During the civil war. Jewish pogroms during the Russian Civil War

The Civil War is one of the bloodiest conflicts in the history of the Russian people. For many decades, the Russian Empire demanded reforms. Seizing the moment, the Bolsheviks seized power in the country by killing the tsar. Supporters of the monarchy did not plan to cede influence and created the White movement, which was supposed to return the old state system. The fighting on the territory of the empire changed the further development of the country - it turned into a socialist state under the rule of the communist party.

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Civil war in Russia (Russian Republic) in 1917-1922.

In short, the Civil War is a turning point that changed fate forever Russian people: its result was the victory over tsarism and the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks.

The civil war in Russia (the Russian Republic) took place between 1917 and 1922 between two opposing sides: supporters of the monarchy and its opponents, the Bolsheviks.

Features of the Civil War consisted in the fact that many foreign countries also took part in it, including France, Germany and Great Britain.

Important! The participants in the hostilities - white and red - during the Civil War destroyed the country, putting it on the verge of a political, economic and cultural crisis.

The civil war in Russia (Russian Republic) is one of the bloodiest in the 20th century, during which more than 20 million military and civilians died.

Fragmentation of the Russian Empire during the Civil War. September 1918.

Causes of the Civil War

Historians still do not agree on the causes of the Civil War, which took place from 1917 to 1922. Of course, everyone is of the opinion that the main reason is political, ethnic and social contradictions, which were never resolved during the mass protests of the Petrograd workers and military in February 1917.

As a result, the Bolsheviks came to power and carried out a number of reforms, which are considered to be the main prerequisites for the split of the country. At present, historians agree that The key reasons were:

• liquidation of the Constituent Assembly;
• way out by signing the Brest peace treaty, which is humiliating for the Russian people;
• pressure on the peasantry;
• the nationalization of all industrial enterprises and the elimination of private property, which caused a storm of discontent among people who lost their property.

Background of the Civil War in Russia (Russian Republic) (1917-1922):

• the formation of the Red and White movement;
• creation of the Red Army;
• local skirmishes between monarchists and Bolsheviks in 1917;
• execution of the royal family.

Stages of the Civil War

Attention! Most historians believe that the beginning of the Civil War should be dated 1917. Others deny this fact, since large-scale hostilities began to occur only in 1918.

Table the generally recognized stages of the Civil War are highlighted 1917-1922:

Civil War in Russia (Russian Republic) 1917-1922: briefly

In the period from December 1918 to the summer of 1919, the Reds and Whites converge in bloody battles, however until neither side gains an advantage.

In June 1919, the Reds seized the advantage, inflicting one defeat after another on the Whites. The Bolsheviks carry out reforms that appeal to the peasants, and therefore the Red Army gets even more recruits.

During this period there is an intervention from the countries of Western Europe. However, none of the foreign armies manage to win. By 1920, a huge part of the army of the White movement was defeated, and all their allies left the Republic.

In the next two years, the Reds advance to the east of the country, destroying one enemy grouping after another. It all ends when the admiral and the supreme commander of the White movement, Kolchak, are taken prisoner and executed.

The results of the civil war were catastrophic for the people

Results of the Civil War 1917-1922: briefly

I-IV periods of the war led to the complete ruin of the state. The results of the Civil War for the people were catastrophic: almost all enterprises lay in ruins, millions of people died.

In the Civil War, people died not only from bullets and bayonets - the strongest epidemics raged. According to foreign historians, taking into account the decline in the birth rate in the future, the Russian people lost about 26 million people.

Destroyed factories and mines brought industrial activity to a halt in the country. The working class began to starve and left the cities in search of food, usually going to the countryside. The level of industrial production fell by about 5 times compared to the pre-war level. Production volumes of cereals and other agricultural crops also fell by 45-50%.

On the other hand, the war was aimed at the intelligentsia, who owned real estate and other property. As a result, about 80% of the representatives of the intelligentsia class were destroyed, a small part took the side of the Reds, and the rest fled abroad.

Separately, it should be noted how results of the civil war loss by the state of the following territories:

• Poland;
• Latvia;
• Estonia;
• partly Ukraine;
• Belarus;
• Armenia;
• Bessarabia.

