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Victory and Loss in the Russian Civil War
History tells us the Bolsheviks (reds) did manage to eventually seize
power over Russiain October 1920, however the question many historians
ask is, 'did the reds win due to their careful planning, strength and
unity, or was it purely down to the failures of their opposition, the
whites?'. I will be looking at the possible answers to this question
in this essay.
The red army consisted of many different groups of people, old
provisional government supporters, old tsarist soldiers, nationalists
and separatists (who wanted independence) and basically anyone who
hated the Bolsheviks and their ideas. The only thing they shared was a
hatred for the reds, whereas the Bolsheviks all shared the same views.
As you can imagine this made the Reds far more unified and a lot
stronger than the whites. The whites could not agree on whether they
were fighting for monarchism, republicism or for the Constituent
Assembly. This made it hard for them to co-operate and impossible to
develop a political strategy. They were also split on their views on
national minorities. This is one reason why the whites lost, due to
their constant disunity and this was purely their fault.
One reason however why the reds won, was down to the good leadership
and moral boosting Trotsky showed, he traveled up and down the front
line in his famous train speaking to the soldiers, providing them with
uniforms and ammunition, this really helped the soldiers as he really
speared them on and gave them hope of victory. The white leaders on
the other hand were disunited, spaced out and by many accounts from
white soldiers we are aware that several leaders were cruel and
treated the soldiers with contempt which reminded them of the Tsarist
rule, due to this many of them deserted the war. The level of
corruption in the white armies was extraordinary. Denikin a white
leader stated, 'I cannot do anything with my army. I am glad when it
carries out my combat orders'. But with hindsight we realize this was
The Reds' Defeat Over the Whites in the Russian Civil War From the summer of 1918 a civil war began in Russia between the Bolsheviks (called the Reds) and their opponents (called the Whites). There were several reasons why the Reds won the Civil War in 1921, I think. will go through each of them in turn before coming to a conclusion on which I think was the most influential. The Reds were a single minded group with a single political aim based in an important single geographical area of Russia. The Whites on the On the other hand, they were divided politically and geographically and they received only limited support from the western countries.
nation of mechanics…You are bound to fail.” Union officer William Tecumseh Sherman to a Southern friend.
The Success of the Bolsheviks in Gaining Power in Russia by 1922 In February 1917, the Bolshevik party was small and irrelevant. The leadership was abroad and there was little consistency of purpose among the party in Russia. However, by the summer of 1922, the Bolsheviks had become the dominant force, and a new communist state had emerged from their success. The purpose of this essay is to explain this transformation.
The most important war in relation to political change of 1855 to 1964 would be the Civil War (1917 – 1922) because it directly led to the Bolsheviks taking power in Russia implanting new ideologies (communism) into the state as well as forming of the USSR and dismantling state religion. For example take this quote from the declaration of the rights of the people of Russia which was drafted by the first Bolshevik government in 1917 "resolve to establish as a basis for its activity in the question of nationalities the following principles will be applied: Equality and sovereignty of peoples of Russia, Right of peoples of Russia of a free self-determination, including secession and formation of a separate state and Abolition of all national and religious privileges and restrictions" This shows that there were political changes in Russian society that would never happen if not the Bolsheviks got in power. The dismantling of state religion shows that the new Bolshevik government were taking strides in replacing the old political structure of society which consisted of state religion and heavily autocratic state Duma with new Soviet administration's at every level of society including the military and at industrial level which ensured a secular Marxist state.
There are many people who have lived through and within the Bolshevik Revolution, so there are a multitudinous variety of perspectives, thoughts, and insights about the revolution. The Bolshevik Revolution is known for many things; some say that the revolution helped women become free of control, and others proclaim that it did nothing but continue to hold women captive of their desired rights. The Bolshevik Revolution article states the side of a history professor Richard Stites, who argues yes the revolution benefited the women whilst the other side is declared no the revolution did no justice for women at all, which was argued by a Russian scholar, Lesly A. Rimmel. The opposing arguments both create an effective view on the revolution, and
The outbreak of revolution in Russia lured Trotsky back into action, but he was soon arrested. While in jail, Trotsky joined the Bolsheviks (“Leon Trotsky”). After his release, Trotsky allied with Vladimir Lenin as he gained control of the Russian government. Trotsky was made commissar of war and was charged with the formation of the Red Army to defend communism (“Leon Trotsky”). Although the Red Army proved successful in its endeavor, its Red Terror campaign caused “thousands of people, many of whom were only suspected of being anti-communist, [to be] slaughtered in unthinkably cruel ways” (Asnes, Tania. Kissel, Adam ed). Soon after, Lenin's death left Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky to battle to be Russia's leader. Although Trotsky had the skills and the intellect that should have made him the clear choice, jealousy among his colleagues prompted them to side with Stalin (“Leon Trotsky”). Soon after Stalin gained power, he exiled Trotsky. His role in Russian history had come to an abrupt
I recollect as a child how I cherished the way my mom took care of me and made all my executive decisions. I recall getting excited about my weekly allowances and about her picking out my clothes for school. However, when I became a teenager I wanted my independence. I know longer wanted her to buy my clothing and I wanted to financially support myself by getting a job. I was so tired of her telling me what to do and how to do it that I revolted. At first it was difficult trying to establish independence in my mother's house, but after a while it seemed as if I had won the battle. Unbeknownst to me that battle would be short-lived and ultimately my mom won the war. Basically, I had constructed my own crazy revolution against my mother. You see a revolution is “a fundamental change in political organization; especially: the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed .Activity or movement designed to affect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation (Webster Dictionary).”One revolution that is said to have inspired communism was the Russian Revolutions of 1917.
