Asia, 68–69.[20][20] P. and Coates, Soviets in Central Asia, 74.[21][21] Edward Allworth, Central Asia: A Century of Russian Rule(New York: Columbia University Press, 1967), 226.[22][22] Mawdsley, p. 35[23] Orlando Figes (In A people's tragedy – History of the Russian Revolution, Penguin Books 1996) is quoting such comments from the peasant

soldiers during the first weeks of the war: We have talked it over among ourselves; if the Germans want payment, it would be better to pay tenroubles a head than to kill people. Or: Is it not all the same what Tsar we live under? It cannot be worse under the German one. Or: Let themgo and fight themselves. Wait a while, we will settle accounts with you. Or: 'What devil has brought this war on us? We are butting into otherpeople's business.'

[24] Lenin (http:/ / www. spartacus. schoolnet. co. uk/ RUSlenin. htm)[25] Orlando Figes, in A people's tragedy – History of the Russian Revolution (Penguin Books 1996), wrote: As Brusilov saw it, the soldiers

were so obsessed with the idea of peace that they would have been prepared to support the Tsar himself, so long as he promised to bring the war to an end. This alone, Brusilov claimed, rather than the belief in some abstract 'socialism', explained their attraction to the Bolsheviks. The mass of the soldiers were simple peasants, they wanted land and freedom, and they began to call this 'Bolshevism' because only that party promised peace. This 'trench Bolshevism', as Allan Wildman has called it in his magisterial study of the Russian army during 1917, was not

Russian Civil War 17

necessarily organized through formal party channels, or even encouraged by the Bolshevik agents.[26] Orlando Figes, in A people's tragedy – History of the Russian Revolution (Penguin Books 1996) wrote: It was partly a case of the usual

military failings: units had been sent into battle without machine-guns; untrained soldiers had been ordered to engage in complex manoeuvresusing hand grenades and ended up throwing them without first pulling the pins. But the main reason for the fiasco was the simple reluctance ofthe soldiers to fight. Having advanced two miles, the front-line troops felt they had done their bit and refused to go any further, while those inthe second line would not take their places. The advance thus broke down as the men began to run away. In one night alone the shockbattalions of the Eleventh Army arrested 12,000 deserters near the town of Volochinsk. Many soldiers turned their guns against theircommanding officers rather... than fight against the enemy. The retreat degenerated into chaos as soldiers looted shops and stores, rapedpeasant girls and murdered Jews. The collapse of the offensive dealt a fatal blow to the Provisional Government and the personal authority ofits leaders. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were killed. Millions of square miles of territory were lost. The leaders of the government hadgambled everything on the offensive in the hope that it might rally the country behind them in the national defence of democracy. Thecoalition had been based upon this hope; and it held together as long as there was a chance of military success. But as the collapse of theoffensive became clear, so the coalition fell apart.

[27] Orlando Figes, A people's tragedy – History of the Russian Revolution (Penguin Books 1996):

This new civic patriotism did not extend beyond the urban middle classes, although the leaders of the ProvisionalGovernment deluded themselves that it did. The visit of the Allied socialists – Albert Thomas from France, EmileVandervelde from Belgium, and Arthur Henderson from Britain – was a typical case in point. They had come toRussia to plead with "the people" not to leave the war, yet very few people bothered to listen to them. KonstantinPaustovsky recalls Thomas speaking in vain from the balcony of the building that was later to become the MoscowSoviet. Thomas spoke in French, and the small crowd that had gathered could not understand what he said. "Buteverything in his speech could be understood without words. Bobbing up and down on his bowed legs, Thomasshowed us graphically what would happen to Russia if it left the war. He twirled his moustaches, like the Kaiser's,narrowed his eyes rapaciously, and jumped up and down choking the throat of an imaginary Russia." For severalminutes the Frenchman continued with this circus act, hurling the body of Russia to the ground and jumping up anddown on it, until the crowd began to hiss and boo and laugh. Thomas mistook this for a sign of approval and salutedthe crowd with his bowler hat. But the laughter and booing got louder: 'Get that clown off!' one worker cried. Then,at last, someone else appeared on the balcony and diplomatically led him inside.[28][28] Mawdsley, p. 42[29][29] Mawdsley, p. 29[30][30] Mawdsley, p. 28[31] Mawdsley, pp. 62–8[32] Chamberlain, William Henry, The Russian Revolution: 1917–1921, New York: Macmillan Co. (1957), p. 131: Frequently the deserters'

families were taken hostage to force a surrender; a portion were customarily executed, as an example to the others.[33][33] Daniels, Robert V., A Documentary History of Communism in Russia: From Lenin to Gorbachev, UPNE (1993), ISBN 0-87451-616-1,

ISBN 978-0-87451-616-6, p. 70: The Cheka special investigations forces were also charged with the detection of sabotage andcounter-revolutionary activity by Red Army soldiers and commanders.

