THE CIVIL WAR of 1917-22 in Russia, a chain of armed conflicts between various political, social and ethnic groups. The main fighting in the civil war in order to seize and retain power was carried out between the Red Army and the armed forces of the White movement - the White armies (hence the established names of the main opponents in the civil war - “Red” and “White”). An integral part of the civil war was also the armed struggle on the national “outskirts” of the former Russian Empire (attempts to proclaim independence provoked resistance from the “whites” who advocated a “united and indivisible Russia”, as well as the leadership of the RSFSR, who saw the growth of nationalism as a threat to the gains of the revolution) and the insurgency of the population against the troops of the opposing sides. The Civil War was accompanied by military operations on Russian territory by troops from the countries of the Quadruple Alliance, as well as troops from the Entente countries (see Foreign military intervention in Russia 1918-22).
In modern historical science, many questions related to the history of the Civil War remain controversial, among them questions about the chronological framework of the Civil War and its causes. Most modern researchers consider the first act of the civil war to be the fighting in Petrograd during the October Revolution of 1917 carried out by the Bolsheviks, and the time of its end to be the defeat of the last large anti-Bolshevik armed formations by the “Reds” in October 1922. Some researchers believe that the period of the civil war covers only the time of the most active hostilities that took place from May 1918 to November 1920. Among the most important reasons for the civil war, it is customary to highlight the deep social, political and national-ethnic contradictions that existed in the Russian Empire and aggravated as a result of the February Revolution of 1917, as well as the willingness to widely use violence to achievement of their political goals by all its participants (see “White Terror” and “Red Terror”). Some researchers see foreign intervention as the reason for the particular bitterness and duration of the civil war.
The course of the armed struggle between the “reds” and “whites” can be divided into 3 stages, which differ in the composition of participants, the intensity of hostilities and the conditions of the foreign policy situation.
At the first stage (October/November 1917 - November 1918), the formation of the armed forces of the warring parties and the main fronts of struggle between them took place. During this period, the civil war took place in the context of the ongoing 1st World War and was accompanied by the active participation of troops from the countries of the Quadruple Alliance and the Entente in the internal struggle in Russia.
In October - November 1917, during the October Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks suppressed armed uprisings of supporters of the Provisional Government in Petrograd, its environs (see Kerensky - Krasnov speech of 1917) and in Moscow. By the end of 1917, Soviet power was established in most of European Russia. The first major uprisings against the Bolsheviks took place in the Cossack territories of the Don, Kuban and Southern Urals (see articles by Kaledin's speech of 1917-18, Kuban Rada and Dutov's speech of 1917-18). In the first months of the Civil War, fighting was carried out by separate detachments, mainly along railway lines, for large settlements and railway junctions (see “Echelon War”). In the spring of 1918, local skirmishes began to develop into larger-scale armed clashes.
The dispersal of the Constituent Assembly and the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty of 1918 strengthened opposition to the policies of the Council of People's Commissars throughout the country. The underground anti-Bolshevik organizations created in February - May (Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom, Union for the Revival of Russia, National Center) tried to unite the forces fighting against Soviet power and receive foreign assistance, and were engaged in transporting volunteers to the centers of concentration of anti-Bolshevik forces. At this time, the territory of the RSFSR was reduced due to the advance of German and Austro-Hungarian troops (continued even after the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty in 1918): in February - May 1918 they occupied Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, part of Transcaucasia and the south of European Russia. In the spring of 1918, the Entente countries, seeking to resist German influence in Russia, landed armed troops in Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok, which led to the fall of the power of the Council of People's Commissars there. The 1918 uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps, which began in May, eliminated Soviet power in the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia, and also cut off the Turkestan Soviet Republic in Central Asia from the RSFSR.
The fragility of Soviet power and support from the interventionists contributed to the creation in the summer and autumn of 1918 of a number of anti-Bolshevik, mainly Socialist Revolutionary, governments: the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch; June, Samara), the Provisional Siberian Government (June, Omsk), the Supreme Administration of the Northern Region (August, Arkhangelsk), Ufa Directory (September, Ufa).
In April 1918, the Don Army was created on the territory of the Don Cossack Army, which by the end of summer ousted Soviet troops from the territory of the Don Army Region. The volunteer army (began to form in November 1917), consisting mainly of officers and cadets of the former Russian army, occupied Kuban in August 1918 (see the article Kuban campaigns of the Volunteer Army).
The successes of the opponents of the Bolsheviks caused the reform of the Red Army. Instead of the volunteer principle of army formation, universal military service was introduced in the RSFSR in May 1918. By attracting officers from the former Russian army to the Red Army (see Voenspets), the command staff was strengthened, the institute of military commissars was established, in September 1918 the RVSR was created (chaired by L. D. Trotsky) and the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic was introduced (I. I. Vatsetis ). Also in September, instead of the curtains that had existed since March 1918, front-line and army associations of the Red Army were formed. In November, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense was established (chaired by V.I. Lenin). The strengthening of the army was accompanied by a strengthening of the internal situation in the RSFSR: after the defeat of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries of the 1918 uprising, there was no organized opposition to the Bolsheviks left on the territory of the republic.
As a result, in the early autumn of 1918, the Red Army managed to change the course of the armed struggle: in September 1918, it stopped the offensive of the troops of the Volga People's Army of Komuch (which began in July), and by November pushed them back to the Urals. At the first stage of the Tsaritsyn defense of 1918-19, units of the Red Army repelled the attempts of the Don Army to capture Tsaritsyn. The successes of the Red Army somewhat stabilized the position of the RSFSR, but neither side was able to gain a decisive advantage during the fighting.
At the second stage (November 1918 - March 1920), the main battles took place between the Red Army and the White armies, and a turning point in the civil war occurred. Due to the end of World War I, the participation of intervention troops in the civil war sharply decreased during this period. The departure of German and Austro-Hungarian troops from the territory of the country allowed the SNK to return under its control a significant part of the Baltic states, Belarus and Ukraine. Despite the landing in November - December 1918 of additional military units of the Entente countries in Novorossiysk, Odessa and Sevastopol, the advance of British troops in Transcaucasia, the direct participation of Entente troops in the civil war remained limited, and by the fall of 1919 the main contingent of allied troops was withdrawn from Russian territory. Foreign states continued to provide logistical and technical assistance to anti-Bolshevik governments and armed groups.
At the end of 1918 - beginning of 1919, the anti-Bolshevik movement consolidated; its leadership passed from the Socialist Revolutionary and Cossack governments into the hands of the conservative “white” officers. As a result of the coup in Omsk on November 18, 1918, the Ufa Directory was overthrown and Admiral A.V. Kolchak came to power, declaring himself the Supreme Ruler of the Russian State. On January 8, 1919, on the basis of the Volunteer and Don Armies, the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (AFSR) were created under the command of Lieutenant General A.I. Denikin.
Kolchak's army was the first to launch a decisive offensive. At the end of 1918, the Siberian Army crossed the Ural ridge and took Perm. In March 1919, Kolchak's general offensive of 1919 followed. The greatest success was achieved by the troops of the Western Army under Lieutenant General M.V. Khanzhin, who captured Ufa (March), and at the end of April reached the approaches to the Volga. The opportunity arose to unite Kolchak’s armies with the All-Soviet Socialist Republic, and a threat to Soviet power was created in the central regions of the RSFSR. However, in May 1919, units of the Red Army, reinforced by reinforcements, seized the initiative and, during the counter-offensive of the Eastern Front in 1919, defeated the enemy and threw him back to the Urals. As a result of the 1919-20 Eastern Front offensive undertaken by the command of the Red Army, Soviet troops occupied the Urals and most of Siberia (Omsk was captured in November 1919, Irkutsk in March 1920).