There is an issue that followed the Civil War that can only really be addressed in retrospect. Who won the Civil War? Not necessarily the war itself, but who won the peace. There is not really a single or definitive answer because the effects and the outcomes of the war are still being determined. This question is nebulous in the fact that certain aspects can be attributed to the South winning some aspects of the war and the North others. Also, do we include the impacts on former slaves as a Northern victory or do consider them to be their own side during this conflict. Many people will say that the North undoubtedly won the war, but the South's social hierarchy did not really change that much after the war. The former slaves went on many times to work for their former owners achieving not much more than when they were slaves. The South implemented many unjust laws to still allow the whites to stay ahead and to keep the blacks poor and dependent. Overall, though, I believe that the North and the former slaves won because of the outcome of the Civil War. Although the effects of the war were not immediate for the slaves and abolition did not automatically mean freedom and equality for slaves, the war and the legislation that followed it set the groundwork for the advancement of black people. The thirteenth through the fifteenth amendments helped to pave the way for blacks to enjoy the same opportunities as whites. Obviously the North achieved its objective of reuniting the country and preserving the Union. There are many factors to which one can say that the North actually won the peace.
Wood, A. (1986). The Russian Revolution. Seminar Studies in History. (2) Longman, p 1-98. ISBSN 0582355591, 9780582355590
In February of 1917 a group of female factory workers and led a revolt in which the Tsar was dethroned, only to be replaced by a provisionary government composed of the Russian elite. When this government did not live up to its promises of an end to Russian involvement in World War I, the Bolsheviks (“majority”), a revolutionary movement led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the provisionary government in what bacame known as the October revolution.
1) Adams, Arthur E. The Russian Revolution and Bolshevik Victory: Why and How? Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1960.
Over the next few years, Russia went through a traumatic time of civil war and turmoil. The Bolsheviks’ Red Army fought the white army of farmers, etc. against Lenin and his ways. Lenin and the Bolsheviks won and began to wean Russia of non-conforming parties eventually banning all non-communist as well as removing an assembly elected shortly after the Bolshevik’s gain of power. Lenin’s strict government, however, was about to get a lot stricter with his death in 1924.
Their initial victory was “followed by an ensuing struggle to implement change”. The people had taken to the streets not knowing what they would do if they did manage to take power. Now that they had, because of their different individual aims, they found it hard to compromise. This eventually led to a growing split between moderates and radicals, as well as between social classes, particularly in France. The moderates did not want a government based on universal male suffrage and the middle classes were determined to resist the demands of the lower classes....
According to most historians, “history is told by the victors”, which would explain why most people equate communism with Vladimir Lenin. He was the backbone of Russia’s communist revolution, and the first leader of history’s largest communist government. It is not known, or discussed by most, that Lenin made many reforms to the original ideals possessed by many communists during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He revised Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles’ theories to fit the so-called ‘backwardness’ of the Russian Empire. Lenin’s reforms were necessary to carry out a socialist revolution in Russia, and the contributions he made drastically changed the course of history. It can be assumed that, the Soviet Union would not have been as powerful if it was not for Lenin’s initial advocacy of violence and tight organization.
As communication was poor to the rural areas of Russia, the peasants had little or no knowledge of political parties and so did not support the Bolsheviks in their takeover. When the Bolsheviks changed to the Communist party in 1918, many peasants believed these to be a new party challenging Bolshevism and so made banners saying ’Down with the Communists, Long live the Bolsheviks!’ The national minorities currently part of the Russian empire, predominately Finland and Poland, were demanding independence and Russia’s allies, Britain, France, USA, Japan, etc. were growing ever suspicious of Bolshevism and so were set to intervene if the Bolsheviks were to pull out of World War 1.