Soviet-German negotiations at the end of 1917 – beginning of 1918. By the end of 1917, the following situation had developed: for the victory of the revolution in Germany, it was necessary to continue the war and, possibly, sacrifice Soviet power in Russia, and to preserve Soviet power it was necessary to withdraw from the war and thus sacrifice a possible revolution in Germany.
Immediately after coming to power, Lenin announced the need to sign a separate (separate, only with Germany and Austria-Hungary, without the participation of the allies), and not a universal peace. There is an opinion that Lenin insisted on signing this peace, fulfilling his obligations to the German authorities, who financed the Bolshevik Party in order to destabilize political situation in Russia..
November 14 The German command agreed to conduct official negotiations with the Soviet authorities. 20 November The Soviet delegation arrived in Brest-Litovsk where the Headquarters of the German command of the Eastern Front was located. 27th of December The Soviet delegation was headed by People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs L.D. Trotsky.
January 5, 1918. The Germans put forward the conditions for a preliminary peace: territories with an area of 150-160 thousand km 2 (Lithuania, part of Latvia, the Estonian Islands) were torn away from the former Russian Empire. Trotsky, whose task was to delay the negotiations, did not give a specific answer. January 8 Trotsky announced for the first time that Russia would not continue the war, but it was not going to sign peace either. Trotsky's formula "no war, no peace" on the one hand, it proceeded from the fact that Germany is not able to conduct active offensive actions(otherwise she would not have sat down at the negotiating table), but on the other hand, she had the advantage that, from a moral point of view, the Bolsheviks remained pure before the world revolutionary movement.
January 28, 1918 Trotsky announced the rupture of negotiations. The conference adopted the formula “no war, no peace.” He gave the order for demobilization Russian army.
Conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Peace.February 13, 1918 The German government decided to consider Trotsky's statement as an actual break in the truce. 18th of Febuary German and Austro-Hungarian troops launched offensives along the entire eastern front, which was opened as a result of the demobilization of the Russian army. February 19 Lenin sent a telegram to Berlin protesting the offensive and agreeing to sign peace on the terms of January 5.
February 23 The Germans put forward an ultimatum: 1) The Council of People's Commissars (SNK) must recognize the independence of the Baltic countries, Finland and Ukraine. 2) facilitate the transfer of the Anatolian provinces to Turkey. 3) grant Germany the right of most favored nation in trade and duty-free export of ore and raw materials to Germany.
24 February The Council of People's Commissars accepted the ultimatum. March 3, 1918. A Soviet-German peace treaty was signed in Brest-Litovsk, according to which Russia lost a territory of 800 thousand km 2 with a population of 56 million people.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was the most controversial document in Soviet foreign policy. Viewed as a maneuver to gain time and preserve Soviet power in Russia, the treaty was the largest defeat for the Soviet Union. foreign policy and was canceled immediately after the end of the First World War.
Civil War in Soviet Russia (1918-1920 (1922))
Civil war is a regular fighting on the territory of a state between citizens of that state.
Causes, acting forces. The universal causes of civil wars are:
1. Power struggle
2. Fight property.
Causes:
1. Exacerbation social contradictions V Russian society, which deepened to the utmost during the First World War.
2. Erroneous policy of the leaders political parties(cadets, socialist revolutionaries, mensheviks), who were unable to stabilize the situation after the overthrow of the autocracy.
3. The seizure of power by the Bolsheviks and the desire of the overthrown classes to restore their dominance.
4. Intervention foreign countries into the internal affairs of Russia.
5. The inconsistency of the policies of the Soviet government in a whole series important issues internal politics (the split of the village in the summer of 1918, the policy of “war communism”, etc.).
Acting forces:
2. Whites: goals: anti-Bolshevik struggle; preservation of private property; restoration of Russia to pre-revolutionary borders.
3. Entente (interventionists): support anti-Bolshevik forces; pursuing one's own economic interests
4. National forces (Petliurists, Basmachi, etc.): struggle for power and independence of their regions;
5. Various atamans (Makhno, Grigoriev, etc.): as a rule, solving their own financial problems.
Fighting. Immediately after the revolution, opponents of Soviet power concentrated on the outskirts of the state. Cossack atamans, some of the generals began military operations against the Bolsheviks . January 15, 1918 - decree on the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Red Army). By the spring of 1918 anti-Bolshevik resistance was practically suppressed. However, in May, civil war broke out with new strength. Causes: mutiny Czechoslovak corps, which gave rise to the Entente to intervene in the internal affairs of Russia; deep socio-economic crisis generated by grain procurements.
May 25, 1918 The mutiny of the Czechoslovak corps, which was under the command of the Entente, begins. In April, with the support of the Entente in the Kuban, General Kornilov formed the Volunteer Army, which after his death at the end of April was headed by General A.I. Denikin. At the same time, an army is being formed in Siberia under the command of Admiral A.V. Kolchak.
The main struggle in 1918 took place over the Volga. Fierce battles were fought for Kazan, Simbirsk, etc. In the summer of 1918. Entente troops land in Vladivostok, Arkhangelsk, and in November in Ukraine. Numerous peasant unrest are taking place in the rear of the Soviet troops. In the autumn of 1918 there has not yet been a clear agreement between the opponents territorial division, since armed clashes occurred from behind the front line.
