31. Civil war and military intervention in Russia (1918-1920)
A civil war is an armed struggle for power between citizens of one country, between different social groups, and political movements. Civil war in Russia (1918-1920), and on the outskirts the war continued until 1922. Its consequences, material damage, and human losses were terrible. Two points of view on the beginning and periodization of the civil war in Russia: 1) Western historians believe that the civil war in Russia began in October 1917, immediately after the October Revolution. 2) Soviet historians (the majority) believe that the civil war began in the spring and summer of 1918. And before that, military actions on the territory of Russia proper (without national regions) were mainly local in nature: in the Petrograd region - General Krasnov, in the Southern Urals - General Dutov, in the Don - General Kaledin, etc. Against Soviet power in the first months of its existence Only 3% of the entire officer corps spoke, and the rest were waiting for the elections and their results to the Constituent Assembly. The war begins to unfold after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly. Causes of the Civil War in Russia:
Domestic policy of the Bolshevik leadership. Nationalization of all land; nationalization of industry. Dispersal of the Constituent Assembly. All this turned the democratic intelligentsia, Cossacks, kulaks and middle peasants against the Bolshevik government. The creation of a one-party political system and the “dictatorship of the proletariat” set parties against the Bolsheviks: Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and others. The desire of the overthrown classes to return lands, factories and factories. maintain your privileged position. Thus, the landowners and the bourgeoisie are against the Bolshevik government. Confrontation in the village between the wealthy and the poor.
Main opposing forces:
Supporters of Soviet power are workers, largely the poorest and partly the middle peasantry. Their main strength is the Red Army and Navy. The anti-Soviet white movement, the overthrown landowners and the bourgeoisie, some of the officers and soldiers of the tsarist army are opponents of Soviet power. Their forces were a white army, based on material, military-technical support from capitalist countries. The composition of the red and white armies was not so different from each other. The backbone of the command staff of the Red Army was the former officers, and the overwhelming majority of the white armies consisted of peasants, Cossacks, and workers. Personal position did not always coincide with social origin (it is no coincidence that members of many families ended up on opposite sides of the war). What mattered was the position of the authorities in relation to the person and his family; on whose side they fought or at whose hands their relatives and friends suffered, died. Thus, for the majority of the population, the civil war was a bloody meat grinder into which people were drawn, most often, without their desire, and even despite their resistance.
The Russian Civil War was accompanied by foreign military intervention. In international law under intervention refers to the violent intervention of one or more states in the internal affairs of another state or in its relations with third states. Intervention can be military, economic, diplomatic, ideological. Military intervention in Russia began in March 1918 and ended in October 1922. Target interventions: “destruction of Bolshevism”, support for anti-Soviet forces. It was assumed that Russia would disintegrate into three or four weak states: Siberia, the Caucasus, Ukraine, and the Far East. The beginning of the intervention was the occupation of Russia by German troops, who captured Ukraine, Crimea and part of the North Caucasus. Romania began to lay claim to Bessarabia. The Entente countries signed an agreement on non-recognition of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty and the future division of Russia into spheres of influence. In March 1918, British, American, Canadian, Serbian and Italian troops landed in Murmansk and then Arkhangelsk. In April, Vladivostok was occupied by a Japanese landing. Then detachments of the British, French and Americans appeared in the Far East.
In May 1918, soldiers of the Czechoslovak corps, sent by the Soviet government along the Trans-Siberian Railway to the Far East, rebelled. The uprising led to the overthrow of Soviet power in the Volga region and Siberia. The White Czechs occupied a vast territory from Samara to Chita. Here in June 1918 the Committee of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch) was created. He declared himself the only legitimate authority in the country. By August 1918, the entire territory of modern Tatarstan was also occupied by the troops of the White Czechs and White Guards. The interventionists were concentrated mainly in ports, far from the centers where the fate of the country was being decided, and did not take part in active hostilities on Russian territory. The Red Army did not conduct military operations against the invaders. The interventionists provided support to the anti-Soviet forces, rather, by the fact of their presence. However, in the areas of deployment, the interventionists brutally suppressed the partisan movement and exterminated the Bolsheviks. Foreign powers provided the main assistance to the anti-Soviet forces with weapons, finances, and material support. England, for example, fully provided uniforms (from shoes to hats) and armed A. Kolchak’s army - 200 thousand people. By March 1919, Kolchak received 394 thousand rifles and 15.6 million rounds of ammunition from the USA. A. Denikin from Romania received 300 thousand rifles. Foreign states supplied anti-Soviet forces with airplanes, armored cars, tanks, and cars. The ships carried rails, steel, tools, and sanitary equipment. Thus, the material basis of the anti-Soviet forces was largely created with the help of foreign states. The civil war was accompanied by active political and military intervention by foreign states. There are 4 stages of the civil war: Stage 1 (summer-autumn 1918). At this stage, the fight against the Bolsheviks was carried out primarily by the right Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, who did not formally declare war on the Bolsheviks, but locally supported the Socialist Revolutionaries.
