Civil War Timeline Flashcards
First stage (1918-1920)
Fought in large areas, mainly European Russia (East and South)
Whites were disadvantaged due to un-unified forces and distance.
Bolsheviks held Central Russia including Petrograd and Moscow however Moscow was threatened by Yudenich’s forces in Oct 1919.
Whites threatened Reds for all directions.
The Romanovs were killed under Bolshevik Order
What happened in Summer 1918? (First Stage)
In Summer 1918 Denikin and cossak filled army attacked the Don region however successful Red resistance prevented Denikin from linking up with the White Armies in the Middle East.
Why were the Romanovs killed July 1918?
On 17th July 1918 the White Army was advancing toward Yekaterinburg, where the Romanovs were imprisoned.
Lenin and the Bolsheviks feared the Romanovs would be rescued and used as a rallying point for monarchists. Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, their five children, and four servants were executed by a Bolshevik firing squad.
What happened in Summer 1919? (First Stage)
Denikin began another offensive and got dangerously close to Moscow by October but Trotsky forced Denikin’s army south toward Crimea.
Yudenich’s army in the north was relatively small - around 15,000 troops but managed to get close to Petrograd in 1919 before being forced bak by the Red Army.
What happed in Autumn 1919 and early 1920?
In Autumn the Kolchak (White Amry leader) was in retreat and in 1920 he was captured and shot.
In 1920 Wrangel replaced Denikin - his white army held out for several months, but the Green Peasant Army fought as an irregular division for the Bolsheviks.
Due to the Bolshevik advantages, the Wgites were defeated.
Second Stage (1920-1921)
Recreation of independent Poland was one of the major commitments of the allied forces in the post-war peace settlement - the Bolsheviks were fighting against separatism and new national states.
There were conflicts in the Baltic states and in the SE against Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary and Azerbaijan.
In the 19th Century, Poland was divided amongst Austria-Hungary, Prussia and Russia. After ww1 it regained independence after the Treaty of Versailles 1919 and Finalised it borders after the Russo-Polish war in the Treaty of Riga.
Poland sought Eastern expansion but Bolshevik Russia wanted to spread revolution Westward.
In 1920 Poland Captured Kiev but was forced to retreat by the red Army counterattack.
General Pilsudski’s (Polish military leader + statesman) counteroffensive, the ‘Miracle on the Vistula’ saved Warsaw and ended war in stalemate.
Internal Conflict (1920-21)
Trotsky proved his value to the bolsheviks through his leadership in the October Revolution, his skills as a speaker and a theorist were crucial.
Despite no military background, he organised and shaped then red army into a formidable force of over 300 million men with Lenin’s support.
Trotsky directed war from a special train (which covered over 65,000 miles during the war) with an elite force He ensured the red army was well fed inspiring troop and leaders alike. No white leader matched his effectiveness or morale-boosting influence.
Trotsky transformed the Red Army in a disciplined, professional force by recruiting 50,000 former tsarist officers, appointing political commissars. Strict discipline was enforced by the use of summer executions.
He reintroduced ranked and conscription into the Red Army.
The Cheka were used behind the lines to shoot deserters.
