The Russian Civil War

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The Russian Civil War

Between 1918 and 1921 there was a civil war in Russia. The war was

between the reds, who were the communists/Bolsheviks, and the whites

who were the either Tsarists or anti-communists. The whites also had

help by the way of foreign intervention and in this essay I am going

to explain what happened and how this helped the communists win the

Russian civil war.

One reason why the communists won the civil war was that both sides

had different aims. The reds had one collective aim that everyone

could strive for. This was to build a new socialist society. This new

socialist society or communist revolution was portrayed to the rest of

the world that all the red armies were fighting for was a ‘Russia free

from foreign control’. However the real new socialist society was

basically a workers state, with everyone working towards the good of

the motherland (Russia). On the other hand the whites had several

different aims. Because of foreign intervention, meaning several

different armies trying to be one, they had several different aims.

The countries that came to the aid of the whites were the UK, France,

USA and Japan. The problem with those particular countries helping was

that rather than their aim being anti-communism and the overthrow of

the reds, it was often to see what each other were doing. Some

countries only joined because others had done. This helped the

communists win the war because the reds always had something to do and

a task to focus on, meaning they were always going onwards, whereas

the whites often had no task to do or anything to focus on so were

therefore not at their best fighting capability.

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...e severely punished. War communism helped the reds win because it

kept the army well supplied so they were always ready to fight.

However, although it was a success for the army, it caused massive

famine and widespread starvation amongst peasants and workers

amounting in over 4 million lives lost.

I believe the most important reason why the Communists won the civil

war was their leadership and unity. I believe this because it set the

army up so well to fight. Trotsky really was a key man in winning the

civil war. He would never allow his troops to let his heads go down or

doubt what they were doing. Confidence and assurance is what a

successful unit often thrives and this is what Trotsky gave his army.

This made the army into a fantastic fighting force. That is why I

believe the Communists won the Russian Civil War.

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