Civil war — armed confrontation between different groups of the population, as well as a war of different national, social and political forces for the right to gain dominance within the country.

The main causes of the Civil War in Russia

  1. A nationwide crisis in the state, which sowed irreconcilable contradictions between the main social strata of society;
  2. Getting rid of the Provisional Government, as well as the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks;
  3. A special character in the anti-religious and socio-economic policy of the Bolsheviks, which consisted of inciting hostility between groups of the population;
  4. An attempt by the bourgeoisie and nobility to regain their lost position;
  5. Refusal of cooperation of the Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and anarchists with the Soviet regime;
  6. Signing Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in 1918;
  7. Loss of value of human life during war.

Key dates and events of the Civil War

First stage lasted from October 1917 to the spring of 1918. During this period, armed clashes were local in nature. The Central Rada of Ukraine opposed the new government. Türkiye launched an attack on Transcaucasia in February and was able to capture part of it. A Volunteer Army was created on the Don. During this period there was a victory of the armed uprising in Petrograd, as well as liberation from the Provisional Government.

Second stage lasted from spring to winter 1918. Anti-Bolshevik centers were formed.

Important dates:

March-April — Germany's seizure of Ukraine, the Baltic states and Crimea. At this time, the Entente countries are planning to enter Russian territory with their army. England sends troops to Murmansk, and Japan - to Vladivostok.

May-June — The battle takes on national proportions. In Kazan, the Czechoslovaks took possession of Russia's gold reserves (about 30,000 pounds of gold and silver, at that time their value was 650 million rubles). A number of Socialist Revolutionary governments were created: the Provisional Siberian Government in Tomsk, the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly in Samara, and the Ural Regional Government in Yekaterinburg.

August— the creation of an army of about 30,000 people due to a workers' uprising at the Izhevsk and Botkin factories. Then they were forced to retreat with their relatives to Kolchak's army.

September - An “all-Russian government” was created in Ufa - the Ufa Directory.

November - Admiral A.V. Kolchak dissolved the Ufa Directory and presented himself as the “supreme ruler of Russia.”

Third stage lasted from January to December 1919. Large-scale operations took place on different fronts. By the beginning of 1919, 3 main centers of the White movement were formed in the state:

  1. Army of Admiral A.V. Kolchak (Ural, Siberia);
  2. Troops of the South of Russia of General A.I. Denikin (Don Region, North Caucasus);
  3. Armed forces of General N. N. Yudenich (Baltics).

Important dates:

March-April — There was an offensive of Kolchak’s army on Kazan and Moscow, attracting many resources by the Bolsheviks.

April-December— The Red Army makes a counter-offensive led by (S. S. Kamenev, M. V. Frunze, M. N. Tukhachevsky). Kolchak's armed forces are forced to retreat beyond the Urals, and then they are completely destroyed by the end of 1919.

May-June — General N.N. Yudenich makes the first attack on Petrograd. They barely fought back. General offensive of Denikin's army. Part of Ukraine, Donbass, Tsaritsyn and Belgorod were captured.

September-October - Denikin makes an attack on Moscow and advances to Orel. The second offensive of the armed forces of General Yudenich on Petrograd. The Red Army (A.I. Egorov, SM. Budyonny) launches a counter-offensive against Denikin’s army, and A.I. Kork against Yudenich’s forces.

November - Yudenich's detachment was thrown back to Estonia.

Results: at the end of 1919 there was a clear preponderance of forces in favor of the Bolsheviks.

Fourth stage lasted from January to November 1920. During this period, the White movement was completely defeated in the European part of Russia.

Important dates:

April-October — Soviet-Polish war. Polish troops invaded Ukraine and captured Kyiv in May. The Red Army launches a counteroffensive.

October - The Riga Peace Treaty was signed with Poland. Under the terms of the treaty, Poland took Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. However, Soviet Russia was able to free troops for an attack in Crimea.

November - the war of the Red Army (M.V. Frunze) in Crimea with Wrangel’s army. The end of the Civil War in the European part of Russia.

Fifth stage lasted from 1920 to 1922. During this period, the White movement in the Far East was completely destroyed. In October 1922, Vladivostok was liberated from Japanese forces.

Reasons for the Red victory in the Civil War:

  1. Widespread support from various popular masses.
  2. Weakened by the First World War, the Entente states were unable to coordinate their actions and carry out a successful offensive on the territory of the former Russian Empire.
  3. It was possible to win over the peasantry with an obligation to return the seized lands to the landowners.
  4. Weighted ideological support for military companies.
  5. The Reds were able to mobilize all resources through the policy of “war communism”; the Whites were unable to do this.
  6. There is a greater number of military specialists who strengthened and made the army stronger.

Results of the civil war

  • The country was virtually destroyed, a deep economic crisis, the loss of efficiency of many industrial production, and a decline in agricultural work.
  • Estonia, Poland, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Western, Bessarabia, Ukraine and a small part of Armenia were no longer part of Russia.
  • Population loss of about 25 million people (famine, war, epidemics).
  • The absolute establishment of the Bolshevik dictatorship, strict methods of governing the country.

THE CIVIL WAR of 1917-22 in Russia, a chain of armed conflicts between various political, social and ethnic groups. The main fighting in the civil war in order to seize and retain power was carried out between the Red Army and the armed forces of the White movement - the White armies (hence the established names of the main opponents in the civil war - “Red” and “White”). An integral part civil war also included armed struggle on the national “outskirts” of the former Russian Empire (attempts to proclaim independence provoked resistance from the “whites” who advocated a “united and indivisible Russia”, as well as the leadership of the RSFSR, which saw the growth of nationalism as a threat to the gains of the revolution) and insurgent movement of the population against the troops of the opposing sides. The Civil War was accompanied by military operations on Russian territory by troops from the countries of the Quadruple Alliance, as well as troops from the Entente countries (see Foreign military intervention in Russia 1918-22).

In modern historical science Many questions related to the history of the Civil War remain controversial, among them questions about the chronological framework of the Civil War and its causes. Most modern researchers consider the first act of the civil war to be the battles in Petrograd carried out by the Bolsheviks October Revolution 1917, and the time of its end - the defeat of the last large anti-Bolshevik armed formations by the “Reds” in October 1922. Some researchers believe that the period of the civil war covers only the time of the most active military operations, which were conducted from May 1918 to November 1920. Among the most important reasons civil war, it is customary to highlight the deep social, political and national-ethnic contradictions that existed in the Russian Empire and aggravated as a result February Revolution 1917, as well as the willingness to widely use violence to achieve their political goals by all its participants (see “White Terror” and “Red Terror”). Some researchers see foreign intervention as the reason for the particular bitterness and duration of the civil war.

The course of the armed struggle between the “reds” and “whites” can be divided into 3 stages, which differ in the composition of participants, the intensity of hostilities and the conditions of the foreign policy situation.

At the first stage (October/November 1917 - November 1918), the formation of the armed forces of the warring parties and the main fronts of struggle between them took place. During this period, the civil war took place in the context of the ongoing 1st World War and was accompanied by the active participation of troops from the countries of the Quadruple Alliance and the Entente in the internal struggle in Russia.