In the North Caucasus, mountain governments, relying on military assistance from the countries of the Quadruple Alliance, opposed the power of the Council of People's Commissars. After the withdrawal of foreign troops from the territory of the so-called Mountain Republic, it was occupied by units of the AFSR, under whose pressure the Mountain Government ceased its activities at the end of May 1919.
The first defeats of Kolchak’s armies coincided with the beginning of Denikin’s Moscow campaign of 1919, which represented the most serious threat to Bolshevik power during the civil war. Its initial success was facilitated by the lack of reserves in the Red Army, which were located on the Eastern Front, as well as the massive influx of Cossacks into the All-Soviet Socialist Republic as a result of the “decossackization” policy pursued by the leadership of the RSFSR. The presence of Cossack cavalry and well-trained military personnel allowed the AFSR to capture the Donbass and the Don Army Region, take Tsaritsyn and occupy most of Ukraine. Attempts by Soviet troops to counterattack the enemy during the August offensive of 1919 were unsuccessful. In August - September, the defense of the Red Army was disorganized by the Mamontov raid of 1919. In October, the AFSR occupied Oryol, creating a threat to Tula and Moscow. The offensive of the AFSR was stopped, and then gave way to a rapid retreat due to the counter-offensive of the Southern Front of 1919 undertaken by the leadership of the Red Army (it was carried out after major mobilizations in the RSFSR and the creation of the First Cavalry Army, which made it possible to eliminate the advantage of the AFSR in cavalry), the weakness of the control of the AFSR over the occupied territories and the desire of the Cossacks limit itself to the defense of the Don Army and Kuban Region. During the offensive of the Southern and South-Eastern fronts in 1919-20, units of the Red Army forced the All-Soviet Socialist Republic to withdraw to the North Caucasus and Crimea.
In the summer - autumn of 1919, an offensive against Petrograd followed by the Northern Corps (from June 19, the Northern Army, from July 1, the North-Western Army) under the overall command of Infantry General N. N. Yudenich (see defense of Petrograd 1919). In October - November 1919 it was stopped, the North-Western Army was defeated, and its remnants retreated to Estonia.
In the north of the European part of Russia, troops formed by the Provisional Government of the Northern Region (the successor to the Supreme Administration of the Northern Region) of the Northern Region, supported by the allied expeditionary force, fought with units of the Soviet Northern Front. In February - March 1920, the troops of the Northern Region ceased to exist (this was facilitated by the failures of the White armies in the main directions and the withdrawal of the Allied Expeditionary Force from the territory of the region), units of the Red Army occupied Arkhangelsk and Murmansk.
At the third stage (March 1920 - October 1922), the main struggle took place on the periphery of the country and did not pose an immediate threat to Soviet power in the center of Russia.
By the spring of 1920, the largest of the “white” military formations was the “Russian Army” (formed from the remnants of the AFSR) of Lieutenant General P. N. Wrangel, located in the Crimea. In June, taking advantage of the diversion of the main forces of the Red Army to the Polish front (see Soviet-Polish War of 1920), this army attempted to capture and strengthen itself in the northern districts of the Tauride province, and also landed troops on the coast of the North Caucasus in July and August in order to raise performance against the RSFSR Cossacks of the Don and Kuban Army Region (see Landings of the “Russian Army” 1920). All these plans were defeated; in October - November, the “Russian Army” was defeated during the counter-offensive of the Southern Front of 1920 and the Perekop-Chongar operation of 1920 (its remnants were evacuated to Constantinople). After the defeat of the White armies in November 1920 - January 1921, the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic were formed in the North Caucasus.
The last battles of the civil war took place in Eastern Siberia and the Far East. In 1920-22, the largest anti-Bolshevik formations there were the Far Eastern Army of Lieutenant General G. M. Semenov (controlled the Chita region) and the Zemskaya Army of Lieutenant General M. K. Diterichs (controlled Vladivostok and part of Primorye). They were opposed by the People's Revolutionary Army (PRA) of the Far Eastern Republic (created by the leadership of the RSFSR in April 1920 to avoid a military clash with Japan, which maintained a military presence in the Far East), as well as detachments of “red” partisans. In October 1920, the NRA captured Chita and forced Semenov’s troops to leave along the Chinese Eastern Railway to Primorye. As a result of the Primorye Operation of 1922, the Zemstvo Army was defeated (its remnants were evacuated to Genzan and then to Shanghai). With the establishment of Soviet power in the Far East, the main battles of the civil war ended.
The armed struggle on the national “outskirts” of the former Russian Empire unfolded simultaneously with the main battles between the Red Army and the White armies. In the course of it, various national-state formations and political regimes arose and were liquidated, the stability of which depended on their ability to successfully maneuver between the “reds” and the “whites,” as well as support from third powers.
The right to national self-determination of Poland was recognized by the Provisional Government in the spring of 1917. During the civil war, Poland did not want any of its opponents to strengthen and during the main battles it remained neutral, simultaneously seeking international recognition in European capitals. A clash with Soviet troops followed during the Soviet-Polish War of 1920, after the defeat of the main forces of the “Whites”. As a result, Poland managed to maintain independence and expand its borders (approved by the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921).
Finland declared independence immediately after the October Revolution in Petrograd. The alliance with Germany and then with the Entente countries made it possible to consolidate it. Contrary to the hopes of the command of the White armies for active Finnish assistance in the campaign against Petrograd, Finland’s participation in the civil war was limited to the invasion of Finnish troops into the territory of Karelia, which was rebuffed by the Red Army (see Karelian operation of 1921).
In the Baltics, the formation of the independent states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is the result of the simultaneous weakening of Russia and Germany and the prudent policies of national governments. The Estonian and Latvian leadership was able to win over the bulk of the population under the slogans of land reform and opposition to the German barons, while the German occupation in 1918 did not allow the bodies of Soviet power to strengthen. Subsequently, the diplomatic support of the Entente countries, the unstable position of Soviet power in the region and the successes of the national armies forced the leadership of the RSFSR to conclude peace treaties in 1920 with Estonia (February), Lithuania (July) and Latvia (August).
In Ukraine and Belarus, the national movement was weakened by the lack of unity on the issue of the future socio-political structure of these countries, as well as by the greater popularity of social rather than national slogans among the population. After the October Revolution in Petrograd, the Central Rada in Kyiv and the Belarusian Rada (see Belarusian Radas) in Minsk refused to recognize the power of the Council of People's Commissars, but were unable to strengthen their position. This was hampered by the advances of both Soviet and German troops. In Ukraine, successive national-state formations were fragile. The Ukrainian state, created in April 1918, led by Hetman P. P. Skoropadsky, existed only due to the support of Germany, and the Ukrainian People's Republic of S. V. Petliura survived while its main opponents (the RSFSR and the All-Russian Socialist Republic) were busy on other fronts of the civil war. The Belarusian national governments were entirely dependent on the support of the German and Polish armies located on their territory. In the summer of 1920, after the defeat of the main White armies and the withdrawal of Polish occupation forces from the territory of Ukraine and Belarus, the power of the Ukrainian SSR and BSSR was established there.
In Transcaucasia, the course of the civil war was determined by conflicts between national governments. The Transcaucasian Commissariat, created in November 1917 in Tiflis, declared non-recognition of the power of the Council of People's Commissars. Proclaimed by the Transcaucasian Sejm (convened by the Transcaucasian Commissariat) in April 1918, the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic already in May, due to the approach of Turkish troops, broke up into the Georgian Democratic Republic, the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic and the Republic of Armenia with different political orientations: the Azerbaijanis acted in alliance with the Turks; Georgians and Armenians sought support from Germany (its troops entered Tiflis and other cities of Georgia in June 1918), and then from the Entente countries (in November - December 1918, British troops were sent to Transcaucasia). After the end of the Entente intervention in August 1919, national governments were unable to restore the economy and became bogged down in border conflicts that erupted between Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. This allowed the Red Army, during the Baku operation of 1920 and the Tiflis operation of 1921, to extend Soviet power to Transcaucasia.
