Russian Civil War (1918-21)

1. Russian Civil War
(1918-21)
By John Woodman, Franco Contreras, Chris Hallstrand, and Ryann Puente

2. Why Did A Civil War Break Out in Russia?
After the revolution of November 1917, there were many groups that greatly opposed the Bolshevik
minority that had taken power.
These groups had their own separate reasons for opposing the Bolsheviks, but the main reasons were
the dispersing of the Constituent Assembly, which meant that other groups had no say in the
government, and the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which gave up large portions of territory to
Germany. Each of these groups also had their own goals for power and their different views of how
Russia should be governed.
The opposing groups included monarchists, militarists, mensheviks, the SR (Socialist Revolutionaries),
and foreign nations such as Britain and France. These groups would be collectively known as the
Whites and the opposing Bolsheviks as the Reds.

3. The Dissolving of the Constituent Assembly
● Lenin and his Bolsheviks’ hopes to gain power in Russia through the
established political system had disappeared.
● They failed to win a majority of seats (25%) in the Assembly and lost to the
Socialist Revolutionaries (SR) who had won 40% of the votes.
● On January 6, 1918 the Bolsheviks dissolved the assembly and took
control of the government completely.
● The Assembly was replaced by an All-Russian Congress of Soviets, so that
Lenin had no political opposition.
● This would only lead to further tension between the Bolsheviks and the
other groups.

4. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
● Officially took Russia out of WWI
● Lenin kept his promises he made to his supporters of “Peace, Land, and Bread”, which he had made to
appeal to many of the peasants, workers, and soldiers in Russia
● Allowed Russia to be Lenin’s main focus
● Red Army was allowed to focus on the Civil War as opposed to WWI
● This was a very controversial decision on Lenin’s part because of the loss of a lot of land, resources and
industry, but Lenin knew he couldn’t focus on the War with Germany and the Whites within Russia.
● The treaty gave up the territory of Poland and the Baltic states as well as Kars, Ardahan and Batum. The
loss summed up to approximately 1 million square miles of Russia’s former territory.
● The main loss, however, was a majority of Russia’s coal,iron and oil stores as well as a lot of its
industry.
● This angered the Left opposition greatly, as it showed how weak Lenin and the Bolsheviks were.

5. Those Involved in the Russian Civil War
● Red Army vs White Army
● Red Army were communists, also known as the Bolsheviks.
● White Army were those who opposed communists, such as the
monarchists, militarists, and foreign nations.

6. Formation of the Armies
Red Army Formation
● Bolsheviks raised their army to oppose military confederations of their adversaries during the
war.
● Commissary leader of the Red Army was Leon Trotsky, appointed by Vladimir Lenin.
White Army Formation
● Aim was to bring about law, order, and salvation to Russia
● Worked to remove Soviets
● Believed in a united, multinational Russia
● Leader of the White Army was Alexander Kolchak

7. Leon Trotsky (Before the Revolution)
● Leon Trotsky, or Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a communist theorist and a leader in Russia’s October
Revolution in 1917.
● After the overthrow of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, in February 1917, Trotsky set out for Russia from New York.
● However, Okhrana persuaded British authorities to have him detained at Halifax, Canada. He was held there for
a month, before the Russian provisional government demanded his release.
● After he arrived in Russia in May 1917, he quickly addressed some of the problems forming in post-revolutionary
Russia.
● He disapproved of the provisional government because he felt it was ineffectual. The new prime minister,
Alexander Kerensky, saw Trotsky as a major threat and had him arrested.
● While in jail, Trotsky was admitted to the Bolshevik Party and released soon after.
● He was elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, a strong hold of dissent against the provisional government.

8. Leon Trotsky (During the Revolution)
● After the Bolsheviks took control of the Soviet government, Lenin ordered the formation of the Red
Army and appointed Leon Trotsky as their leader.
● The army's first orders were to neutralize the White Army during the Russian Civil War.
● Trotsky proved to be an outstanding military leader, as he led the army of 3 million to victory.
● The task was difficult, as Trotsky directed a war effort that was at times on 16 different fronts. It also
didn't help that some members of the Soviet leadership, including Lenin, became involved in military
strategy, redirecting the Red Army's efforts and countermanding some of Trotsky's orders.
● In late 1920, the Bolsheviks finally won the Civil War, ensuring Bolshevik control of the Soviet
government.
● After the White Army surrendered, Trotsky was elected a member of the Communist Party central
committee.