As already mentioned, the main feature of the Civil War is foreign intervention. The main reason why Britain, France and others interfered in the affairs of Russia is the fear of a worldwide socialist revolution.

In addition, the following features can be noted:

• during the hostilities, a confrontation unfolded between various parties that saw the future of the country in different ways;
• fighting took place between different sections of society;
• the national liberation character of the war;
• anarchist movement against reds and whites;
• peasant war against both regimes.

Tachanka from 1917 to 1922 was used as a means of transportation in Russia.

Participants in the Civil War (1917-1922)

T table of combat areas:

Generals of the Red and White Army in the Civil War:

Civil war at the end of 1918-1920

Conclusion

The civil war took place between 1917 and 1922. The fighting caused confrontation between the Bolsheviks and adherents of the monarchy.

Results of the Civil War:

• the victory of the Red Army and the Bolsheviks;
• collapse of the monarchy;
• economic ruin;
• the destruction of the intelligentsia class;
• creation of the USSR;
• deterioration of relations with the countries of Western Europe;
• political instability;
• peasant uprisings.

The civil war that took place in Russia from 1917 to 1922 was a bloody event, where in a brutal massacre brother went against brother, and relatives took up positions on opposite sides of the barricades. In this armed class clash on the vast territory of the former Russian Empire, the interests of opposing political structures intersected, conditionally divided into “reds” and “whites”. This struggle for power took place with the active support of foreign states that tried to extract their interests from this situation: Japan, Poland, Turkey, Romania wanted to annex part of the Russian territories, while other countries - the USA, France, Canada, Great Britain expected to receive tangible economic preferences.

As a result of such a bloody civil war, Russia turned into a weakened state, the economy and industry of which were in a state of complete ruin. But after the end of the war, the country adhered to the socialist course of development, and this influenced the course of history throughout the world.

Causes of the civil war in Russia

A civil war in any country is always caused by aggravated political, national, religious, economic and, of course, social contradictions. The territory of the former Russian Empire was no exception.

• Social inequality in Russian society has been accumulating for centuries, and at the beginning of the 20th century it reached its apogee, since the workers and peasants found themselves in an absolutely powerless position, and their working and living conditions were simply unbearable. The autocracy did not want to smooth out social contradictions and carry out any significant reforms. It was during this period that the revolutionary movement grew, which managed to lead the Bolshevik parties.
• Against the backdrop of the protracted First World War, all these contradictions became noticeably aggravated, which resulted in the February and October revolutions.
• As a result of the revolution in October 1917, the political system in the state changed, and the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia. But the overthrown classes could not reconcile themselves to the situation and made attempts to restore their former dominance.
• The establishment of Bolshevik power led to the rejection of the ideas of parliamentarism and the creation of a one-party system, which prompted the parties of the Cadets, Socialist-Revolutionaries, and Mensheviks to fight Bolshevism, that is, the struggle between the “Whites” and the “Reds” began.
• In the fight against the enemies of the revolution, the Bolsheviks used non-democratic measures - the establishment of a dictatorship, repression, the persecution of the opposition, the creation of emergency bodies. This, of course, caused discontent in society, and among those dissatisfied with the actions of the authorities were not only the intelligentsia, but also workers and peasants.
• The nationalization of land and industry caused resistance from the former owners, which led to terrorist actions on both sides.
• Despite the fact that Russia ceased its participation in the First World War in 1918, a powerful interventionist group was present on its territory, which actively supported the White Guard movement.

The course of the civil war in Russia

Before the start of the civil war, there were loosely interconnected regions on the territory of Russia: in some of them, Soviet power was firmly established, while others (south of Russia, the Chita region) were under the rule of independent governments. On the territory of Siberia, in general, one could count up to two dozen local governments, not only not recognizing the power of the Bolsheviks, but also at enmity with each other.

When the civil war began, then all the inhabitants had to decide, that is, to join the “whites” or “reds”.

The course of the civil war in Russia can be divided into several periods.