In October - November 1917, during the October Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks suppressed armed uprisings of supporters of the Provisional Government in Petrograd, its environs (see Kerensky - Krasnov speech of 1917) and in Moscow. By the end of 1917, Soviet power was established in most of European Russia. The first major uprisings against the Bolsheviks took place in the Cossack territories of the Don, Kuban and Southern Urals (see articles by Kaledin's speech of 1917-18, Kuban Rada and Dutov's speech of 1917-18). In the first months of the civil war fighting were carried out by separate detachments, mainly along the lines railways, for large settlements and railway junctions (see "Echelon Warfare"). In the spring of 1918, local skirmishes began to develop into larger-scale armed clashes.

The dispersal of the Constituent Assembly and the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty of 1918 strengthened opposition to the policies of the Council of People's Commissars throughout the country. The underground anti-Bolshevik organizations created in February - May (Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom, Union for the Revival of Russia, National Center) tried to unite the forces fighting against Soviet power and receive foreign assistance, and were engaged in transporting volunteers to the centers of concentration of anti-Bolshevik forces. At this time, the territory of the RSFSR was reduced due to the advance of German and Austro-Hungarian troops (continued even after the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty in 1918): in February - May 1918 they occupied Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, part of Transcaucasia and the south of European Russia. In the spring of 1918, the Entente countries, seeking to resist German influence in Russia, landed armed troops in Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok, which led to the fall of the power of the Council of People's Commissars there. The 1918 uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps, which began in May, eliminated Soviet power in the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia, and also cut off the Turkestan Soviet Republic in Central Asia from the RSFSR.

The fragility of Soviet power and support from the interventionists contributed to the creation in the summer and autumn of 1918 of a number of anti-Bolshevik, mainly Socialist Revolutionary, governments: the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch; June, Samara), the Provisional Siberian Government (June, Omsk), the Supreme Administration of the Northern Region (August, Arkhangelsk), Ufa Directory (September, Ufa).

In April 1918, on the territory of Donskoy Cossack army the Don Army was created, which by the end of summer ousted Soviet troops from the territory of the Don Army Region. The volunteer army (began to form in November 1917), consisting mainly of officers and cadets of the former Russian army, occupied Kuban in August 1918 (see article Kuban campaigns Volunteer Army).

The successes of the opponents of the Bolsheviks caused the reform of the Red Army. Instead of the volunteer principle of army formation, universal military service was introduced in the RSFSR in May 1918. By attracting officers from the former Russian army to the Red Army (see Voenspets), the command staff was strengthened, the institute of military commissars was established, in September 1918 the RVSR was created (chaired by L. D. Trotsky) and the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic was introduced (I. I. Vatsetis ). Also in September, instead of the curtains that had existed since March 1918, front-line and army associations of the Red Army were formed. In November, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense was established (chaired by V.I. Lenin). The strengthening of the army was accompanied by a strengthening of the internal situation in the RSFSR: after the defeat of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries of the 1918 uprising, there was no organized opposition to the Bolsheviks left on the territory of the republic.

As a result, in the early autumn of 1918, the Red Army managed to change the course of the armed struggle: in September 1918, it stopped the offensive of the troops of the Volga People's Army of Komuch (which began in July), and by November pushed them back to the Urals. At the first stage of the Tsaritsyn defense of 1918-19, units of the Red Army repelled the attempts of the Don Army to capture Tsaritsyn. The successes of the Red Army somewhat stabilized the position of the RSFSR, but neither side was able to gain a decisive advantage during the fighting.

At the second stage (November 1918 - March 1920), the main battles took place between the Red Army and the White armies, and a turning point in the civil war occurred. Due to the end of World War I, the participation of intervention troops in the civil war sharply decreased during this period. The departure of German and Austro-Hungarian troops from the territory of the country allowed the SNK to return under its control a significant part of the Baltic states, Belarus and Ukraine. Despite the landing in November - December 1918 of additional military units of the Entente countries in Novorossiysk, Odessa and Sevastopol, the advance of British troops in Transcaucasia, the direct participation of Entente troops in the civil war remained limited, and by the fall of 1919 the main contingent allied forces was withdrawn from Russian territory. Foreign countries continued to provide logistical and technical assistance to anti-Bolshevik governments and armed groups.

At the end of 1918 - beginning of 1919, the anti-Bolshevik movement consolidated; its leadership from the Socialist Revolutionary and Cossack governments passed into the hands of the conservative “white” officers. As a result of the coup in Omsk on November 18, 1918, the Ufa Directory was overthrown and Admiral A.V. Kolchak came to power, declaring himself Supreme ruler Russian state. On January 8, 1919, on the basis of the Volunteer and Don Armies, the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (AFSR) were created under the command of Lieutenant General A.I. Denikin.

Kolchak's army was the first to launch a decisive offensive. At the end of 1918, the Siberian Army crossed the Ural ridge and took Perm. In March 1919, Kolchak's general offensive of 1919 followed. The greatest success was achieved by the troops of the Western Army under Lieutenant General M.V. Khanzhin, who captured Ufa (March), and at the end of April reached the approaches to the Volga. The opportunity arose to unite Kolchak’s armies with the All-Soviet Socialist Republic, and a threat to Soviet power was created in the central regions of the RSFSR. However, in May 1919, units of the Red Army, reinforced by reinforcements, seized the initiative and, during the counter-offensive of the Eastern Front in 1919, defeated the enemy and threw him back to the Urals. As a result of the 1919-20 Eastern Front offensive undertaken by the command of the Red Army, Soviet troops occupied the Urals and most of Siberia (Omsk was captured in November 1919, Irkutsk in March 1920).

In the North Caucasus, the mountain governments, relying on military assistance from the countries of the Quadruple Alliance, opposed the power of the Council of People's Commissars. After the withdrawal of foreign troops from the territory of the so-called Mountain Republic, it was occupied by units of the AFSR, under whose pressure the Mountain Government ceased its activities at the end of May 1919.

The first defeats of Kolchak’s armies coincided with the beginning of Denikin’s Moscow campaign of 1919, which represented the most serious threat to Bolshevik power during the civil war. Its initial success was facilitated by the lack of reserves in the Red Army, which were located on the Eastern Front, as well as the massive influx of Cossacks into the All-Soviet Socialist Republic as a result of the “decossackization” policy pursued by the leadership of the RSFSR. The presence of Cossack cavalry and well-trained military personnel allowed the AFSR to capture the Donbass and the Don Army Region, take Tsaritsyn and occupy most of Ukraine. Attempts by Soviet troops to counterattack the enemy during the August offensive of 1919 were unsuccessful. In August - September, the defense of the Red Army was disorganized by the Mamontov raid of 1919. In October, the AFSR occupied Oryol, creating a threat to Tula and Moscow. The offensive of the AFSR was stopped, and then gave way to a rapid retreat due to the counter-offensive of the Southern Front of 1919 undertaken by the leadership of the Red Army (it was carried out after large mobilizations in the RSFSR and the creation of the First Cavalry Army, which made it possible to eliminate the advantage of the AFSR in cavalry), the weakness of the control of the AFSR over the occupied territories and the desire of the Cossacks limit itself to the defense of the Don Army and Kuban Region. During the offensive of the Southern and South-Eastern fronts in 1919-20, units of the Red Army forced the All-Soviet Socialist Republic to withdraw to the North Caucasus and Crimea.

