Civil War 1918-1921 Flashcards
What were the causes of the war?
After the October Revolution (1917), power was contested between: Bolsheviks (Reds), Whites – Anti-Bolshevik forces (monarchists, liberals, SRs, foreign-backed) and Greens – Peasant armies (e.g., Makhno’s anarchists) resisting both sides.
Brest-Litovsk (March 1918): Bolsheviks’ humiliating peace with Germany angered patriots and Allies.
Foreign Intervention: UK, France, US, Japan, and others supported Whites to restore Eastern Front vs. Germany and crush communism.
Economic Collapse: War Communism (grain requisitioning) sparked peasant revolts.
What were key turning points in the war?
1918: Czech Legion revolt opens Eastern Front.
1919: Whites’ closest approach to Moscow (Denikin at Oryol).
1920: Polish victory at Warsaw halts Bolshevik expansion into Europe.
1921: Kronstadt Rebellion forces Lenin to introduce NEP (abandoning War Communism).
What were the reasons for Red Victory?
Reds had a centralized command (Moscow/Petrograd). Whites were divided politically (monarchists vs. liberals) and geographically.
Bolsheviks promised land reform (Decree on Land) and workers’ control. Whites were seen as reactionary (e.g., Kolchak’s dictatorship alienated peasants).
Reds held Russia’s industrial heartland (arms production). Whites relied on inefficient supply lines.
Cheka (secret police) suppressed dissent (500,000+ executions).
War Communism forced grain requisitioning, starving opposition areas.
What was government and control like during the war?
Bolsheviks banned rival parties (e.g., SRs, Mensheviks) to form one-party state.
Sovnarkom Decrees: Centralized power under Lenin.
Economic Policies: War Communism (1918–21):
Grain seizures → Peasant revolts (e.g., Tambov Rebellion).
Hyperinflation (barter economy replaced money).
Strikes banned, “Work or starve!” policies.
Propaganda: Posters & Agitprop Trains: Portrayed Whites as bourgeois traitors.
Red Terror (1918): Public executions to deter opposition.
Describe the murder of the Tsar and his family.
July 1918: Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, their 5 children (Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, Alexei), and 4 servants were shot in Yekaterinburg’s Ipatiev House by Bolsheviks to prevent White Army rescue fearing that Nicholas could become a rallying point. Bodies were hidden; killings denied until evidence surfaced. Demonstrated Bolshevik ruthlessness.
What was the significance of the romanov murder?
The murder was a calculated act of revolutionary terror, not a spontaneous decision. It removed a potent symbol for the Whites and shocked the world. Eliminating the Romanovs demonstrated a total break with the old regime.
What were conditions like in cities?
Workers received meager rations (often <500g bread/day). Black markets flourished as official supplies collapsed; prices soared (bread cost 30x pre-war prices by 1920). Cannibalism reported in extreme cases (Petrograd, 1919). Factories shut due to fuel/raw material shortages. Urban populations halved (Moscow lost 50% by 1920) as people fled to the countryside for food. Typhus, cholera, and Spanish flu spread due to poor sanitation. Gangs ruled streets; Red Guards executed looters on sight. Bolsheviks monopolized food distribution, favoring loyal workers. Cheka held arbitrary arrests, executions of “bourgeois saboteurs.”
What were conditions like in the countryside during the war?
Prodrazvyorstka: Bolsheviks seized grain at gunpoint, leaving peasants to starve. Peasant uprisings (Tambov Rebellion, 1920–21) brutally crushed. Whites looted villages for supplies, alienating peasants. Anti-Jewish violence in Ukraine (100,000+ killed). Money became worthless; peasants traded grain for tools/clothes. Famine (1921–22): 5 million died after drought + requisitioning.