First period: October 1917 to May 1918

At the very beginning of the fratricidal war, the Bolsheviks had to suppress local armed rebellions in Petrograd, Moscow, Transbaikalia and the Don. It was at this time that a white movement was formed from those dissatisfied with the new government. In March, the young republic, after an unsuccessful war, concluded the shameful Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

Second period: June to November 1918

At this time, a full-scale civil war began: the Soviet Republic was forced to fight not only with internal enemies, but also with interventionists. As a result, most of the Russian territory was captured by enemies, and this threatened the existence of the young state. In the east of the country, Kolchak dominated, in the south Denikin, in the north Miller, and their armies tried to close the ring around the capital. The Bolsheviks, in turn, created the Red Army, which achieved its first military successes.

Third period: November 1918 to spring 1919

In November 1918, the First World War ended. Soviet power was established in the Ukrainian, Belarusian and Baltic territories. But already at the end of autumn, the Entente troops landed in the Crimea, Odessa, Batumi and Baku. But this military operation was not crowned with success, since revolutionary anti-war sentiments reigned in the troops of the interventionists. During this period of the struggle against Bolshevism, the leading role belonged to the armies of Kolchak, Yudenich and Denikin.

Fourth Period: Spring 1919 to Spring 1920

During this period, the main forces of the interventionists left Russia. In the spring and autumn of 1919, the Red Army won major victories in the East, South and North-West of the country, defeating the armies of Kolchak, Denikin and Yudenich.

Fifth period: spring-autumn 1920

The internal counter-revolution was completely destroyed. And in the spring the Soviet-Polish war began, which ended in complete failure for Russia. According to the Riga Peace Treaty, part of the Ukrainian and Belarusian lands went to Poland.

Sixth period:: 1921-1922

During these years, all the remaining centers of the civil war were liquidated: the rebellion in Kronstadt was suppressed, the Makhnovist detachments were destroyed, the Far East was liberated, the struggle against the Basmachi in Central Asia was completed.

The results of the civil war

• As a result of hostilities and terror, more than 8 million people died from hunger and disease.
• Industry, transport and agriculture were on the verge of disaster.

• The main result of this terrible war was the final assertion of Soviet power.

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The Civil War is certainly one of the most difficult events of the Soviet period. No wonder the days of this war in his diary entries, Ivan Bunin calls "cursed." Internal conflicts, the decline of the economy, the arbitrariness of the ruling party - all this greatly weakened the country and provoked strong foreign powers to take advantage of this situation in their interests.

Now let's take a closer look at this time.

Beginning of the Civil War

There is no consensus among historians on this issue. Some believe that the conflict began immediately after the revolution, that is, in October 1917. Others argue that the origin of the war should be attributed to the spring of 1918, when the intervention began and a strong opposition to the Soviet regime formed. There is also no consensus on who is the initiator of this fratricidal war: the leaders of the Bolshevik Party or the former upper classes of society who lost their influence and property as a result of the revolution.

Causes of the Civil War

• The nationalization of land and industry aroused the discontent of those from whom this property was taken away, and turned the landlords and the bourgeoisie against Soviet power.
• The methods of the government to transform society did not correspond to the goals set when the Bolsheviks came to power, which alienated the Cossacks, kulaks, middle peasants and the democratic bourgeoisie
• The promised "dictatorship of the proletariat" actually turned out to be the dictatorship of only one state body - the Central Committee. The Decrees "On the Arrest of the Leaders of the Civil War" (November 1917) and on the "Red Terror" issued by him legally gave the Bolsheviks a free hand for the physical extermination of the opposition. This was the reason for the entry of the Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries and anarchists into the Civil War.
• Also, the Civil War was accompanied by active foreign intervention. Neighboring states financially and politically helped to crack down on the Bolsheviks in order to return the confiscated property of foreigners and prevent the revolution from spreading widely. But at the same time, they, seeing that the country was "bursting at the seams", wanted to grab a "tidbit" for themselves.

1st stage of the Civil War

In 1918, anti-Soviet pockets were formed.

In the spring of 1918 foreign intervention began.

In May 1918, an uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps took place. The military overthrew Soviet power in the Volga region and Siberia. Then, in Samara, Ufa and Omsk, the power of the Cadets, Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks was briefly established, whose goal was to return to the Constituent Assembly.