In the summer - autumn of 1919 there followed an attack on Petrograd by the Northern Corps (from June 19, the Northern Army, from July 1, the North-Western Army) under the overall command of Infantry General N. N. Yudenich (see defense of Petrograd 1919). In October - November 1919 it was stopped, the North-Western Army was defeated, and its remnants retreated to Estonia.

In the north of the European part of Russia, troops formed by the Provisional Government of the Northern Region (the successor to the Supreme Administration of the Northern Region) of the Northern Region, supported by the allied expeditionary force, fought with units of the Soviet Northern Front. In February - March 1920, the troops of the Northern Region ceased to exist (this was facilitated by the failures of the White armies in the main directions and the withdrawal of the Allied Expeditionary Force from the territory of the region), units of the Red Army occupied Arkhangelsk and Murmansk.

At the third stage (March 1920 - October 1922), the main struggle took place on the periphery of the country and did not pose an immediate threat to Soviet power in the center of Russia.

By the spring of 1920, the largest of the “white” military formations was the “Russian Army” (formed from the remnants of the AFSR) of Lieutenant General P. N. Wrangel, located in the Crimea. In June, taking advantage of the diversion of the main forces of the Red Army to the Polish front (see Soviet-Polish War of 1920), this army attempted to capture and strengthen itself in the northern districts of the Tauride province, and also landed troops on the coast in July and August North Caucasus, to rouse the Cossacks of the Don Region and Kuban Army to a new action against the RSFSR (see Landings of the “Russian Army” 1920). All these plans were defeated; in October - November, the “Russian Army” was defeated during the counter-offensive of the Southern Front of 1920 and the Perekop-Chongar operation of 1920 (its remnants were evacuated to Constantinople). After the defeat of the White armies in November 1920 - January 1921, formations were formed in the North Caucasus Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

The last battles of the civil war took place in Eastern Siberia and in the Far East. In 1920-22, the largest anti-Bolshevik formations there were the Far Eastern Army of Lieutenant General G. M. Semenov (controlled the Chita region) and the Zemskaya Army of Lieutenant General M. K. Diterichs (controlled Vladivostok and part of Primorye). They were opposed by the People's Revolutionary Army (PRA) of the Far Eastern Republic (created by the leadership of the RSFSR in April 1920 to avoid a military clash with Japan, which maintained a military presence in the Far East), as well as detachments of “red” partisans. In October 1920, the NRA captured Chita and forced Semenov’s troops to leave along the Chinese Eastern Railway to Primorye. As a result of the Primorye Operation of 1922, the Zemstvo Army was defeated (its remnants were evacuated to Genzan and then to Shanghai). With the establishment of Soviet power in the Far East, the main battles of the civil war ended.

The armed struggle on the national “outskirts” of the former Russian Empire unfolded simultaneously with the main battles between the Red Army and the White armies. In the course of it, various national-state formations and political regimes arose and were liquidated, the stability of which depended on their ability to successfully maneuver between the “reds” and the “whites,” as well as support from third powers.

The right to national self-determination of Poland was recognized by the Provisional Government in the spring of 1917. During the civil war, Poland did not want any of its opponents to strengthen and during the main battles it remained neutral, simultaneously seeking international recognition in European capitals. A clash with Soviet troops followed during the Soviet-Polish War of 1920, after the defeat of the main forces of the “Whites”. As a result, Poland managed to maintain independence and expand its borders (approved by the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921).

Finland declared independence immediately after the October Revolution in Petrograd. The alliance with Germany and then with the Entente countries made it possible to consolidate it. Contrary to the hopes of the command of the White armies for active Finnish assistance in the campaign against Petrograd, Finland’s participation in the civil war was limited to the invasion of Finnish troops into the territory of Karelia, which was rebuffed by the Red Army (see Karelian operation of 1921).

In the Baltics, the formation of the independent states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is the result of the simultaneous weakening of Russia and Germany and the prudent policies of national governments. The Estonian and Latvian leadership was able to win over the bulk of the population under the slogans of land reform and opposition to the German barons, while the German occupation in 1918 did not allow the bodies of Soviet power to strengthen. Subsequently, the diplomatic support of the Entente countries, the unstable position of Soviet power in the region and the successes of the national armies forced the leadership of the RSFSR to conclude in 1920 peace treaties with Estonia (February), Lithuania (July) and Latvia (August).

In Ukraine and Belarus, the national movement was weakened by the lack of unity on the issue of the future socio-political structure of these countries, as well as by the greater popularity of social rather than national slogans among the population. After the October Revolution in Petrograd, the Central Rada in Kyiv and the Belarusian Rada (see Belarusian Radas) in Minsk refused to recognize the power of the Council of People's Commissars, but were unable to strengthen their position. This was hampered by the advances of both Soviet and German troops. In Ukraine, successive national-state formations were fragile. The Ukrainian state, created in April 1918, led by Hetman P. P. Skoropadsky, existed only due to the support of Germany, and the Ukrainian People's Republic of S. V. Petliura survived while its main opponents (the RSFSR and the All-Russian Socialist Republic) were busy on other fronts of the civil war. The Belarusian national governments were entirely dependent on the support of the German and Polish armies located on their territory. In the summer of 1920, after the defeat of the main White armies and the withdrawal of Polish occupation forces from the territory of Ukraine and Belarus, the power of the Ukrainian SSR and BSSR was established there.

In Transcaucasia, the course of the civil war was determined by conflicts between national governments. The Transcaucasian Commissariat, created in November 1917 in Tiflis, declared non-recognition of the power of the Council of People's Commissars. Proclaimed by the Transcaucasian Sejm (convened by the Transcaucasian Commissariat) in April 1918, the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic already in May, due to the approach of Turkish troops, broke up into the Georgian democratic republic, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the Republic of Armenia with different political orientations: the Azerbaijanis acted in alliance with the Turks; Georgians and Armenians sought support from Germany (its troops entered Tiflis and other cities of Georgia in June 1918), and then from the Entente countries (in November - December 1918, British troops were sent to Transcaucasia). After the end of the Entente intervention in August 1919, national governments were unable to restore the economy and became bogged down in border conflicts that erupted between Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. This allowed the Red Army, during the Baku operation of 1920 and the Tiflis operation of 1921, to distribute Soviet power in Transcaucasia.

In Central Asia, the main hostilities took place on the territory of Turkestan. There, the Bolsheviks relied on Russian settlers, which exacerbated existing religious and national conflicts and alienated a significant part of the Muslim population from Soviet power, which widely participated in the anti-Soviet movement - Basmachism. An obstacle to the establishment of Soviet power in Turkestan was also the British intervention (July 1918 - July 1919). The troops of the Soviet Turkestan Front took Khiva in February 1920, and Bukhara in September; The Khiva Khanate and the Bukhara Emirate were liquidated and the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic and the Bukhara People's Soviet Republic were proclaimed.

