Reasons For Red Victory Flashcards
What are the 6 main reasons for red victory in the civil war?
Geographical Support Unity and leadership Military strength Red terror Propaganda
What 2 areas did the red hold?
Moscow and Petrograd
Why were Moscow and Petrograd an advantage to the reds?
They could move capital to Moscow at the hub of the railway network
Allowed for military planning
Was an administrative centre
Moscow included main industry and armament factories
Moscow was heavily populated which allowed for mass conscription
What weapons and supplies did the reds use?
Supplies from the tsars army
What areas did the whites hold?
Scattered around the edge of Moscow and separated
Where did the whites base makeshift capitals?
Omsk
Archangel
Why was the whites geographical position a disadvantage?
They could not coordinate military attacks
Limited industry and poor transport links
Thinly populated areas made it difficult to recruit
Who did the peasants support?
They hated both the reds and whites
What did peasants fear the loss of?
Newly acquired land
Why did the peasants support the reds?
They were assured by the reds that land they had taken would stay theirs
Why did workers and soldiers support the reds?
To protect the gains of 1917
Who were the reds pragmatic about?
Nationalists and minorities desire for independence
Why did the reds lose support from some groups?
The policy of war communism
What political stance were most whites?
Tsarists and wanted to return to pre-revolution
Why did the peasants not like the whites?
Whites took land from the peasants in areas under their control and handed it to landlords
How many Jews were murdered by the whites?
Deeply anti-Semitic
50,000 Jews murdered
How did the whites frighten ethnic minorities?
Their slogan was ‘Russia: one and indivisible’
What did the whites want to restore?
Boundaries of the Russian empire to what it was in 1917 therefore they were opposed by nationalists such as Georgians and Ukraine who wanted independence
How was an effect of negative cohesion created?
White policies meant that people naturally supported the reds even if they did not fully support what they stood for
How were the reds United?
They all fought for one aim which was the survival of Bolshevism and the revolution
This meant it was easier to pass decrees and measures
What ensured the red army were fed?
War communism
What did the decree on nationalisation enable?
Strong centralised control over areas of production and distribution
What were nationalised?
Factories and businesses
What was established in the countryside?
Grain requisitioning and the red army was used to maintain unity
What was there a ban on?
Private trade
What system was introduced?
Rationing
What was introduced after money lost all value?
Barter system
How were the reds organised?
They had a single unified command structure
Lenin directed from the capital
What was made responsible for feeding the armies and cities?
Narkomprov
Who were the whites made up of?
Liberals SR’s Mensheviks Nationalists Socialists Kadets Tsarists
Why were the whites divided?
No single unified aim
Some wanted military dictatorship others wanted a constituent assembly or a return to tsardom
Often whites fought each other
No single leader, no single orders or political direction
Why were the white leaders ineffective?
They didn’t trust each other and issued different orders to different armies
Who did the whites receive support from?
Foreign governments which undermined leadership
What did white foreign intervention allow the reds to do?
Portray themselves as patriotic
How were the white leaders involved in corruption?
Used aid and weapons from foreign intervention to sell on the black market and were described as a bunch of traders and profiteers
How did the white divisions place them at a disadvantage?
The SR’s found it difficult to fight alongside tsarists who wanted to return their lands to its owners
How many people were in the red army by 1917 compared to 1920?
- 5 million in 1917
3. 5 million in 1920
How was Trotsky a good leader?
He was inspirational who turned the red army into a formidable fighting force
He traveled by train to the front line to motivate troops
How did Trotsky reorganise the army?
He brought back former tsarist officers and political commissars to ensure loyalty
He introduced ranking, pay differentials, extreme punishments
He took the families of officers hostage to ensure loyalty
He created elite special forces in black leather uniforms
Used CHEKA as an instrument of fear
How many ex tsarists did Trotsky recruit?
50,000
How were the whites militarily weak?
Armies were small
Yudenichs had 14,000 men
Denikin never had more than 100,000 troops
Many white soldiers deserted due to bad conditions
Who did the reds execute?
The royal family-were a figurehead for white opposition
Purpose was to terrify all hostile social groups
What did the reds reject?
All superior forms of authority-judges, officers, princes, priests, white guards, employers
What did lenins political terror include?
Purging political opposition such as SRs kadets Mensheviks
Other groups targeted included workers peasants merchants traders and children
How many deaths were there due to terror between 1918-20?
13,000
What did the CHEKA support during the war?
Implementation of war communism and grain requisitioning
What happened to the royal family?
They were shot by the CHEKA without trial and their bodies were drenched in acid and thrown down a mine shaft
What did the red propaganda include?
Posters
Films
Speakers
Propaganda train to carry messages to villages
What did the reds exploit in their propaganda?
The need for whites to get supplies from abroad
Reds suggested whites were in a league with foreign powers
Reds presented themselves as champions of the Russian nation
Why was white propaganda weak?
They underestimated its importance