1919 becomes the year of decisive battles. Act on both sides regular armies, the commanders stand out. The Reds have Frunze, Budyonny, Egorov, Tukhachevsky. By the spring of 1919, the Reds took control of almost all of Ukraine. However, in January Denikin begins active actions in Donbass. In early April, the offensive begins from Siberia to the Kolchak Center. At the end of April, the Reds launched a counteroffensive and in July captured the entire Urals. At the same time, Denikin's followers took control of the entire Left Bank Ukraine, July 3 captured Tsaritsyn ( modern Volgograd), where Denikin announced the establishment of control over Ukraine, and then an attack on Moscow.
On August 31, Denikin’s troops captured Kyiv, and on September 3 they launched an attack on Moscow. At the same time, in June-August, Yudenich’s troops created a threat to Petrograd. However, Yudenich was driven back, Denikin was stopped in mid-October, and from mid-November began a retreat to the Crimea, where he resigned as commander (April 1920), Admiral Kolchak in January 1920. was shot in Irkutsk.
In 1920, the Reds completely seized the initiative. After temporary setbacks in battles with Polish troops(April-June 1920) The Red Army approached Warsaw in August, but was stopped and driven back. Despite this, by the end of 1920 there were no anti-Soviet troops left on the European territory of Russia: in November 1920 the Whites were driven out of their last stronghold- Crimea, and the intervention troops were evacuated. In the Far East, fighting continued until 1922.
Among the reasons for the victory of the Red Army, one should highlight three main factors: the Bolsheviks were supported by peasants who were promised free transfer of land; The Red Army was a more disciplined and combat-ready force than its opponents; The policy of the Bolsheviks, despite all the cruelty, was more liberal compared to the policy of their opponents.
The policy of "war communism".
"War Communism"– a set of economic and social events Soviet power during the Civil War.
Main directions:
· militarization of the economy;
· shaping rigidly centralized system authorities;
· nationalization of industry;
· the policy of “red terror”, directed against both actual and potential opponents of Soviet power.
· application of emergency measures such as surplus appropriation.
Agrarian policy. Right after October revolution the Bolsheviks said that agricultural policy will be built on the following principles:
· state grain monopoly to avoid grain speculation;
· exchange of goods with the countryside, since due to hyperinflation, peasants did not want to sell grain for banknotes.
The intensification of the Civil War in the spring of 1918 led to the blockade of grain-producing regions, which created a real threat of famine. In these circumstances, the Council of People's Commissars introduces a food dictatorship: 05/13/1918. - decree of the Council of People's Commissars on granting the People's Commissariat for Food emergency powers to collect and procure grain (surplus grain was subject to requisition, i.e. forced seizure with payment of cost). In May, the Prodarmiya was formed - a paramilitary formation whose tasks included: collecting food; security of food cargo; suppression of armed uprisings; assistance to local councils.
06/11/1918 - decree on the creation of committees of the poor, which were considered as allies of the Soviet government in the struggle for bread. The committees of the poor were representatives of local authorities and helped food detachments in the search for grain.
However, these measures did not give desired results 01/11/1919 - decree on the introduction of food allocation: the entire amount of grain and fodder necessary to meet state needs was distributed among producing provinces; Collective responsibility was established for failure to comply with the norm. This, in essence, was the robbery of the peasantry by the state, which caused a large number of anti-Soviet peasant uprisings undermined the authority of Soviet power in the countryside.
Financial policy. During the Civil War, there is hyperinflation (a rapid decline in the value of the currency). Thus, in 1919, the ruble exchange rate fell 3,136 times compared to the pre-war value. Hyperinflation actually takes money out of the household market. In 1919, the natural part of wages was almost 80%. At the end of 1920 - beginning of 1921, there was a wave of decrees aimed at the abolition of money: payment for state services for supplying the population with food, consumer goods, medicines, fuel, payment for housing, use public transport, means of communication. The peculiarity of the collapse of the monetary system was both in the number of different banknotes issued locally, and in the fact that they actually arose monetary systems, which were foreign currency in relation to the Moscow ruble.
And yet money retained its role. The market, despite the ban on private trade, continued to exist and depriving it of money meant one thing: the state would lose additional source financing the war through emission (issue of banknotes).
The measures taken by the Soviet government during the Civil War were typical for states that were at war.
Germany (1918-1939)
November Revolution in Germany.Reasons for the revolution: The military defeat of Germany contributed to the aggravation of all contradictions, especially social ones. This led to the fact that in 1918 a revolutionary situation developed in the country.
IN early November 1918. The German command gave a senseless order, given the obvious defeat of Germany, to break the English naval blockade. In reply November 3, 1918 . military sailors rebelled in the city of Kiel. A revolution began in Germany.
November 9, 1918. A general strike begins in Berlin. Kaiser Wilhelm II fled and the German monarchy was overthrown. 10th of November power passed to the republican government - the Council of People's Authorities. December 16, 1918 The First All-German Congress of Soviets begins its work in Berlin, which decided to hold elections to the National Assembly to transfer power to it. At the beginning of January 1919 Massive anti-government demonstrations took place in Berlin, brutally suppressed by the police. January 19, 1919 Elections to the National Assembly were held in which the bourgeois democratic parties won. At the beginning of February 1919 The National Assembly began work in the city of Weimar. July 31, 1919 it adopted a Constitution according to which Germany became federal republic with a strong central government. Thus, a republic was established in Germany, called " Weimar".
Establishment of the Nazi dictatorship in Germany.In 1919 The National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) was formed, and in 1920 Adolf Hitler became its Fuhrer (head). In November 1923 the Nazis made an attempt coup d'etat, which went down in history as the “Beer Hall Putsch.” After this, Hitler received 5 years in prison, of which he served 9 months. During his imprisonment, Hitler wrote the bulk of the main book of German Nazism, " Mein Kampf"("Main kampf") - "My struggle."