In Central Asia, the main hostilities took place on the territory of Turkestan. There, the Bolsheviks relied on Russian settlers, which exacerbated existing religious and national conflicts and alienated a significant part of the Muslim population from Soviet power, which widely participated in the anti-Soviet movement - Basmachism. An obstacle to the establishment of Soviet power in Turkestan was also the British intervention (July 1918 - July 1919). The troops of the Soviet Turkestan Front took Khiva in February 1920, and Bukhara in September; The Khiva Khanate and the Bukhara Emirate were liquidated and the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic and the Bukhara People's Soviet Republic were proclaimed.
The insurgency in the civil war arose in 1918-19, and reached its greatest extent in 1920-21. The goal of the rebels was to protect the village from the policy of “war communism” carried out in the RSFSR (the main slogans of the rebel groups were “councils without communists” and freedom of trade in agricultural products), as well as from requisitions and mobilizations carried out by both the Bolsheviks and their opponents. The rebel groups consisted mainly of peasants (many of them deserted from the Red Army and the White armies), hid in the forests (hence their common name - “greens”) and enjoyed the support of the local population. Their guerrilla tactics made them less vulnerable to regular troops. Rebel detachments, often for tactical reasons, assisted the “reds” or “whites”, disrupting communications and diverting relatively large military formations from the main combat operations; however, their military organization remained independent from the command of their allies. In the rear of Kolchak's armies, the most numerous rebel detachments operated in the Tomsk and Yenisei provinces, in Altai, in the area of Semipalatinsk and the Amur River valley. Raids on railway trains carried out by the rebels during the decisive days of Kolchak's offensive in 1919 disrupted the supply of supplies and weapons for the troops. In the southeast of Ukraine, the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine N. I. Makhno operated, which at different periods fought against Ukrainian nationalists, German troops, units of the Red Army and the All-Soviet Union of Socialists.
In the rear of the Red Army, the first major insurgent movement arose in March - April 1919 and was called the “Chapan War”. At the end of 1920 - beginning of 1921, thousands of peasant detachments operated in the Volga region, the Don, Kuban and the North Caucasus, in Belarus and Central Russia. The largest uprisings were the Tambov uprising of 1920-21 and the West Siberian uprising of 1921. In the spring of 1921, in large areas of the RSFSR, Soviet power in the countryside virtually ceased to exist. The wide scope of the peasant insurgency, along with the Kronstadt uprising of 1921, forced the Bolsheviks to replace the policy of “war communism” with the NEP (March 1921). However, the main centers of uprising were suppressed by Soviet troops only in the summer of 1921 (individual detachments continued resistance until 1923). In some areas, for example in the Volga region, the uprisings ceased due to the famine that broke out in 1921.
Results of the civil war. As a result of 5 years of armed struggle, the Soviet republics united most of the territory of the former Russian Empire (with the exception of Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bessarabia, Western Ukraine and Western Belarus). The main reason for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the civil war was the support of the bulk of the population for their slogans (“Peace to the peoples!”, “Land to the peasants!”, “Factories to the workers!”, “All power to the Soviets!”) and decrees (especially the Decree on Land ), as well as the strategic advantages of their position, the pragmatic policy of the Soviet leadership and the fragmentation of the forces of opponents of Soviet power. Control over both capitals (Petrograd, Moscow) and the central regions of the country gave the SNK the opportunity to rely on large human resources (where, even at the time of the greatest advance of the Bolshevik opponents, about 60 million people lived) to replenish the Red Army; use the military reserves of the former Russian army and a relatively developed communications system, which made it possible to quickly transfer troops to the most threatened sectors of the front. Anti-Bolshevik forces were divided territorially and politically. They were unable to develop a unified political platform (the “white” officers for the most part were in favor of a monarchical system, and the Socialist Revolutionary governments were in favor of a republican one), as well as agree on the time of their offensives and, due to their peripheral location, were forced to use the help of the Cossacks and national governments, which did not supported the plans of the “whites” to recreate a “united and indivisible Russia.” Assistance to the anti-Bolshevik forces from foreign powers was insufficient to help them achieve a decisive advantage over the enemy. The mass peasant movement directed against Soviet power, not coinciding with the main battles of the civil war, could not overthrow the Bolshevik power due to its defensive strategy, uncoordinated actions and limited goals.
During the civil war, the Soviet state created powerful armed forces (by November 1920 numbered over 5.4 million people) with a clear organizational structure and centralized leadership, in whose ranks about 75 thousand officers and generals of the former Russian army served (about 30% of its strength) officers), whose experience and knowledge played an important role in the victories of the Red Army on the fronts of the civil war. The most distinguished among them were I. I. Vatsetis, A. I. Egorov, S. S. Kamenev, F. K. Mironov, M. N. Tukhachevsky and others. Soldiers, sailors and non-commissioned officers of the former Russian army became skilled military leaders: V. K. Blyukher, S. M. Budyonny, G. I. Kotovsky, F. F. Raskolnikov, V. I. Chapaev and others, as well as M. V. Frunze, I. E. Yakir who did not have a military education etc. The maximum number (by mid-1919) of the White armies was about 600 (according to other sources, about 300) thousand people. Among the military leaders of the White movement, generals M.V. Alekseev, P.N. Wrangel, A.I. Denikin, A.I. Dutov, L.G. Kornilov, E.K. Miller, G. played a prominent role in the civil war. M. Semenov, Ya. A. Slashchev, N. N. Yudenich, Admiral A. V. Kolchak and others.
The civil war brought enormous material and human losses. It completed the collapse of the economy that began during the First World War (industrial production by 1920 was 4-20% of the 1913 level, agricultural production was almost halved). The financial system of the state turned out to be completely disorganized: over 2 thousand types of banknotes were in circulation on the territory of Russia during the civil war. The most striking indicator of the crisis was the famine of 1921-22, which affected over 30 million people. Massive malnutrition and associated epidemics caused high mortality. The irretrievable losses of the Soviet troops (killed, died from wounds, went missing, did not return from captivity, etc.) amounted to about 940 thousand people, sanitary losses - about 6.8 million people; their opponents (according to incomplete data) lost over 225 thousand people in killed alone. The total number of deaths during the civil war, according to various estimates, ranged from 10 to 17 million people, and the share of military losses did not exceed 20%. Under the influence of the civil war, up to 2 million people emigrated from the country (see the section “Emigration” in the volume “Russia”). The civil war caused the destruction of traditional economic and social ties, the archaization of society and aggravated the country's foreign policy isolation. Under the influence of the civil war, the characteristic features of the Soviet political system were formed: the centralization of government and the violent suppression of internal opposition.
Lit.: Denikin A.I. Essays on Russian Troubles: In 5 volumes. Paris, 1921-1926. M., 2006. T. 1-3; Directives of the command of the fronts of the Red Army (1917-1922). M., 1971-1978. T. 1-4; Civil war in the USSR: In 2 vols. M., 1980-1986; Civil war and military intervention in the USSR: Encyclopedia. 2nd ed. M., 1987; Kavtaradze A. G. Military specialists in the service of the Republic of Soviets. 1917-1920. M., 1988; Kakurin N. E. How the Revolution Fought: In 2 volumes, 2nd ed. M., 1990; Brovkin V.N. Behind the front lines of the Civil war: political parties and social movements in Russia, 1918-1922. Princeton, 1994; Civil War in Russia: Crossroads of Opinions. M., 1994; Mawdsley E. The Russian Civil war. Edinburgh, 2000.
The October Revolution and the subsequent political and economic measures of the Bolsheviks led the country to a deep internal split and intensified the struggle of various socio-political forces. The period from the spring of 1918 to the end of 1920 was called the Civil War.
