The Russian Civil War 1918-1921

Question 1

What were three key causes of the civil war?

Answer 1

The Bolshevik’s political opponents were not prepared to accept their absolute rule
Lenin wanted a conflict to destroy his opponents in a short war rather than be challenged by them throughout Bolshevik rule
The policies and actions of the Bolsheviks resulted in them having many enemies

Question 2

How did the allies help cause the civil war?

Answer 2

They called for direct military action against the Bolsheviks angered by the Russian withdrawal from WW1 and the cancelling of the Tsar’s debts to them

Question 3

Why was independence a cause of the civil war?

Answer 3

Many wanted to fight the Civil War to achieve independence from the Russian Empire (Russian peoples decree???) and others fought to prevent it

Question 4

At the beginning of the war why was it not obvious the Reds would win?

Answer 4

Reds only occupied 1/5 of Russia

Lenin was forced to make Moscow the new capital as the Whites threatened Petrograd (October 1919 by Yudenichs forces)

Question 5

What did the Reds control giving them advantages?

Answer 5

The most densely populated areas containing around 70 million v Whites 20 million (able to recruit soldiers and workers )
Russia’s most industrialised regions (access to supplies/arms)
Land containing Russia’s main railway lines - able to transport goods and equipment to support their army

Question 6

Why were the Whites in a good/ poor geographical position?

Answer 6

Good = surrounded reds + greater access to sea(food and resources)
Poor= Fewer people (20 million) and therefore fewer workers and soldiers
Few factories - lacked capacity to produce munitions
Controlled areas in the far north, east and south (countryside) - forces were divided and difficult to coordinate

Question 7

Where were three main White leaders based and who in them?

Answer 7

General Yudenich based in Estonia (small force)
General Anton Denikin in southern Russia (officers, Kadets and liberals flocked to join them)
Admiral Kolchak in the north (mainly rightists - pro-monarchists or military dictatorship supporters)

Question 8

Where did the Greens control and why was it a disadvantage?

Answer 8

Controlled a small area of the Ukraine - resources were limited both in terms of population and ability to produce weapons
Also surrounded by Whites so had to fight both Whites and Reds

Question 9

Where did the nationalists control?

Answer 9

Areas of the former Russian empire such as Georgia and Armenia - their armies were small compared to Whites and Reds and often had to fight both

Question 10

What was the role of Trotsky in the civil war?

Answer 10

He proved a very effective leader of the Red army
He enforced strict discipline and used political officers within the army to ensure loyalty
He used an armoured train to visit areas under threat and rally the troops (travelled 65,000 miles during the war

Question 11

After his abdication what had the Tsar hopes would happen and why didn’t it?

Answer 11

Hoped he would receive support from his family in Germany and Britain - neither country prepared to risk diplomatic problems or anger their own radial parties

Question 12

What was done to prevent Tsarist supporters (including many whites) from rescuing them?

Answer 12

The Romanovs had been moved to various locations around Russia

Question 13

What did Lenin and Trotsky want to happen the Romanovs?

Answer 13

Trotsky = To put Nicholas II on trial for his crimes against the Russian people during his reign
Lenin= Eradicate the Romanovs fearing that Tsarist support would threaten the Bolsheviks while they remained alive

Question 14

When were the Romanovs (Nicholas II and his Family) executed and who by?

Answer 14

On 17th July 1918 by a local Cheka detachment in Yekaterinburg - all shot without a trial and the bodies drenched in acid and thrown in a misused mine shaft (not an important factor in civil war as although it removed a figure head not many wanted him back in power)

Question 15

Who were the Reds made up from?

Answer 15

The Bolshevik army- made up of Red Guards, Kronstadt sailors + volunteer workers and soldiers from former imperial army

Question 16

Who were the whites made up from?

Answer 16

Liberals, former tsarists, nationalists, separatists, SR’s and other moderate socialists

Question 17

Why did the White’s lack a common goal?

Answer 17

Only united by the fact they were anti-Bolshevik
Not uncommon for white armies to fight eachother as hard for SR’s to fight alongside former tsarist officers who favoured military dictatorship

Question 18

Who were the greens made up from?