During the economic depression in Germany, the popularity of radical parties increased. In November 1932. The Nazis won the Reichstag elections and gained a majority in the Reichstag. IN January 1933 Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor (head of government) by President Hindenburg and given the authority to form a government. IN February 1933 and the Nazis organized the burning of the Reichstag building, blaming the communists for it. This allowed the Nazis to ban all workers, left-wing parties and organizations.
On August 1, 1934, after the death of President Hindenburg, Hitler was proclaimed Fuhrer for life and Reich Chancellor. Thus, the Nazi dictatorship was established in Germany.
Basic principles:
1. “Germany is for the Germans”!, a pronounced racist theory: superior race- Aryans (Germans), to whom the world should belong; European peoples have the right to exist; the lower races - Slavs, gypsies, Jews - must be slaves or destroyed.
2. “Germany above all”!, the interests of the state are higher than the interests of the individual.
3. Pan-Germanism (German domination), conquest of vital space (settlement of other territories by Germans), revenge for defeat in World War I
4. The principle of the Fuhrer: the will of the leader is above the law.
5. Social Darwinism - survival of the fittest, the state should not support the weak; destruction or sterilization of the “inferior” (mentally or terminally ill, disabled, etc.)
6. “Racial hygiene” - strict rules of population reproduction will lead to the improvement of the Aryan nation.
7. Anti-communism, non-acceptance of parliamentary democracy.
New Economic Policy (NEP)
The main directions of the NEP. After the end of the Civil War, the most pressing question becomes about changing the basic principles economic policy the Bolsheviks, whose power was on the verge of collapse due to the acute dissatisfaction of the population with the policy of “war communism”. In March 1921, the Tenth Congress of the RCP(b) decided to replace the surplus appropriation system with a tax in kind: it was half as much and progressive. A decision was made to attract foreign capital in the form of concessions (concession is an agreement to lease property state-owned). These decisions of the congress were the beginning of a new economic policy.
Main difference:“War communism” was determined not only by the Civil War, but also by the Bolsheviks’ desire to eliminate “bourgeois” commodity-money relations in practice. The failure of this experiment necessitated the introduction of the NEP, the main ideas of which were the permission of private property, the exploitation of man by man, and the attraction of foreign capital.
The main directions of the NEP in industry were: commercialization and self-financing of state industry, the creation of self-supporting associations industrial enterprises(trusts and syndicates); leasing unprofitable enterprises to private individuals, eliminating general labor service. In agriculture - permission to rent land, hire work force, restoration of personal responsibility to the state instead of mutual responsibility. IN credit and financial sector - resumption of the banking initiative; creating a flexible tax system; permission for private trade (May 24, 1921 - decree); the emergence of the private sector (a layer of entrepreneurs, the so-called Nepmen, appears); expansion of cooperation; implementation monetary reform 1922-1924
Currency reform 1922-1924 The first stage of the monetary reform was the introduction into circulation at the end of 1922 of chervonets - a bank note of the State Bank. It was 25% backed by gold, and the rest by easily marketable goods and securities and was intended for short-term lending to industry and foreign trade. At the same time, the Sovznak remained in circulation to cover the budget deficit. Thus, a system of parallel circulation of two currencies was established: stable (chervonets) and falling (sovznaki). In 1924, instead of Sovznak, coins and treasury notes were issued. As a result of the reform, the budget deficit was eliminated and the currency unit. « Godfather» monetary reform - People's Commissar of Finance Sokolnikov.
The main tasks of the NEP were stabilization economic situation and, as a consequence, the strengthening of Soviet power. With the completion of these tasks by the end of the 1920s. NEP was liquidated.
Cause of the outbreak of the First World War There was a rivalry between two blocs of powers in matters related to the distribution of economic influence in the world. The states of the Triple Alliance ignored the opportunity to resolve the conflict peacefully.
The murder of the heir to the throne of Austria during his official visit to Sarajevo became the reason for the outbreak of hostilities. On July 14, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Within three days, Russia, as an ally of the Serbian state, began to carry out general mobilization, despite Germany’s ultimatum warnings.
Progress of the war
To save the Allied troops, the Russian army was drawn into hostilities even before the end of general mobilization in Russia. At the first stage of the confrontation, the army of the Russian Empire fought on the fronts of the North-Western Theater, where it received its first crushing blows.
But despite the defeats in the battle on the territory East Prussia, the Russians managed to win their first victory in August 1914 Austro-Hungarian army was completely defeated in Galicia. The successes of the Russian army forced the German government to concentrate on Eastern Front best troops to prevent further advance of the Allies to the borders of the German state.
The result of a large-scale offensive enemy forces, Russia lost part of the territories of Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and the Baltic states, which was a significant blow to the empire. The turning point during the First World War was associated with the legendary Brusilov breakthrough, after which the prerogative in military operations was on the side of the Entente.
The offensive of the Russian army under the leadership of General A. Brusilov not only caused damage to the enemy forces, but also put Austria. Hungary is in an extremely catastrophic situation. From this point on, the military forces of the Triple Alliance were forced to take a defensive position.
Russia's exit from the war
At the final stage of the Second World War, a wave of powerful internal political crisis, the result of which was February Revolution. The Provisional Government made every effort to ensure that Russia continued to participate in the war, since a hasty exit could entail deprivation of reparations.