In July 1918, uprisings of the Socialist Revolutionaries took place: (left) in Moscow, (right) in Yaroslavl, Murom, Rybinsk. The main centers of this movement were: in the Volga region - Samara, in Western Siberia - Tomsk and Novonikolaevsk. The Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom, headed by Savinkov, actively participated in this movement. The resolution of the Central Committee of the Socialist Revolutionary Party opened terror against the Bolshevik leaders. In August 1918, Uritsky, the chairman of the Cheka, was killed, and Lenin was seriously wounded. In response to this, the Council of People's Commissars, by its Resolution of September 5, 1918, officially legalized the Red Terror. During the same period there was a mutiny of the Czechoslovak corps (from May 1918). By August 1918, the entire territory of modern Tatarstan was occupied by the troops of the White Czechs and White Guards. The attack on Moscow through Kazan began. Through Kazan it was possible to control the railway routes to Siberia and the center of Russia. The city was also a major river port. From here it was possible to get a route to the Izhevsk military factories. But the main reason for the attack on Kazan was that the Kazan bank contained almost half of the empire’s gold reserves. In August 1918, Kazan became the most important frontier where the fate of Soviet Russia was decided. The Eastern Front became the main one. The best regiments and commanders were sent here. On September 10, 1918, Kazan was liberated. Stage 2 (late 1918 – early 1919). The end of World War I and the end of the German intervention, the landing of Entente troops in Russian ports. Foreign powers wanted to protect their interests in Russia and prevent the spread of the revolutionary fire to their territories. They attacked from the north and east of the country, but delivered the main blow in the southern regions. The following were captured: Novorossiysk, Sevastopol, Odessa, Kherson, Nikolaev. During the same period, the dictatorship of Kolchak was established in Omsk. The main danger was Kolchak. Stage 3 (spring 1919 – spring 1920). The departure of the interventionists, the victories of the Red Army over the armies of Kolchak in the East, Denikin in the South, Yudenich in the North-West. Stage 4 (spring-autumn 1920). Soviet-Polish War, defeat of Wrangel's troops in Crimea. IN 1921-1922 the liquidation of local centers of civil war, Makhno's detachments, rebellions of White Cossacks in the Kuban, liberation of the Far East from the Japanese, and the fight against Basmachi in Central Asia were carried out.
The result of the war: victory of Soviet power.
The “White Movement” was defeated for the following reasons:
There was no unity in the white movement, they were divided by personal ambitions and there were disagreements with the interventionists who wanted to increase their territories at the expense of Russia, and the white guards advocated a united and indivisible Russia. The white forces were significantly inferior to the Red Army. The white movement did not have a defined socio-economic policy. The program of the whites with their desire to restore the old order and landownership was unpopular. The “Whites” were against the right of peoples to self-determination. The arbitrariness of the Whites, punitive policies and the return of the old order, pogroms of Jews deprived the “White movement” of social support. Victory in the war for the “reds” was ensured by a number of factors: The Bolsheviks had an important advantage on their side - the central position of Russia. This allowed them not only to have powerful economic potential (major human resources and the vast majority of the metalworking industry), which the whites did not have, but also to quickly maneuver their forces. Success in organizing the rear. The system of “war communism” played a special role, turning the country into a single military camp. A system of emergency organs of supply, control, fight against counter-revolution, etc. was created. The republic and the party had generally recognized leaders in the persons of V.I. Lenin and L.D. Trotsky, a united Bolshevik elite that provided military-political leadership of the regions and armies. With the broad participation of old military specialists, a five-million-strong regular army was created (based on universal conscription). Consequences of the civil war. The civil war was a terrible disaster for Russia. It led to a further deterioration of the economic situation in the country, to complete economic ruin. Material damage amounted to more than 50 billion rubles. gold. There was a reduction in industrial production and a shutdown of the transport system. 15 million people died, another 2 million emigrated from Russia. Among them were many representatives of the intellectual elite - the pride of the nation. The political opposition was destroyed. The dictatorship of Bolshevism was established.
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A period in Russian history characterized by armed struggle between the Bolsheviks and their supporters, on the one hand, and their political opponents, on the other. At its core, the war was fratricidal in nature.
The first outbreaks of civil war arose immediately after the Bolsheviks seized power (see October Revolution of 1917). In October - November 1917, the speeches of the cadets in Petrograd and Moscow, Kerensky - Krasnov near Petrograd were suppressed. In other places, armed resistance to the new government was local in nature. Combat operations on both sides were carried out by separate detachments, usually along railways behind railway junctions and large populated areas. Despite the fact that the Soviet government had relatively small Red Guard detachments, it successfully eliminated the first armed uprisings of its political opponents. But due to the military intervention of the countries of the Quadruple Alliance and then the Entente, the flames of civil war engulfed the entire country.
