russian civil war introduction
These events caused the Moscow government to crack down heavily on non-Bolshevik socialists. The second was the attempt by peripheral regions of the Russian Empire to break away. Assassination of the tsar and the battle for Ukraine, https://www.britannica.com/event/Russian-Civil-War, Spartacus Educational - The Russian Civil War, The History learning site - The Russian Civil War. But by late 1918, the situation for this new army was looking bleak, as their strongholds were being surrounded by the Whites aided by foreign powers. Russia's experiences during the Civil War determined the framework within which the Russian people were governed throughout the Soviet period. In March 1918 the Bolshevik government agreed to let these units leave Russia by the Far East, but in May violent incidents took place during the evacuation, and on May 29 Leon Trotsky, commissar for war, ordered them to surrender their arms. The Russian Civil War, 1918-1921 Introduction - YouTube An increase in munitions leads to victory. This book provides a good analysis of the Russian civil war but is only for readers with perseverance. Kolchak was handed over to the Reds and executed. Kolchak’s coup d’état coincided with the collapse of Germany and the end of the European war. In the next months there was a marked drawing together of two main groups of Russian opponents of Lenin: (1) the non-Bolshevik left, who had been finally alienated from Lenin by his dissolution of the Constituent Assembly and (2) the rightist whites, whose main asset was the Volunteer Army in the Kuban steppes. On April 5 Japanese forces landed at Vladivostok, without any approval. The Russian Civil War was to tear Russia apart for three years – between 1918 and 1921. In the late summer the Communists’ hastily reorganized armed forces, the Red Army, recovered most of eastern European Russia. The Red Army grew to over a million men owing to the introduction of conscription in June 1918. The Whites, with the help of the Czech Legion (a unit of the Russian Imperial Army during WW1), began gaining important territory and mobilising other forces. Members of the Czechoslovak Legion in Vladivostok during the Russian Civil War, 1918. Lenin introduced it when the Civil War was decastated the economy, bringing the industry almost to a standstill and emptying the towns. War communism was the economic and political system that existed in the Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War, from 1918 to 1921. All in all, "The Russian civil war" is a decent introduction, but is by no means a great read. The remnants of the forces of the Socialist Revolutionaries, headed by Symon Petlyura, retreated westward, where they joined forces with Ukrainian nationalist forces from formerly Austrian Galicia. 14 people found this helpful. Includes 5 activities aimed at students 11-14 years old (KS3) & 5 activities aimed at students 14-16 year old (GCSE). In the mid-19th century, while the United States was experiencing an era of tremendous growth, a fundamental economic difference existed between the country’s northern and southern regions. Indeed, Lenin had predicted this very outcome. They had defeated Kolchak’s forces in the East, although General Denikin, having captured much of the south and Ukraine pushed northwards in conjunction with General Yudenich (assisted by Estonian troops). The Russian Civil War had three dimensions: The first was the struggle between the new Communist government and its organised “counter-revolutionary” opponents, in which the issues were primarily political and social. Although most of the war was over by 1920, it took until 1922 for the Bolsheviks, who held the industrial heartland of Russia from the start, to crush all opposition. Please select which sections you would like to print: Corrections? The Russian Civil War was a civil war fought from November 1917 until October 1922 between several groups in Russia. With the development of anti-Bolshevik forces in Siberia, the local soviet feared that Nicholas might be liberated. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Helpful. Just after October 1917, with Bolshevik power apparently secured in Petrograd and other cities, a coalition of monarchists, anti-Bolsheviks, liberals and regional forces came together to form the White Army. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918) whereby Russia yielded large portions of its territory to Germany caused a breach between the Bolsheviks (Communists) and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, who thereupon left the coalition. At the beginning of 1919 Red Army forces invaded Ukraine. The Russian Civil War Facts & Worksheets The Russian Civil War facts and information activity worksheet pack and fact file. Comment Report abuse. In the North, manufacturing and industry was well established, and agriculture was mostly limited to small-scale farms, while the South’s economy was based on a system of large-scale farming that depended on the labor of black slaves to … 1924, The End of War. In late 1920, remnants of the White Army fled, leaving the Bolsheviks to conquer the remaining regions. In August further British forces landed at Arkhangelsk, and the Japanese forces in the Far Eastern territories of Russia had been greatly reinforced. Russian Civil War, (1918–20), conflict in which the Red