Answer 18

No affiliation to either Reds and Whites
Peasant armies and often deserters from the other armies, some armies fighting for their independence
They fought a Guerrilla campaign in Ukraine

Question 19

When did the civil war properly start and how?

Answer 19

Summer 1918 - Czech legion had been formed in hope of winning independence , the idea being they would fight with Russia against Germany. When Russia withdrew from War the Legion decided to fight with the allies . Czech were going to be transported along Trans-Siberian railway on way to western Europe - clashed with Bolsheviks who attempted to disarm them so Czech’s took control of large sections of railway and Siberia and white forces came to support them. Czech joined anti-Bolshevik forces and advanced towards Moscow

Question 20

How did Britain support Whites and why, who didn’t?

Answer 20

Sent £100 million worth of supplies to them as they feared the spread of Bolshevism to other countries - however Lloyd George feared upsetting the war-wary troops so opposed involvement in civil war

Question 21

Why were the French most anti-Bolshevik?

Answer 21

French investors put millions of francs into Russia and Bolsheviks nationalised foreign business without compensation however soldiers weren’t keen to fight

Question 22

Why did Japan and USA enter Siberia?

Answer 22

Japan claimed to be supporting Whites but more interested in grabbing valuable land, USA entered to stop them annexing any land

Question 23

Why was allies intervention unsuccessful?

Answer 23

Didn’t want anymore war

People of their country didn’t support it

Question 24

What happened in the Russo-Polish war 1919-1921?

Answer 24

Poles wanted to capture land that was previously theirs while Russia was unstable, initially successful but Bolsheviks had almost won civil war and Polish invasion even united some non-Bolsheviks under the Reds. The reds pushed them back but overstretched their supply lines and lacked support so Poland won and a treaty gave them large areas of White Russia and Ukraine

Question 25

Despite there being no declaration of civil war in Russia when did fighting break out?

Answer 25

Summer 1918 - after peace had been made between Germany and Russia but before the war had ended on the western front

Question 26

What was the civil war complicated by?

Answer 26

The involvement of other countries whose governments had their own agendas for fighting the Bolsheviks e.g. fear of Bolsheviks

Question 27

What are three reasons why a substantial section of Russian population (on both left and right) had turned against Bolsheviks by early months of 1918? (formation of whites)

Answer 27

They had seized power by force so right opponents could claim they had no right to rule, those in the centre could claim had not submitted to popular election and lefts could say they had largely ignored the soviet which had helped to place them in power
Bolshevik ideology alienated some groups like the bourgeoise as well as some on the left e.g. Mensheviks
On the right some wanted the old tsarist regime (not necessarily Nicholas II back). Included army officers (some of whom rejected the peace treaty) and Russians with land/money or business who stood to lose everything with Bolshevik economic and social policies

Question 28

What are three other reasons why a substantial section of Russian population (on both left and right) had turned against Bolsheviks by early months of 1918? (formation of whites)

Answer 28

On the left, both moderates and SRs resented the Bolsheviks - Lenin had forced the Kadets and ring-wing SRs out of his government, ignored the CA and expelled left SRs from government after they opposed the peace with Germany
National minorities e.g. Georgians who had been part of old Russian empire and were uncertain about trusting Bolsheviks promise of self-determination so saw opportunity in fighting for their independence
Some had no allegiance to any political group who saw the chaos brought by the Bolsheviks and war and so saw it as an opportunity to win old battles and play out local rivalries

Question 29

What was the reason why a substantial section of Russian population (on both left and right) had turned against Bolsheviks by early months of 1918? (formation of whites)

Answer 29

Some Russians were alienated by the Bolshevikss seeming inability to solve Russia’s economic policy
The loss of Ukraine through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk threatened to add to the food shortages (already distribution problems)
With the rationing of essentials the initial euphoria at the collapse of tsardom had been replaced with disappointment

Question 30

Despite having very little in common with eachother other than hatred for Bolsheviks what did many Bolshevik opponents do?

Answer 30

Organised themselves into armies or armed groups and their leadership was taken over by four tsarist officers including Denikin (later replaced by Wrangel), Kolchak and Yudenick

Question 31

What happened in the lead up to civil war?