However, large-scale defeats in the summer of 1917 did not allow the Russian troops to conduct full-fledged military operations; the state treasury had no funds left to strengthen the army. Russia's final exit from the First World War took place after the establishment of the power of the Bolsheviks, whom the Entente states stubbornly refused to recognize.
The new government was forced to make peace with Germany. In March 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed between the Bolsheviks and the German government. In turn, the Entente states, at the same time, decided to “help” the Russian people restore the lost monarchy, and, as a sign of revenge on the communists, sent their intervention to Russia.
Page 8 of 11
Russia's exit from the First World War
On October 25 (November 7), 1917, the October Revolution took place in Petrograd. The Provisional Government fell, power passed into the hands of the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Convened in Smolny on October 25 II All-Russian Congress The Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies established the Soviet Republic in the country. V.I. Lenin was elected head of the government. On October 26 (November 8), 1917, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted the Decree on Peace. In it, the Soviet government proposed that “all warring peoples and their governments begin immediately negotiations on a fair and democratic world". It was further explained that the Soviet government considers such a peace to be an immediate peace without annexations, without the forced annexation of foreign peoples and without indemnity.
Indeed, among the many tasks that the victorious Soviets had to solve, one of the most important was exit from the war. Fate largely depended on this socialist revolution. The working masses were waiting for deliverance from the hardships and deprivations of the war. Millions of soldiers were rushing home from the fronts, from the trenches, V.I. Lenin wrote then: “... What could be more indisputable and clearer than the following truth: a government that gave the people, exhausted by a three-year predatory war, Soviet power, land, workers’ control and peace , would it be invincible? Peace is the main thing" (Lenin V.I. Complete collection of works - T.35.-P.361).
The governments of the Entente countries did not even respond to the proposal of the Second Congress of Soviets to conclude peace. On the contrary, they tried to prevent Russia from leaving the war. Instead of looking for ways to peace, they tried to prevent Russia from leaving the war. Instead of looking for ways to peace, they set a course for supporting counter-revolution in Russia and organizing anti-Soviet intervention in order, as Winston Churchill put it, “to strangle the communist hen before she hatches her chicks.”
Under these conditions, it was decided to independently begin negotiations with Germany to conclude peace.
A heated debate broke out in the party and in the Soviets - to conclude peace or not to conclude peace? Three points of view fought: Lenin and his supporters - to agree to the signing of an annexationist peace; the group of “left communists” led by Bukharin did not make peace with Germany, but declared “revolutionary” war on it and thereby help the German proletariat kindle a revolution in its own country; Trotsky - “no peace, no war.”
The Soviet peace delegation, headed by People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs L.D. Trotsky, was instructed by Lenin to delay the signing of peace. There was a glimmer of hope that a revolution might break out in Germany. But Trotsky did not fulfill this condition. After the German delegation negotiated in an ultimatum tone, he stated that Soviet republic ends the war, demobilizes the army, but does not sign peace. As Trotsky later explained, he hoped that such a gesture would stir up the German proletariat. The Soviet delegation immediately left Brest. The negotiations were disrupted due to Trotsky's fault.
The German government, which had long been developing a plan to seize Russia, received a pretext for breaking the truce. On February 18, at 12 noon, German troops went on the offensive along the entire front - from the Gulf of Riga to the mouth of the Danube. About 700 thousand people took part in it.
Plan German command provided for the rapid capture of Petrograd and Moscow, the fall of the Soviets and the conclusion of peace with a new, “non-Bolshevik government.”
The retreat of the old Russian army began, which by this time had lost its combat effectiveness. German divisions They moved almost unhindered into the interior of the country, and, above all, in the direction of Petrograd. On the morning of February 19, Lenin sent a telegram to the German government agreeing to sign peace on the proposed terms. At the same time, the Council of People's Commissars took measures to organize military resistance to the enemy. It was provided by small detachments of the Red Guard, individual units of the Red Army old army. However, the German offensive developed rapidly. Dvinsk, Minsk, Polotsk, and a significant part of Estonia and Latvia were lost. The Germans were rushing to Petrograd. A mortal danger loomed over the Soviet Republic.
February 21 Council People's Commissars accepted the decree written by V.I. Lenin “The Socialist Fatherland is in danger!” On February 22 and 23, 1918, a registration campaign for the Red Army unfolded in Petrograd, Pskov, Ravel, Narva, Moscow, Smolensk and other cities.
There were battles with the Kaiser’s units near Pskov and Ravel, in Latvia, Belarus, and Ukraine. In the Petrograd direction, Soviet troops managed to stop the enemy’s offensive.
The growing resistance of the Soviet troops cooled the ardor German generals. Fearing protracted war in the East and the attack of Anglo-American and French troops from the West, German government decided to make peace. But the peace terms he proposed were even more difficult. The Soviet Republic had to completely demobilize the army, enter into unfavorable agreements with Germany, etc.
The peace treaty with Germany was signed in Brest on March 3, 1918 and went down in history as the Brest Peace Treaty.
Thus, Russia emerged from the First World War, but for Soviet power in Russia this was only a respite, which was used to strengthen power and economy, to prepare for “rebuffing global imperialism.”
Plans for the 1917 campaign by the Entente forces provided for a strategic offensive on all fronts. The task was set of the final defeat of the armies of the Triple Alliance. The Allies were rushing Russia with the timing of the start of operations on the Eastern Front. Ultimately, the Russian offensive was planned for April. The allies also agreed to supply Russia with 3.4 million tons of weapons and ammunition. However, this was three times less than the needs of the Russian army. The countries of the Triple Alliance, having exhausted almost all reserves, planned to switch to widespread defense in the upcoming campaign.