Army successfully defended the newly formed Bolshevik government led by Vladimir I. Lenin against various Russian and interventionist anti-Bolshevik armies. Translated documents from Russian archives offer insight into the Russian civil war. Among the early victims of the civil war, which may be considered to have begun in earnest in June 1918, were the former imperial family. At Omsk, which became the centre of the anti-Communists, a new army was hastily trained under the command of Adm. Aleksandr V. Kolchak, with the assistance of British and U.S. military missions. To tsarists, liberals, Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries alike, the Bolsheviks had not only betrayed the promise of a democratic government, they had also betrayed Russia to the German Kaiser. The USSR was created, with Moscow as its new capital. The majority of this overview is based on the work by Orlando Figes. Great for home … The Bolshevik victory ensured the supremacy of the Russian Communists in the nascent Soviet Union. David Bullock, the author of The Russian Civil War (2008) has argued that no one has been able to calculate accurately the cost in human life attributable to the Civil War. This war is strikingly different from the just-concluded World War, not only in scale. This civil war is often said to have started in 1918, but bitter fighting began in 1917. It was run by a Central Executive Committee, which was made entirely of members of the Communist Party, which was the new name that the Bolsheviks had given themselves. The Red Army was an army of communists. In March 1918 a small British force was landed at Murmansk with the consent of the local soviet. The Red Army managed to repel both these attacks. The civil war was fought mostly by Russians loyal to (or forced to fight for) Lenin's communist Bolsheviks against a motley collection of militias known as … Meanwhile the British forces at Murmansk were at war with the Communists. There has always been Russian invasion, annexation, and military and other forms of aggression in what Oscar Jonsson and Robert Seely (2015) describe as ‘full spectrum conflict.’ There has never been a ‘civil war’ in Ukraine. The main fighting was between the Red Army and the White Army. These groups included monarchists, militarists, and, for a short time, foreign nations. Reds! Russian Civil War Overview / Historiography This overview has been compiled by Patrick O’Shaughnessy (@historychappy) using the works below. This would prove to be the closest the Whites would come to tipping the war in their favour. C.W.W. Misplaced use of the term ‘civil war’ to describe the Russian-Ukrainian War is correlated with three factors. The Russian Civil War - History of RussiaAn historic mapping video about the Russian Civil war and the rise of communism. Indeed, the survival of the revolution appeared inconceivable at this stage. Most of my knowledge is from the Finnish Civil War which happened at the same time and was strongly connected to the Russian Civil War, but much of the weapons available and used was also widely used in the Russian Civil War. What is a Civil War?
A Civil War is fought between two sides or factions in the same country.
For example, the American Civil was fought between Americans in the northern and southern states.
In Russia the war was fought between two armies – the White and the Red.
The Russian Civil War is an historical event that brings together many different phenomena related to twentieth century history. The Whites established a ‘government in-exile’ in the East under the command of Kolchak. It was almost inevitable that the October Revolution would lead to a devastating Russian Civil War waged by forces hostile to socialism. This army, which had survived great hardships in the winter of 1917–18 and which came under the command of Gen. Anton I. Denikin (April 1918), was now a fine fighting force, though small in numbers. It allowed all production to be concentrated on the war effort. Other forces fought against both these groups or sometimes helped one against the other. Omissions? Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, and his children had been moved in August 1917 to Tobolsk and in the spring of 1918 to Yekaterinburg. In the Northern Caucasus, the Whites were supported by some Cossack troops and attacked newly-established Bolshevik strongholds. When, in August 1918, the Cheka (secret police) arrested 200 British and French residents of Moscow, invaded their consulates, and murdered the British naval attaché, opinion spread in Paris and London that the Bolsheviks were thugs and bandits, if not German agents. Red Guards preparing to repel Kerensky’s counterattack, Resolution of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, The February Revolution & the Period of Dual Power, British Establishment Anti-Bolshevik Attitudes, British Socialist Party newspaper ‘The Call’, Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings on Russia 1917-19, Poster: ‘Entente under the mask of peace’. For the next months the mixed Petlyurist-Galician forces held parts of Ukraine; other areas were in the hands of anarchist bands led by Nestor Makhno; and the main cities were held by the Communists, ruling not directly from Moscow but through a puppet Ukrainian “government” in Kharkov (now Kharkiv). 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