[34] Dmitri Volkogonov, Trotsky: The Eternal Revolutionary, transl. & edited by Harold Shukman, HarperCollins Publishers, London (1996), p.180: By December 1918 Trotsky had ordered the formation of special detachments to serve as blocking units throughout the Red Army. On 18December he cabled: "How do things stand with the blocking units? ... It is absolutely essential that we have at least an embryonic network ofblocking units and that we work out a procedure for bringing them up to strength and deploying them."

[35][35] Teresa Rakowska-Harmstone, Russia and Nationalism in Central Asia: The Case of Tadzhikistan (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1970),19.

[36][36] P. and Coates, Soviets in Central Asia, 75.[37][37] Allworth, Central Asia, 232.[38] Baltic War of Liberation (http:/ / www. britannica. com/ EBchecked/ topic/ 1514725/ Baltic-War-of-Liberation) Encyclopædia Britannica[39] Williams, Beryl, The Russian Revolution 1917–1921, Blackwell Publishing (1987), ISBN 978-0-631-15083-1, ISBN 0-631-15083-8[40][40] Allworth, Central Asia, 231.[41][41] P. and Coates, Soviets in Central Asia, 76.[42] Allworth, Central Asia, 232–233.[43] Berland, Pierre, Mhakno, Le Temps, 28 August 1934: In addition to supplying White Army forces and their sympathizers with food, a

successful seizure of the 1920 Ukrainian grain harvest would have had a devastating effect on food supplies to Bolshevik-held cities, whiledepriving both Red Army and Ukrainian Black Army troops of their usual bread rations.

[44] Mawdsley, pp. 319–21[45][45] Wheeler, The Modern History of Soviet Central Asia, 107.[46] Urlanis B. Wars and Population. Moscow, Progress publishers, 1971.[47][47] Stewart-Smith,, D. G. THE DEFEAT OF COMMUNISM. London: Ludgate Press Limited, 1964.

Russian Civil War 18

[48] Rummel, Rudolph, Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1917 (http:/ / www. hawaii. edu/ powerkills/ USSR. TAB2A.GIF) (1990).

[49] p. 28 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=9TWUAQ7Xof8C& pg=PA28& dq=kgb+ cheka+ executions+ probably+ numbered+ as+many+ as+ 250,000& ei=kPDrRvKoB5imoALvyaS5Dw& ie=ISO-8859-1& sig=GSLukXFh7KRQx6oQTEkNvvlC77E), Andrew andMitrokhin, The Sword and the Shield, paperback ed., Basic books, 1999.

[50] page 180, Overy, The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia, W. W. Norton & Company; 1st American ed., 2004.[51] Robert Gellately. Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe (http:/ / www. fsu. edu/ news/ 2007/ 09/ 11/ gellately. book/ )

Knopf, 2007 ISBN 1-4000-4005-1 pp. 70–1.[52] And Now My Soul Is Hardened: Abandoned Children in Soviet Russia, 1918–1930 (http:/ / findarticles. com/ p/ articles/ mi_qa3763/ is_/

ai_n8801575), Thomas J. Hegarty, Canadian Slavonic Papers[53] Orlando Figes, A People's Tragedy – History of the Russian Revolution (Penguin Books 1996): At the root of the Whites' defeat was a