The insurgent movement in the civil war arose in 1918-19, and reached its greatest extent in 1920-21. The goal of the rebels was to protect the village from the policy of “war communism” carried out in the RSFSR (the main slogans of the rebel groups were “councils without communists” and freedom of trade in agricultural products), as well as from requisitions and mobilizations carried out by both the Bolsheviks and their opponents. The rebel groups consisted mainly of peasants (many of them deserted from the Red Army and the White armies), hid in the forests (hence their common name - “greens”) and enjoyed the support of the local population. Their guerrilla tactics made them less vulnerable to regular troops. Rebel detachments, often for tactical reasons, assisted the “reds” or “whites”, disrupting communications and diverting relatively large military formations from the main combat operations; however, their military organization remained independent from the command of their allies. In the rear of Kolchak's armies, the most numerous rebel detachments operated in the Tomsk and Yenisei provinces, in Altai, in the area of ​​​​Semipalatinsk and the Amur River valley. Raids on railway trains carried out by the rebels during the decisive days of Kolchak's offensive in 1919 disrupted the supply of supplies and weapons for the troops. In the southeast of Ukraine, the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine N. I. Makhno operated, which at different periods fought against Ukrainian nationalists, German troops, units of the Red Army and the All-Soviet Union of Socialists.

In the rear of the Red Army, the first major insurgent movement arose in March - April 1919 and was called the “Chapan War”. At the end of 1920 - beginning of 1921, thousands of peasant detachments operated in the Volga region, the Don, Kuban and the North Caucasus, in Belarus and Central Russia. The largest uprisings were the Tambov uprising of 1920-21 and the West Siberian uprising of 1921. In the spring of 1921, in large areas of the RSFSR, Soviet power in the countryside virtually ceased to exist. The wide scope of the peasant insurgency along with Kronstadt uprising 1921 forced the Bolsheviks to replace the policy of “war communism” with the NEP (March 1921). However, the main centers of uprising were suppressed by Soviet troops only in the summer of 1921 (individual detachments continued resistance until 1923). In some areas, for example in the Volga region, the uprisings ceased due to the famine that broke out in 1921.


Results of the civil war. As a result of 5 years of armed struggle, the Soviet republics united most of the territory of the former Russian Empire (with the exception of Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bessarabia, Western Ukraine and Western Belarus). The main reason for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the civil war was the support of the bulk of the population for their slogans (“Peace to the peoples!”, “Land to the peasants!”, “Factories to the workers!”, “All power to the Soviets!”) and decrees (especially the Decree on Land ), as well as the strategic advantages of their position, the pragmatic policy of the Soviet leadership and the fragmentation of the forces of opponents of Soviet power. Control over both capitals (Petrograd, Moscow) and the central regions of the country gave the SNK the opportunity to rely on large human resources (where, even at the time of the greatest advance of the Bolshevik opponents, about 60 million people lived) to replenish the Red Army; use the military reserves of the former Russian army and a relatively developed communications system, which made it possible to quickly transfer troops to the most threatened sectors of the front. Anti-Bolshevik forces were divided territorially and politically. They were unable to develop a unified political platform (the “white” officers for the most part were in favor of a monarchical system, and the Socialist Revolutionary governments were in favor of a republican one), as well as agree on the time of their offensives and, due to their peripheral location, were forced to use the help of the Cossacks and national governments, which did not supported the plans of the “whites” to recreate a “united and indivisible Russia.” Assistance to the anti-Bolshevik forces from foreign powers was insufficient to help them achieve a decisive advantage over the enemy. The mass peasant movement directed against Soviet power, not coinciding with the main battles of the civil war, could not overthrow the Bolshevik power due to its defensive strategy, uncoordinated actions and limited goals.

During the civil war, the Soviet state created powerful armed forces (by November 1920 numbered over 5.4 million people) with a clear organizational structure and centralized leadership, in whose ranks about 75 thousand officers and generals of the former Russian army served (about 30% of its strength) officers), whose experience and knowledge played an important role in the victories of the Red Army on the fronts of the civil war. The most distinguished among them were I. I. Vatsetis, A. I. Egorov, S. S. Kamenev, F. K. Mironov, M. N. Tukhachevsky and others. Soldiers, sailors and non-commissioned officers of the former Russian army became skilled military leaders: V. K. Blyukher, S. M. Budyonny, G. I. Kotovsky, F. F. Raskolnikov, V. I. Chapaev and others, as well as M. V. Frunze, I. E. Yakir who did not have a military education etc. The maximum number (by mid-1919) of the White armies was about 600 (according to other sources, about 300) thousand people. Among the military leaders of the White movement, generals M.V. Alekseev, P.N. Wrangel, A.I. Denikin, A.I. Dutov, L.G. Kornilov, E.K. Miller, G. played a prominent role in the civil war. M. Semenov, Ya. A. Slashchev, N. N. Yudenich, Admiral A. V. Kolchak and others.

The civil war brought enormous material and human losses. It completed the collapse of the economy that began during the First World War (industrial production by 1920 was 4-20% of the 1913 level, agricultural production was almost halved). The financial system of the state turned out to be completely disorganized: over 2 thousand types of banknotes were in circulation on the territory of Russia during the civil war. The most striking indicator of the crisis was the famine of 1921-22, which affected over 30 million people. Massive malnutrition and associated epidemics caused high mortality. The irretrievable losses of the Soviet troops (killed, died from wounds, went missing, did not return from captivity, etc.) amounted to about 940 thousand people, medical losses - about 6.8 million people; their opponents (according to incomplete data) lost over 225 thousand people in killed alone. The total number of deaths during the civil war, according to different estimates, ranged from 10 to 17 million people, and the share of military losses did not exceed 20%. Under the influence of the civil war, up to 2 million people emigrated from the country (see the section “Emigration” in the volume “Russia”). The civil war caused the destruction of traditional economic and social ties, the archaization of society and aggravated the foreign political isolation of the country. Under the influence of the civil war, they formed characteristic features Soviet political system: centralization public administration and the violent suppression of internal opposition.

Lit.: Denikin A.I. Essays on Russian Troubles: In 5 volumes. Paris, 1921-1926. M., 2006. T. 1-3; Directives of the command of the fronts of the Red Army (1917-1922). M., 1971-1978. T. 1-4; Civil war in the USSR: In 2 vols. M., 1980-1986; Civil war and military intervention in the USSR: Encyclopedia. 2nd ed. M., 1987; Kavtaradze A. G. Military specialists in the service of the Republic of Soviets. 1917-1920. M., 1988; Kakurin N. E. How the Revolution Fought: In 2 volumes, 2nd ed. M., 1990; Brovkin V.N. Behind the front lines of the Civil war: political parties and social movements in Russia, 1918-1922. Princeton, 1994; Civil War in Russia: Crossroads of Opinions. M., 1994; Mawdsley E. The Russian Civil war. Edinburgh, 2000.

It is very difficult to reconcile the “whites” and “reds” in our history. Each position has its own truth. After all, only 100 years ago they fought for it. The fight was fierce, brother went against brother, father against son. For some, the heroes will be the Budennovites of the First Cavalry, for others - the Kappel volunteers. The only people who are wrong are those who, hiding behind their position on the Civil War, are trying to erase a whole piece of Russian history from the past. Anyone who draws too far-reaching conclusions about the “anti-people character” of the Bolshevik government denies all Soviet era, all her accomplishments - and ultimately slides into outright Russophobia.

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Civil war in Russia - armed confrontation in 1917-1922. between different political, ethnic, social groups and state entities on the territory of the former Russian Empire, following the Bolsheviks' rise to power as a result of the October Revolution of 1917. The Civil War was the result of the revolutionary crisis that struck Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, which began with the revolution of 1905-1907, aggravated during the world war, economic devastation, deep social, national, political and ideological split Russian society. The apogee of this split was the fierce war throughout the country between Soviet and anti-Bolshevik armed forces. The civil war ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks.