The “Red Guard attack on capital” and the establishment of a food dictatorship created the ground for dissatisfaction among the bourgeoisie and the rural population with the policies of the Soviet regime. The establishment of a one-party regime alienated democratic and socialist forces from the Bolsheviks. A significant part of the intelligentsia, military circles, and clergy opposed the Bolshevik regime. The peculiarity of the Civil War in Russia was the interweaving of domestic political struggle with foreign intervention. The policy of Germany and the Entente was dictated by the desire to eliminate the Bolshevik regime and prevent the “export of revolution” to Europe. The Civil War is briefly described here.
Three main social camps emerged during the Civil War.
1) The White movement included representatives of the former military-bureaucratic elite of old Russia, landowners, the bourgeoisie and was represented by the Cadets and Octobrists, and was supported by the liberal intelligentsia. The main goals of the White movement were to introduce constitutional order in Russia and to preserve the integrity and indivisibility of the Russian state.
2) The social base of the Reds against the Whites, represented by the Bolshevik Party, was the radical layers of the working class and the poorest peasantry.
3) The third force in the Civil War were parties of socialist and democratic orientation (democratic counter-revolution) - the Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, etc. These parties expressed the interests of broad sections of the peasantry and democratically oriented intelligentsia, advocated for a democratic Russia and elections to the Constituent Assembly. Historians usually divide the period of the Civil War and intervention into stages:
- the first - from the end of May to November 1918.
- the second - from November 1913 to February 1919.
- the third - from March 1919 to the spring of 1920.
- fourth - from spring to November 1920.
Three regions became the main centers of resistance to the Bolsheviks: Don and Kuban, Ukraine, and Eastern Siberia.
In May 1918, the most threatening actions against the Bolsheviks took place in the Volga region, Siberia and the Far East. The Czechoslovakian Corps rebelled and took control of cities along the Trans-Siberian Railway. The successful offensive of the Czechs was supported by the Socialist Revolutionaries, who organized in Samara a Committee of deputies of the disbanded Constituent Assembly (Komu h). Some cities of the Volga region joined the Committee. On September 8, a meeting of opposition forces was convened in Ufa, where the Provisional All-Russian Government - the Ufa Directory - was formed. It included the right Socialist Revolutionaries, cadets and representatives of the generals. Controversies within the Directory on the issue of returning lands to former owners led to its collapse.
In the spring of 1918, military intervention began. German troops entered Ukraine, Romania occupied Bessarabia. The Entente countries, which did not recognize the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, began military operations in the north of Russia. The English expeditionary force captured Murmansk. In the Far East, troops of the Japanese, and then the British, French and Americans appeared. In the summer of 1918, the position of the Bolsheviks became extremely difficult. The Bolshevik government controlled only the territory around Moscow. Ukraine was captured by the Germans, the Don and Kuban were captured by generals Krasnov and Anton Denikin, the Volga region came under the rule of Komuch and the Czechoslovak Corps. By the end of 1918, the intervention intensified, which was associated with the end of the First World War. — At the second stage of the Civil War, the White forces, supported by the interventionists, attacked the Red positions in different directions. General Nikolai Yudenich was advancing from Estonia to Petrograd; General Mahler from the north to Vologda; Airborne: Admiral A.V. Kolchak sought to take possession of the Volga region; General A.I. Denikin moved from the south to Moscow.
Third stage. Even in November 1918, in Omsk, Kolchak declared himself “the supreme ruler of Russia” and captured Perm. At the beginning of March 1919, his troops broke through the front and moved towards the Volga. In the Middle Volga region, Kolchak planned to unite with Denikin’s army. Red Army under the command of MV. Frunze stopped the offensive. Kolchak was thrown back beyond the Urals. In February 1920, Kolchak was shot in Irkutsk. 1919 Denikin captured part of Ukraine, by the beginning of September his army took Kursk, Orel, Voronezh. In the rear of the White Army in Ukraine, a large peasant army operated under the command of N.I. Makhno. The Reds managed to stop the advance at Tula and push the enemy back to the south.
In December 1919 - early 1920, Denikin's army was defeated. Denikin's troops retreated to the Crimea, where Baron Peter Wrangel took command of them.
In October 1919, General Yudenich's attack on Petrograd was stopped. His troops were driven back to Estonia, where they were disarmed by local authorities. 1919 became a turning point in the war, the interventionists began to leave Soviet Russia.
At the fourth stage of the Civil War, the main events took place in the south and west of the country. In April 1920, the war with Poland began, the Western (M.N. Tukhachevsky) and Southwestern (A.I. Egorov) fronts were formed. The cavalry army of Semyon Budyonny took an active part in the hostilities. Tukhachevsky's troops, which did not have the necessary reserves, were forced to retreat from the territory of Poland in October 1920. As a result of the war with Poland, the Peace of Riga was signed in March 1921: Western Ukraine and Western Belarus were transferred to Poland.
In June 1920, to help Poland, Wrangel's White Guard troops moved on the offensive from Crimea and captured Northern Tavria. The troops of the Southern Front under the command of M.V. Frunze, the White Guards were expelled back to Crimea. The Wrangelites took refuge behind the Perekop fortifications. In November 1920, Frunze's troops stormed the fortifications of Perekop, crossed Sivash, and liberated Crimea. The remnants of the White Army were evacuated to Turkey. The civil war in Central Russia is over.
In 1921 - 1922 military operations continued on the outskirts and in the Far East.
Historians believe that the reasons for the defeat of the anti-Soviet forces were serious political mistakes made by the leaders of the White movement.
1) Kolchak and Denikin canceled the Decree on Land, turning the peasants against themselves. The majority of the peasantry supported the Soviet regime.
2) The White Guards were unable to conduct a dialogue with the parties of the democratic counter-revolution - the Socialist Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks. —
4) The Whites were supported by the Entente countries, but these countries did not have a single agreed position regarding Soviet Russia.
The Reds managed to select the right political and military leaders, create an effective system of organizing the population, and mobilize economic resources. Also, the ideological and propaganda activities of the Bolsheviks played a large role in ensuring the victory of the Reds. The RCP~b) managed to convince a significant part of the population of the correctness of its policies, while resorting to social demagoguery.
The Civil War became a national tragedy. Losses in the war amounted to 8 million people (killed, died of hunger, disease, terror), 2 million people emigrated from Russia, mostly highly educated segments of the population.
That's what the civil war was like in a nutshell.
The Russian Civil War is an armed confrontation in 1917-1922. organized military-political structures and state entities, conventionally defined as “white” and “red,” as well as national-state entities on the territory of the former Russian Empire (bourgeois republics, regional state entities). Spontaneously emerging military and socio-political groups, often referred to as “third force” (rebel groups, partisan republics, etc.), also took part in the armed confrontation. Also, foreign states (referred to as “interventionists”) participated in the civil confrontation in Russia.
Periodization of the Civil War
There are 4 stages in the history of the Civil War:
First stage: summer 1917 - November 1918 - formation of the main centers of the anti-Bolshevik movement
Second stage: November 1918 - April 1919 - the beginning of the Entente intervention.
Reasons for intervention:
Deal with Soviet power;
Protect your interests;
Fear of socialist influence.
Third stage: May 1919 - April 1920 - simultaneous struggle of Soviet Russia against the White armies and Entente troops
Fourth stage: May 1920 - November 1922 (summer 1923) - defeat of the white armies, end of the civil war
Background and reasons
The origin of the Civil War cannot be reduced to any one cause. It was the result of deep political, socio-economic, national and spiritual contradictions. The potential for public discontent during the First World War and the devaluation of the values of human life played an important role. The agrarian-peasant policy of the Bolsheviks also played a negative role (the introduction of the Committee of Poor People's Commissars and the surplus appropriation system). The Bolshevik political doctrine, according to which civil war is a natural outcome of the socialist revolution, caused by the resistance of the overthrown ruling classes, also contributed to the civil war. On the initiative of the Bolsheviks, the All-Russian Constituent Assembly was dissolved, and the multi-party system was gradually eliminated.
