Civil war Flashcards
Key events of Civil war - 1918
- Jan - Red Army established
- May - Czech legion rebels and captures large section of Trans-Siberian railway - conscription into Red army also introduced
- June - Tsar is murdered
- Aug 30th - assassination attempt on Lenin
Key events if the Civil war - 1919
- Sept - Allies evacuate Archangel
- Yudenich is defeated - Denikin is pushed back
Key events in the civil war - 1920
- February - Kolchak is executed by the Bolsheviks and Red army invades Georgia
- May - Polish army invades Russian occupied Kiev
- August - Red army defeated by Poles outside Warsaw
Key events in the Civil war - 1921
Treaty of Riga - peace between Poland and Soviet Russia
General Tukhachevsky
Officer in Red army from 1918 - led the defence of Moscow
- also led the modernisation of the Red army
Why was there a Civil war in Russia? - Political reasons
- Bolshevik’s political opponents were not prepared to accept their absolute rule
- the policies and actions of the Bolsheviks resulted in them having more enemies e.g. decree on land
Why was there a Civil war in Russia? - Military reasons
- intense anger within Russia over the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- Britain sent £100mn of supplies to the white army (crusaders against Bolshevism)
- France = anti-Bolshevik due to lost money from investment into Russia
- Japan sent forces into Siberia to grab valuable territory
Why was there a Civil war in Russia? - Social//economic reasons
- some believed the Bolsheviks couldn’t solve Russia socio-economic problems
- Loss of Ukraine posed risk of food shortages etc
Czech legion provoking war
Bolshevik forces tried to arrest some Czech soldiers - fighting broke out - Czech legion then gathered anti-Bolshevik forces and began to advance towards Moscow
Kolchak in the East of Russia
built on the successes of the Czech legion - 1920 Kolchak was caught and shot with internal-quarrels destroying the group
Yudenich in the west of Russia
reached outskirts of Petrograd in October 1919
Denikin and Wrangel in the south of Russia
came within 320km of Moscow before Denikin was replaced by Wrangel
Makhno’s insurgent army
successfully used guerrilla warfare against the whites and reds and strongly supported by the Ukrainian peasants
Summer 1918 - July
Murder of Tsar and his family by Cheka - Bolsheviks killed the Tsar as they believed they would become a focus for resistance against their party
Summer 1918 - August
Attempt to assassinate Lenin by Fanny Kaplan - the bullet would later leadto Lenin’s death in 1924
Trotsky during the Civil war
Was made commissar for war in 1918 - he restored professionalism and discipline in the war and re-introduced former tsarist officers - Stalin and Zinoviev didn’t like this
- also reintroduced pay differentials an ranks into the army
- held families hostage to ensure loyalty
- supported by Lenin
Trotsky’s strengths = energy, passion and organisational structure - Had a specially equipped train to take him to the frontline
Why the Reds won and Why the Whites lost - Geographical factors
- Bolshevik held central area (Petrograd and Moscow) - hub of railway network and contained lots of the country’s armament factories - heavily populated area whereas whites were scattered around a central area
Why the Reds won and Why the Whites lost - Unity and organisation
- Bolsheviks = united command structure
- Trotsky organised red army effectively
- white generals would not work together
Why the Reds won and Why the Whites lost - Leadership
- Red army very disciplined whereas white army saw many soldiers deserted
Why the Reds won and Why the Whites lost - Support
- peasants made up main body on both sides = high desertion rates - however Lenin legitimised their right to land whereas the whites would return land to former owners
- White lost support of nationalist groups
Why the Reds won and Why the Whites lost - Other factors
Foreign intervention used as propaganda against the whites by the Bolsheviks
Lenin’s role during the civil war
- concentrated on building and consolidating the Bolshevik state and took charge of day-to-day business in the Sovnarkom
What happened to industry in the civil war
fell apart as workers’ committee’s proved incapable of running the factories