9. Leon Trotsky (After the Revolution)
● In October 1927, Trotsky was expelled from the Central Committee and exiled the following January to
the very remote Alma-Ata, located in present-day Kazakhstan.
● In February, 1929, Trotsky was banished entirely from the Soviet Union. Over the next seven years, he
lived in Turkey, France and Norway, before arriving in Mexico City.
● Trotsky continued to write and criticize Joseph Stalin and the Soviet government.
● During the 1930s, Stalin conducted political purges and named Trotsky, a major conspirator and enemy
of the people.
● In August 1936, 16 of Trotsky's allies were charged with aiding Trotsky in treason. All 16 were found
guilty and executed.
● Stalin then set out to assassinate Trotsky.
● On August 20, 1940, Ramon Mercader, an undercover agent for the Soviet Union's secret police,
attacked Trotsky with a mountaineering ice ax, puncturing his skull. He was taken to the hospital, but
died a day later, at the age of 60.

10. Red Army - War Ministers, Commanders, and
Generals
● Nikolay Nikolayevich Dukhonin - Supreme Commander in Chief in November of
1917 when Kerensky had to flee because the Bolsheviks shut down his government.
● Nikolay Vasilyvich Krylenko - Supreme Commander in Chief from November of
1917 to September of 1918. He was Dukhonin’s successor.
● Sergey Sergeyevich Kamenev - Supreme Commander in Chief in July 1919 until
April 1924. He was fired by Trotsky in July 1919. He was reinstated by Lenin and
Stalin and against Trotsky's will.
● Mikhail Vasilevich Frunze - Commander in Chief of the Eastern Front and later the
Southern Front. Became People's Commissar of War (Bolshevik Government) after
Trotsky in January 1925. Died during surgery on his stomach ulcers in October
1925.

11. Alexander Kolchak (Before the Revolution)
● During the Russo-Japanese War he served as an officer on the cruiser
Askold.
● He was awarded with the Order of St. Anna for sinking the Japanese
cruiser Takasago.
● Kolchak was given command of a coastal artillery battery during the
Siege of Port Arthur.
● He was wounded during the fighting and was taken as a prisoner of war
to Nagasaki.
● After being released he was promoted to lieutenant commander in April
1905.
● The following year he was appointed to the Naval General Staff, with
responsibility for protecting St Petersburg and the Gulf of Finland area.
● In 1912 he was assigned to serve in the Russian
Baltic Fleet.
● In 1914 Kolchak was given command of a
flagship and during the early stages of the First
World War he oversaw the laying of extensive
coastal defensive minefields.
● He was later put in charge of the naval forces in
the Gulf of Riga.
● In August 1916 he was promoted to the rank of
Vice-Admiral and was given command of the
Black Sea Fleet.
● After the fall of Tsar Nicholas II, he was recalled
to Petrograd.

12. Alexander Kolchak (During the Revolution)
● General Lavr Kornilov organized a Volunteer Army of 3,000 men, which opposed the Bolshevik
government; they became known as the White Army.
● Kolchak joined the rebellion and agreed to become a minister in the Provisional All-Russian
Government based in Omsk.
● The Social Revolutionaries changed sides and joined forces with the Red Army. Kolchak reacted
by bringing in new laws which established capital punishment for attempting to overthrow the
authorities.
● In March 1919, Kolchak captured Ufa and posed a threat to Kazan and Samara.
● The Red Army in November of 1919, made advances into Omsk.
● Kolchak fled east and was promised safe passage by the Czechoslovaks to the British military
mission in Irktusk. However, he was handed over the SRs.
● He went to court and was shot by a firing squad on February 7, 1920.

13. White Army - War Ministers, Commanders,
and Generals
● Aleksandr Ivanovich Guchkiv - Minister of War and Navy from March 15 - MAy 18,
1917.
● Aleksandr Fyodorovich Kerensky - Minister of War from September 12 - November
6, 1917.
● Mikhail Vasilyevich Alekseyev - Supreme Commander in Chief from March 15 -
June 4, 1917. Helped organize Volunteer Army in the South.
● Aleksey Alekseyevich Brusilov - Supreme Commander in Chief from June 4 - August
1, 1917.
● Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov - Supreme Commander in Chief from August 1 - August
27, 1917. Helped organize Volunteer Army in the South.

