Russian Civil War

The Russian Civil War was fought between 1918 and 1922. Following the success of the Russian Revolution, the new Russian (Bolshevik) government made peace with Germany at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, ratified on March 6 1918. This negotiated peace was the only option because the Russian army was in a chaotic and undisciplined state when the Germans advanced in February 1918, although the old Russian army had been re-organized in January into the "Workers' and Peasants' Red Army".

Overview

The war was fought mainly between the "Reds" who were the communists and revolutionaries, and the "Whites" who were the monarchists, conservatives, liberals and socialists who opposed the Bolshevik Revolution. Also, a group of nationalist and anarchist movements known as the "Greens", or sometimes the Black Army for the latter, played a much smaller part in the war, harrying both the Reds and the Whites, and sometimes even each other. In addition, the Entente and some other countries intervened on the side of the Whites, which aggravated the civil war.

Related Topics:
"Whites" - Anarchist - "Greens" - Black Army - Entente

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The war was fought across three main fronts — the eastern, the southern and the northwestern. It can also be roughly split into three periods.

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The first period lasted from the Revolution until the Armistice. The conflict began with dissenting Russian groups, the main force was the newly formed Volunteer Army in the Don region which was joined later by the Czecho-Slovak Legion in Siberia. In the east there were also two anti-Bolshevik administrations, Komuch in Samara and the nationalist Siberian government centred in Omsk.

Related Topics:
Volunteer Army - Don - Czecho-Slovak Legion - Siberia - Komuch - Samara - Omsk

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Most of the fighting in this first period was sporadic, involving only small groups amid a fluid and rapidly shifting strategic scene. Among the antagonists were the Czecho-Slovaks, known simply as the Czech Legion or White Czechs (????????, Byelochekhi), the Poles of the Polish 5th Rifle Division and the pro-Bolshevik Red Latvian riflemen (??????? ????????? ???????,Krasnye Latyshskiye strelki).

Related Topics:
Czech Legion - Polish 5th Rifle Division - Red Latvian riflemen

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The second period of the war was the key stage, which lasted only from March to November 1919. At first the White armies' advances from the south (under Anton Denikin), the northwest (under Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich) and the east (under Aleksandr Vasilevich Kolchak) were successful, pushing back the new Red Army and advancing towards Moscow. But Leon Trotsky reformed the Red Army, which pushed back Kolchak's forces (in June) and Denikin's and Yudenich's armies (in October). The fighting power of Kolchak and Denikin was broken almost simultaneously in mid-November.

Related Topics:
1919 - Anton Denikin - Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich - Aleksandr Vasilevich Kolchak - Moscow - Leon Trotsky

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The final period of the war was the extended siege of the last White forces in the Crimea. Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel had gathered the remnants of the armies of Denikin and they had fortified their positions in the Crimea. They held these positions until the Red Army returned from Poland where they had been fighting the Polish-Soviet war from 1919 or earlier. When the full force of the Red Army was turned on them the Whites were soon overwhelmed, and the remaining troops were evacuated to Constantinople in November 1920.

Related Topics:
Crimea - Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel - Poland - Polish-Soviet war - Constantinople - 1920

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