What happened to land/food
shortage of goods = inflation made money worthless - peasants would not supply food to the cities - bread rationing at all time low of 50grams per person per day
Problems facing Lenin
1 - Keeping workers in cities to produce war supplies - Petrograd lost 60% of its workforce by 1918
2 - Feeding the workers
Why did Lenin and the Bolsheviks introduce War Communism in 1918
- to squeeze - out counter-revolutionary forces - Terror outside of the party was essential for this
- other Bolsheviks supported war communism as they hated the market system
War Communism - Grain requisitioning
- Red guards sent into countryside to find grain - May 1918 food supplies dictatorship set up to establish the forcible requisitioning
- Peasants divided into 3 categories
1 - Poor peasants
2 - medium peasants
3 - Kulaks
War Communism - Banning of private trade
state trading organisation was chaotic and industry was not producing enough goods
- black market developed which helped most survive
- Control of railways also state controlled to aid the Red army
War Communism - Nationalisation of industry
industry controlled by the supreme council of national economy (Vesenkha) - this was the only way to stop the chaos caused by factory workers
War Communism - Labour Discipline
internal passports introduced to stop fleeing to the countryside
strikes forbidden and working hours extneded
War Communism - Rationing
class-based system with labour force receiving the most rations
War Communism - The red Terror
used to deal with opposition with the workers angry at economic plight and low food rations
- ‘down with Lenin and the horsemeat, give us the Tsar and Pork’
The red Terror
began in the summer of 1918 after the assassination attempt in Lenin - Cheka established in December 1917
Red terror - Death count
1918-1920 = nearly 13,000 with the victim being workers and peasants - Children made up 5% of prison populations in 1920
Cheka
Based - Lubyanka in Moscow with a thousand members by June 1918 - Head of Cheka = Dzerzhinsky ( Iron Felix) who reported back to Lenin
- very active in the countryside as Bolsheviks were at war with the Peasants
Gulags
used to house workers and peasants who didn’t comply with the rules - machinery of terror which were created under Lenin not Stalin - First was in
in the white sea
Life under war communism
- less than one third of the urban diet came from state rations with the rest coming from the black market - sold by ‘Bag-men’ - filled trains
- Cigarette lighterism = factory workers made goods to trade for foods
Stop Bag men
Cheka raided trains and markets however officials were easy to bribe
Living conditions under war communism
- horses used as food - Civil war sausage
- wages 2% of 1919 levels
- 3000 houses stripped for wood in Petrograd
- Worse for middle class who had to sell jewellery etc to get by - houses of the rich divided up amongst poor families - 3million former people fled abroad
Bolshevik corruption
- lived well whilst may starved - 5000 lived in the best hotels
- bribery rife
Why were the Bolsheviks in trouble in 1921 - Problems with the economy
- transport system near collapse
- industry ceased productions due to a shortage of materials
- Famine in cities - 5million died from diseases such as Cholera
Why were the Bolsheviks in trouble in 1921 - Threat from peasants
- Tambov rebellion - Peasant army led by Alexander Antonov and supported by the green army fought the red army for almost a year (1920-21)
- Poor harvest in 1920
Why were the Bolsheviks in trouble in 1921 - opposition from workers
- harsh winter 1920-21 = repeated strikes - Jan 1921, bread rationing cut by a third
- factories were a ‘tsarist prison camp’
Why were the Bolsheviks in trouble in 1921 - Problems from Krondstadt
- usually support Bolsheviks (July days and October revolution)
- March 1921 = the sailors mutinied against the Bolsheviks - many shot or sent to Gulag
Why were the Bolsheviks in trouble in 1921 - Divisions in the party
- workers opposition group grew under Shlyopnikov and Kollontai
Lenin’s will and Testament
- died January 1924 - wanted his comrades to remove Stalin as he was Dangerous
Stalin’s response
- Stated Lenin DID want him to be his successor
- preserved Lenin’s body and put it on display