In the summer of 1918, a large-scale movement against the Bolsheviks, led by the Social Revolutionaries, unfolded in Central Russia. But it ended up only in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Soviet government in Moscow and activate the protection of Bolshevik power by strengthening the power of the Red Army.

The Red Army began its offensive in September 1918. In three months, she restored the power of the Soviets in the Volga and Ural regions.

Culmination of the Civil War

The end of 1918 - the beginning of 1919 - the period in which the White movement reached its peak.

Admiral A.V. Kolchak, seeking to unite with the army of General Miller for the subsequent joint offensive against Moscow, began military operations in the Urals. But the Red Army stopped their advance.

In 1919, the White Guards planned a joint strike from different directions: south (Denikin), east (Kolchak) and west (Yudenich). But he was not destined to come true.

In March 1919, Kolchak was stopped and moved to Siberia, where, in turn, the partisans and peasants supported the Bolsheviks to restore their power.

Both attempts at Yudenich's Petrograd Offensive ended in failure.

In July 1919, Denikin, having captured Ukraine, moved to Moscow, occupying Kursk, Orel and Voronezh along the way. But soon the Southern Front of the Red Army was created against such a strong enemy, which, with the support of N.I. Makhno defeated Denikin's army.

In 1919, the interventionists liberated the territories of Russia they had occupied.

End of the Civil War

In 1920, the Bolsheviks faced two main tasks: the defeat of Wrangel in the south and the resolution of the issue of establishing borders with Poland.

The Bolsheviks recognized the independence of Poland, but the Polish government made too great territorial demands. The dispute could not be resolved through diplomacy, and Poland seized Belarus and Ukraine in May. For resistance, the Red Army was sent there under the command of Tukhachevsky. The confrontation was defeated, and the Soviet-Polish war ended with the Peace of Riga in March 1921, signed on more favorable terms for the enemy: Western Belarus and Western Ukraine were ceded to Poland.

To destroy the army of Wrangel, the Southern Front was created under the leadership of M.V. Frunze. At the end of October 1920, Wrangel was defeated in Northern Tavria and was driven back to the Crimea. After the Red Army captured Perekop and captured the Crimea. In November 1920, the Civil War actually ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks.

Reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks

• The anti-Soviet forces sought to return to the previous order, to cancel the Decree on Land, which turned against them most of the population - the peasants.
• There was no unity among the opponents of Soviet power. All of them acted in isolation, which made them more vulnerable to the well-organized Red Army.
• The Bolsheviks united all the forces of the country to create a single military camp and a powerful Red Army
• The Bolsheviks had a single program understandable to the common people under the slogan of restoring justice and social equality.
• The Bolsheviks had the support of the largest segment of the population - the peasantry.

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© Anastasia Prikhodchenko 2015

CIVIL WAR 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 hold 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 of the civil war was also the armed struggle on the national "outskirts" of the former Russian Empire (attempts to declare independence were rebuffed by the "whites" who advocated "one and indivisible Russia", as well as the leadership of the RSFSR, who saw the growth of nationalism as a threat to the gains of the revolution) and the insurrection of the population against the troops of the opposing sides. The Civil War was accompanied by military operations on the territory of Russia by the troops of the countries of the Quadruple Alliance, as well as the troops of the Entente countries (see Foreign military intervention in Russia 1918-22).

In modern historical science, many issues related to the history of the civil war remain debatable, among them are questions about the chronological framework of the civil war and its causes. Most modern researchers consider the fighting in Petrograd during the October Revolution of 1917 carried out by the Bolsheviks as the first act of the civil war, and 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 hostilities that were fought from May 1918 to November 1920. Among the most important causes of the 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 of the February Revolution of 1917, as well as the willingness to widely use violence to achievement of 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 the 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 opposing sides and the main fronts of the struggle between them took place. During this period, the civil war was going on in the conditions of the ongoing World War I and was accompanied by the active participation in the internal struggle in Russia of the troops of the countries of the Quadruple Alliance and the Entente.