The Bolshevik government, in accordance with the Peace Decree, invited all states that participated in the First World War to begin peace negotiations with the aim of concluding peace. After the refusal of the Entente countries, it entered into separate peace negotiations with Germany. In November - December 1917, demobilization of the Russian army began. Taking advantage of the Entente’s refusal of peace negotiations and the virtual absence of armed forces in Soviet Russia, Germany and its allies at the Brest negotiations on February 9, 1918, in the form of an ultimatum, demanded the signing of peace on annexationist terms. In response, the head of the Soviet delegation, L. D. Trotsky, on his own initiative, interrupted the negotiations, announced a unilateral end to the war and the complete demobilization of the Russian army. On February 18, German, and then Austro-Hungarian and Turkish troops began military intervention against Soviet Russia. The remnants of the Russian army at the front were unable to provide serious resistance to the enemy. In a short period of time, the interventionists occupied the Baltic states, most of Belarus, Ukraine, some western and southern regions of Russia, Crimea and part of the North Caucasus. On February 22, the Soviet government published a decree “The Socialist Fatherland is in Danger!” and called on citizens to fight the invaders. On February 23, the registration of volunteers for the Red Army and the construction of fortifications near Petrograd began. The first battles of the Red Army detachments with German troops took place during these days at the Pskov-Narva-Revel line. On March 3, the Soviet government signed a separate Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the countries of the Quadruple Alliance.
The exit of Soviet Russia from the First World War did not suit the governments of the Entente countries, and in March at the London Conference they decided to begin military intervention against it. In March, Entente troops landed in Murmansk, and in April - in Vladivostok. In May, the Entente provoked an uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps, formed in Russia from former prisoners of war of the Austro-Hungarian army, which was preparing to be sent to Western Europe through the Far East (its echelons stretched from Penza to Vladivostok). His speech activated all anti-Bolshevik forces within the country. In May - July, units of the Czechoslovak Corps and local armed formations overthrew Soviet power in Penza, Syzran, Samara, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Novo-Nikolaevsk (Novosibirsk), Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk. The local governments created here - the “Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly” (Komuch) in Samara, the “West Siberian Commissariat” in Novo-Nikolaevsk and the “Provisional Siberian Government” in Omsk - began to form their own troops. The few units of the Red Army could no longer withstand the widespread civil war. In this regard, the Soviet government at the end of May decided to create a Mass Regular Red Army and move to recruiting it through the general mobilization of workers and poor peasants. To fight the Czechoslovak Corps, the Eastern Front was formed in June. In July - August, the military intervention of the Entente countries in the Far East expanded. The Entente declared Vladivostok an international zone and began landing troops, consisting mainly of Japanese and American units. The intervention in the north of Russia also intensified: in early August, British, French, American and Italian troops landed in Arkhangelsk, where, with their support, a local government appeared - the “Supreme Administration of the Northern Region”. In mid-July, an uprising organized by the Social Revolutionaries began in the Trans-Caspian region, supported by British troops from Iran. At the end of July, the Baku Commune fell, and the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik “Dictatorship of the Central Caspian” came to power, inviting British troops to Baku, which were soon ousted by the Turks. In July, uprisings organized by the Social Revolutionaries took place in Moscow, Yaroslavl, Murom, Rybinsk and other cities. Massive peasant and Cossack uprisings unfolded in the Volga region, the Southern Urals, the Northern Caucasus, Semirechye and other regions of the country. In July - early August, units of the Czechoslovak Corps and White Guard troops occupied Simbirsk, Ufa, Yekaterinburg and Kazan. The Volunteer Army created by the White Guards under the command of General A.I. Denikin at the end of June launched an attack on Kuban and occupied Yekaterinodar. In July - August, troops of the Cossack Don Army under the command of Ataman P. N. Krasnov launched an offensive against Voronezh and Tsaritsyn (see White Movement).
By the end of summer, Soviet power was overthrown in 3/4 of the country. To fight the interventionists and White Guards, in addition to the Eastern, the Southern, Northern, and then the Western and Ukrainian fronts were created. On September 2, the Soviet government declared the country, which found itself surrounded by fronts, a single military camp. The Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic was formed, headed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense (led by V.I. Lenin), Vsevobuch (universal military training of citizens) was introduced, and new mobilizations into the Red Army were carried out. After a series of assassination attempts on Bolshevik leaders, including V.I. Lenin, the Soviet authorities declared red terror. Mass executions of political opponents of the Bolsheviks and hostages (persons of non-proletarian origin) began in the country. At the same time, in the territory occupied by the White Guards, white terror, although not officially declared, was rampant. People suspected of sympathizing with the Bolsheviks were shot here. But mainly the civilian population suffered from mutual terror. Mutual terror was a characteristic feature of the civil war. In the fall of 1918, during the offensive on the Eastern Front, units of the Red Army occupied Kazan, Simbirsk, Samara and other cities. It repelled the offensive of the Cossack units of Krasnov’s Don Army on Tsaritsyn and the attacks of the White Guards on Grozny, thereby preventing their connection in the south and east of the country.
