The Russian Civil War 1

1. KEY EVENTS

1.1. October 1919 - General Yudenich led a White army from the West, nearly capturing Petrograd, but was defeated by the Red Army

1.2. 1919 - Admiral Kolchak led a White army from the east but was beaten by the Red Army

1.3. 1920 - General Denikin led a White army from the south and was close to Moscow before being forced to retreat by the Red Army

1.4. The Red Army also fought a Green Army made up of peasants and others looking for freedom from government control

2. REASONS FOR BOLSHEVIK VICTORY

2.1. Lenin and Trotsky had unified leadership, who were ruthless in conducting the war

2.2. Cheka scared ordinary Russians, which made people too scared to help the Whites

2.3. Strict food rationing was introduced with the largest rations going to the Red Army

2.4. Trotsky was able to restore discipline by bringing back the death penalty and conscripting men

2.5. Reds made better use of the railway network than the Whites

2.6. Red armies often outnumbered their White opponents

2.7. Decree on land (introduced by Lenin) gave peasants right to land but the Whites made it clear they would give it back to owners - so encouraged support from peasants

2.8. Whites had a lack of unity: many different political parties ( couldn't agree) , lost support of national groups , little chance of developing a co-ordinated military strategy as White generals didn't trust each other

2.9. Whites had poor leadership so many soldiers deserted and had high levels of corruption

2.10. Whites separated by large distance, so couldn't communicate and difficult to co-ordinate attacks

2.11. Whites found it hard to conscript people as they controlled thinly populated areas

3. FOREIGN INTERVENTION

3.1. British, French, US, Japanese soldiers were sent to help the Whites

3.2. Bolsheviks used foreign intervention as propaganda and urged that Russians should help the Reds prevent foreign invasions

4. REASONS FOR THE CIVIL WAR

4.1. huge territorial losses from the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk appalled many Russians

4.2. decree on land angered church and land owners

4.3. decree on peace angered nationalists

4.4. population down by 60% as people went tp find food in the countryside

4.5. decision to shut Constituent Assembly angered supporters of democracy

4.6. monarchists wanted to reinstate the Tsar

4.7. Bolsheviks made enemies of the 'Czech legion', 40 000 Czech troops who took control of the Trans-Siberian Railway

4.8. bread rationed down to 50g a day in Petrograd, March 1918

5. THE SIDES

5.1. The greens

5.1.1. Peasants

5.1.2. National minorities

5.2. The Whites (Opposed the Tsar)

5.2.1. Tsarists

5.2.2. Nationalists

5.2.3. Nobles

5.2.4. Liberals

5.2.5. Moderate socialists

5.2.6. Socialist Revolutionaries

5.2.7. The Czech Legion

5.3. Foreign powers

5.3.1. UK

5.3.2. Japan

5.3.3. USA

5.3.4. France

6. EFFECTS OF THE CIVIL WAR

6.1. left the economy of Russia in ruins

6.2. transport system was near to collapse meant factories couldn't get the materials they needed so had to shut down

6.3. grain production fell to very low levels

6.4. widespread famine

6.5. more people died of hunger the fighting

6.6. many diseases e.g cholera, typhus etc

7. ROLE OF TROTSKY

7.1. organised the mobilisation of the Red Army

7.2. kept officers' families hostage to ensure loyalty

7.3. kept strict discipline and spread propaganda

7.4. introduced a Socialist Military Oath for all Red Army soldiers to swear, encouraged loyalty to Bolsheviks