The actual defeat in the war with Germany, the Brest-Litovsk Treaty led to the fact that the Bolsheviks began to be accused of “the destruction of Russia.”
The right of peoples to self-determination, proclaimed by the new government, and the emergence of many independent state entities in different parts of the country were perceived by supporters of “One, Indivisible” Russia as a betrayal of its interests.
Dissatisfaction with the Soviet regime was also expressed by those who opposed its demonstrative break with the historical past and with ancient traditions. The anti-church policy of the Bolsheviks was especially painful for millions of people.
The civil war took various forms, including uprisings, isolated armed clashes, large-scale operations involving regular armies, guerrilla warfare, and terror. The peculiarity of the Civil War in our country was that it turned out to be extremely long, bloody, and unfolded over a vast territory.
Chronological framework
Individual episodes of the Civil War took place already in 1917 (February events of 1917, the July “semi-uprising” in Petrograd, Kornilov’s speech, October battles in Moscow and other cities), and in the spring and summer of 1918 it acquired a large-scale, front-line character .
It is not easy to determine the final boundary of the Civil War. Front-line military operations on the territory of the European part of the country ended in 1920. But then there were also massive peasant uprisings against the Bolsheviks, and performances by Kronstadt sailors in the spring of 1921. Only in 1922-1923. The armed struggle in the Far East ended. This milestone can generally be considered the end of a large-scale Civil War.
Features of armed confrontation during the Civil War
Military operations during the Civil War differed significantly from previous periods. It was a time of unique military creativity that broke the stereotypes of troop command and control, the army recruitment system, and military discipline. The greatest successes were achieved by the military leader who commanded in a new way, using all means to achieve the task. The Civil War was a war of maneuver. Unlike the period of “positional war” of 1915-1917, there were no continuous front lines. Cities, villages, and villages could change hands several times. Therefore, active, offensive actions, caused by the desire to seize the initiative from the enemy, were of decisive importance.
The fighting during the Civil War was characterized by a variety of strategies and tactics. During the establishment of Soviet power in Petrograd and Moscow, street fighting tactics were used. In mid-October 1917, the Military Revolutionary Committee created in Petrograd under the leadership of V.I. Lenin and N.I. Podvoisky developed a plan to capture the main city facilities (telephone exchange, telegraph, stations, bridges). Fighting in Moscow (October 27 - November 3, 1917, old style), between the forces of the Moscow Military Revolutionary Committee (leaders - G.A. Usievich, N.I. Muralov) and the Public Security Committee (commander of the Moscow Military District, Colonel K.I. Ryabtsev and the head of the garrison, Colonel L.N. Treskin) were distinguished by the offensive of the Red Guard detachments and soldiers of the reserve regiments from the outskirts to the city center, occupied by the cadets and the White Guard. Artillery was used to suppress white strongholds. Similar tactics of street fighting were used during the establishment of Soviet power in Kyiv, Kaluga, Irkutsk, and Chita.
Formation of the main centers of the anti-Bolshevik movement
Since the beginning of the formation of units of the White and Red armies, the scale of military operations has expanded. In 1918, they were carried out mainly along railway lines and amounted to the capture of large junction stations and cities. This period was called “echelon war.”
In January-February 1918, Red Guard units under the command of V.A. advanced along the railways. Antonov-Ovseenko and R.F. Sivers to Rostov-on-Don and Novocherkassk, where the forces of the Volunteer Army were concentrated under the command of generals M.V. Alekseeva and L.G. Kornilov.
In the spring of 1918, units of the Czechoslovak Corps formed from prisoners of war of the Austro-Hungarian army took action. Located in echelons along the Trans-Siberian Railway from Penza to Vladivostok, the corps led by R. Gaida, Y. Syrov, S. Chechek was subordinate to the French military command and was sent to the Western Front. In response to demands for disarmament, the corps overthrew Soviet power in Omsk, Tomsk, Novonikolaevsk, Krasnoyarsk, Vladivostok and throughout the entire territory of Siberia adjacent to the Trans-Siberian Railway during May-June 1918.
In the summer-autumn of 1918, during the 2nd Kuban campaign, the Volunteer Army captured the junction stations of Tikhoretskaya, Torgovaya, and Armavir and Stavropol actually decided the outcome of the operation in the North Caucasus.
The initial period of the Civil War was associated with the activities of the underground centers of the White movement. In all major cities of Russia there were cells associated with the former structures of military districts and military units located in these cities, as well as with underground organizations of monarchists, cadets and Socialist Revolutionaries. In the spring of 1918, on the eve of the performance of the Czechoslovak Corps, an officer underground operated in Petropavlovsk and Omsk under the leadership of Colonel P.P. Ivanov-Rinova, in Tomsk - Lieutenant Colonel A.N. Pepelyaev, in Novonikolaevsk - Colonel A.N. Grishina-Almazova.
In the summer of 1918, General Alekseev approved a secret regulation on the recruitment centers of the Volunteer Army created in Kyiv, Kharkov, Odessa, and Taganrog. They transmitted intelligence information, sent officers across the front line, and were also supposed to oppose the Soviet government as White Army units approached the city.
A similar role was played by the Soviet underground, which was active in the White Crimea, the North Caucasus, Eastern Siberia and the Far East in 1919-1920, creating strong partisan detachments that later became part of the regular units of the Red Army.
The beginning of 1919 marks the end of the formation of the White and Red Armies.
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army included 15 armies, covering the entire front in the center of European Russia. The highest military leadership was concentrated under the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (RVSR) L.D. Trotsky and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic, former Colonel S.S. Kameneva. All issues of logistical support for the front, issues of regulating the economy on the territory of Soviet Russia were coordinated by the Labor and Defense Council (SLO), the chairman of which was V.I. Lenin. He also headed the Soviet government - the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom).
They were opposed by those united under the Supreme Command of Admiral A.V. Kolchak armies of the Eastern Front (Siberian (Lieutenant General R. Gaida), Western (artillery general M.V. Khanzhin), Southern (Major General P.A. Belov) and Orenburg (Lieutenant General A.I. Dutov) , as well as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (AFSR), Lieutenant General A.I. Denikin, who recognized the power of Kolchak (Dobrovolskaya (Lieutenant General V.Z. May-Mayevsky), Donskaya (Lieutenant General V.I. Sidorin) were subordinate to him) and the Caucasian (Lieutenant General P. N. Wrangel) army.) In the general direction of Petrograd, the troops of the Commander-in-Chief of the North-Western Front, Infantry General N. N. Yudenich, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Region, Lieutenant General E. K. Miller, acted.
The period of greatest development of the Civil War
In the spring of 1919, attempts at combined attacks by the white fronts began. From that time on, military operations took the form of full-scale operations on a wide front, using all types of troops (infantry, cavalry, artillery), with the active assistance of aviation, tanks and armored trains. In March-May 1919, the offensive of the Eastern Front of Admiral Kolchak began, striking in divergent directions - to Vyatka-Kotlas, to connect with the Northern Front and to the Volga - to connect with the armies of General Denikin.
The troops of the Soviet Eastern Front, under the leadership of S.S. Kamenev and, mainly, the 5th Soviet Army, under the command of M.N. Tukhachevsky by the beginning of June 1919 stopped the advance of the white armies by launching counterattacks in the Southern Urals (near Buguruslan and Belebey) and in the Kama region.