On November 13, 1918, after Germany was defeated in the war, the Soviet government annulled the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty. Units of the Red Army, following the retreating Austro-German troops, began to occupy the Baltic states, Belarus, and Ukraine. In mid-November, at a meeting in the Romanian city of Iasi, political opponents of the Bolsheviks turned to representatives of the Entente with a request for new armed intervention in Russian affairs. At the end of November, British and French troops occupied Novorossiysk, Sevastopol and Odessa. In November - December the British entered Baku and Batum. New units of British, American and Japanese interventionists landed in Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, and Vladivostok. In addition, the Entente supplied the White Guards with weapons, ammunition, etc. In Omsk in November 1918, the power of Admiral A.V. Kolchak was established, proclaimed “the supreme ruler of Russia” and the supreme commander-in-chief, which was later recognized by almost all the leaders of the White movement. In November - December, Kolchak launched an attack on Perm and Vyatka with the aim of connecting with Anglo-American troops in the north. At the end of December, Kolchak’s troops took Perm. In January 1919, during the battles near Shenkursk, units of the Red Army eliminated the threat of a Kolchak breakthrough to Kotlas-Vyatka.
On the Southern Front in the fall of 1918, the Red Army repelled the second offensive of Krasnov's Don Army against Tsaritsyn, and then inflicted a serious defeat on it. Krasnov entered into an agreement with Denikin: the Don Cossack Army and the Volunteer Army merged into the Armed Forces of Southern Russia under the command of Denikin.
At the beginning of 1919, the ruling circles of the Entente countries made their main bet on the forces of the internal political opponents of the Bolsheviks - the White armies. Their attack on Moscow was planned. The main force was the armies of Kolchak and Denikin. The main blow from the east was delivered by Kolchak’s troops, auxiliary attacks from the south by Denikin, and from the north-west by Yudenich. In early March, Kolchak’s troops went on the offensive and occupied Ufa, and by mid-April they cut off Turkestan from Soviet Russia. At the end of April, the Red Army under the command of M.V. Frunze and S.S. Kamenev launched a counteroffensive on the Eastern Front, took Ufa and pushed Kolchak beyond the river. White. In May - June the cities of Sarapul, Izhevsk, Votkinsk were occupied.
In the north-west, in May, the White Guard Northern Corps formed on the territory of Estonia (from July - the North-Western Army) under the command of General N. N. Yudenich launched an attack on Petrograd and occupied the cities of Gdov, Yamburg and Pskov. However, units of the Red Army drove back Yudenich's troops in the Olonets direction at the end of June, and in August - in the Narva direction beyond Yamburg and Gdov.
During the offensive on the Eastern Front, the red units, continuing to push back Kolchak’s troops, occupied Perm, Zlatoust, Yekaterinburg in July and defeated Kolchak’s last reserves near Chelyabinsk, and in August launched an offensive in Western Siberia. In August, the Turkestan Front was created under the command of Frunze. Units of the Red Army of the Turkestan Front in August - September defeated the White Guard Southern Army under the command of General G. A. Belov and parts of the Orenburg Cossacks in the Orsk and Aktyubinsk region.
After the defeat of Kolchak's main forces on the Eastern Front and Yudenich's troops near Petrograd, the Entente leadership transferred the main blow to the south, placing the main emphasis on Denikin and his army. During June - August, Denikin's troops occupied the Donbass, Donetsk region, Kharkov, Tsaritsyn, Kyiv and Odessa. On July 3, Denikin issued the “Moscow Directive,” which declared Moscow to be the final goal of the offensive. The main attack was planned in the shortest direction - through Kursk, Orel, Tula. By mid-October, Denikin's troops occupied Orel and Voronezh; On October 11-13, as a result of the counteroffensive that began on the Southern Front, the Red Army entered Orel, Voronezh, Kursk in late October - early November, and Novokhopersk was occupied by the forces of the South-Eastern Front in mid-November.
Simultaneously with the offensive of Denikin’s troops on Moscow, Yudenich’s North-Western Army reached the near approaches to Petrograd by mid-October, was defeated, and in December its remnants were thrown back into Estonia.
