How Important Was Lenin's Participation In World War 1 Research Paper

Next, the importance of the Bolsheviks’ leadership, has to be stressed, as it was one of the key components in winning the war altogether. Although Lenin never visited the front line personally, he did influence the thinking of strategy and administration on behalf of the Bolsheviks, and was a hard-headed decision maker when the need arose, whilst his leadership was never challenged. An account by an Imperial Russian general collaborating with the Bolsheviks supports this statement, testifying to Lenin’s ‘good grasp of fundamentals of military science and was well-informed on the nature and circumstances of Russia’s participation in WWI.’ Furthermore Lenin’s simple proclamation to the population, of a country full of ‘Peace, Land, and Bread,’ coupled with a

However, one must question the validity of Trotsky’s claims of having founded a ‘great army and guiding it to victory.’ Richard Pipes states that his contribution was more ‘modest’, and that the credit for victory should go the ex-Tsarist officers who had a better grasp of military affairs. However Robert Service mentions, that for whatever his faults, Trotsky’s no-nonsense persona, as well as his ruthless streak of terror, such as ‘ordering deserters to be shot on the spot and not [giving] a damn if some of them were Communist Party activists,’ was what was needed to transform a ragtag army, wracked with low morale, to an army of five million men, that had ‘an unshakable belief in its own eventual victory.’ Therefore it is to Lenin and Trotsky’s credit that an effective fighting force did emerge amongst the chaos of the Civil War, and one that could claim wholescale