In October - November 1917, during the October Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks suppressed armed demonstrations by 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 the Southern Urals (see the articles Kaledin speech 1917-18, Kuban Rada and Dutov speech 1917-18). In the first months of the civil war, combat operations were carried out by separate detachments, mainly along railway lines, for large settlements and railway junctions (see "Echelon War"). In the spring of 1918, local skirmishes began to develop into larger-scale armed clashes.

The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly and the conclusion of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918 intensified opposition to the policy of the Council of People's Commissars throughout the country. The underground anti-Bolshevik organizations created in February-May (the Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom, the Union for the Revival of Russia, the National Center) tried to unite the forces that fought against the Soviet regime and receive foreign aid, 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 the German and Austro-Hungarian troops (continued even after the conclusion of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918): in February - May 1918 they occupied Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, part of the Transcaucasus 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 SNK here. The uprising of 1918 by the Czechoslovak Corps, which began in May, abolished 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, mostly 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, the Don Army was created on the territory of the Don Cossack Army, which by the end of the summer ousted the Soviet troops from the territory of the Don Army Region. The Volunteer Army (began to form in November 1917), which consisted mainly of officers and cadets of the former Russian army, occupied the Kuban in August 1918 (see the article Kuban Campaigns of the Volunteer Army).

The successes of the opponents of the Bolsheviks caused the reformation of the Red Army. Instead of the voluntary principle of army formation, in May 1918 the RSFSR introduced universal military service. Due to the involvement of officers of the former Russian army (see Military Specialist) in the Red Army, the command staff was strengthened, the institution of military commissars was established, in September 1918 the RVSR was created (chairman - L. D. Trotsky) and the post of commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic (I. I. Vatsetis) was introduced ). Also in September, instead of the curtains that had existed since March 1918, front-line and army formations of the Red Army were formed. In November, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense was established (chairman - V. I. Lenin). The strengthening of the army was accompanied by the strengthening of the internal situation in the RSFSR: after the defeat of the Left Social Revolutionaries in the uprising of 1918, 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 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 repulsed 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 hostilities.

At the second stage (November 1918 - March 1920), the main battles between the Red Army and the White armies took place, a turning point in the civil war. In connection with the end of the 1st World War during this period, the participation of interventionist troops in the civil war was sharply reduced. The departure of the 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 the Entente troops in the civil war remained limited, and by the autumn of 1919 the main contingent of allied troops was withdrawn from the territory of Russia. Foreign states continued to provide material and technical assistance to anti-Bolshevik governments and armed groups.

In late 1918 - early 1919 there was a consolidation of the anti-Bolshevik movement; 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 the Supreme Ruler of the Russian state. On January 8, 1919, on the basis of the Volunteer and Don armies, the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (AFSUR) 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 Range and took Perm. In March 1919, Kolchak's general offensive of 1919 followed. The troops of the Western Army, Lieutenant General M.V. Khanzhin, achieved the greatest success, capturing Ufa (March), and at the end of April reached the approaches to the Volga. It became possible to unite the armies of Kolchak with the All-Union Socialist Republic, a threat to Soviet power in the central regions of the RSFSR arose. However, in May 1919, units of the Red Army, reinforced by reinforcements, seized the initiative and, during the counteroffensive of the Eastern Front in 1919, defeated the enemy and threw him back to the Urals. As a result of the offensive of the Eastern Front of 1919-20 undertaken by the command of the Red Army, Soviet troops occupied the Urals and most of Siberia (Omsk was captured in November 1919, and Irkutsk in March 1920).

In the North Caucasus, mountain governments, relying on military assistance from the countries of the Quadruple Union, opposed the power of the SNK. After the withdrawal of foreign troops from the territory of the so-called Mountainous Republic, it was occupied by units of the All-Union Socialist Republic, under pressure from which, at the end of May 1919, the Mountainous government ceased its activities.

The first defeats of Kolchak's armies coincided with the beginning of Denikin's Moscow campaign in 1919, which was the most serious threat to the Bolsheviks' power during the years of 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-Union Socialist Republic as a result of the policy of "decossackization" pursued by the leadership of the RSFSR. The presence of the Cossack cavalry and well-trained military personnel allowed the All-Union Socialist Republic of Youth to seize the Donbass and the Region of the Don Host, 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 VSYUR occupied Oryol, creating a threat to Tula and Moscow. The AFSR offensive was stopped, and then was replaced by 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 major 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 confine ourselves to the defense of the Region of the Don and Kuban troops. During the offensive of the Southern and Southeastern Fronts of 1919-20, units of the Red Army forced the All-Union Socialist Republic to withdraw to the North Caucasus and the Crimea.

