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Russian Civil War,armedconflictthat began in 1918 in the former Russian Empire between the newly formed Bolshevik (Communist) government and its adversaries, most notably the counterrevolutionary forces known as the Whites. Although the Whites were decisively defeated in late 1920, the Bolsheviks faced internal rebellion into 1921 and foreign intervention into 1922. The Bolsheviks’ ultimate victory in the Russian Civil War led to the founding of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in December 1922.
TheRussianCivilWar began after the Bolshevik Party took control of Russia’s government in the October (or November, in the Western, or New Style, calendar) phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Bolsheviks, who had a militant socialist agenda, were opposed by the moderate socialist parties—the Socialist Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks—and the Whites, who represented Russia’s elite business and landowning class. Fearing the development of a Bolshevik dictatorship, the moderate socialists sought to establish a government that would include all socialist parties. The Whites opposed the socialist revolution and wanted to set up a conservative government. Left-wing factions in the moderate socialist parties, who saw a White victory as more undesirable than a Bolshevik one, often sided with the Bolsheviks or remained neutral. Without a common ideology to unite them, the Bolsheviks’ major opponents cooperated only on a limited basis.
Armedoppositiontothe Bolsheviks (also known as the Reds) arose immediately after the revolution among generals of the former Russian Imperial Army—most notably Lavr Kornilov, Anton Denikin, and Alexey Kaledin—who formed the first White force, called the Volunteer Army. General Kaledin, who was also the hetman (leader) of the Don Cossacks (frontier settlers of the Don River region), initiated what was to become widespread involvement of several Cossack groups in the White forces.
AlthoughtheBolsheviks had forces loyal to them, such as the Red Guards, many professional officers joined the Whites. Recognizing the need for a new army, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin proclaimed the establishment of the Red Army on January 28, 1918. Revolutionary theorist Leon Trotsky played a leading role in organizing it and became the new government’s first commissar of war.
Politicalopposition, meanwhile, increased after the Bolsheviks dissolved the Constituent Assembly in January 1918. (The multiparty assembly had been democratically elected after the October phase of the revolution to decide what type of government should be established in Russia.) Excluded from the new government, the moderate socialists posed the most serious challenge to the Bolsheviks before November 1918 by offering an alternative blueprint for Russia’s political future that remained popular.
Inmid-1918thefirst armed conflicts took place in Russian towns along the Volga River between local Bolshevik leaders and the Czechoslovak Legion, composed of former prisoners of war from World War I (1914-1918). The Czechoslovak troops had begun a long march from Siberia to western Russia in order to be transported to the Western Front, where they were to join the Allied and Associated Powers in the fight against Germany. In June the troops helped the Socialist Revolutionaries set up an anti-Bolshevik government in the Volga town of Samara. In November the town fell to the Red Army.
Meanwhile,inthesummer of 1918 the Bolsheviks launched the Red Terror, a brutal campaign aimed at eliminating political opponents within the civilian population, which continued into 1921. They also introduced a series of measures to put socialist ideas into practice in the economy, known collectively as War Communism. Among other measures, the state seized grain from the peasantry to feed city residents and the Red Army. The party justified these harsh measures by claiming they were essential to a military victory.
TheWhitesweredetermined to sweep the Bolsheviks from power and began to pose a more serious threat to the regime in November. This coincided with the Allies’ defeat of Germany and the end of World War I. Shortly thereafter, Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak became the official leader of the White movement.
WarfarebetweentheReds and the Whites soon raged along four fronts: southern Russia, western Siberia, northern Russia, and the Baltic region. The Whites controlled most of Siberia as well as southern Russia, which served as their base of operation. Large stretches of western Russia, mainly Ukrainian lands, changed hands frequently. Despite temporary losses, the Reds held on to the heartland and maintained their headquarters in Moscow. Cavalry forces under the command of Marshal Semyon Budenny scored some of the Red Army’s major successes.
AdmiralKolchak,whokept headquarters in Siberia, was the high commander of all the White armies until major defeats compelled him to resign in early 1920. Other White commanders included General Denikin in southern Russia, General Nikolay Yudenich in the Baltic region, and General Yevgeny Miller in northwestern Russia.
TheWhiteslaunchedtheir most ambitious offensive, a three-pronged attack against Moscow, on March 4, 1919. Despite initial successes, by November all the White armies were overtaken by the Red Army. Defeated White troops gathered in the Crimean Peninsula (now an autonomous republic of Ukraine), and replaced General Denikin with General Pyotr Wrangel, who is often regarded as the most capable of the White commanders. In the spring of 1920, Wrangel’s forces marched into Ukrainian territory and Transcaucasia (a region encompassing Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan). In November they were driven back and defeated by the Red forces. Wrangel and his troops then evacuated Russia by sea from the Crimean Peninsula.
Meanwhile,theBolsheviks had to contend with a Polish invasion of Russia in the spring of 1920. The Red Army took the offensive, but neither side could overpower the other. An armistice was reached in October under international auspices. The Treaty of Rīga, signed in March 1921, formally ended the war between Russia and Poland.
ThedefeatoftheWhite armies and the end of the war with Poland made it possible for the Soviet government to focus on regaining breakaway territories in Central Asia and elsewhere. However, the Russian peasantry in Tambov Oblast and other districts rose up in revolt against government policies, especially the grain requisitioning of War Communism. By mid-1921 the Reds had mostly subdued the peasant bands, known as the Greens, in part because a devastating famine had begun to claim lives among the peasantry. Also at this time, a Red Army invasion of Transcaucasia brought it under Bolshevik control. Japan’s intervention, which had been limited to an occupation of the Russian Far East, ended in 1922.
Havingreclaimedmost of the territories of the former Russian Empire, the Bolsheviks founded the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922. They continued to face resistance in Central Asia, where basmachi (armed bands of Islamic guerrillas) had formed to fight the Bolshevik takeover. However, by 1923 the Reds had reestablished their power in this region as well. The new Soviet state was smaller than its imperial predecessor. Finland and the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) had become independent; sections of Ukraine and Belorussia (present-day Belarus) had become part of Poland under the Treaty of Rīga; and Bessarabia (a region roughly corresponding to present-day Moldova) had become part of Romania.
TheBolsheviksheldseveral advantages during the civil war that contributed to their victory. During the initial stage of the war, they had the support of many workers and peasants. They held on to the Russian heartland, where Russia’s population, industry, and grain supplies were concentrated. The Whites, on the other hand, were scattered around Russia’s immense periphery, and poor communications made it difficult for them to forge a united front. The Bolsheviks also had a vision for the future, whereas the Whites lacked a persuasive political program. Eventually, the Reds may have had as much as a ten-to-one military advantage over the Whites, although this figure may not reflect the generally high levels of desertion among soldiers on both sides.
Whileextremewartime measures such as War Communism and the party’s control over the food supply contributed to the Bolsheviks’ success, so did their ability to mobilize the population on their behalf and draw common people into the new government’s structure. Service in the Red Army, for instance, served as an entry into party membership. The failure of the Bolsheviks’ opponents to overcome their differences also helped the Red cause, as did the hesitant nature of Allied intervention.
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