The main struggle for power during the Civil War was waged between the armed formations of the Bolsheviks and their supporters (Red Guard and Red Army) on the one hand and the armed formations of the White movement (White Army) on the other, which was reflected in the persistent naming of the main parties to the conflict as “Reds”. " and "white".

For the Bolsheviks, who relied primarily on the organized industrial proletariat, suppressing the resistance of their opponents was the only way to maintain power in a peasant country. For many participants in the White movement - officers, Cossacks, intelligentsia, landowners, bourgeoisie, bureaucracy and clergy - armed resistance to the Bolsheviks was aimed at returning lost power and restoring their socio-economic rights and privileges. All these groups were the top of the counter-revolution, its organizers and inspirers. Officers and the village bourgeoisie created the first cadres of white troops.

The decisive factor during the Civil War was the position of the peasantry, who made up more than 80% of the population, which ranged from passive wait-and-see to active armed struggle. The fluctuations of the peasantry, which reacted in this way to the policies of the Bolshevik government and the dictatorships of the white generals, radically changed the balance of forces and, ultimately, predetermined the outcome of the war. First of all, we are, of course, talking about the middle peasantry. In some areas (Volga region, Siberia), these fluctuations raised the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks to power, and sometimes contributed to the advancement of the White Guards deeper into Soviet territory. However, as the Civil War progressed, the middle peasantry leaned towards Soviet power. The middle peasants saw from experience that the transfer of power to the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks inevitably leads to an undisguised dictatorship of the generals, which, in turn, inevitably leads to the return of the landowners and the restoration of pre-revolutionary relations. The strength of the middle peasants' hesitation towards Soviet power was especially evident in the combat effectiveness of the White and Red armies. White armies were essentially combat-ready only as long as they were more or less homogeneous in class terms. When, as the front expanded and moved forward, the White Guards resorted to mobilizing the peasantry, they inevitably lost their combat effectiveness and collapsed. And vice versa, the Red Army was constantly strengthening, and the mobilized middle peasant masses of the village staunchly defended Soviet power from counter-revolution.

The base of the counter-revolution in the countryside was the kulaks, especially after the organization of the poor committees and the beginning of a decisive struggle for bread. The kulaks were interested in the liquidation of large landowner farms only as competitors in the exploitation of the poor and middle peasantry, whose departure opened the door for the kulaks broad prospects. The struggle of the kulaks against the proletarian revolution took place in the form of participation in the White Guard armies, and in the form of organizing their own detachments, and in the form of a broad insurrectionary movement in the rear of the revolution under various national, class, religious, even anarchist, slogans. Characteristic feature The civil war was the willingness of all its participants to widely use violence to achieve their political goals (see “Red Terror” and “White Terror”)

An integral part of the Civil War was armed struggle national outskirts of the former Russian Empire for their independence and the insurgency of broad sections of the population against the troops of the main warring parties - the “Reds” and the “Whites”. Attempts to declare independence provoked resistance both from the “whites,” who fought for a “united and indivisible Russia,” and from the “reds,” who saw the growth of nationalism as a threat to the gains of the revolution.

The civil war unfolded in the context of foreign military intervention and was accompanied by military operations on the territory of the former Russian Empire by both troops of the countries of the Quadruple Alliance and troops of the Entente countries. The motives for the active intervention of the leading Western powers were to realize their own economic and political interests in Russia and to assist the Whites in order to eliminate Bolshevik power. Although the capabilities of the interventionists were limited by the socio-economic crisis and political struggle in the Western countries themselves, the intervention and material assistance to the white armies significantly influenced the course of the war.

The civil war was fought not only on the territory of the former Russian Empire, but also on the territory of neighboring states - Iran (Anzel operation), Mongolia and China.

Arrest of the emperor and his family. Nicholas II with his wife in Alexander Park. Tsarskoye Selo. May 1917

Arrest of the emperor and his family. Daughters of Nicholas II and his son Alexei. May 1917

Lunch of the Red Army soldiers by the fire. 1919

Armored train of the Red Army. 1918

Bulla Viktor Karlovich

Civil War Refugees
1919

Distribution of bread for 38 wounded Red Army soldiers. 1918

Red squad. 1919

Ukrainian front.

Exhibition of Civil War trophies near the Kremlin, timed to coincide with the Second Congress of the Communist International

Civil war. Eastern Front. Armored train of the 6th regiment of the Czechoslovak Corps. Attack on Maryanovka. June 1918

Steinberg Yakov Vladimirovich

Red commanders of a regiment of rural poor. 1918

Soldiers of Budyonny's First Cavalry Army at a rally
January 1920

Otsup Petr Adolfovich

Funeral of the victims of the February Revolution
March 1917

July events in Petrograd. Soldiers of the Samokatny Regiment, who arrived from the front to suppress the rebellion. July 1917

Work at the site of a train crash after an anarchist attack. January 1920

Red commander in the new office. January 1920

Commander-in-Chief of the troops Lavr Kornilov. 1917

Chairman of the Provisional Government Alexander Kerensky. 1917

Commander of the 25th rifle division Red Army Vasily Chapaev (right) and commander Sergei Zakharov. 1918

Sound recording of Vladimir Lenin's speech in the Kremlin. 1919

Vladimir Lenin in Smolny at a meeting of the Council people's commissars. January 1918

February revolution. Checking documents on Nevsky Prospekt
February 1917

Fraternization of soldiers of General Lavr Kornilov with the troops of the Provisional Government. 1 - 30 August 1917

Steinberg Yakov Vladimirovich

Military intervention in Soviet Russia. Command staff of White Army units with representatives of foreign troops

The station in Yekaterinburg after the capture of the city by units of the Siberian Army and the Czechoslovak Corps. 1918

Demolition of the monument Alexander III at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior

Political workers at the headquarters car. Western Front. Voronezh direction

Military portrait

Date of filming: 1917 - 1919

In the hospital laundry. 1919

Ukrainian front.

Sisters of mercy of the Kashirin partisan detachment. Evdokia Aleksandrovna Davydova and Taisiya Petrovna Kuznetsova. 1919

In the summer of 1918, the detachments of the Red Cossacks Nikolai and Ivan Kashirin became part of the combined South Ural partisan detachment of Vasily Blucher, who carried out a raid in the mountains of the Southern Urals. Having united near Kungur in September 1918 with units of the Red Army, the partisans fought as part of the troops of the 3rd Army of the Eastern Front. After reorganization in January 1920, these troops became known as the Army of Labor, whose goal was to restore national economy Chelyabinsk province.

Red commander Anton Boliznyuk, wounded thirteen times

Mikhail Tukhachevsky

Grigory Kotovsky
1919

At the entrance to the building of the Smolny Institute - the headquarters of the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution. 1917

Medical examination of workers mobilized into the Red Army. 1918

On the boat "Voronezh"

Red Army soldiers in a city liberated from the whites. 1919

Overcoats of the 1918 model, which came into use during the Civil War, initially in Budyonny’s army, were preserved with minor changes until military reform 1939. The cart is equipped with a Maxim machine gun.