Meanwhile, an acute political crisis was brewing in Russia. The defeats of the tsarist army during the war and the associated huge human losses, the lack of weapons, ammunition and equipment for the active army in Russian society began to be directly associated with the inability of the country's political and military leadership to achieve victory over the enemy. Tsarism was sharply criticized by both left-wing revolutionary parties, primarily the Bolsheviks, and right-wing conservative forces - Cadets, Octobrists and even monarchists. Confidence in the allies was undermined due to their obvious failure to fulfill their obligations and the lack of real assistance to Russia. The authority of the royal family fell sharply due to various rumors about the negative influence of Grigory Rasputin on it. The state apparatus was corroded by corruption. Officials and the big bourgeoisie profited from the supply of military equipment to the army, without caring about defense national interests Russia.
By the end of 1916 The State Duma became the focus of political forces opposing the regime, dissatisfied with the inability of tsarism to wage war and cope with the growing revolutionary movement. The leaders of the Duma Rodzianko, Milyukov, Guchkov and others, in order to prevent a popular revolution, were preparing, with the support of the Entente governments, to carry out a coup d'etat, to force Nicholas II to abdicate the throne in favor of his son or brother - Grand Duke Mikhail. The bourgeois press sharply intensified the campaign to discredit the royal family and the methods of warfare by the Russian military command. Russian society was preparing for the idea that only the transfer of power into the hands of the bourgeoisie could save the country from defeat in the war. The royal family and its inner circle were at a loss, relying either on successes in military operations, or on a possible separate peace with Germany, or on a compromise with the Duma with the replacement of some of the most odious ministers, or on the prayers of Rasputin. Wild rumors spread by the press and Duma leaders about the almost betrayal of the ruling regime to the Allies only led to growing suspicion of Russia's actions on the part of the Entente. If by the beginning of 1917 the situation on the fronts had stabilized, the rear of the Russian army was torn by contradictions.
During the war years, up to 15 million people were mobilized in Russia. That is, almost 10 percent of the population was in the army. The departure of young healthy men into the army led to a reduction in acreage and a decrease in supplies of bread and other types of food. The transfer of industry to war needs reduced the market for consumer goods. In the face of rising inflation, the village reduced food sales. Due to the shortage of wagons, locomotives and the priority transportation of military cargo, food supplies, especially in cities, began to be replenished irregularly. Facts of interruptions in food supplies began to be noted at the front. Due to the devastation in transport and the government’s failure to take decisive measures to control transport, food supplies that were abundant in Siberia could not be delivered to the European part of Russia. Very coldy and snow drifts on the roads prevented the delivery of food to the capital in February 1917. Dozens of trains with bread stood on snow-covered railway tracks and no one organized snow clearing. Meanwhile, it was bread lines in stores and demonstrations of women demanding bread that served as the impetus for the revolutionary events in Petrograd on February 23, 1917. The women's demonstrations were joined by striking workers of the capital's factories, and then by soldiers of the reserve regiments. The arsenal was captured, from which the rebels took 70 thousand rifles and revolvers. On February 28, almost the entire military garrison of the capital came over to the side of the people. The police fled.
The State Duma created a Provisional Committee, which was later transformed into the Provisional Government. Prince Lvov became the chairman of the government. The government included: Guchkov - Minister of War, Miliukov - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Konovalov - Minister of Trade and Industry, Kerensky - Minister of Justice. Nicholas II, who was at the front during this period, tried to travel to Petrograd to suppress the outbreak of the revolution, but was only able to get on his train to Pskov. Here representatives of the Duma and the military command of all fronts demanded that he abdicate the throne. Nicholas II ordered several reliable divisions to be removed from the front and sent to Petrograd, but his order was canceled by the front commanders - Ruzsky, Brusilov and others. Together with the chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Alekseev, they actually ensured the victory of the revolution in the capital. The Tsar abdicated the throne in favor of his brother, Grand Duke Mikhail, who transferred power to the Provisional Government. Thus ended the 300-year reign of the Romanov dynasty in Russia.
Having seized state power, the parties of the big bourgeoisie and the Russian generals were able to retain it only for a few months. Their attempts to continue the war to a victorious end were not supported by the people and the masses of soldiers. The June offensive of the Russian army, poorly prepared and launched under pressure from the allies, failed. Many military units, propagandized by both left- and right-wing political parties, refused to fight and abandoned the front and went to the rear. This was followed by the surrender of Riga to the Germans. The attempts of General Kornilov, with the help of a military dictatorship, to restore order and discipline in the country and in the army failed. Both the right and left political forces of Russia - from Kerensky to the Bolsheviks - united against Kornilov. On all fronts, the Russian army went on the defensive.
After the victory of the October Revolution of 1917, the Soviet government issued a Decree on Peace, in which it invited all warring parties to end the war by concluding peace agreements without annexations and indemnities. The Entente countries did not support this peace initiative and then Soviet Russia offered to make peace with the states of the Triple Alliance. Germany and its allies, who were on the verge of military defeat, wanted to conclude a separate peace with Russia that was beneficial for themselves in order to transfer their forces to the Western Front to continue the war. Peace negotiations took place in Brest from December 1917 to mid-February 1918. The German delegation refused to recognize the Soviet peace plan and in an ultimatum form demanded Russia's consent to the German occupation of the Baltic states, Poland, part of Ukraine and Belarus. After the Russian delegation at the negotiations refused to accept these peace terms, German troops went on the offensive along the entire front. By this time, Russia no longer had a combat-ready army. The soldiers of the old army, having abandoned the front, went home. Separatist tendencies prevailed on Russian territory. Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic states announced state independence.