14. People Seeking Independence
There were many smaller ethnic groups within the former Russian Empire who
saw the Civil War as an opportunity to gain their independence. All of these had
different degrees of success in their struggle. These are a few:
● Moldovans
● Finns
● Cossacks
● Latvians
● Ukrainians
● Estonians
● Romanians
● The Transcaucasians who split again into
3 smaller states
○ Azerbaijan
○ Georgia
○ Armenia
● Poles
● Lithuanians

15. Spring of 1918
● Leon Trotsky made into War Commissar and increases the size and effectiveness of
the Red Army. (March 26th)
● Japanese and British forces land in Pacific port city of Vladivostok. (April 5th)
○ Part of a Japanese desire to create a buffer state to avoid conflict with Russia,
after the Russo-Japanese
○ Eventually the expedition in Siberia was a way which the Allies of Britain,
France, the United States, and Japan could assist the Whites
● Battle of Ekaterinodar (April 13th)
○ The battle is the first major victory of the Reds
○ Lev Kornilov the Commander of the White Army is killed during the battle

16. The Czechoslovak Legion
● A military unit that at the height of their strength in 1917 was about 40,000 to 55,000
soldiers that came from modern day Czech Republic and Slovakia.
● They volunteered to fight for the Tsar to defend their homelands from the
Austro-Hungarian Empire.
● When the Bolsheviks came into control of Russia they found themselves an ever growing
hostile environment and they had decided to leave the country from Vladivostok since
most of Russia’s other port cities were being blockaded.
● Attempts by the Bolsheviks to disarm the Legion had all been meet with hostility, and this
lead to the Legion attacking many Bolshevik targets along the Trans-Siberian railroad, and
getting assistance from the British, Americans, and French, and Japanese in their fight
against the Reds

17. Assassination of the Tsar and Imperial
Family
● The Tsar had moved to Yekaterinburg in April of 1918 with his family after
his abdication from the throne
● Whites and other Anti-Bolshevik forces were approaching the city.
● On the night of July 16th-17th the Tsar and his family are shot in the
basement of the house they were living in.
● The assassination was carried by the Bolshevik secret police the CHEKA,
most likely fearing that if the Tsar managed to escape, support for him to
return to power would grow.
● The assassination stopped any chance of returning Russia into its former
Imperial state.

18. The End of WWI
● November 11, 1918 Germany surrendered, and the Treaty of Versailles
officially ends the war in June of 1919.
○ Russia was unable to represent themselves due to the Civil War
● The Bolsheviks took advantage of the end of the war, by moving troops to
attempt to recapture the land that they had lost to Germany due to the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
● The end of the war allowed for the British, French, and Americans to
support the Whites with troops.

19. Kolchak Coup
● Kolchak was a supporter of the Provisional Government and didn’t want Russia to withdraw
from the war with Germany
● He was approached by the British, and was told if he wanted to help the British he’d be of better
use by staying in Russia.
● He traveled to Omsk, Siberia where he raised a volunteer army and staged a military Coup on
Nov. 18th, 1918, he established an anti-Bolshevik government, promoted himself to the rank of
admiral, and declared himself the new Supreme Ruler of Russia (which only the White
recognized)
● Kolchak had some success fighting the Bolsheviks, but eventually the Red Army took Omsk and
Kolchak was arrested and sentenced to death by the Bolsheviks in February of 1920.