In the second half of November, a new offensive of the Southern and South-Eastern fronts unfolded, during which parts of the Red Army divided Denikin’s army into two groups: one retreated to Odessa and Crimea, and the main forces to Rostov and Novocherkassk. In the Rostov-Novocherkassk operation at the beginning of January 1920, the Red Army took Taganrog, Novocherkassk, Rostov, Kyiv, Tsaritsyn, and in February occupied Right Bank Ukraine. Denikin's main forces tried to gain a foothold in the lower Don, but in January - March, during the North Caucasian operation, they were defeated by units of the Caucasian Front. The remnants of Denikin's army were evacuated to Crimea at the end of March. On April 4, Denikin resigned as commander-in-chief, declared General P.N. Wrangel as his successor and emigrated.
On the Eastern Front, the red units in October 1919, going on the offensive, occupied Omsk, Novo-Nikolaevsk and Krasnoyarsk. On January 4, 1920, Kolchak resigned from the position of “supreme ruler.” Soon he was arrested and shot. At the beginning of March, units of the Red Army entered Irkutsk.
In the north, by October 1919, the Entente evacuated all its troops. At the beginning of March 1920, units of the Red Army occupied Murmansk and Arkhangelsk.
In the spring of 1920, the peaceful respite was interrupted. Polish troops supported by the Entente went on the offensive in Ukraine on April 25 and soon occupied Kyiv. To repel the interventionists, large forces were transferred to the Western and Southwestern fronts, including the 1st Cavalry Army of S. M. Budyonny from the North Caucasus, and by mid-June Kyiv was liberated. After a series of successful operations, units of the Red Army reached Warsaw and Lvov.
With the beginning of the Soviet-Polish war, Wrangel's troops in Crimea became more active. By the end of June, Wrangel's troops advanced to the Dnieper and created a threat to Donbass. Peace with Poland allowed the Red Army command to concentrate its main forces on the Southwestern Front to fight Wrangel's troops. During July and August, fierce battles took place in Northern Tavria, during which Wrangel’s troops captured the Kakhovsky bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnieper, which was of great operational importance. At the end of September, an independent Southern Front under the command of Frunze was separated from the Southwestern Front. In the last days of October, the troops of the Southern Front went on the offensive and defeated Wrangel’s main forces in Northern Tavria; only the most combat-ready White Guard units managed to break into the Crimea. In November, units of the Red Army broke through strong fortifications on the Perekop Isthmus, crossed Lake Sivash near Chongar and completed the capture of Crimea on November 17. The remnants of Wrangel's troops, with the help of the French squadron, were evacuated to Turkey. The defeat of Wrangel basically ended the civil war in most of the country.
The centers of anti-Bolshevik resistance in Transcaucasia and Central Asia were eliminated in 1921-1922. In the spring and summer of 1921, the uprisings of Kronstadt sailors and Tambov peasants were suppressed. In the Far East, the struggle against the White Guards and Japanese interventionists continued until the fall of 1922. In order to avoid a military clash with Japan, the Soviet government formed a “buffer” Far Eastern Republic (FER), which had its own People’s Revolutionary Army. All attempts by the Japanese interventionists to liquidate the Far Eastern Republic with the help of the White Guards were unsuccessful, and in June 1920 Japan concluded a truce with it, withdrew its troops from Transbaikalia, which made it possible to defeat the White Guards and occupy Chita. In 1921, units of the People's Revolutionary Army scattered the White Guard troops of Baron R. F. Ungern, who invaded Transbaikalia from Mongolia. The defeat of the White Guards in February 1922 near Volochaevsk and in October in Primorye forced Japan to evacuate its troops from the Far East. The capture of the last stronghold of the Japanese interventionists, Vladivostok, by units of the People's Revolutionary Army on October 25, 1922, ended the civil war. The Bolsheviks prevailed in it, but their victory cannot be called a triumph, because the civil war was a great tragedy for the entire people, where society was split into two parts. During the civil war, the most active social elements of the people on both sides died, whose energy and talent were not used for creative activities.
1) Civil War Civil War 2) White and Red White and Red 3) From a leaflet of General Wrangel. From a leaflet of General Wrangel. 4) The beginning of the war The beginning of the war 5) The first stage The first stage 6) The end of 1918 - the beginning of 1919 The end of 1918 - the beginning of 1919 7) The decisive stage The decisive stage 8) The Soviet-Polish war The Soviet-Polish war 9) The final stage The final stage 10) P. N. Milyukov. From a report on the white movement. P. N. Milyukov. From a report on the white movement. 11) Results of the war Results of the war
Civil War CIVIL WAR in Russia is an irreconcilable armed struggle between social groups led by the Bolsheviks, who came to power as a result of the October Revolution, and their opponents; a struggle for power and property that led to numerous casualties.
