White armies

Question 1

Causes of the Civil War: how did opposition to the Bolsheviks cause the Civil War? (Three key points)

Answer 1

1) All-Russian Committee of Salvation (and Kerensky) organised the Junker Mutiny - led to 200 deaths

2) Moscow garrison was pro-Kerensky - attacked Bolshevik officials

3) Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly ended any hope of ousting the Bolsheviks by democratic means

Question 2

Causes of the Civil War: how did the First World War cause the Civil War? (Three key points)

Answer 2

1) Food shortages led to rising prices - bread rations down to 50g by March 1918

2) Treaty of Brest-Litovsk perceived as anti-patriotic - Bolsheviks not acting in the best interests of the Russian people

3) Treaty of Brest-Litovsk had a catastrophic impact on food shortages - loss of 1/3 of agricultural land (including Ukraine - largest grain-producing area) and 1 million workers migrated to the countryside in the 6 months after the Bolsheviks took power (80% reduction in the number of Petrograd ironworkers)

Question 3

Causes of the Civil War: how did Bolshevik actions and policy cause the Civil War? (Three key points)

Answer 3

1) Decrees - favoured workers, peasants and soldiers at the expense of landowners and officers

2) Suppression of opposition - Cheka, ban on parties and Decree on the Press

3) Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly - caused liberal anger (led to liberal officers joining the White armies, like Denikin and Alekseev)

Question 4

What was the significance of the colour white for the White armies?

Answer 4

It was also the colour of the Romanov army

Question 5

What was the background of the leading White generals, Alekseev, Kornilov and Denikin?

Answer 5

Alekseev and Denikin were from serf families

Kornilov was the son of a poor Cossack

Question 6

Where did the “Volunteer Army”, as it was first called, settle before the Civil War began?

Answer 6

The Don region

Question 7

What FOUR things did the Volunteer Army promise to the Russian people?

Answer 7

1) Restoration of civil rights

2) Freedom of speech and of the press

3) Denationalisation of industry

4) A Constituent Assembly to determine the will of the people on the form of government and the land question

Question 8

How many fighters had joined the Volunteer Army by the end of January 1918?

Answer 8

3,000

Question 9

How did the Volunteer Army boost its numbers after January 1918?

Answer 9

Conscripted peasants and Cossacks

Question 10

Who funded the Volunteer Army?

Answer 10

The bourgeoisie, the Don government, Britain and France

Question 11

At the start of the Civil War, how many shells did the Volunteer artillery have?

Answer 11

Only 600

Question 12

How did the Volunteers respond to being encircled by Bolshevik troops by February 1918?

Answer 12

Went on the Ice March, retreating from the Don towards the Kuban, for a whole month

Question 13

What was the significance of the storming of Krasnodar by the Bolsheviks in April 1918?

Answer 13

They killed Kornilov - probably the Whites’ most competent general

Question 14

Who replaced Kornilov as leader of the Whites?

Answer 14

Denikin

Question 15

What was Denikin’s initial plan when he took over leadership of the Whites?

Answer 15

Create a base in the Kuban (which was good for grain and oil), then capture Moscow

Question 16

How did Denikin and Alekseev disagree about the nature of the Whites?

Answer 16

Alekseev wanted the Volunteer Army to adopt the monarchist standard - Denikin rejected (he said the army could not decide for the people) - lack of ideological unity

Question 17

Who commanded the Whites in Siberia? What was this person’s background?

Answer 17

Admiral Kolchak

Defended Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 - received the Golden Sabre for his efforts

Question 18

What did Kolchak declare on 18 November 1918? What was the problem with this?

Answer 18

He was Supreme Ruler of the Russian state and Commander-in-Chief - but the Bolsheviks ruled Russia and Denikin was Commander-in-Chief of the Whites

Question 19

What was Kolchak’s leadership style of the Whites like?

Answer 19

Strict - he shot peasants, workers and soldiers for insubordination, and closed down inconvenient newspapers

Question 20

When did Denikin recognise Kolchak’s status as Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army?

Answer 20

June 1919 - six months after Kolchak claimed this title

Question 21

How did Kolchak create an army of 400,000 soldiers?

Answer 21

He mobilised 18-43 year olds with at least four years’ education

Question 22

What was the importance of Tsaritsyn in the Civil War?

Answer 22

An important port and commercial centre, known to the Bolsheviks as the “Red Verdun” - it would never be surrendered

Controlled by the Reds between November 1917 and June 1919

Question 23

Who were the three White armies operating in the Don by May 1919?

Answer 23

The Volunteer Army, the Don Cossack Army, and the Caucasian Army

Question 24

Who commanded the Volunteer Army in May 1919?

Answer 24

General Mai-Maevsky - an exceptional general but an alcoholic

Question 25

What did Denikin decide to do after the Whites had captured Tsaritsyn in June 1919?

Answer 25

Continue northward, “To Moscow!”

Question 26

Where did Iudenich’s North-Western Army prepared to attack on 16 October 1919? What happened as a result of this?

Answer 26

Petrograd

Lenin called for the evacuation of Petrograd (he was dissuaded by Trotsky)

Question 27

What happened to the Whites between October and December 1919 that hampered its success?

Answer 27

Fell victim to a typhoid epidemic - 42,000 soldiers were unable to fight by mid-December

Question 28

Who replaced Mai-Maevksy as commander of the Volunteer Army in December 1919?

Answer 28

Wrangel

Question 29

Which important city was captured by the Reds on 3 January 1920?

Answer 29

Tsaritsyn

Question 30

Who was arrested, tried and shot in January-February 1920?

Answer 30

Admiral Kolchak

Question 31

What new name did Wrangel give the Volunteer Army in March 1920 and why?

Answer 31

The ‘Russian Army’ - wanted to fight for the whole of Russia

Question 32

Why did Wrangel’s Volunteer Army struggle to make an impact in 1920? (Two reasons)

Answer 32

1) There were no other White armies left

2) The Cossacks would not fight for Wrangel

Question 33

When did the last of the Whites leave Russia?

Answer 33

November 1920

Question 34

How did geography hamper the Whites?

Answer 34

Kolchak and Denikin could not co-ordinate strategy - the two men never met each other - and the Whites were too widely scattered to put pressure on the Bolsheviks, who could take on each White detachment one at a time

Question 35

Give three reasons why the White leadership led to their defeat in the Civil War

Answer 35

1) Did not use their lowly upbringings to their advantage (they were accused of fighting for narrow class interests)

2) Kornilov, Alekseev and Denikin each had their own personal staff, which led to jealousy

3) Divisions - Alekseev and Denikin on whether the armies should be pro-monarchy; Denikin and Wrangel on whether to take advice from the Kadets; Kolchak and Denikin on who was Commander-in-Chief

Question 36

What was the White armies’ slogan in the Civil War? Who was less likely to support them as a result and why?

Answer 36

“Great Russia, one and indivisible” - the national minorities and residents of the Kuban and Don, who did not want the Tsar to return

Question 37

Why were the Whites accused of fighting for narrow class interests?

Answer 37

They offered nothing on land reform and were supported by landowners

Question 38

How did the Whites supply their armies? Why was this a mistake?

Answer 38

Self-supply (i.e. looting) - this led to occupied territories detesting the Whites

(Mai-Maevsky said that ‘looting was the motor of military success’)

Question 39

Why was Denikin’s decision to ban vodka in the White armies a mistake?

Answer 39

Vodka was available wherever the Whites went - it weakened his authority

Question 40

Why was the antisemitism of the Whites a problem?

Answer 40

Alienated support from Britain and France