failure of politics. They proved unable and unwilling to frame policies capable of getting the mass of the population on their side. Theirmovement was based, in Wrangel's phrase, on 'the cruel sword of vengeance'; their only idea was to put the clock back to the 'happy days'before 1917; and they failed to see the need to adapt themselves to the realities of the revolution. The Whites' failure to recognize the peasantrevolution on the land and the national independence movements doomed them to defeat. As Denikin was the first to acknowledge, victorydepended on a popular revolt against the Reds within central Russia. Yet that revolt never came. Rather than rallying the people to their side,the Whites, in Wrangel's words, 'turned them into enemies'. This was partly a problem of image. Although Kolchak and Denikin both deniedbeing monarchists, there were too many supporters of a tsarist restoration within their ranks, which created the popular image – and gaveammunition to the propaganda of their enemies – that they were associated with the old regime. The Whites made no real effort to overcomethis problem with their image. Their propaganda was extremely primitive and, in any case, it is doubtful whether any propaganda could haveovercome this mistrust. In the end, then, the defeat of the Whites comes down largely to their own dismal failure to break with the past and toregain the initiative within the agenda of 1917. The problem of the Russian counter-revolution was precisely that: it was toocounter-revolutionary. [...] This is clearly shown by the story of the return of the peasant deserters to the Red Army. Until June, the Reds'campaign against desertion had relied on violent repressive measures against the villages suspected of harbouring them. This had been largelycounter-productive, resulting in a wave of peasant revolts behind the Red Front which had facilitated the White advance. But in June theBolsheviks switched to the more conciliatory tactic of 'amnesty weeks'. During these weeks, which were much propagandized and oftenextended indefinitely, the deserters were invited to return to the ranks without punishment. In a sense, it was a sign of the Bolshevik belief inthe need to reform the nature of the peasant and to make him conscious of his revolutionary duty – thus the Reds punished 'malicious'deserters but tried to reform the 'weak-willed' ones – as opposed to the practice of the Whites of executing all deserters equally. Between Julyand September, as the threat of a White victory grew, nearly a quarter of a million deserters returned to the Red Army from the two militarydistricts of Orel and Moscow alone. Many of them called themselves 'volunteers', and said they were ready to fight against the Whites, whomthey associated with the restoration of the gentry on the land.

Further reading• Vladimir N. Brovkin. Behind the Front Lines of the Civil War: Political Parties and Social Movements in Russia,

1918–1922. Princeton University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-691-03278-5• David Bullock. The Russian Civil War 1918–22. Osprey Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-84603-271-4• T.N. Dupuy. The Encyclopedia of Military History (many editions) Harper & Row Publishers.• Peter Kenez. Civil War in South Russia, 1918: The First Year of the Volunteer Army, Berkeley, University of

California Press, 1971.• Peter Kenez. Civil War in South Russia, 1919–1920: The Defeat of the Whites, Berkeley, University of California

Press, 1977.• W. Bruce Lincoln. Red Victory.• Evan Mawdsley. The Russian Civil War. New York: Pegasus Books, 2007.• George Stewart. The White Armies of Russia: A Chronicle of Counter-Revolution and Allied Intervention.• David R. Stone. "The Russian Civil War, 1917–1921," in The Military History of the Soviet Union.• Geoffrey Swain. The Origins of the Russian Civil War.

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External links• Russian Revolution and Civil War archive at libcom.org/library (http:/ / libcom. org/ library/ russian-revolution)• "BBC History of the Russian Revolution" (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ history/ worldwars/ wwone/

eastern_front_01. shtml) (3 February 2007)• "Russian Civil War" (http:/ / www. spartacus. schoolnet. co. uk/ RUScivilwar. htm) (Spartacus History,

downloaded 3 January 2006)• "Russian Civil War 1918–1920" (http:/ / www. onwar. com/ aced/ data/ romeo/ russia1918. htm) (On War

website, downloaded 4 January 2006)• "Civil War of 1917 – 1922 at Encyclopedia of Russian History (http:/ / www. answers. com/ topic/

civil-war-of-1917-1922) (3 February 2007)• "Russian Civil War Polities" (http:/ / www. worldstatesmen. org/ Russia_war. html) (World Statesmen.org,

downloaded 16 February 2007)