The Soviet government declared the socialist fatherland in danger and hastily began to form volunteer units of the Red Army in Petrograd, Moscow and other cities. Near Pskov and Narva, units of the young Red Army, together with armed detachments of workers, stopped the German offensive on Petrograd on February 23, 1918. On March 1, peace negotiations resumed in Brest and on March 3, a peace treaty between Russia and the powers of the Triple Alliance was signed. The terms of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty were difficult and humiliating for Russia. Finland, Poland, the Baltic states, Ukraine, part of Belarus and the Caucasus were torn away from our state. The interventionists occupied Russian territory with an area of over 1 million square meters. km. 50 million people lived in the occupied territories, i.e. approximately a third of the country's population and about half of its industrial potential. In addition, Soviet Russia, under the terms of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, had to pay a huge indemnity to the winners and transfer to them part of its gold reserves and part of the navy. The Red Army had to be disarmed.
Russia's withdrawal from the war complicated the position of the Entente. The German General Staff planned a decisive offensive on the Western Front for the spring of 1918. In March-April the Germans carried out offensive operation with the goal of breaking through the Anglo-French front and advancing to Paris. Without achieving a decisive turning point in events in their favor, the Germans launched an offensive in other sectors of the front in May-June. After capturing positions on the river. Seine and Soissons, the Germans reached the distant approaches of Paris. The capital of France began to be fired upon by German long-range guns and bombers. In July, the German armies launched the last major offensive in this war on the river. Marne. However, the German advance was stopped by Allied air strikes. Three major offensive operations cost the Germans heavy losses - about a million people. Germany no longer had human reserves. The strategic initiative completely passed to the Entente. American units began to arrive at the front in significant numbers. The United States, which entered the war on the side of the Entente in April 1917, mobilized all its military potential for decisive victory over Germany.
From August to October 1918, Entente troops carried out a series of powerful blows and, breaking through the German front, drove the Germans out of France and Belgium. In October, Germany sued for peace. On November 11, 1918, an armistice was signed between the Entente and the Triple Alliance in the Compiegne Forest. The First World War was over.
The outcome of the First World War was summed up in 1919 by the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty, on the one hand, by the victorious powers - British Empire, France, Italy, Belgium, USA, Japan, on the other hand - defeated Germany. As a result of this and other treaties that followed, the so-called Versailles system was formed, ensuring the redistribution of territories and recognition of the right to existence of the newly formed states: Austria, Hungary, Poland, Finland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary. Germany, having ceded a significant part of its territories, pledged to pay reparations. Limits were also established on the size of its army and weapons.
Serious changes have occurred in the global balance of power. Austria-Hungary collapsed, Germany and Türkiye lost their former status. The weight of the United States in world politics has grown sharply, turning from a debtor into a creditor. European countries and increasingly claimed the role of a great power.
The victorious powers made serious efforts to stabilize the situation resulting from the First World War. An integral part of the Versailles peace system was the creation in 1919 of the League of Nations as a guarantor of peace and security. However, the Versailles peace system was contradictory and it was its contradictions that served as one of the causes of the Second World War.
The first priority of foreign policy was getting out of the war. This was dictated both by the general desire of the people for peace and by the inability of Soviet Russia to continue military operations due to the most difficult internal situation. Russia's allies in the West categorically refused to consider the peace initiatives of the Council of People's Commissars. Therefore, the question arose about signing a separate agreement with Germany. On December 3, 1917, a truce was signed in Brest-Litovsk and peace negotiations began. The Soviet delegation made a proposal to conclude it without territorial annexations and indemnities. Germany made claims to huge territories the former Russian Empire - Poland, part of the Baltic states, Ukraine and Belarus. In this regard, negotiations were interrupted.
When discussing German conditions, a deep crisis arose both in the Soviet government and in the leadership of the Bolshevik Party. The Left Social Revolutionaries considered the acceptance of these conditions to be a betrayal and insisted on continuing military action to defend the revolution. B.I. Lenin, realizing the loss of combat effectiveness of the army and the need to maintain Soviet power, defended the unconditional acceptance of German claims. In January 1918, it was decided to delay the negotiations. L.D. Trotsky, the head of the Soviet delegation, violated it and defiantly left Brest, declaring that he would not sign a peace treaty on extortionate terms. This created the pretext for breaking the truce. Germany launched an offensive and captured vast territories in the Baltic states, Belarus, and Ukraine. In this regard, on February 19, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars was forced to agree to the German conditions and resumed negotiations. At the same time, the Council of People's Commissars tried to stop the German offensive and prevent the fall of Petrograd. On February 21, the decree “The Socialist Fatherland is in Danger!” was issued. He obliged all Soviets to organize resistance to the enemy. February 23, 1918 The Red Army stopped the Germans near Pskov.
Germany presented an ultimatum with new territorial claims, demanded to demobilize the army and pay a large indemnity. The Soviet government was forced to accept extortionate and humiliating conditions. On March 3, 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed. According to it, Poland, the Baltic states, part of Belarus, as well as Kars, Ardahan and Batum in the Caucasus (in favor of Turkey) were torn away from Russia. The Soviet government pledged to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and pay 3 billion rubles in reparations. Despite the resistance of the “left communists” and the left Socialist Revolutionaries, who regarded peace as a betrayal of the interests of the “world revolution” and national interests, the IV Extraordinary Congress of Soviets ratified the Brest-Litovsk Treaty on March 15. Contrary to the commitments of previous governments, Russia withdrew from the First World War. In November 1918, after Germany surrendered to the Entente countries, the Soviet government annulled this predatory treaty.
