Russian Civil War Flashcards
(24 cards)
What was the provisional government?
Run by the liberals, mainly filled with kadets, it was chosen by the Duma and was runnign the country until a constituent assembly could be elected
What was the petrograd soviet?
Soviets were set up in many cities, the Petrograd one was the most important. Made up of workers and soldiers representatives and run by menshaviks
Who was Alexander KErensky
The only socialist minister in the provisional government so became the go between between the soviet and provisional government
Who had real power (soviet or provisional government)?
Soviet had power, they represented soldiers and had told them not to take orders from the provisional government without soviet permission
Why did the Soviet not take control?
The soviets were classical marxists. The soviets wanted to avoid a civil war or upsetting people. The soviets had little government experience
How was the first two months of the government?
Good, they agreed to:
- disband secret police
- give amnesty to political prisoners
- hold elections with universal sufferage
However the tsarist buearocracy ouside cities had collapsed
How much of the population died
10%, around 3 million soldiers and 12 million civilians. Many from stavation or cold
What was destroyed during the war?
7,000 bridges, 1,700km of railway line, and 90,000km of telegraph wire had been destroyed.
How did industrial production change
it shrunk to 15% of its pre 1914 level
What was order no. 1
a soviet order that decreed all soldiers would have representation
How was the Kerensky offensive?
A failure
Done to get a better negotiating position and too keep loyalty to entente
Kerensky managed to form shock battalions
It collapsed since many soldiers hot their own officers, got drunk and deserted
What did the provisional government do about land reform
Peasants wanted land reform now
Liberals and SRs agreed that it should be done by law
Peasants began to sieze land and steal tools
What were minority demands?
The Fins and poles wanted independence
The Ukrainians wanted autonomy
The Socilaists granted the Ukrainians autonomy which upset everyone
How many factories closed after the febuary revolution
568 in petrograd, leaving 100,000 unemployed
What was the Kornilov Affair?
Kerensky appointed Kornilov as a trustworthy general
Kornilov marched on Petrograd, due to fear of revolution
Kerensky had to rally the Soviets to help
Why did the whites struggle
They had three separate and disunited fronts
Their leadership was fragmented
They had less industry
They had less manpower
Where did the British Intervene and how?
The British intervened through Murmansk, Archangelsk and Vladivostok establishing ports to import weapons and troops
They also helped in Estonia, backing up the newly independant state
They used the British Navy to support the Estonians under Rear admiral Sinclair
Where did the Japanese intervene
The IJA saw the war as an oppourtunity to sieze siberia and more importantly north sahkalin
They sent 70,000 men
They would not pull out of Siberia until 1922, and Sakhalin until 1925
Where and how did the French Intervene
The french mainly intervened in the south, they occupied Odessa and supported Denkin and Wrangels
Why was intervention ineffective?
The whites were in a already poor position
The Japanese and the others did not trust each other
Troops sent to intervene were war weary from WW1
Who was part of the white army
SRs, Liberals (Kadets), Tasrists, Cossacks
Led by Kolchak, Denkin and Yudenich
what was the polish offensive
Lenin and Trotsky believed in world wide revolution
They decided to therefore attack Poland to avoid them breaking free
The poles were fiercely anti communist and repelled the Soviets outside Warsaw
How did the reds treat the peasants?
Much better than the whites
They set up peasant councils (VIKs) to provide local representation for local issues
What was the Triple offensive
An almost successful operation by the whites when they tried to take Petrograd.
They attacked from three sides, from the east, west and north