July events in Petrograd. Funeral of the Cossacks who died during the suppression of the rebellion. 1917

Pavel Dybenko and Nestor Makhno. November - December 1918

Workers of the supply department of the Red Army

Koba / Joseph Stalin. 1918

On May 29, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR appointed Joseph Stalin responsible in the south of Russia and sent him as an extraordinary commissioner of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee for the procurement of grain from the North Caucasus to industrial centers.

Defense of Tsaritsyn - military campaign"Red" troops against "White" troops for control of the city of Tsaritsyn during the Russian Civil War.

People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the RSFSR Leon Trotsky greets soldiers near Petrograd
1919

Commander of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, General Anton Denikin and Ataman of the Great Don Army Afrikan Bogaevsky at a solemn prayer service on the occasion of the liberation of the Don from the Red Army troops
June - August 1919

General Radola Gaida and Admiral Alexander Kolchak (from left to right) with officers of the White Army
1919

Alexander Ilyich Dutov - ataman of the Orenburg Cossack army

In 1918, Alexander Dutov (1864–1921) declared the new government criminal and illegal, organized armed Cossack squads, which became the base of the Orenburg (southwestern) army. Most of the White Cossacks were in this army. Dutov's name first became known in August 1917, when he was an active participant in the Kornilov rebellion. After this, Dutov was sent by the Provisional Government to Orenburg province, where already in the fall he strengthened himself in Troitsk and Verkhneuralsk. His power lasted until April 1918.

Street children
1920s

Soshalsky Georgy Nikolaevich

Street children transport the city archive. 1920s

When considering the phenomenon of the Civil War in Russia 1917-1923. quite often one can come across a simplified view, according to which there were only two warring parties: “red” and “white”. In reality, everything is somewhat more complicated. In reality, at least six parties took part in the war, each of which pursued its own interests.

What kind of parties were these, what interests did they represent, and what would be the fate of Russia if these parties won? Let's consider this issue in more detail.

1. Reds. For the working people!

The first side can rightfully be called the “Reds”. The red movement itself was not entirely homogeneous, but of all the warring parties, it was precisely this feature - relative homogeneity - that was characteristic of them to the greatest extent. The Red Army represented the interests of the legitimate government at that time, namely the state structures that emerged after the October Revolution of 1917. To call this government “Bolshevik” is not entirely correct, because at that time, the Bolsheviks and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries acted as essentially a united front. If desired, one can find a significant number of Left SRs both in leadership positions in the state apparatus and in command (and private) positions in the Red Army (not to mention the earlier Red Guard). However, a similar desire arose later among the party leadership, and those of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries who did not have time or (due to short-sightedness) did not fundamentally move to the camp of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) suffered a sad fate. But this goes beyond the scope of our material, because... refers to the period after the end of the Civil War. Returning to the Reds as a side, we can say that it was their cohesion (the absence of serious internal contradictions, a single strategic view and unity of command) and legitimacy (and, as a consequence, the ability to conduct mass conscription) that ultimately brought them victory.

2. White. For the faith, the Tsar... or the Constituent Assembly? Or Directory? Or…

The second side of the conflict can be confidently called what is called “white”. In fact, the White Guard as such, unlike the Reds, was not a homogeneous movement. Does everyone remember the scene from the movie “The Elusive Avengers”, when one of the characters makes a monarchist statement in a restaurant filled with representatives of the White movement? Immediately after this statement, a brawl breaks out in the restaurant, caused by the difference. political views public. There are shouts of “Long live the Constituent Assembly!”, “Long live the Free Republic!” etc. The White movement really did not have a single political program and any long-term goals, and the unifying idea was the idea of ​​the military defeat of the Reds. It is believed that in the (unlikely) case military victory whites in the form in which they wanted it (i.e., the overthrow of Lenin’s government), the Civil War would have continued for many more decades, because lovers and connoisseurs of “Schubert’s waltzes and French bread crunches” would have immediately grabbed the throats of the “justice seekers” with their idea of ​​a Constituent Assembly, who, in turn, would gladly “tickle with bayonets” supporters of a military dictatorship a la Kolchak, who were politically allergic to French rolls under Schubert.

3. Green. Beat the whites until they turn red, beat the reds until they turn black, and at the same time plunder the loot

The third side of the conflict, which only specialists and a few enthusiasts of the topic now remember, is the force for which war, especially civil war, is real nutrient medium. This refers to the “rats of war” - various gangs, the whole purpose of which essentially boils down to armed robbery of civilians. What is characteristic is that during that war so many of these “rats” bred that they even got their own color, like the two main sides. Since the bulk of these “rats” were army deserters (who wore uniforms), and their main habitat was vast forests, they were called “greens”. Typically, the Greens did not have any ideology other than the slogan of “expropriation of the expropriated” (and often simply the expropriation of everything that can be reached), the only exception being the Makhnovist movement, which gave its activities the ideological basis of anarchism. There are known cases of cooperation between the Greens and other parties - both with the Reds (by mid-1919 the armed forces of the Soviet Republic were called the “Workers' and Peasants' Red-Green Army”) and with the Whites. It is worth mentioning Father Makhno again with the famous phrase “Beat the whites until they turn red, beat the reds until they turn black.” Makhno had a BLACK flag, despite his character belonging to the green movement. In addition to Makhno, if you wish, you can recall a dozen field commanders green. Typically, most of them were active in Ukraine and nowhere else.

4. Separatists of all stripes. Bukhara Emir Akbar and Ukraine for Vilna in one bottle

Unlike the greens, this category of citizens even had an ideological basis, and a single one - nationalist. Naturally, the first representatives of this force were citizens living in Poland and Finland, and after them were bearers of the ideas of “Ukrainianism” carefully nurtured by the Austro-Hungarians, who most often did not even know Ukrainian language. This movement in Ukraine reached such an epic intensity that it was not even able to organize itself into something whole, and existed in the form of two groups - the UPR and the Western Ukrainian People's Republic, and if the first were at least somehow capable of agreement, the second differed from the greens approximately like Dzhebhat an -Nusra (banned on the territory of the Russian Federation) from ISIS (banned on the territory of the Russian Federation), that is, they simply smelled a little differently ideologically, and they cut off the heads of the civilian population in the same way. Somewhat later (when Turkey came to its senses after the British campaign in BV), citizens of this category appeared in Central Asia, and their ideology was closer to the greens. But still, they had their own ideological basis (what is now called religious extremism). The fate of all these citizens is the same - the Red Army came and reconciled everyone. With destiny.

5. Entente. God Save the Queen in the name of Mikado

Let's not forget that the Civil War was essentially part of the First World War - at least, it coincided in time. It means that the Entente is at war with the Triple Entente, and then bam - a revolution in the largest power of the Entente. Naturally, the rest of the Entente has a number of natural questions, the first of which is “Why not take a bite?” And they decided to take a bite. If you think that the Entente was exclusively on the side of the Whites, then you are deeply mistaken - it was on its own side, and the Entente troops, like other parties, fought against everyone else, and did not support one of the above forces. The Entente's real assistance to the Whites consisted only in the supply of military material assets, primarily uniforms and food (not even ammunition). The fact is that the leadership of the Entente countries until the end of the Civil War had not decided which of the shades of white was more legitimate and who specifically (Kolchak? Yudenich? Denikin? Wrangel? Ungern?) should really be supported militarily. As a result, the Entente troops were represented during the war by, let’s say, limited expeditionary contingents, which behaved exactly the same as the green ones, but at the same time wore foreign uniform and insignia.