The Civil War and foreign military intervention: causes, results, consequences
Overthrow of the Provisional Government and dispersal Constituent Assembly, the economic and socio-political measures of the Soviet government restored the nobility, bourgeoisie, wealthy intelligentsia, clergy, and officers against it. The nationalization of all land and the confiscation of landowners' lands caused fierce resistance from their former owners. The bourgeoisie, frightened by the scale of nationalization of industry, wanted to return factories and factories. The desire of the overthrown classes to preserve private property and his privileged position was also the reason for the outbreak of the civil war.
The discrepancy between the goals of transforming society and the methods for achieving them alienated the democratic intelligentsia, Cossacks, kulaks and middle peasants from the Bolsheviks. Thus, the internal policy of the Bolshevik leadership was one of the causes of the civil war.
Creation of a one-party political system and the dictatorship of the proletariat alienated socialist parties and democratic public organizations from the Bolsheviks. With the decrees “On the arrest of the leaders of the civil war against the revolution” (November 1917) and “On the Red Terror”, the Bolshevik leadership legally substantiated the “right” to violent reprisals against their political opponents. To combat the counter-revolution, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK) was created, its first chairman was F.E. Dzerzhinsky. Therefore, the Mensheviks, right and left Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists refused to cooperate with new government and took part in the civil war.
There is no historiography consensus about the start of the civil war. Some historians attribute it to October 1917, others to the spring-summer of 1918, when strong political and well-organized anti-Soviet pockets emerged. The period of the civil war is conventionally divided into four stages: the first - the beginning of the civil war and the military intervention of the Entente (May-November 1918); the second is the strengthening and failure of direct intervention by the Entente (November 1918 - March 1919); the third - the stage of decisive battles (spring 1919 - early 1920); fourth - the Soviet-Polish war and the defeat of Wrangel’s troops (1920), the war on Far East(1920 - 1922).
In 1918, the main centers of the anti-Bolshevik movement, different in their socio-political composition, were formed. In May 1918, a rebellion began in the 45,000-strong Czechoslovak corps subordinate to the Entente, which, in agreement with the Entente, the Soviet government transferred along the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok for subsequent shipment to France. (The reason was a rumor that after the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Peace, the Council of People's Commissars ordered the Czechs to be imprisoned in concentration camps). As a result of open hostilities, they captured Samara, Kazan, Simbirsk, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk and other cities along the entire length of the highway. A strong anti-Bolshevik movement developed among the Cossacks. On the Don and Kuban they were led by General Krasnov, on Southern Urals- Ataman Dutov. In the south of Russia and the North Caucasus, an officer volunteer army began to form, which became the basis of the white movement (after the death of L.G. Kornilov, A.I. Denikin took command).
The complication of the military-political situation in the country during the civil war influenced the fate of the imperial family. In the spring of 1918, Nicholas II with his wife and children, under the pretext of intensifying the monarchists, was transferred from Tobolsk to Yekaterinburg. Having coordinated its actions with the center, the Ural Regional Council on July 16, 1918 shot the Tsar and his family. On the same days, the Tsar's brother Mikhail and 18 other members of the imperial family were killed.
A feature of the civil war in Russia was the participation of the Entente countries in fanning the flames of war and military intervention in the internal affairs of the Soviet state. Preparing for interventions(violent intervention of one or more states in the internal affairs of another state) began with the conclusion on December 10, 1917 of the Anglo-French convention on the division of “zones of action in Russia.” The Entente countries signed an agreement on non-recognition of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty and the future division of Russia into spheres of influence. German troops occupied Ukraine, Crimea and part of the North Caucasus. Romania captured Bessarabia. In March, English was landed in Murmansk expeditionary force, which was later joined by French and American troops.
In April, Vladivostok was occupied by a Japanese landing. Detachments of the British, French and Americans appeared in the Far East. By February 1919, more than 202 thousand people took part in the intervention in Russia, including up to 45 thousand British, approximately 14 thousand French and Americans, 80 thousand Japanese, 42 thousand Czechoslovaks, 3 thousand Italians and Greeks, 2.5 thousand Serbs. In this way, England, France, the USA, Japan, and Germany hoped to tear off its outlying territories from Russia. In addition, the Entente countries sought to prevent the revolutionization of their armies. The main form of intervention in the internal affairs of Russia was the creation material basis anti-Soviet forces, their weapons and financing.
Maximum success in the fight against Soviet power was achieved at the end of 1918 - beginning of 1919. In Siberia, Admiral Kolchak seized power, declared “ supreme ruler Russia." In the Kuban and Northern Caucasus, Denikin united the Don and Volunteer armies into the Armed Forces of Southern Russia. In the north, with the help of the Entente, General Miller formed his army. In the Baltic states, General Yudenich was preparing for a campaign against Petrograd. The Allies increased assistance to the white movement, supplying it with ammunition, uniforms, tanks, and aircraft. In November 1918, Kolchak launched an offensive in the Urals with the aim of joining forces with General Miller and organizing a joint attack on Moscow. On December 25, Kolchak’s troops took Perm, but already on December 31, their offensive was stopped by the Red Army. In 1919, a plan was created for a simultaneous attack on Soviet power: from the east (Kolchak), south (Denikin) and west (Yudenich). But the combined performance failed.