Article Sources and Contributors 20

Article Sources and ContributorsRussian Civil War  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=595922277  Contributors: $1LENCE D00600D, 172, 4rdi, 62.253.64.xxx, 96T, A.h. king, Aaron Schulz, AaronS,Abbailscd, Abrahami, Abune, Accordionman, Achowat, Ahasuerus, Aherunar, Ahuitzotl, Aivazovsky, Alansohn, Aleksandr Grigoryev, Alex1709, Alexander S., Alfons2, AllenHansen, AlphaEta,Altenmann, Altes, Andres rojas22, Andrwsc, Animum, Anotherclown, Antandrus, Arbiter of Elegance, Arch dude, ArglebargleIV, Ariobarzan, Arjun01, Aronlee90, Ash sul, Asidemes,AubreyEllenShomo, Avenged Eightfold, Awhansen, B-Machine, BL, Bellerophon5685, Ben Ben, Bender235, Benw, Big Axe, Blueshirts, Bobanni, Bobblewik, Bobrayner, Bogdan, Bogey97,BokicaK, Bongwarrior, Breakingleg, Brion VIBBER, BrownHairedGirl, BusterD, Bz2, C.J. Griffin, CJWilly, CPMcE, Caiaffa, Caltas, CanadianCaesar, Cantus, Cast, Cattus, Celeron, Cema,Cff12345, Cglassey, Charles Essie, Che y Marijuana, CheeseChive, Chochopk, ChoraPete, ChrisGualtieri, ChrisWilbur, ChristiaandeWet, Christopher Mahan, Chriswingert, Chumchum7,Cja130289, Clarityfiend, Cnwb, Cocytus, Colchicum, Colin4C, Comber4, CommonsDelinker, Conversion script, Courcelles, Cwmacdougall, Cyde, Cyfal, Cymi, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, DDima,DJ Sturm, DO'Neil, DagosNavy, Dale Arnett, Dalf, DamonFernandez, Dankru, Darouet, Darth Sidious, Darwinek, Dave Bowman, Davecrosby uk, David Parker, David Schaich, Deathlibrarian,Delldot, Der Eberswalder, Der lektor, DerHexer, Deus Ex, Deville, Dimadick, Discospinster, Dlohcierekim, Dna-webmaster, Don't fear the reaper, DonaldDuck, Doncsecz, DoubleBlue,DougsTech, Download, Drbug, Dvavasour, ERcheck, ESkog, Edwy, Egracia, Ejército Rojo 1950, El C, El gato verde, Enric Naval, Enviroboy, Erik Baas, Ertfgyhj.hgfdtersdtchfg, Esetzeko,Esperant, Euchiasmus, Ev, Everyking, Evkam, Extra(theGumShoe), Fabartus, Fabrictramp, Faithlessthewonderboy, Fartherred, Fayerman, FiOmega, Firefox 1989, Fisenko, Fixifex, Flix11,Formeruser-81, Fred Bradstadt, Frietjes, G-Man, Gaius Cornelius, Gaius Octavius Princeps, Garret Beaumain, Gene s, Genghiskhanviet, Geoffg, George Ho, Ghirlandajo, Gids, Gilgamesh he,Gilliam, Gob Lofa, Gogo Dodo, Good Olfactory, Goudzovski, Graham87, Greyhood, Grimm Ripper, Gritzko, Ground Zero, Gulijan, Guy Peters, HCPUNXKID, Halibutt, HanzoHattori, Hazhk,Headhitter, Hede2000, HeikoEvermann, Helvetius, HennessyC, Hephaestos, Hoodinski, Hoppomchoppo, Hugo999, Humus sapiens, Huon, Ian13, Idenigma, Iheartflutes, Illegitimate Barrister,Ilya78, Incnis Mrsi, Ineffable3000, Interiot, InverseHypercube, Invest in knowledge, Irpen, Is0baric0hi0, Itsmejudith, J.delanoy, JMANCREEVY, JYOuyang, Ja 62, Jaan, Jacob Haller, Jagz,Jandalhandler, Jason M, Jason9875, Jay oster amerika kewl sweet!, Jean-Jacques Georges, Jeff5102, Jennavecia, JesseAlanGordon, Jgrosas, Jgrosas33, Jhjbddf, Jiang, Jkarlsson, Jmj713, JoanneB,Joe Decker, John, John Broughton, John of Reading, JohnOwens, Jombo, JonHarder, Jonesy, Joseph Solis in Australia, Josephabradshaw, Joy, Jprg1966, Jstplace, JustAMuggle, Justinstroud,KFan II, KGasso, KNewman, Kahkonen, Kami888, Karabinier, Kareyac, KarlHallowell, KasMage, Kelvinc, Kennet.mattfolk, King of Hearts, Kingfish, Kiore, Kittybrewster, Ko Soi IX, Kober,Koffieyahoo, Kollision, Konstantin3307, Kosebamse, Ksyrie, Kuban kazak, Kuralyov, Kusunose, Kwamikagami, Kwertii, Labnoor, Lacrimosus, Lamna, Lapsed Pacifist, Lauren68,LcawteHuggle, Leandrod, Leutha, LewisXIV, Ligand, Lightmouse, Lights, Ling.Nut, LittleDan, Lockesdonkey, Logan, Lokys dar Vienas, LoneWolf1992, LostOverThere, Lothar vonRichthofen, Lotje, Loz.xox, Lregelson, Lucy C. V. Robinson, Luna Santin, Luwilt, MPerel, MRutherford88, MZMcBride, MaGioZal, Mackensen, Madhava 1947, Madmagic, Magog the Ogre,Magus732, Makeemlighter, Malcolm.stack, Mami98093, Marco