White and Red In November-December 1917, the Volunteer Army, a White Guard military formation in the South of Russia, was created in Novocherkassk. Initially it was recruited on a voluntary basis, then through mobilization. It was headed by generals M.V. Alekseev, L.G. Kornilov, lieutenant generals A.I. Denikin, P.N. Wrangel, V.Z. May-Maevsky. Since 1919 it became part of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia. The number increased from 2 thousand people (January 1918) to 50 thousand people (September 1919). The name "WHITES" came from the color of the banner of the king's supporters during the French Revolution. And in 1918 the Soviet Army was officially renamed the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA).
...Listen up Russian people! What are we fighting for? For the desecrated faith and insulted shrines. For the liberation of the Russian people from the yoke of communists, vagabonds, convicts, who completely ruined Holy Rus'. For stopping internecine warfare. For the peasant to acquire ownership of the land he cultivates and engage in peaceful labor. For true freedom and law to reign in Rus'. For the Russian people to choose their own master. Help me, Russian people, save the Motherland. General Wrangel.
The beginning of the war The split of society into supporters and opponents of the revolution began back in 1917, when street confrontations, strikes and walkouts escalated. The beginning of the war can be considered the displacement of the Provisional Government and the armed seizure of state power by the Bolsheviks. But the war acquired a national character only in mid-1918, when the actions of the two opposing camps involved millions of people in the war.
INITIAL STAGE After Russia’s withdrawal from World War I, German and Austro-Hungarian troops occupied part of Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states and southern Russia in February 1918, which led to the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty in March 1918. In March 1918, Anglo-French-American troops landed in Murmansk; in April, Japanese troops in Vladivostok; in May the mutiny of the Czechoslovak Corps began. All this created serious problems for the new government. By the summer of 1918, numerous groups and governments had formed on 3/4 of the country’s territory that opposed Soviet power. The Soviet government began creating the Red Army and switched to a policy of “war communism.”
In the 2nd half, the Red Army won its first victories on the Eastern Front, liberating the territories of the Volga region and part of the Urals. After the November Revolution in Germany, the Soviet government annulled the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and Ukraine and Belarus were liberated. However, the policy of “war communism”, as well as “decossackization”, aimed at actually destroying the Cossacks, caused peasant and Cossack uprisings in various regions and made it possible for the leaders of the anti-Bolshevik camp to form numerous armies and launch a broad offensive against the Soviet Republic.
In the territories occupied by the White Guards and interventionists, the partisan movement expanded. In Siberia, on November 18, 1918, Admiral Kolchak came to power, proclaiming himself the Supreme Ruler of Russia (the Whites soon submitted to him), in the north Miller took the leading role, in the west Yudenich, and in the south Denikin, who subjugated the Don Army. But by the beginning of 1919, Soviet power managed to establish itself in most of Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic states.
Decisive stage In the spring of 1919, the Supreme Council of the Entente developed a new plan for an anti-Soviet action, in which the leading role was given to the white armies. But in April August 1919, the interventionists were forced to evacuate their troops from the south of Ukraine, from Crimea, Baku, Sr. Asia. The troops of the Southern Front defeated Denikin's armies near Orel and Voronezh and by March 1920 pushed their remnants into the Crimea. In the fall of 1919, Yudenich's army was finally defeated near Petrograd. At the beginning the North and the coast of the Caspian Sea were occupied. The Entente states completely withdrew their troops and lifted the blockade, their plan failed, the Whites were defeated.
Soviet-Polish War On April 25, 1920, the Polish army, equipped by France, invaded the territory of Ukraine and captured Kyiv on May 6. On May 26, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive and, after a series of successful operations, reached Warsaw and Lvov in mid-August. As a result of the counterattack of the Polish troops, the Red Army was forced to retreat to the line of Augustow, Lipsk, Belovezh, Opalin, to Vladimir-Volynsky. The result of the war was the signing of a peace treaty on March 18, 1921 in Riga
The final stage During the Soviet-Polish war, General Wrangel became more active, turning Denikin's divisions into a combat-ready Russian army. But after the end of the war in Poland, the Red Army launched a series of attacks on the troops of General P. N. Wrangel and expelled them from Crimea. In the anti-Bolshevik uprisings were suppressed in Kronstadt, in the Tambov region, in a number of regions of Ukraine, etc., the remaining centers of interventionists and White Guards in Wed were eliminated. Asia and the Far East (October 1922).
First of all, the white movement was not created by individuals. It grew spontaneously, unpreventably, as an ardent protest against the destruction of Russian statehood, against the desecration of shrines... The meaning and significance of the white movement is not limited to the Russian scale. It is not for nothing that one of the real politicians of the West, Churchill, told his compatriots in the English Parliament in 1919: “It is not to the wavering, cracking at the seams stronghold of the Western limitrophes (border countries), but to the struggle of the east and south of Russia that Europe owes the fact that the wave of Bolshevik anarchy did not overwhelm her... Why did our ship crash? People were looking for an idea and staining the banner. Yes, it was. We knew our sins well... The Volunteers were unable to preserve their white vestments. Along with the confessors, heroes, martyrs of the white idea, there were money-grubbers and murderers... Volunteerism is flesh of the flesh, blood of the blood of the Russian people.