In the summer of 1919, the offensive of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (AFSR) began on Kharkov, Yekaterinoslav and Tsaritsyn. After the latter was occupied by the army of General Wrangel, on July 3, Denikin signed a directive on the “march against Moscow.” During July-October, the AFSR troops occupied most of Ukraine and the provinces of the Black Earth Center of Russia, stopping on the line Kyiv - Bryansk - Orel - Voronezh - Tsaritsyn. Almost simultaneously with the offensive of the AFSR on Moscow, the offensive of the North-Western Army of General Yudenich began on Petrograd.
For Soviet Russia, the time of autumn 1919 became the most critical. Total mobilizations of communists and Komsomol members were carried out, the slogans “Everything for the defense of Petrograd” and “Everything for the defense of Moscow” were put forward. Thanks to control over the main railway lines converging towards the center of Russia, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (RVSR) could transfer troops from one front to another. So, at the height of the fighting in the Moscow direction, several divisions were transferred from Siberia, as well as from the Western Front to the Southern Front and near Petrograd. At the same time, the white armies failed to establish a common anti-Bolshevik front (with the exception of contacts at the level of individual detachments between the Northern and Eastern Fronts in May 1919, as well as between the AFSR front and the Ural Cossack Army in August 1919). Thanks to the concentration of forces from different fronts by mid-October 1919 near Orel and Voronezh, the commander of the Southern Front, former Lieutenant General V.N. Egorov managed to create a strike group, the basis of which was parts of the Latvian and Estonian rifle divisions, as well as the 1st Cavalry Army under the command of S.M. Budyonny and K.E. Voroshilov. Counterattacks were launched on the flanks of the 1st Corps of the Volunteer Army, which was advancing on Moscow, under the command of Lieutenant General A.P. Kutepova. After stubborn fighting during October-November 1919, the front of the AFSR was broken, and a general retreat of the Whites from Moscow began. In mid-November, before reaching 25 km from Petrograd, units of the North-Western Army were stopped and defeated.
The military operations of 1919 were distinguished by the widespread use of maneuver. Large cavalry formations were used to break through the front and conduct raids behind enemy lines. In the white armies, Cossack cavalry was used in this capacity. The 4th Don Corps, specially formed for this purpose, under the command of Lieutenant General K.K. Mamantova in August-September made a deep raid from Tambov to the borders with the Ryazan province and Voronezh. Siberian Cossack Corps under the command of Major General P.P. Ivanova-Rinova broke through the Red Front near Petropavlovsk in early September. The “Chervonnaya Division” from the Southern Front of the Red Army raided the rear of the Volunteer Corps in October-November. By the end of 1919, the 1st Cavalry Army began its operations, advancing in the Rostov and Novocherkassk directions.
In January-March 1920, fierce battles unfolded in the Kuban. During operations on the river. Manych and under Art. Egorlykskaya took place the last major equestrian battles in world history. Up to 50 thousand horsemen from both sides took part in them. Their result was the defeat of the AFSR and evacuation to the Crimea on ships of the Black Sea Fleet. In Crimea, in April 1920, the white troops were renamed the “Russian Army”, the command of which was taken by Lieutenant General P.N. Wrangel.
The defeat of the white armies. End of the Civil War
At the turn of 1919-1920. was finally defeated by A.V. Kolchak. His army was scattering, and partisan detachments were operating in the rear. The Supreme Ruler was captured and in February 1920 in Irkutsk he was shot by the Bolsheviks.
In January 1920 N.N. Yudenich, who had undertaken two unsuccessful campaigns against Petrograd, announced the dissolution of his North-Western Army.
After the defeat of Poland, the army of P.N., locked in Crimea. Wrangel was doomed. Having carried out a short offensive north of Crimea, it went on the defensive. The forces of the Southern Front of the Red Army (commander M.V. Frunze) defeated the Whites in October - November 1920. The 1st and 2nd Cavalry armies made a significant contribution to the victory over them. Almost 150 thousand people, military and civilians, left Crimea.
Fighting in 1920-1922. were distinguished by small territories (Tavria, Transbaikalia, Primorye), smaller troops and already included elements of trench warfare. During the defense, fortifications were used (white lines on Perekop and Chongar in Crimea in 1920, Kakhovsky fortified area of the 13th Soviet Army on the Dnieper in 1920, built by the Japanese and transferred to the white Volochaevsky and Spassky fortified areas in Primorye in 1921-1922. ). To break through, long-term artillery preparation was used, as well as flamethrowers and tanks.
Victory over P.N. Wrangel did not yet mean the end of the Civil War. Now the main opponents of the Reds were not the Whites, but the Greens, as the representatives of the peasant insurgent movement called themselves. The most powerful peasant movement developed in the Tambov and Voronezh provinces. It began in August 1920 after the peasants were given an impossible task of food appropriation. The rebel army, commanded by the Socialist Revolutionary A.S. Antonov, managed to overthrow the Bolshevik power in several counties. At the end of 1920, units of the regular Red Army led by M.N. were sent to fight the rebels. Tukhachevsky. However, fighting the partisan peasant army turned out to be even more difficult than fighting the White Guards in open battle. Only in June 1921 was the Tambov uprising suppressed, and A.S. Antonov was killed in a shootout. During the same period, the Reds managed to achieve a final victory over Makhno.
The high point of the Civil War in 1921 was the uprising of Kronstadt sailors, who joined the protests of St. Petersburg workers demanding political freedoms. The uprising was brutally suppressed in March 1921.
During 1920-1921 units of the Red Army made several campaigns in Transcaucasia. As a result, independent states were liquidated on the territory of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia and Soviet power was established.
To fight the White Guards and interventionists in the Far East, the Bolsheviks created a new state in April 1920 - the Far Eastern Republic (FER). For two years, the army of the republic drove Japanese troops out of Primorye and defeated several White Guard chieftains. After this, at the end of 1922, the Far Eastern Republic became part of the RSFSR.
During the same period, overcoming the resistance of the Basmachi, who fought to preserve medieval traditions, the Bolsheviks won a victory in Central Asia. Although a few rebel groups were active until the 1930s.
Results of the Civil War
The main result of the Civil War in Russia was the establishment of Bolshevik power. Among the reasons for the Reds' victory are:
1. The Bolsheviks’ use of the political sentiments of the masses, powerful propaganda (clear goals, prompt resolution of issues in the world and on earth, exit from the world war, justification of terror by the fight against the country’s enemies);
2. Control by the Council of People's Commissars of the central provinces of Russia, where the main military enterprises were located;
3. Disunity of anti-Bolshevik forces (lack of common ideological positions; struggle “against something”, but not “for something”; territorial fragmentation).
The total population losses during the Civil War amounted to 12-13 million people. Almost half of them are victims of famine and mass epidemics. Emigration from Russia became widespread. About 2 million people left their homeland.
The country's economy was in a catastrophic state. The cities were depopulated. Industrial production fell by 5-7 times compared to 1913, agricultural production by one third.
The territory of the former Russian Empire disintegrated. The largest new state was the RSFSR.
Military equipment during the Civil War
New types of military equipment were successfully used on the battlefields of the Civil War, some of which appeared in Russia for the first time. For example, in units of the AFSR, as well as the Northern and Northwestern armies, English and French tanks were actively used. The Red Guards, who did not have the skills to fight them, often retreated from their positions. However, during the assault on the Kakhovsky fortified area in October 1920, most of the white tanks were hit by artillery, and after the necessary repairs they were included in the Red Army, where they were used until the early 1930s. The presence of armored vehicles was considered a prerequisite for infantry support, both in street battles and during front-line operations.
The need for strong fire support during horse attacks gave rise to the emergence of such an original means of combat as horse-drawn carts - light two-wheeled carts with a machine gun mounted on them. Carts were first used in the rebel army of N.I. Makhno, but later began to be used in all large cavalry formations of the White and Red armies.