polo, MarcusAnniusCatiliusSeverus, MarnetteD, Martin Wisse, Mastermind3.14, Materialscientist, Mattisse, Mboverload,Mcicogni, Mduddridge, MelbourneStar, Memming, Mesoso2, Mhazard9, Miaow Miaow, Mike M SA, Mikewazhere, Mild Bill Hiccup, Millermk, Mimihitam, Mississippi1234, Mjpieters,Mkpumphrey, Modulatum, Monty845, Moogwrench, Morgan Wick, Moshe Constantine Hassan Al-Silverburg, Mr A, Mr. Know-It-All, Mygerardromance, Mzajac, NatC, Natasha190,NawlinWiki, NewEnglandYankee, Niceguyedc, Nick-D, NickBush24, Nickst, Nikofeelan, Nineteenninetyfour, Nlight2, Nonexistant User, Nsandwich, Nukedoom, Nuno Tavares, O.Koslowski,Obradovic Goran, Optimist on the run, OwenBlacker, Oxymoron83, PatGallacher, Pearle, Peltimikko, Pepo13, Petri Krohn, Phoebe, Pinethicket, Pmcelroy77, Poetaris, PoisonedQuill, Postdlf,Premonition666, Proger, ProveIt, Prusak, Quest for Truth, Qwertyytrewqqwerty, RA0808, RG2, RPlunk, Rakela, Rarity, RashersTierney, Remotelysensed, Remusmocanu, Renesis, Rettetast,Reuben, RexNL, RickK, Rivertorch, Rjwilmsi, Robertgreer, Robertson-Glasgow, Rogald, Roger Davies, Romanm, Ronhjones, RuM, Ruhrjung, Runewiki777, Russavia, Rutebega, Rwestera,S3000, SCEhardt, SadSwanSong, Salammbo, Sango123, Sayden, Schnäggli, SchreiberBike, SchuminWeb, Sdhonda, SeNeKa, Semmler, Serge-kazak, SergeiXXX, Seryo93, Shell Kinney, Shii,Siimtanel, Silence, SilverTW, Sk55 wiki, SkerHawx, Skizzik, SkoraPobeda, Skovoroda, Slb nsk, Slntssssn, Smack, Smashdakrap, Smurdah, Snake bgd, Snowdog, Snowolf, Snv, SoWhy,SophisticatedPrimate, Spicemix, SpuriousQ, Squeakyh, Staberinde, Stumink, Styrofoam1994, Supertask, Surachit, Svm2, Syntax323, Szopen, Tangerinebunny, Tavrian, Template namespaceinitialisation script, Tgrain, That Guy, From That Show!, The Madras, The Thing That Should Not Be, The Timid Crusader, Themightyquill, Thqldpxm, Tide rolls, Tikmik, Timothyj45,Timzdaman1, Titoxd, Tobby72, Tornadou, Travelbird, TreacherousWays, Tribulation725, Trust Is All You Need, Tungsten, TwoOneTwo, Ulflarsen, Ulric1313, Ultramarine, Untifler, Urfinze,Urhixidur, User of wiki 1, Ussri Bobby, Valip, Varlaam, Veron, VictorAnyakin, Vio45lin, Vlad Cletus, Vladlen666, Vmenkov, Volker89, Volunteer Marek, WadeSimMiser, Walter-lloyd1896,Wareq, Wavelength, Wayne Slam, Wayward, WereSpielChequers, WheezePuppet, Whitejay251, Whoop whoop pull up, Wik, Wikieditor06, Wikipelli, Wikisux11111, William Avery, Williamvon Zehle, Wilson44691, Wimt, Winterst, Woohookitty, WookieInHeat, WorldWarTwoEditor, Wtmitchell, XJaM, Xx236, Yahel Guhan, Yasis, Yerevantsi, Young Pioneer, Yuricko, Yvwv,Z388, Zacheus, Zanimum, Zdravko mk, Zigger, Zloyvolsheb, Zocky, Zodiac58, Zzuuzz, ~abs~, Σ, Тиверополник, Эрманарих, 962 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsFile:Ejército-rojo--russianbolshevik00rossuoft.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ejército-rojo--russianbolshevik00rossuoft.png  License: Public Domain Contributors: London Illustrated London News and SketchFile:Flag RSFSR 1918.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_RSFSR_1918.svg  License: unknown  Contributors: -File:RPAU flag.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:RPAU_flag.svg  License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  Contributors: User:HoodinskiFile:Red flag.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Red_flag.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: burtsFile:Darker green and Black flag.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Darker_green_and_Black_flag.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Rocket000 (colorchosen by User:Grön)File:Flag of Russia.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Russia.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Anomie, Zscout370File:Skull and crossbones.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Skull_and_crossbones.