20. The Kronstadt Rebellion and Tambov Uprising
● Both of these events were very heavily influenced by the War Communism policy that the
Bolsheviks had had left a lot of the population in Russia discontent.
● In March of 1921 the sailors and garrison at the Kronstadt naval base revolted against Lenin and
demanded that the Bolsheviks allow freedom of speech, assembly for trade unions, the end of
grain requisitioning from peasants and a free market.
● The Tambov Uprising of 1920-21, led by Alexander Antonov was an attempt to free the
peasantry in the Tambov region from the forceful acquisition of their grain.
● Both of these event were denounced by Lenin and Trotsky, the Kronstadt sailors were labeled as
traitors, part of a White plot, and the Tambov peasants dismissed as bandits
● A detachment of the Red Army ended the Tambov Uprising using a large amounts of artillery and
chemical weapons, and the Kronstadt sailors were put down by the Red Army and the CHEKA
under the oversight of Felix Dzerzhinsky

21. End of the Civil War
● The Bolsheviks were able to pick of their enemies one by one due to the
fact that many of them were not unified in their cause.
● The Bolsheviks signed armistices with the factions they couldn’t defeat
such as Poland, and they recognized the independence of some countries
(i.e. Latvia and Finland)
● The Battle of Perekop (Nov 7-10, 1920) resulted in a Red Army victory. The
Reds were lead by the new Commissar of War, Mikhail Frunze. The White’s
defeat caused them to be pushed back into Crimea and their defeat in the
Civil War.

22. Timeline of the Russian Civil War
● March 8-15, 1917 - February Revolution
(sparked by no significant event)
● 1917-1919 - 1st of 3 periods of control
(Bolsheviks gained control of Central Asia
from the White Army and Russian
Provisional Government)
● March 15, 1917 - Forced abdication of Tsar
Nicholas II who was replaced by the
Russian Provisional Government
● November 7, 1917 - October Revolution
(Bolshevik Revolution)
● February 9, 1918 - Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
was signed by Central Powers and
Bolsheviks
● March 26, 1918 - Leon Trotsky is
appointed War Commissar and improves
Red Army
● March 1918 - German forces march
through Russia, and Russia changes its
capital from Petrograd to Moscow
● April 10-13, 1918 - First major battle
between the Red and White Armies |
Battle of Yekaterinodar
● July 16, 1918 - Tsar Nicholas II and his
family were shot
● August 13, 1918 - Battle of Sviiazhsk;
strong win for Red Army

23. Timeline of the Russian Civil War contd.
● August 30, 1918 - Lenin is shot in an attempted
assassination, but eventually recovers
● November 11, 1918 - World War I ends with the
signing of the Armistice
● September 1918 - Red Terror campaign
announced
● January-November 1919 - 2nd of 3 periods of
control (White Army advanced into southern,
eastern, and northwestern portions)
● September 1919 - White Army moves into
Ukraine to take over and move towards
Moscow, but are unsuccessful
● October 13, 1919 - White Army try to invade
Petrograd through Estonia, but retreat before
any major progress
● August 1920 - Reds attempted to collect an
unreasonable tax on a tiny village in
Tambov, but the peasants fight back and
formed Green Armies
● October 1920 - Red Army signs a treaty of
Alliance with Ukraine to counter the Whites
● October-November 1920 - 3rd of 3 periods
of control (White Armies planned an attack
in the Crimea, but Red Army and Black Army
forces had formed an alliance, forcing the
White Army into evacuation)
● November 7-15, 1920 - Battle of Perekop
between Whites and Reds, Reds end up
victorious at end of Civil War

26. To what extent was the Russian Civil War just
a struggle for power?
The Russian Civil War represented, quite largely, a struggle for power between not only the groups such as the Bolsheviks
and the SR, but also a class struggle between peasants and bourgeoisie.
After the revolution of the Bolsheviks, Lenin faced constant problems to stay in power and keep strict rule. When the Civil
War started, all it represented was a constant struggle between groups to gain or keep power. The Bolsheviks were trying to
not only defeat the Whites, but also expand their control to the rest of Russia as they really only had control of the area
around Moscow and Petrograd at the time. The Whites, consisting of many different groups, differed in views of how Russia
would be run, had they defeated the Bolsheviks in the civil war. Although the groups agreed that the Bolsheviks had to be
taken down from power, they themselves were having a struggle for power as to who would take control of Russia after the
war. Some, such as the tsarists, would have wanted to place Nicholas II back into power. Others, such as the mensheviks,
would have wanted a similar overall goal to the Bolsheviks, but through the step-by-step process that Karl Marx had
developed. Even foreign nations, such as the UK and France, had a alternative goals for helping against the Bolsheviks as
they needed a front in the east to fight against Germany.
All these different groups fighting in the war just shows the struggle for power amongst them. These groups wanted control
and to bring Russia up to development that other major powers had.