Results of the war The civil war brought enormous disasters. From hunger, disease, terror and in battles, from 8 to 13 million people died (according to various sources), including about 1 million Red Army soldiers. Up to 2 million people emigrated by the end of the Civil War. The damage caused to the national economy amounted to approx. 50 billion gold rubles, industrial production fell to 4-20% of the 1913 level, agricultural production fell by almost half.
The October Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent political and economic measures of the Soviet government and the Bolshevik leadership led the country to a deep internal split and intensified the struggle of various social and political forces. The period from the spring of 1918 to 1920 was called the Civil War.
Civil war is a state of society divided in social-class, national-religious, ideological-political, moral-ethical and other respects, when violence (including armed violence) is the main means of resolving contradictions (not only in the struggle for power, but also simply for preservation of life).
1. The question of the chronological framework and periodization of the Civil War in Russian historiography is still ambiguous. Here are some of them:
I. V.I. Lenin defined four periods of the Civil War (from October 1917 - 1922)
1. Purely political since October 1917. Until January 5, 1918 (before the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly).
2. Peace of Brest-Litovsk.
3. Civil war from 1918 to 1920
4. Forced cessation of intervention and blockade by the Entente. 1922.
II. A number of historians share the Civil War of 1918 - 1920. for three periods:
The first – summer 1918 – March 1919. - the beginning of an armed uprising by the forces of external and internal counter-revolution and the large-scale intervention of the Entente.
III. Modern historian L.M. Spirin notes that Russia, since the overthrow of the autocracy, has experienced two Civil Wars:
2. October 1917 – 1922 At the same time, the period from the summer of 1918 to the end of 1920 is singled out as the most acute. Then from 1921 – the period of highest opposition.
IV. Modern historian P.V. Vlobuev believes: “It must be taken into account that it was not immediately after the revolution that the struggle began to be waged towards the mutual destruction of opposing forces. Period from October 1917 Until May 1918 - stage of the soft Civil War. There have already been cases of terror, but the mass of the people have not yet joined the fight. From the end of 1918 - 1919 The civil war has reached the peak of bitterness.”
V. Modern historian Yu. A. Polyakov gives his periodization of the Civil War of 1917 - 1922.
February – March 1917 The violent overthrow of the autocracy and the open split of society along social lines.
March – October 1917 Strengthening social and political confrontation in society. The failure of Russian democrats in trying to establish peace in the country.
October 1917 – March 1918 The violent overthrow of the Provisional Government and a new split in society.
March – June 1918 Terror, local military actions, the formation of the Red and White armies.
Summer 1918 – end of 1920 Massive battles between regular troops, foreign intervention.
1921 – 1922 The end of the Civil War, military operations on the outskirts of the country.
VI. Modern American historian V.N. Brovkin offers the following periodization:
1918 Collapse of the empire. The struggle of the Bolsheviks and socialists (Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries). The beginning of the intervention, the peasants protesting against the poor.
1919 Year of the Whites. The offensive of the army of Denikin, Kolchak and others. The peasantry again swung towards the Bolsheviks due to the threat of the “whites” to confiscate land in favor of the landowners.
1920 – 1921 Years of "red" and "green". Bolshevik victory in the Civil War. Under pressure from the “greens” - the abolition of surplus appropriation and the introduction of free trade.
Each of these periodizations can take place in Russian history in its own way, depending on what point of view you look at the Civil War from. There are many differences, but there are also common points - this is that all historians lean towards the period of the beginning and end of the Civil War from 1918 to 1920, the peak of the highest confrontation of forces in the country.
2. Like any historical phenomenon or event, the Civil War has its own signs and causes.
Signs:
1. Confrontation between classes and social groups;
2. acute class clashes;
3. resolution of contradictions with the help of armed forces;
4. terror towards political opponents;
5. lack of clear time and spatial boundaries.
It is not easy to find the answer to the questions: who is to blame for the Civil War, and what are its causes?
In modern historical science there are different opinions on this matter. Let us dwell on the most general interpretation of the causes of the Civil War.
1. Inconsistency between the goals of transforming society and the methods for achieving them;
2. Nationalization of industry, liquidation of commodity-money relations;
3. Confiscation of landowners' lands;
4. Creation of a one-party political system, establishment of the Bolshevik dictatorship.
At the same time, a feature of the Civil War in Russia is the presence of foreign intervention - the violent intervention of one or more states in the internal affairs of another state, a violation of its sovereignty. In Russia there is an “overlay” of the Civil War and the intervention of the Entente countries and the countries of the Triple Alliance.