6. Germany and the allied (bayonet to rifle) Austria-Hungary. Gott mit...

Continuing the theme of the First World War. Germany unexpectedly (and perhaps expectedly: there are various rumors about the financing of a number of political forces in Russia of that period) discovered that for some reason enemy troops on the Eastern Front were deserting en masse, and the new Russian government was very eager to make peace and get out of the adventure called First World War. Peace was soon concluded, and German troops occupied the territories occupied by the citizens from paragraph 4. True, not for long. Nevertheless, they managed to take part in combat operations with almost all of the forces listed above.

And what is characteristic is that this state of affairs, namely the many warring parties, always develops during any civil war, and not just the war of 1917-23.

After the October Revolution, a tense socio-political situation developed in the country. The establishment of Soviet power in the fall of 1917 - spring of 1918 was accompanied by many anti-Bolshevik protests in different regions of Russia, but they were all scattered and local in nature. At first, only certain, small groups of the population were drawn into them. A large-scale struggle, in which huge masses from various social strata joined on both sides, marked the development of the Civil War - a general social armed confrontation.

In historiography there is no consensus on the time of the start of the Civil War. Some historians attribute it to October 1917, others to the spring and summer of 1918, when strong political and well-organized anti-Soviet pockets emerged and foreign intervention began. Historians also argue about who was responsible for the outbreak of this fratricidal war: representatives of classes that lost power, property and influence; the Bolshevik leadership, which imposed its method of transforming society on the country; or both of these socio-political forces that were used by the masses in the struggle for power.

The overthrow of the Provisional Government and the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly, the economic and socio-political measures of the Soviet government set the nobles, bourgeoisie, wealthy intelligentsia, clergy, and officers against it. The discrepancy between the goals of transforming society and the methods for achieving them alienated the democratic intelligentsia, Cossacks, kulaks and middle peasants from the Bolsheviks. Thus, domestic politics Bolshevik leadership was one of the reasons for the Civil War.

The nationalization of all land and the confiscation of the landowners caused fierce resistance from its former owners. The bourgeoisie, confused by the scale of nationalization of industry, wanted to return factories and factories. The liquidation of commodity-money relations and the establishment of a state monopoly on the distribution of products and goods hit hard the property status of the middle and petty bourgeoisie. Thus, the desire of the overthrown classes to preserve private property and their privileged position as monks was the reason for the outbreak of the Civil War.

The creation of a one-party political system and the “dictatorship of the proletariat”, in fact the dictatorship of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), alienated the socialist parties and democratic ones from the Bolsheviks public organizations. With the decrees “On the arrest of the leaders of the Civil War against the Revolution” (November 1917) and on the “Red Terror”, the Bolshevik leadership legally substantiated the “right” to violent reprisals against their Political opponents. Therefore, the Mensheviks, right and left Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists refused to cooperate with new government and took part in the Civil War.

The uniqueness of the Civil War in Russia lay in the close intertwining of the internal political struggle with foreign intervention. Both Germany and the Entente allies incited the anti-Bolshevik forces, supplied them with weapons, ammunition, and provided financial and political support. On the one hand, their policy was dictated by the desire to end the Bolshevik regime and return lost property foreign citizens, to prevent the “spreading” of the revolution. On the other hand, they pursued their own expansionist plans aimed at dismembering Russia and gaining new territories and spheres of influence at its expense.

Civil War in 1918

In 1918, the main centers of the anti-Bolshevik movement, different in their socio-political composition, were formed. In February, the “Union for the Revival of Russia” arose in Moscow and Petrograd, uniting cadets, Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. In March 1918, the “Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom” was formed under the leadership of the famous Socialist Revolutionary, terrorist B.V. Savinkov. A strong anti-Bolshevik movement developed among the Cossacks. On the Don and Kuban they were led by General P. N. Krasnov, on Southern Urals- Ataman A.I. Dutov. In the south of Russia and the North Caucasus under the leadership of generals M.V. Alekseev and L.I. Kornilov, the officer Volunteer Army began to form. It became the basis of the White movement. After the death of L. G. Kornilov, General A. I. Denikin took command.

In the spring of 1918, foreign intervention began. German troops occupied Ukraine, Crimea and part of the North Caucasus. Romania captured Bessarabia. The Entente countries signed an agreement on non-recognition of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty and the future division of Russia into spheres of influence. In March, an English expeditionary force was landed in Murmansk, which was later joined by French and American troops. In April, Vladivostok was occupied by a Japanese landing. Then detachments of the British, French and Americans appeared in the Far East.

In May 1918, soldiers of the Czechoslovak corps rebelled. It gathered prisoners of war Slavs from the Austro-Hungarian army, who expressed a desire to participate in the war against Germany on the side of the Entente. The corps was sent by the Soviet government to Trans-Siberian Railway to the Far East. It was assumed that it would then be delivered to France. The uprising led to the overthrow of Soviet power in the Volga region and Siberia. In Samara, Ufa and Omsk, governments were created from Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. Their activities were based on the idea of ​​reviving the Constituent Assembly and were expressed in opposition to both the Bolsheviks and the far-right monarchists. These governments did not last long and were swept away during the Civil War.

In the summer of 1918, the anti-Bolshevik movement led by the Socialist Revolutionaries acquired enormous proportions. They organized performances in many cities of Central Russia (Yaroslavl, Rybinsk, etc.). On July 6-7, the Left Social Revolutionaries attempted to overthrow the Soviet government in Moscow. It ended in complete failure. As a result, many of their leaders were arrested. Representatives of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries who opposed the Bolshevik policies were expelled from Soviets at all levels and government bodies.

The complication of the military-political situation in the country influenced the fate of the imperial family. In the spring of 1918, Nicholas II with his wife and children, under the pretext of intensifying the monarchists, was transferred from Tobolsk to Yekaterinburg. Having coordinated its actions with the center, the Ural Regional Council on July 16, 1918 shot the Tsar and his family. On the same days, the Tsar's brother Mikhail and 18 other members of the imperial family were killed.

Soviet government took active measures to protect its power. The Red Army was transformed on new military-political principles. A transition to universal conscription was carried out, and widespread mobilization was launched. Strict discipline was established in the army, and the institution of military commissars was introduced. Organizational measures to strengthen the Red Army were completed by the creation of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (RVSR) and the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense.

In June 1918, the Eastern Front was formed under the command of I. I. Vatsetis (since July 1919 - S. S. Kamenev) against the rebellious Czechoslovak corps and the anti-Soviet forces of the Urals and Siberia. At the beginning of September 1918, the Red Army went on the offensive and during October - November drove the enemy beyond the Urals. The restoration of Soviet power in the Urals and Volga region ended the first stage of the Civil War.

Exacerbation of the Civil War

At the end of 1918 - beginning of 1919, the white movement reached its maximum extent. In Siberia, power was seized by Admiral A.V. Kolchak, who was declared the “Supreme Ruler of Russia.” In the Kuban and North Caucasus, A.I. Denikin united the Don and Volunteer armies into the Armed Forces of Southern Russia. In the north, with the help of the Entente, General E. K. Miller formed his army. In the Baltic states, General N.N. Yudenich was preparing for a campaign against Petrograd. Since November 1918, after the end of the First World War, the Allies increased assistance to the White movement, supplying it with ammunition, uniforms, tanks, and aircraft. The scale of intervention has expanded. The British occupied Baku and landed in Batum and Novorossiysk, the French in Odessa and Sevastopol.

