Key Civil War players Flashcards
The Reds
Red army was lead by the War Commissar Leon Trotsky.
In June 1918 Rural Russians opposition to constription was overcome by taking hostages.
Consisted of Bolsheviks, Socialists and their propaganda campaign earned the support of the bolsheviks.
Red Guards and old Tsarists supported the army.
The Red Army enstated protection of Moscow and Trotsky trained them in Petrograd.
Role in the Civil War was to eliminate the opposition with the force of the Cheka and maintain Bolshevik Control.
Officers accused and found guilty of cowardice were executed.
Weaknesses of the Reds
Appointed Ex-tsarist officers
Opposition was risky
Inexperienced soldiers had to be trained which was costly.
Caused the Civil War through Brutality and and repression.
Strengths of the Reds
Had effective Propaganda - main communist party newspaper after the 1917 Russian Revolution.
Portrayed themselves as a Patriotic Party.
Supported by Workers.
Who were the Greens?
Consisted of a coalition of peasants and minorities.
Held no allegiance with Reds or Whites.
Included Ukrainians and Gregorians.
They were unofficially led by Nestor Mathenodue.
They had a neutral political ideology but at times aligned with the SRs.
Fought mainly for their independence and basic civil liberties (keeping their grain: which included keeping both Whites and Reds out of their area.)
They were unevenly distributed across Russia - mainly in the West and Centre, most dense groups were located in Ukraine.
They lacked organistation.
Who did the White Army consist of?
Consisted of Tsarists, army generals, Aristocrats and Bourgeoises, left-wing political groups such as Mensheviks, Landowners, republicans, conservatives, reactionaries, pro-merchantists, liberals, non-bolshevik socialists, and democratic reformists.
They also had the support of foreign countries: UK, USA, Japan, France, Italy, Canada, Czechoslovakia.
(Czechoslovakia – 50,000 Czechoslovak Legion fought Bolsheviks in Siberia, helped Kolchak before withdrawing.
USA- Sent 13,000 troops to Siberia & North Russia, gave weapons & money.
Japan – Sent 70,000 troops to Siberia, supported Kolchak.
What were the White Army fighting for?
Deniken and Wrangel (Army Generals) were concentrated in the South Kolchak was in the North East - Siberia
Yudenich the NW
They were ambitious men who wanted to take control over Russia themselves and wanted to shut down Bolshevik rule - Kolchak (Siberia) – Declared himself “Supreme Ruler of Russia” in 1918.
Others didn’t want communism and wanted to reinstate the Tsar due to Bolshevik oppression.
Role: Built up an army to attack the Reds, and behaved with great brutality and cruelty in areas they controlled.
One big weakness was that all factions within the army were fighting separately, making it easy for the Red Army to defeat them.
Who were the Cheka?
The Bolshevik Secret Police force- established in December 1917 and was led By Felix Dzerzhinsky.
They gathered intel on Bolshevik opposition, arrested opposition and punished army dissenters.
Directive was to persecute and destroy all acts of counter-revolution and sabotage efforts all over Russia.
50,000–140,000 executions by the Cheka.
200,000+ including deaths in labour camps (early Gulags) and unofficial killings
Grew from 120 employees in March 1918 to 13,000 by 1921.
what was the Reds /Bolshevik Party Structure?
Politburo:
7-9 Members of the Central Committee
Decision-making body - met almost daily. Power was more concentrated so less opposition.
Central Committee:
Elected from party congress. Voted on party policy. Couldn’t make laws - power delegated to Politburo.
Congress:
Chosen from Provincial and City Parties. Voted on Party policy. Power lay with Politburo.
Provincial and City Parties:
No elections, or roles chosen by the Central Committee.
