Why did the Whites lose the Civil War?

Question 1

Allied Help

Answer 1

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Allied help was more of a hindrance than a help for the Whites. Whilst it was essential, it made it easy for the Communists to make the Whites appear to be unpatriotic and it lost them the ideological advantage of fighting for ‘Mother Russia’ – they looked like a foreign army
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The foreign forces, already exhausted by WW1 sometimes withdrew quickly- France as early as 1919

Question 2

White Divisions

Answer 2

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The Whites had no sense of common purpose
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They stretched across the political spectrum- from socialists to conservatives, many of which wanted a return to Tsarist Russia – they were divided in what they stood for and divided in what they wished to achieve- all sorts of groups were put under the umbrella term ‘White’, including the Green and Black armies
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Many of the White forces were very territorial, unwilling to advance from their own area- this hindered the stronger of the forces such as Denikin’s army in the Don region and Kolchak’s forces in Siberia

Question 3

Lack of cooperation

Answer 3

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The White forces didn’t cooperate in their military planning because of their differing goals- the red army was able to defeat Kolchak’s and Denikin’s armies one after the other in 1919 because coordination of the armies was almost non existent
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Geographical distance also made cooperation difficult

Question 4

Lack of Commitment

Answer 4

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Whilst desertion affected all armies, the Whites found it more difficult to recruit and keep their ordinary soldiers than the Reds- they were just as ruthless towards the peasants as the Reds but memories of the dreaded Tsarist regime were brought back by the fact that the leaders seemed to be drawn from the ruling classes
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There also wasn’t one unified purpose that they were fighting for- didn’t have the same ideological commitment that was found with the Reds