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

In the north of the European part of Russia, troops formed by the Provisional Government of the Northern Region (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 failure 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 a direct threat to Soviet power in the center of Russia.

By the spring of 1920, the largest of the "white" military units was the "Russian Army" (formed from the remnants of the All-Union Socialist Republic) 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 the Soviet-Polish war of 1920), this army made an attempt to capture and strengthen in the northern districts of the Taurida province, and also landed troops on the coast of the North Caucasus in July and August in order to raise to a new a speech against the RSFSR by the Cossacks of the Region of the Don and Kuban troops (see Landing Forces of the "Russian Army" 1920). All these plans were defeated, in October - November, the "Russian Army" was defeated during the counteroffensive 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, the Dagestan ASSR and the Mountain ASSR were formed in the North Caucasus.

The last battles of the civil war took place in Eastern Siberia and the Far East. In 1920-22, the largest anti-Bolshevik formations there were the Far Eastern Army of Lieutenant-General G.M. They were opposed by the People's Revolutionary Army (NRA) 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 Semyonov's detachments to leave along the CER in Primorye. As a result of the Primorsky 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 “whites”, as well as support from third powers.

Poland's right to national self-determination was recognized by the Provisional Government in the spring of 1917. During the civil war, Poland did not want any of the opponents to strengthen and during the main battles remained neutral, while simultaneously achieving international recognition in European capitals. The clash with the 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 its independence and expand its borders (approved by the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921).

Finland declared independence immediately after the October Revolution in Petrograd. It was possible to consolidate it with an alliance with Germany, and then with the Entente countries. 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 detachments into the territory of Karelia, which was rebuffed by the Red Army (see the 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 policy 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 Soviet authorities 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 peace treaties with Estonia (February), Lithuania (July) and Latvia (August) in 1920.

In Ukraine and Belarus, the national movement was weakened by the lack of unity on the question 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 Rada) in Minsk refused to recognize the authority of the SNK, but they could not consolidate their position. This was hampered by the offensive of both Soviet and German troops. In Ukraine, the successive national-state formations were fragile. Created in April 1918, the Ukrainian state, headed by Hetman P. P. Skoropadsky, existed only with the support of Germany, while the Ukrainian People’s Republic of S. V. Petliura survived as long as its main opponents (the RSFSR and the VSYUR) were occupied 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 the Polish occupation troops from the territory of Ukraine and Belarus, the power of the Ukrainian SSR and the BSSR was established there.

In Transcaucasia, the course of the civil war was predetermined by conflicts between national governments. The Transcaucasian Commissariat, created in November 1917 in Tiflis, declared that the authority of the Council of People's Commissars was not recognized. Proclaimed by the Transcaucasian Seim (convened by the Transcaucasian Commissariat) in April 1918, the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic already in May, in connection with 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 (her troops entered Tiflis and other cities of Georgia in June 1918), and then from the Entente countries (in November - December 1918 British troops entered the Transcaucasus). After the intervention of the Entente countries ended in August 1919, the national governments were unable to restore the economy and became bogged down in border conflicts that flared up between Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. This allowed the Red Army during the Baku operation of 1920 and the Tiflis operation of 1921 to extend Soviet power to Transcaucasia.

In Central Asia, the main hostilities unfolded on the territory of Turkestan. There, the Bolsheviks relied on Russian settlers, which aggravated the existing religious and national conflicts and alienated a significant part of the Muslim population from the Soviet government, which widely participated in the anti-Soviet movement - the Basmachi. 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 Khanate of Khiva and the Emirate of Bukhara were liquidated and the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic and the Bukhara People's Soviet Republic were proclaimed.