Answer 31

By the spring of 1918 - an anti-Bolshevik volunteer army had been created in the south of the country (partly financed by Germany)
Due to growing threat the Bolsheviks moved their capital from Petrograd to Moscow in March 1918

Question 32

What were the attempts to assassinate Lenin?

Answer 32

14th January 1918 - he was ambushed by two assassins who had climbed into the back seat of his car in Petrograd
30th August 1918 - SR Kaplan shot Lenin three times before as he was getting into his car (first in arm, second jaw and neck and third missed)

Question 33

What are three events of the first stage of the civil war?

Answer 33

Summer 1918 - Denikin (army included many Cossacks) attacked in the Don region - including a city later named Stalingrad. Successful red resistance = prevented him joining white armies in east
At same time Kolchak’s army captured cities of Kazan and Samara but was halted by red counter attacks
Summer 1919 Denikin began another offensive which got close to Moscow by October but Trotsky forced Denikin’s army south towards Crimea

Question 34

What are the three other events of the first stage of the civil war?

Answer 34

Yudenich’s army in north was relatively small (15,000 men) but he got close to Petrograd in October 1919 before forced back by Red troops
By Autumn 1919, Kolchak was in retreat and in 1920 he was captured and shot
1920 (Wrangel replaced Deniken in Crimea) - white army held out for several months but the Green peasant army fought as an irregular division for the reds and in November British and French ships evacuated the white army from Crimea

Question 35

What was the situation by the end of 1920 but what was the cost?

Answer 35

Most of the former Russia empire was in communist hands - cost of around 10 million lives (lost from hunger, epidemic disease and military action)

Question 36

What happened in the second stage of the war?

Answer 36

The war continued as a more nationalist struggle against Polish armies into 1921
The Poles invaded western Ukraine but were driven back under general Tukhachevsky
After a second rising was crushed the treaty of Riga was signed which granted Poland self-rule along with Galicia and parts of Byelorussia (independence of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia also confirmed)

Question 37

What did the civil war increase and how?

Answer 37

Centralisation of power and greater part control over government - when Moscow replaced Petrograd as Russia’s capital (partly as Petrograd was closer to Russia’s western frontier and more vulnerable to attack than Moscow) and this symbolised change to a regime that believed itself to be superior
From Moscow a military style government evolved

Question 38

How many party members fought for the Red Army in the civil war and how did government extend its control?

Answer 38

Over 1/2 a million - they became used to obeying orders and acting brutally
In order for government to function efficiently, the Soviet beuracracy grew enormously in these years to the point officials outnumbered workers 2:1
Suggested this extension of government control created a ‘dictatorship of the bureaucracy’

Question 39

What was the real driving force behind government?

Answer 39

The Bolshevik/ communist party
Party structure appeared democratic as it was based on annual congress - elected by the mass membership but actual policies and decisions = shaped by CC

Question 40

What was formed in 1919 as theoretically a sub-committee of the CC and became the real centre for party policy?

Answer 40

Politburo - first elected members = Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin
Since Politburo members were also key government officials, the Politburo assumed increasing control of state affairs - the Sovnarkom gradually met less frequently in the 1920s’

Question 41

What else was created in 1919?

Answer 41

The Orgburo to supervise the work of local party committees and the permanent secretariat which carried out the day-to-day running of the party

Question 42

What was ‘democratic centralism’ that Lenin often spoke off despite the hold on one party state tightening?

Answer 42

In theory the SU was a democracy because the workers and peasants elected members of their local soviets who, in turn, chose those who sat on a higher level and the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, they thus exerted influence on policy decisions
This was combined with centralism because the central authorities passed decisions town to the masses
But in the war for survival, the Bolsheviks quickly adopted practices of a one party state - changes that lasted beyond the war

Question 43

What happened to the areas conquered by the Red Army in civil war?

Answer 43

They were either absorbed into the ‘Russian Soviet Federate Socialist Republic’ (name given to Bolshevik state in Jan 1918) or allowed to remain as separate republics, as in the case of Ukraine and Georgia etc
Lenin and Stalin disagreed about the status of the independent republics with Stalin (commissar for nationalities) wanting them directly controlled by Moscow and Lenin favouring a federation of soviet republics (L won)
At the end of 1922 the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics was formally established (USSR) so Russia became known as the USSR or SU