Air squads interacted with the ground forces. An example of a joint operation is the defeat of the cavalry corps of D.P. Rednecks by aviation and infantry of the Russian Army in June 1920. Aviation was also used for bombing fortified positions and reconnaissance. During the period of “echelon warfare” and later, armored trains, the number of which reached several dozen per army, operated together with infantry and cavalry on both sides. Special detachments were created from them.
Recruiting armies during the Civil War
In the conditions of the Civil War and the destruction of the state mobilization apparatus, the principles of recruiting armies changed. Only the Siberian Army of the Eastern Front was recruited in 1918 upon mobilization. Most units of the AFSR, as well as the Northern and Northwestern armies, were replenished from volunteers and prisoners of war. Volunteers were the most reliable in combat.
The Red Army was also characterized by the predominance of volunteers (initially, only volunteers were accepted into the Red Army, and admission required “proletarian origin” and a “recommendation” from the local party cell). The predominance of mobilized and prisoners of war became widespread at the final stage of the Civil War (in the ranks of the Russian Army of General Wrangel, as part of the 1st Cavalry in the Red Army).
The White and Red armies were distinguished by their small numbers and, as a rule, the discrepancy between the actual composition of military units and their staff (for example, divisions of 1000-1500 bayonets, regiments of 300 bayonets, a shortage of up to 35-40% was even approved).
In the command of the White armies, the role of young officers increased, and in the Red Army - party nominees. The institution of political commissars, which was completely new for the armed forces (first appeared under the Provisional Government in 1917), was established. The average age of the command level in the positions of division chiefs and corps commanders was 25-35 years.
The absence of an order system in the AFSR and the awarding of successive ranks led to the fact that in 1.5-2 years officers progressed from lieutenants to generals.
In the Red Army, with a relatively young command staff, a significant role was played by former officers of the General Staff who planned strategic operations (former lieutenant generals M.D. Bonch-Bruevich, V.N. Egorov, former colonels I.I. Vatsetis, S.S. Kamenev, F.M. Afanasyev, A.N. Stankevich, etc.).
Military-political factor in the Civil War
The specificity of the civil war, as a military-political confrontation between whites and reds, was also that military operations were often planned under the influence of certain political factors. In particular, the offensive of the Eastern Front of Admiral Kolchak in the spring of 1919 was undertaken in anticipation of quick diplomatic recognition of him as the Supreme Ruler of Russia by the Entente countries. And the offensive of General Yudenich’s North-Western Army on Petrograd was caused not only by the hope of quickly occupying the “cradle of the revolution”, but also by fears of concluding a peace treaty between Soviet Russia and Estonia. In this case, Yudenich’s army lost its base. The offensive of the Russian army of General Wrangel in Tavria in the summer of 1920 was supposed to draw back part of the forces from the Soviet-Polish front.
Many operations of the Red Army, regardless of strategic reasons and military potential, were also of a purely political nature (for the sake of the so-called “triumph of the world revolution”). So, for example, in the summer of 1919, the 12th and 14th armies of the Southern Front were supposed to be sent to support the revolutionary uprising in Hungary, and the 7th and 15th armies were supposed to establish Soviet power in the Baltic republics. In 1920, during the war with Poland, troops of the Western Front, under the command of M.N. Tukhachevsky, after operations to defeat the Polish armies in Western Ukraine and Belarus, transferred their operations to the territory of Poland, counting on the creation of a pro-Soviet government here. The actions of the 11th and 12th Soviet armies in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia in 1921 were of a similar nature. At the same time, under the pretext of the defeat of units of the Asian Cavalry Division of Lieutenant General R.F. Ungern-Sternberg, troops of the Far Eastern Republic and the 5th Soviet Army were introduced into the territory of Mongolia and a socialist regime was established (the first in the world after Soviet Russia).
During the Civil War, it became a practice to carry out operations dedicated to anniversaries (the beginning of the assault on Perekop by troops of the Southern Front under the command of M.V. Frunze on November 7, 1920, on the anniversary of the 1917 revolution).
The military art of the Civil War became a striking example of the combination of traditional and innovative forms of strategy and tactics in the difficult conditions of the Russian “Troubles” of 1917-1922. It determined the development of Soviet military art (in particular, the use of large cavalry formations) in the following decades, until the beginning of World War II.
Good new day, dear site users!
The civil war is certainly one of the most difficult events of the Soviet period. It is not for nothing that Ivan Bunin calls the days of this war “cursed” in his diary entries. Internal conflicts, the decline of the economy, the arbitrariness of the ruling party - all this significantly weakened the country and provoked strong foreign powers to take advantage of this situation in their interests.
Now let's take a closer look at this time.
Beginning of the Civil War
There is no common point of view among historians on this issue. Some believe that the conflict began immediately after the revolution, that is, in October 1917. Others argue that the origins of the war should be dated back to the spring of 1918, when the intervention began and strong opposition to Soviet power emerged. There is also no consensus on who is the initiator of this fratricidal war: the leaders of the Bolshevik Party or the former upper classes of society who lost their influence and property as a result of the revolution.
Causes of the Civil War
- The nationalization of land and industry caused discontent among those from whom this property began to be taken away, and turned the landowners and bourgeoisie against Soviet power
- The government's methods for transforming society did not correspond to the goals set when the Bolsheviks came to power, which alienated the Cossacks, kulaks, middle peasants and the democratic bourgeoisie
- The promised “dictatorship of the proletariat” in fact turned out to be the dictatorship of only one state body - the Central Committee. The Decrees he issued “On the arrest of the leaders of the Civil War” (November 1917) and on the “Red Terror” legally gave the Bolsheviks a free hand to physically exterminate the opposition. This became the reason for the entry of the Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries and anarchists into the Civil War.
- Also, the Civil War was accompanied by active foreign intervention. Neighboring states helped financially and politically deal with the Bolsheviks in order to return the confiscated property of foreigners and prevent the revolution from spreading widely. But at the same time, they, seeing that the country was “bursting at the seams,” wanted to grab a “tidbit” for themselves.
1st stage of the Civil War
In 1918, anti-Soviet pockets formed.
In the spring of 1918, foreign intervention began.
In May 1918, there was an uprising of the Czechoslovak corps. The military overthrew Soviet power in the Volga region and Siberia. Then, in Samara, Ufa and Omsk, the power of the Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks was briefly established, whose goal was to return to the Constituent Assembly.
In the summer of 1918, a large-scale movement against the Bolsheviks, led by the Socialist Revolutionaries, unfolded in Central Russia. But its result consisted only in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Soviet government in Moscow and activate the defense of the Bolshevik power by strengthening the power of the Red Army.
The Red Army began its offensive in September 1918. In three months, she restored the power of the Soviets in the Volga and Urals regions.
Climax of the Civil War
The end of 1918 - the beginning of 1919 is the period in which the White movement reached its peak.
Admiral A.V. Kolchak, trying to unite with the army of General Miller for a subsequent joint attack on Moscow, began military operations in the Urals. But the Red Army stopped their advance.
In 1919, the White Guards planned a joint attack from different directions: south (Denikin), east (Kolchak) and west (Yudenich). But it was not destined to come true.
In March 1919, Kolchak was stopped and pushed to Siberia, where, in turn, the partisans and peasants supported the Bolsheviks to restore their power.
Both attempts of Yudenich's Petrograd offensive ended in failure.
In July 1919, Denikin, having captured Ukraine, moved towards Moscow, occupying Kursk, Orel and Voronezh along the way. But soon the Southern Front of the Red Army was created against such a strong enemy, which, with the support of N.I. Makhno defeated Denikin's army.
In 1919, the interventionists liberated the Russian territories they had occupied.
End of the Civil War
In 1920, the Bolsheviks faced two main tasks: the defeat of Wrangel in the south and the resolution of the issue of establishing borders with Poland.