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Andux, Andy0101, Bayo, Coyau,D0ktorz, Derbeth, Eugenio Hansen, OFS, Franzenshof, Ies, J.delanoy, JMCC1, Jahoe, Juliancolton, Karelj, Ksd5, MarianSigler, Natr, Sarang, Silsor, Stepshep, Str4nd, Sven Manguard, The EvilIP address, Tiptoety, Túrelio, W!B:, Wknight94, 21 anonymous editsFile:Volunteer Army infantry company.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Volunteer_Army_infantry_company.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Grondijs,Lodewijk HermenFile:Uniformes (koltchak) 001.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Uniformes_(koltchak)_001.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: User:Furmeyer, User:VizuFile:American troops in Vladivostok 1918 HD-SN-99-02013.JPEG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:American_troops_in_Vladivostok_1918_HD-SN-99-02013.JPEG License: Public Domain  Contributors: Adam Zábranský, AnRo0002, Avron, BrokenSphere, Demidow, Dhatfield, Foreverprovence, KTo288, M2545, Mattes, Zhuyifei1999, 2 anonymous editsImage:Russian civil war in the west.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Russian_civil_war_in_the_west.svg  License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  Contributors:User:HoodinskiImage:Parc de datcha près Moscou 1917.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Parc_de_datcha_près_Moscou_1917.jpg  License: Creative CommonsAttribution-Sharealike 3.0  Contributors: User:SchnäggliFile:Dismembered Russia — Some Fragments (NYT article, Feb. 17, 1918).png  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dismembered_Russia_—_Some_Fragments_(NYT_article,_Feb._17,_1918).png  License: Public Domain  Contributors: New York TimesFile:Bolshveki killed at Vladivostok.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bolshveki_killed_at_Vladivostok.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: -Image:Europe map 1919.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Europe_map_1919.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Original uploader was MaGioZal aten.wikipediaFile:Yudenich.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Yudenich.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Conscious, Krupski Oleg, MaxSem, Rowanwindwhistler, SoerfmFile:Kolchak1919troops.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Kolchak1919troops.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Alexander Shatulin, DonaldDuckFile:За единую Россію.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:За_единую_Россію.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: ОСВАГ ВСЮРВооружённых Сил ЮгаРоссии; Anonymous; Own scan by Vizu.File:Victims of Soviet Famine 1922.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Victims_of_Soviet_Famine_1922.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Andros64, BulkaUA, Jo0doe, Micki, Wouterhagens, YkvachFile:Kronstadt attack.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Kronstadt_attack.JPG  License: Public Domain  Contributors: AndreyA, Hohum, Kl833x9, Mr.Rocks,Polarlys, Rtc, Testus, Tets, Widerborst, WikedKentaur, Yann, 2 anonymous editsFile:Evpatoria red terror corpses at sea coast.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Evpatoria_red_terror_corpses_at_sea_coast.jpg  License: Public Domain Contributors: Charlik, HOBOPOCC, Kolega2357, Off-shell, 1 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 21

File:Streetkids RussianCivilWar.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Streetkids_RussianCivilWar.JPG  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Mr.Rocks, Polarlys, Rtc,Russavia, TetsImage:Refugees on flatcars.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Refugees_on_flatcars.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Patstuart, Russavia, Thuresson, Travb

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