The insurrectionary movement in the civil war arose in 1918-19, and reached its greatest extent in 1920-21. The goal of the insurgents was to protect the village from the policy of "war communism" carried out in the RSFSR (the main slogans of the insurgent detachments were "soviets without communists" and freedom to trade in agricultural products), as well as from requisitions and mobilizations carried out by both the Bolsheviks and their opponents. The rebel detachments 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. The guerrilla tactics of the struggle made them less vulnerable to regular troops. The rebel detachments, often for tactical reasons, provided assistance to the "red" or "white", disrupting communications and distracting relatively large military formations from the main hostilities; while their military organization remained independent of the command of their allies. In the rear of Kolchak's armies, the most numerous insurgent detachments operated in the Tomsk and Yenisei provinces, in Altai, in the region of Semipalatinsk and the Amur River valley. During the decisive days of Kolchak's offensive in 1919, raids on railway trains carried out by the insurgents disrupted the supply of supplies and weapons for the troops. In the south-east of Ukraine, the Revolutionary-Insurgent Army of Ukraine N. I. Makhno operated, which at different times fought against Ukrainian nationalists, German troops, units of the Red Army and the All-Union Socialist Revolutionary League.

In the rear of the Red Army, the first major insurrectionary movement arose in March - April 1919 and was called the "chapan war". In late 1920 and early 1921, thousands of peasant detachments operated in the Volga region, on 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, Soviet power in the countryside virtually ceased to exist in a large area of ​​the RSFSR. The broad scope of the peasant insurrectionary movement, along with the Kronstadt uprising of 1921, forced the Bolsheviks to replace the policy of "war communism" with the NEP (March 1921). However, the main centers of the uprisings were suppressed by Soviet troops only in the summer of 1921 (individual detachments continued to resist until 1923). In some areas, for example, in the Volga region, the uprisings stopped due to the famine that broke out in 1921.

results of the civil war. As a result of a 5-year 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 by the bulk of the population of 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 advantage 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 opponents of the Bolsheviks there were about 60 million people) to replenish the Red Army; to use the military stocks of the former Russian army and a relatively developed communications system that made it possible to quickly transfer troops to the most threatened sectors of the front. The anti-Bolshevik forces were divided territorially and politically. They were unable to develop a single political platform (the “white” officers for the most part advocated a monarchical system, and the Socialist-Revolutionary governments favored a republican one), as well as coordinate the time of their offensives and, due to their outlying 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 not enough 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 Bolsheviks because of its defensive strategy, uncoordinated actions and limited goals.

During the civil war, the Soviet state created powerful armed forces (by November 1920 they 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. Blucher, 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 and others. The maximum number (by the middle of 1919) of the White armies was about 600 (according to other sources, about 300) thousand people. Of the military leaders of the White movement, a prominent role in the civil war was played by Generals M. V. Alekseev, P. N. Wrangel, A. I. Denikin, A. I. Dutov, L. G. Kornilov, E. K. Miller, G. M. Semyonov, Ya. A. Slashchev, N. N. Yudenich, Admiral A. V. Kolchak and others.

The civil war brought huge material and human losses. It completed the collapse of the economy, which 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 years of 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 related epidemics have led to high mortality. The irretrievable losses of the Soviet troops (killed, died of wounds, missing, did not return from captivity, etc.) amounted to about 940 thousand people, sanitary - about 6.8 million people; their opponents (according to incomplete data) only killed over 225 thousand people. The total number of deaths during the years of the civil war, according to various 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 country's foreign policy isolation. Under the influence of the civil war, the characteristic features of the Soviet political system were formed: the centralization of state 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 years. M., 1988; Kakurin N.E. How the revolution fought: In 2 vols. 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.

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 belligerents: “red” and “white”. In fact, everything is somewhat more complicated. In reality, at least six sides took part in the war, each of which pursued its own interests.

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

1. Red. For the working people!

The first side by right of the winner can be called the "Reds". In itself, the red movement was not entirely homogeneous, but of all the belligerents, it was precisely this feature - relative homogeneity - that was inherent in them to the greatest extent. The Red Army represented the interests of the government that was legitimate at that time, namely the state structures that had developed after the October Revolution of 1917. It is not entirely correct to call this government “Bolshevik”; at that time, the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs acted in essence as a united front. If you wish, you can find a significant number of Left SRs both in senior 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 Social Revolutionaries who did not have time or (due to short-sightedness) did not fundamentally go over to the camp of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks suffered a sad fate. But this is beyond the scope of our material, because. refers to the period after the end of the Civil. 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 result, the possibility of mass conscriptions) that ultimately brought them victory.