The Bolsheviks recognized the independence of Poland, but the Polish government made too large territorial demands. The dispute could not be resolved diplomatically, and Poland annexed Belarus and Ukraine in May. The Red Army under the command of Tukhachevsky was sent there to resist. The confrontation was defeated, and the Soviet-Polish war ended with the Peace of Riga in March 1921, signed on more favorable terms for the enemy: Western Belarus and Western Ukraine went to Poland.
To destroy Wrangel's army, the Southern Front was created under the leadership of M.V. Frunze. At the end of October 1920, Wrangel was defeated in Northern Tavria and was thrown back to the Crimea. Afterwards, the Red Army captured Perekop and captured Crimea. In November 1920, the Civil War actually ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks.
Reasons for the Bolshevik victory
- Anti-Soviet forces sought to return to the previous order, to repeal the Decree on Land, which turned the majority of the population - the peasants - against them.
- There was no unity among opponents of Soviet power. They all acted separately, which made them more vulnerable to the well-organized Red Army.
- The Bolsheviks united all the forces of the country to create a single military camp and a powerful Red Army
- The Bolsheviks had a single program understandable to the common people under the slogan of restoring justice and social equality
- The Bolsheviks had the support of the largest segment of the population - the peasantry.
Well, now we invite you to consolidate the material you have covered with the help of a video lesson. To view it, just like it on one of your social networks:
When considering the phenomenon of the Civil War in Russia 1917-1923. quite often one can come across a simplified view, according to which there were only two warring parties: “red” and “white”. In reality, everything is somewhat more complicated. In reality, at least six parties took part in the war, each of which pursued its own interests.
What kind of parties were these, what interests did they represent, and what would be the fate of Russia if these parties won? Let's consider this issue in more detail.
1. Reds. For the working people!
The first side can rightfully be called the “Reds”. The red movement itself was not entirely homogeneous, but of all the warring parties, it was precisely this feature - relative homogeneity - that was characteristic of them to the greatest extent. The Red Army represented the interests of the legitimate government at that time, namely the state structures that emerged after the October Revolution of 1917. To call this government “Bolshevik” is not entirely correct, because at that time, the Bolsheviks and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries acted as essentially a united front. If desired, one can find a significant number of Left SRs both in leadership positions in the state apparatus and in command (and private) positions in the Red Army (not to mention the earlier Red Guard). However, a similar desire arose later among the party leadership, and those of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries who did not have time or (due to short-sightedness) did not fundamentally move to the camp of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) suffered a sad fate. But this goes beyond the scope of our material, because... refers to the period after the end of the Civil War. Returning to the Reds as a side, we can say that it was their cohesion (the absence of serious internal contradictions, a single strategic view and unity of command) and legitimacy (and, as a consequence, the ability to conduct mass conscription) that ultimately brought them victory.
2. White. For the faith, the Tsar... or the Constituent Assembly? Or Directory? Or…
The second side of the conflict can be confidently called what is called “white”. In fact, the White Guard as such, unlike the Reds, was not a homogeneous movement. Does everyone remember the scene from the movie “The Elusive Avengers”, when one of the characters makes a monarchist statement in a restaurant filled with representatives of the White movement? Immediately after this statement, a brawl breaks out in the restaurant, caused by the difference in political views of the public. There are shouts of “Long live the Constituent Assembly!”, “Long live the Free Republic!” etc. The White movement really did not have a single political program and any long-term goals, and the unifying idea was the idea of the military defeat of the Reds. There is an opinion that in the unlikely event of a military victory for the whites in the form in which they wanted it (i.e., the overthrow of Lenin’s government), the Civil War would have continued for decades, because lovers and connoisseurs of “Schubert’s waltzes and crunches “French roll” would immediately grab the throat of the “justice seekers” with their idea of a Constituent Assembly, who, in turn, would gladly “tickle with bayonets” supporters of a military dictatorship a la Kolchak, who were politically allergic to French rolls under Schubert.
3. Green. Beat the whites until they turn red, beat the reds until they turn black, and at the same time plunder the loot
The third side of the conflict, which only specialists and a few enthusiasts of the topic now remember, is the force for which war, especially civil war, is a real breeding ground. This refers to the “rats of war” - various gangs, the whole purpose of which essentially boils down to armed robbery of civilians. Tellingly, during that war there were so many of these “rats” that they even got their own color, just like the two main sides. Since the bulk of these “rats” were army deserters (who wore uniforms), and their main habitat was vast forests, they were called “greens”. Typically, the Greens did not have any ideology other than the slogan of “expropriation of the expropriated” (and often simply the expropriation of everything that can be reached), the only exception being the Makhnovist movement, which gave its activities the ideological basis of anarchism. There are known cases of cooperation between the Greens and other parties - both with the Reds (by mid-1919 the armed forces of the Soviet Republic were called the “Workers' and Peasants' Red-Green Army”) and with the Whites. It is worth mentioning Father Makhno again with the famous phrase “Beat the whites until they turn red, beat the reds until they turn black.” Makhno had a BLACK flag, despite his character belonging to the green movement. In addition to Makhno, if you wish, you can recall a dozen green field commanders. Typically, most of them were active in Ukraine and nowhere else.
4. Separatists of all stripes. Bukhara Emir Akbar and Ukraine for Vilna in one bottle
Unlike the greens, this category of citizens even had an ideological basis, and a single one - nationalist. Naturally, the first representatives of this force were citizens living in Poland and Finland, and after them were bearers of the ideas of “Ukrainianism” carefully nurtured by the Austro-Hungarians, who most often did not even know the Ukrainian language. This movement in Ukraine reached such an epic intensity that it was not even able to organize itself into something whole, and existed in the form of two groups - the UPR and the Western Ukrainian People's Republic, and if the first were at least somehow able to negotiate, the second differed from the greens approximately like Dzhebhat an -Nusra (banned on the territory of the Russian Federation) from ISIS (banned on the territory of the Russian Federation), that is, they simply smelled a little differently ideologically, and they cut off the heads of the civilian population in the same way. Somewhat later (when Turkey came to its senses after the British campaign in BV), citizens of this category appeared in Central Asia, and their ideology was closer to the greens. But still, they had their own ideological basis (what is now called religious extremism). The fate of all these citizens is the same - the Red Army came and reconciled everyone. With destiny.
5. Entente. God Save the Queen in the name of Mikado
Let's not forget that the Civil War was essentially part of the First World War - at least, it coincided in time. It means that the Entente is at war with the Triple Entente, and then bam - a revolution in the largest power of the Entente. Naturally, the rest of the Entente has a number of natural questions, the first of which is “Why not take a bite?” And they decided to take a bite. If you think that the Entente was exclusively on the side of the Whites, then you are deeply mistaken - it was on its own side, and the Entente troops, like other parties, fought against everyone else, and did not support one of the above forces. The Entente's real assistance to the Whites consisted only in the supply of military material assets, primarily uniforms and food (not even ammunition). The fact is that the leadership of the Entente countries, until the end of the Civil War, had not decided which of the shades of white was more legitimate and who specifically (Kolchak? Yudenich? Denikin? Wrangel? Ungern?) should really be supported militarily. As a result, the Entente troops were represented during the war by, so to speak, limited expeditionary contingents that behaved exactly the same as the Greens, but wore foreign uniforms and insignia.
6. Germany and the allied (bayonet to rifle) Austria-Hungary. Gott mit…
Continuing the theme of the First World War. Germany unexpectedly (and perhaps expectedly: there are various rumors about the financing of a number of political forces in Russia of that period) discovered that for some reason enemy troops on the Eastern Front were deserting en masse, and the new Russian government was very eager to make peace and get out of the adventure called First World War. Peace was soon concluded, and German troops occupied the territories occupied by the citizens from paragraph 4. True, not for long. Nevertheless, they managed to take part in combat operations with almost all of the forces listed above.
And what is characteristic is that this state of affairs, namely the many warring parties, always develops during any civil war, and not just the war of 1917-23.