In November 1918, A.V. Kolchak launched an offensive in the Urals with the aim of uniting with the troops of General E.K. Miller and organizing a joint attack on Moscow. Once again the Eastern Front became the main one. On December 25, A.V. Kolchak’s troops took Perm, but already on December 31, their offensive was stopped by the Red Army. In the east, the front has temporarily stabilized.

In 1919, a plan was created for a simultaneous attack on Soviet power: from the east (A.V. Kolchak), south (A.I. Denikin) and west (N.N. Yudenich). However, the combined performance failed.

In March 1919, A.V. Kolchak launched a new offensive from the Urals towards the Volga. In April, the troops of S.S. Kamenev and M.V. Frunze stopped him, and in the summer they pushed him out to Siberia. Powerful peasant revolt And partisan movement against the government of A.V. Kolchak helped the Red Army establish Soviet power in Siberia. In February 1920, by verdict of the Irkutsk Revolutionary Committee, Admiral A.V. Kolchak was shot.

In May 1919, when the Red Army was winning decisive victories in the east, N. N. Yudenich moved to Petrograd. In June he was stopped and his troops were thrown back to Estonia, where the bourgeoisie came to power. N.N. Yudenich’s second attack on Petrograd in October 1919 also ended in defeat. His troops were disarmed and interned by the Estonian government, which did not want to come into conflict with Soviet Russia, which offered to recognize Estonia's independence.

In July 1919, A.I. Denikin captured Ukraine and, having carried out a din of mobilization, launched an attack on Moscow (Moscow Directive). In September, his troops occupied Kursk, Orel and Voronezh. In connection with this, the Soviet government concentrated all its forces on the fight against A. . I. Denikin. The Southern Front was formed under the command of A.I. Egorov. In October, the Red Army went on the offensive. She was supported by the insurgent peasant movement led by N.I. Makhno, who deployed a “second front” in the rear of the Volunteer Army. In December 1919 - early 1920, the troops of A.I. Denikin were defeated. Soviet power was restored in southern Russia, Ukraine and the North Caucasus. The remnants of the Volunteer Army took refuge on the Crimean Peninsula, the command of which A. I. Denikin transferred to General P. N. Wrangel.

In 1919, revolutionary ferment began in the Allied occupation units, intensified by Bolshevik propaganda. The interventionists were forced to withdraw their troops. This was facilitated by powerful social movement in Europe and the USA under the slogan “Hands off Soviet Russia!”

The final stage of the Civil War

In 1920, the main events were the Soviet-Polish war and the fight against P. N. Wrangel. Having recognized the independence of Poland, the Soviet government began negotiations with it on territorial demarcation and establishment of the state border. They reached a dead end, as the Polish government, headed by Marshal J. Pilsudski, made exorbitant territorial claims. To restore “Greater Poland,” Polish troops invaded Belarus and Ukraine in May and captured Kyiv. The Red Army under the command of M. N. Tukhachevsky and A. I. Egorov in July 1920 defeated the Polish group in Ukraine and Belarus. The attack on Warsaw began. It was perceived by the Polish people as an intervention. In this regard, all the forces of the Poles, financially supported by Western countries, were aimed at resisting the Red Army. In August, M. N. Tukhachevsky’s offensive stalled. The Soviet-Polish war ended with peace signed in Riga in March 1921. According to it, Poland received the lands of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. In Eastern Belarus, the power of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic remained.

Since April 1920, the anti-Soviet struggle was led by General P. N. Wrangel, elected “ruler of the south of Russia.” He formed the “Russian Army” in Crimea, which launched an offensive against Donbass in June. To repel it, the Southern Front was formed under the command of M.V. Frunze. At the end of October, the troops of P.I. Wrangel were defeated in Northern Tavria and pushed back to the Crimea. In November, units of the Red Army stormed the fortifications of the Perekop Isthmus, crossed Lake Sivash and broke into Crimea. The defeat of P. N. Wrangel marked the end of the Civil War. The remnants of his troops and part of the civilian population opposed to Soviet power were evacuated with the help of the allies to Turkey. In November 1920, the Civil War effectively ended. There remained only isolated pockets of resistance to Soviet power on the outskirts of Russia.

In 1920, with the support of the troops of the Turkestan Front (under the command of M.V. Frunze), the power of the Bukhara emir and the Khan of Khiva was overthrown. The Bukhara and Khorezm People's Soviet Republics were formed on the territory of Central Asia. In Transcaucasia, Soviet power was established as a result of the military intervention of the government of the RSFSR, material and moral-political assistance from the Central Committee of the RCP (b). In April 1920, the Musavat government was overthrown and the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic was formed. In November 1920, after the liquidation of the power of the Dashnaks, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic was created. In February 1921, Soviet troops, violating the peace treaty with the government of Georgia (May 1920), captured Tiflis, where the creation of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed. In April 1920, by decision of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) and the government of the RSFSR, a buffer Far Eastern Republic was created, and in 1922 the Far East was finally liberated from the Japanese occupiers. Thus, in the territory of the former Russian Empire (with the exception of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Finland), Soviet power won.

The Bolsheviks won the Civil War and repelled foreign intervention. They managed to preserve the bulk of the territory of the former Russian Empire. At the same time, Poland, Finland, and the Baltic states separated from Russia and gained independence. Western Ukraine, Western Belarus and Bessarabia were lost.

Reasons for the Bolshevik victory

The defeat of the anti-Soviet forces was due to a number of reasons. Their leaders canceled the Decree on Land and returned the land to the previous owners. This turned the peasants against them. The slogan of preserving a “united and indivisible Russia” contradicted the hopes of many peoples for independence. Reluctance of leaders white movement collaborating with liberal and socialist parties narrowed its socio-political base. Punitive expeditions, pogroms, mass executions of prisoners, widespread violation of legal norms - all this caused discontent among the population, even to the point of armed resistance. During the Civil War, opponents of the Bolsheviks failed to agree on a single program and a single leader of the movement. Their actions were poorly coordinated.

The Bolsheviks won the Civil War because they managed to mobilize all the country's resources and turn it into a single military camp. The Central Committee of the RCP(b) and the Council of People's Commissars created a politicized Red Army, ready to defend Soviet power. Various social groups were attracted by loud revolutionary slogans and the promise of social and national justice. The Bolshevik leadership managed to present itself as a defender of the Fatherland and accuse its opponents of treason national interests. Great value had international solidarity, assistance from the proletariat of Europe and the USA.

The civil war was a terrible disaster for Russia. It led to a further deterioration of the economic situation in the country, to complete economic ruin. Material damage amounted to more than 50 billion rubles. gold. Industrial production decreased by 7 times. The transport system was completely paralyzed. Many segments of the population, forcibly drawn into the war by the warring parties, became its innocent victims. In battles, from hunger, disease and terror, 8 million people died, 2 million people were forced to emigrate. Among them were many representatives of the intellectual elite. Irreparable moral and ethical losses had deep socio-cultural consequences that affected the history of the Soviet country for a long time.