In March 1919, Kolchak's army went on the offensive along the Eastern Front; by the beginning of April she had captured the Urals and was moving towards Middle Volga. After the mass mobilization carried out Bolshevik authorities, southern group The armies of the Eastern Front (commander M.V. Frunze) launched a counter-offensive and in May-June defeated the main group of Kolchak’s troops. The Urals were liberated in June-August, and in August 1919-January 1920. - Western Siberia. Kolchak left Omsk at the end of 1919 and, finding himself in the hands of the Czechs, was ultimately handed over to the Bolsheviks (shot in Irkutsk in February 1920). The powers of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief were transferred to Denikin.
At the height of the fighting on the Eastern Front, General Yudenich's northwestern army launched an attack on Petrograd. Having captured Narva (January 1919), Vilnius (April), Riga (May), Yudenich's troops, with the support of military contingents of the Entente countries, approached Petrograd in May 1919, where they met fierce resistance from the Red Army. As a result of the counter-offensive of Soviet troops, Yudenich's army was driven into Estonia in August.
Denikin's army, having occupied North Caucasus and a significant part Don region, invaded Donbass, at the end of June 1919 captured Kharkov, Tsaritsyn and began a campaign against Moscow. In September-October, Kursk, Orel, and Tula were taken. At the same time, Yudenich’s army again invaded the suburbs of Petrograd, and Polish troops occupied Minsk. The Soviet leadership managed to carry out additional mobilization into the Red Army and ensure a sharp increase in the production of weapons and ammunition. In October, the Red Army's counteroffensive began on Southern Front. Near Orel and Voronezh, decisive blows were dealt to Denikin’s armies. Big role The First Cavalry Army played a role in the defeat and pursuit of Denikin's retreating troops. The defeat of Denikin's army was completed in February-March 1920. Part of it was forced to retreat to the Crimea. In October-November 1919 Soviet troops defeated Yudenich's army. At the beginning of 1920, Soviet power was restored in the North. During the offensive on the Eastern Front in November 1919-March 1920, a significant part of Siberia was liberated.
In April 1920, Polish troops went on the offensive, and in early May they occupied Kyiv. At the end of May, Soviet troops of the Western and Southwestern Fronts launched an attack on Warsaw and Lvov. The Bolshevik leadership, based on the utopian idea of world revolution, intended to capture Warsaw and then continue the offensive in the direction of Germany. However, near Warsaw, the troops of the Western Front were defeated. The Lviv operation also ended in failure. Polish troops launched a counteroffensive, during which they occupied part of the territory of Ukraine and Belarus. In October, a truce was concluded between the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR, on the one hand, and Poland, on the other; On March 18, 1921, a peace treaty was signed in Riga, according to which Poland was given Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.
In June, the troops of Wrangel, who replaced Denikin as commander-in-chief and ruler of southern Russia, set out from Crimea and began an attack on Right Bank Ukraine, intending to link up with Polish troops. At the end of October 1920, Soviet troops, having a significant superiority in manpower and equipment, went on the offensive. On the Southern Front in November they broke through the fortifications on Perekop, crossed Sivash and on November 17 completely captured Crimea. The remnants of the white armies were evacuated from Crimea to Turkey. The civil war on Russian territory ended with the victory of the Red Army.
In April 1920-February 1921, units of the Red Army occupied Transcaucasia. Soviet power was proclaimed in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. Soviet power was established in Central Asia. In 1920 they signed peace treaties with Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland.
In the Far East, military operations continued until the fall of 1922. In April 1920, to prevent possible military clashes between the RSFSR and Japan, it was decided political leadership Soviet Russia created a “buffer” Far Eastern Republic (FER). In October 1922, units of the People's Liberation Army of the Far Eastern Republic entered Vladivostok. In November Far Eastern Republic was abolished, its territory became part of the RSFSR.
The defeat of the anti-Soviet forces was due to a number of reasons. Their leaders canceled the Decree on Land and returned the land to the previous owners. This turned the peasants against them. The slogan of preserving a “united and indivisible Russia” contradicted the hopes of many peoples for independence. The leaders of the white movement did not want to cooperate with the liberal and socialist parties. Punitive expeditions, pogroms, robberies, mass executions of prisoners, widespread violation of legal norms - all this caused discontent among the population, even leading to armed resistance. Started by “almost saints,” the white movement fell into the hands of “almost bandits,” argued V.V. Shulgin, one of the compilers of his program. During the civil war, opponents of the Bolsheviks failed to agree on a single program and a single leader of the movement. Their actions were poorly coordinated.
The Bolsheviks won the civil war because they managed to mobilize all the country's resources and turn it into a single military camp. The Central Committee of the RCP(b) and the Council of People's Commissars created an organized Red Army, ready to defend Soviet power. It was formed on the basis of universal conscription By class principle. To ensure agitation and propaganda work in the army, the institute of military commissars was created. Various social groups were involved revolutionary slogans, a promise of social and national justice. The Bolshevik leadership managed to present itself as a defender of the Fatherland and accuse its opponents of betraying national interests. Great importance had international solidarity with Soviet Russia, help from the proletariat of Europe and the USA.
The civil war came 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 in gold. Industrial production decreased by 7 times. Was completely paralyzed transport system. The war made violence a total, unlimited method, which began to be used even after its end. Many segments of the population forcibly drawn into the war warring parties, became its innocent victims. In battles, from hunger, disease and terror, 8 million people died, 2 million were forced to emigrate. Among them were many representatives of the intellectual elite. Irreparable moral and ethical losses had profound consequences, for a long time affecting the history of the Soviet country.