Reasons and goals of the intervention:
1. The fight against Bolshevism;
2. The desire to return your property in Russia and restore payments on loans - securities;
3. The Entente countries feared the pro-German orientation of the Bolsheviks and supported those who were capable of renewing the war with Germany;
4. They wanted to divide Russia into spheres of influence.
The intervention of the Entente and Triple Alliance countries began in March 1918 with the invasion of the Anglo-Franco-American landing force in Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. The Allies landed under the pretext of protecting their warehouses. The Japanese landed in the Far East in April. In July - August 1918, the British landed in Central Asia and Transcaucasia. At the same time, Germany, violating the terms of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, occupied Crimea and Donbass, the Turks captured Armenia and part of Azerbaijan. At the end of November 1918, British and French invaders landed in Novorossiysk, Sevastopol and Odessa, thereby blocking the Black Sea ports. In November 1918, the First World War ended, a revolution began in Germany, and accordingly, neither she nor her allies had any time for the situation in Russia.
On the contrary, the Entente countries could now exert greater influence on events in Russia.
There is a consolidation of the intervention and the “white movement”.
· The local population had a negative attitude towards the intervention;
· Among the interventionists, the Bolsheviks conduct anti-war propaganda;
· Contradictions among the Entente countries are intensifying;
· The “Hands off Soviet Russia!” movement is expanding in the Entente countries.
Thus, we can conclude that the intervention, in which France played a leading role, did not have a decisive impact on the civil war in Russia. In March–April 1919, due to unrest among French sailors on the Black Sea, the Entente Supreme Council began evacuating expeditionary forces. The British are based in the north and north-west of the country until September 1919, and then leave the opposing forces to sort things out among themselves.
The civil war and military intervention of 1917-1922 in Russia was an armed struggle for power between representatives of various classes, social strata and groups of the former Russian Empire with the participation of troops of the Quadruple Alliance and the Entente.
The main reasons for the Civil War and military intervention were: the intransigence of the positions of various political parties, groups and classes on issues of power, economic and political course of the country; the bet of opponents of Bolshevism on the overthrow of Soviet power by armed means with the support of foreign states; the desire of the latter to protect their interests in Russia and prevent the spread of the revolutionary movement in the world; the development of national separatist movements on the territory of the former Russian Empire; the radicalism of the Bolsheviks, who considered revolutionary violence one of the most important means of achieving their political goals, and the desire of the leadership of the Bolshevik Party to put into practice the ideas of world revolution.
(Military encyclopedia. Military publishing house. Moscow. In 8 volumes - 2004)
After Russia's withdrawal from the First World War, German and Austro-Hungarian troops occupied parts of Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states and southern Russia in February 1918. To preserve Soviet power, Soviet Russia agreed to conclude the Brest Peace Treaty (March 1918). In March 1918, Anglo-Franco-American troops landed in Murmansk; in April, Japanese troops in Vladivostok; in May, a mutiny began in the Czechoslovak Corps, which was traveling along the Trans-Siberian Railway to the East. Samara, Kazan, Simbirsk, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk and other cities along the entire length of the highway were captured. All this created serious problems for the new government. By the summer of 1918, numerous groups and governments had formed on 3/4 of the country’s territory that opposed Soviet power. The Soviet government began creating the Red Army and switched to a policy of war communism. In June, the government formed the Eastern Front, and in September - the Southern and Northern Fronts.
By the end of the summer of 1918, Soviet power remained mainly in the central regions of Russia and in part of the territory of Turkestan. In the 2nd half of 1918, the Red Army won its first victories on the Eastern Front and liberated the Volga region and part of the Urals.
After the revolution in Germany in November 1918, the Soviet government annulled the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and Ukraine and Belarus were liberated. However, the policy of war communism, as well as decossackization, caused peasant and Cossack uprisings in various regions and made it possible for the leaders of the anti-Bolshevik camp to form numerous armies and launch a broad offensive against the Soviet Republic.
In October 1918, in the South, the Volunteer Army of General Anton Denikin and the Don Cossack Army of General Pyotr Krasnov went on the offensive against the Red Army; Kuban and the Don region were occupied, attempts were made to cut the Volga in the Tsaritsyn area. In November 1918, Admiral Alexander Kolchak announced the establishment of a dictatorship in Omsk and proclaimed himself the supreme ruler of Russia.
In November-December 1918, British and French troops landed in Odessa, Sevastopol, Nikolaev, Kherson, Novorossiysk, and Batumi. In December, Kolchak’s army intensified its actions, capturing Perm, but the Red Army troops, having captured Ufa, suspended its offensive.
In January 1919, the Soviet troops of the Southern Front managed to push Krasnov’s troops away from the Volga and defeat them, the remnants of which joined the Armed Forces of the South of Russia created by Denikin. In February 1919, the Western Front was created.