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

The second side of the conflict can be called with certainty what was called "whites". In fact, the White Guard as such, unlike the Reds, was not a homogeneous movement. Everyone remembers the scene from the movie "The Elusive Avengers", when one of the characters makes a statement of a monarchist nature in a restaurant filled with representatives of the White movement? Immediately after this statement, a brawl begins in the restaurant, caused by the difference in the political views of the public. There are cries 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 idea of ​​a military defeat of the Reds was the unifying idea. There is an opinion that in the event of an (unlikely) military victory of the whites in the form in which they wanted it (i.e., the overthrow of the government of Lenin), the Civil War would have continued for more than a dozen years, because lovers and connoisseurs of Schubert’s waltzes and crunches French rolls" would immediately grab the throats of the "justice seekers" with their idea of ​​a Constituent Assembly, who, in turn, would gladly "tickle with bayonets" the supporters of the military dictatorship a la Kolchak, who had a political allergy to Schubert-like French rolls.

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

The third side of the conflict, which is now remembered only by specialists and a few enthusiasts of the topic, is the force for which war, especially civil war, is a real breeding ground. This refers to the "rats of war" - various bandit formations, the whole meaning of whose activities is essentially reduced to armed robbery of the civilian population. Tellingly, in that war there were so many of these "rats" that they even got their own color, like the two main parties. Since the bulk of these "rats" were army deserters (who wore uniforms), and their main habitat was vast forests, they were called "green". Usually the Greens had no ideology, except for the slogan of "expropriation of the expropriated" (and often just the expropriation of everything that can be reached), the only exception is 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 the middle of 1919 the armed forces of the Soviet Republic had the name "Workers' and Peasants' Red-Green Army"), and with the Whites. It is worth mentioning Father Makhno again with the well-known phrase "Beat the whites until they turn red, beat the reds until they turn black." Makhno had a BLACK flag, despite the belonging of this character to the green movement. In addition to Makhno, if you wish, you can recall a dozen field commanders of the greens. Tellingly, most of them were active in Ukraine and nowhere else.

4. Separatists of all stripes. Emir of Bukhara Akbar and for Vilnius Ukraine 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 who lived in Poland and Finland, and after them - the carriers of the ideas of "Ukrainianism" carefully nurtured by the Austro-Hungarians, who most often did not even know the Ukrainian language. This movement in Ukraine reached such an epic intensity that it did not even manage to organize itself into something whole, and it existed in the form of two groups - the UNR and the ZUNR, and if the former were at least somehow capable of negotiating, then the latter 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 just smelled a little differently ideologically, and the heads of the civilian population were cut in the same way. Somewhat later (when Turkey came to its senses after the British campaign in the 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 fate.

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

Do not forget that the Civil War was essentially part of the First World War - in any case, it coincided in time. It means that the Entente is at war with the Triple, and then bam - a revolution in the largest power of the Entente. Naturally, the rest of the Entente has a number of legitimate questions, the first of which is “Why not take a bite?” And we 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 side, and the Entente troops, like other parties, fought against everyone else, and did not support one of the above forces. The real help of the Entente to the Whites consisted only in the supply of military material values, 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 be truly supported militarily. As a result, the Entente troops were represented during the war, let's say, by limited expeditionary contingents that behaved exactly like the green ones, but at the same time wore foreign uniforms and insignia.

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

Continuing the theme of the First World War. Germany unexpectedly (and perhaps expectedly: there are different rumors about the financing of a number of political forces in Russia of that period) discovered that the enemy troops on the Eastern Front for some reason 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 the German troops occupied the territories occupied by the citizens from paragraph 4. True, not for long. Nevertheless, they managed to mark the fighting with almost all of the forces listed above.

And after all, what is characteristic is that such a state of affairs, namely, a multitude of belligerents, always develops during any civil war, and not just the war of 1917-23.