The Russian Civil War(1917 – 1922)

Basic information

• Multi-party war in Russian Empire

• Fight between the Bolshevik Red Army and the White Army

• People were dissatisfied by rules of Nicholas II

• „Bloody Sunday” and the Revolution of 1905

• Russia was still autocracy and people weren’t satisfied

Impact of WWI

•Russia was very weak and its military was in bad shape•Nicholas II went to the Eastern

Front•Czarina Alexandra left in charge

of the government

Bolsheviks

• Founded by Vladimir Lenin and Alexander Bogdanov

• Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party

• Majority were workers

• Democratic centralism

The Whites

• Monarchists

• Militarists

• Foreign nations (for short time)

• Opposed Lenin’s view completly

Regions of fight

• East

• The South

• The Northwest

Czech Legion

• In 1918 some Czech prisoners of war who were being taken across Russia mutinied, took control of the trans-Siberian Railway, and attacked towards Moscow.

• World opposition to the revolution

Due to the fact that during WWI, Russia resigned from war, other communism raising nations were angry at Russia, so they sent their troops to fight the Bolsheviks.

First period

• After the Russian Revolution of 1917.

•Most of the fights were on a small scale

• Fights started in many places

• The Whites were supported by foreign armies

Second period

• Very important phase

• Lasted from January to November of 1919

• At first the Whites were winning on all fronts

• Leon Trotsky reorganized the army

• The Red Army fought back and the White Army’s loss was heavy

• The Whites started to loose

Third phase

• Fights in Crimea

• Final period

• Many soldiers of the White Army had gathered in Crimea

• Their position was very secure and strong

• The Red Army continued to fight with them

• The Whites were defeated in 1920

Timeline• October 1917 - Kerensky and his supporters flee Petrograd.

• 5 January 1918 - The Red Guard break up a meeting of the Constituent Assembly on Lenin's orders.

• 28 January 1918 - Trotsky sets up the Red army.

• March 1918 - Bolsheviks move the Russian capital to Moscow from Petrograd for protection and better communications as it is in the centre of their territory.

• 14 October 1919 - Denikins army reaches Orel 300 km from Moscow.

• 22 October 1919 - White forces reach the outskirts of Petrograd. Trotsky organises a counterattack..

Timeline

• 7 February 1920 - Kolchak is executed by the Bolsheviks after being handed over by the Czech Legion.

• April 1920 - Poles are driven back into Poland by the Bolsheviks

• 1921 - Some groups continue to fight but the Whites are beaten.

• Early November 1919 - Western allies pull the plug on support for the whites. Troops begin to desert

Results

• Economy was hurt. The Russian’s currency (ruble) fell.

• A lot of casualities

• Very bad for agriculture

• Problems with managing the country

• Society hurt

• Russia reborn later on in the 1930s

Why the Bolsheviks won the war?

• Whites – they were too seprate from each other

• Trotsky was a brilliant leader

• Most Russians were communists

• War Communism – the Bolsheviks nationalised the factories and introduced military discipline.

• Terror – the Cheka murdered any Whites they found

• Wherewithal – the Bolsheviks had control over the main cities of Moscow and Petrograd

LENIN’S RULES

Basic information

• Vladimir Lenin was one of the leading political figures and revolutionary thinkers of the 20th century

• He masterminded the Bolshevik take-over of power in Russia in 1917

• Lenin was the architect and first head of State for the Soviet Union

• Lenin was maintaing power in Russia by manipulating people.

• He was eliminating opposition

• He was attracting people of Russia by the idea of equality

• Anti-Tsar

• „The People need peace. The people need bread and land. And they give you war, hunger, no food, and the land remains with the landowners”

• „Peace, Land, Bread”

• Wanted to give land to peasants

Single-Party States

• One political party

• Ideology of Marxism-Leninism

• Soviet union:

- Communist party

- Vladimir Lenin was the founder

Women

• Women were important during World War I and in Russian society.

• „The success of a revolution depends on the participations of women”

• Wanted improvement economically, politically nd socially

• Lenin was a supporter of women’s right

Maintaining Power in Russia

•War Communism

• New Economic Policy

• Death of Tsar Nicholas

• Cheka – the first Soviet state security organization

Death

• Lenin died of stroke on January 21, 1924

• There are many conspiracy theories about his death

• Joseph Stalin replaced Vladimir Lenin, thus people say that he assassinated Lenin