The main battles of the civil war 1917 1922. Civil war

The civil war is one of the bloodiest pages in the history of our country in the 20th century. The front line in this war did not pass through fields and forests, but in the souls and minds of people, forcing a brother to shoot at his brother, and a son to raise a saber against his father.

Beginning of the Russian Civil War 1917-1922

In October 1917, the Bolsheviks came to power in Petrograd. The period of the establishment of Soviet power was distinguished by the swiftness and speed with which the Bolsheviks established control over military depots, infrastructure and created new armed detachments.

The Bolsheviks had extensive social support thanks to the decrees on peace and land. This massive support compensated for the poor organization and combat training of the Bolshevik detachments.

At the same time, mainly among the educated part of the population, the basis of which was the nobility and the middle class, there was an understanding that the Bolsheviks came to power illegitimately, and, therefore, they should be fought. The political struggle was lost, only the armed one remained.

Causes of the Civil War

Any step taken by the Bolsheviks gave them both a new army of supporters and opponents. Therefore, the citizens of the Russian Republic had reason to organize armed resistance to the Bolsheviks.

The Bolsheviks demolished the front, seized power, launched terror. This could not help but force those whom they used to take up the rifle as a bargaining chip in the future construction of socialism.

The nationalization of the land caused discontent among those who owned it. This immediately turned the bourgeoisie and landlords against the Bolsheviks.

Date of the beginning of the Civil War in Russia

There is no consensus on the exact date. Some historians believe that the conflict began immediately after the October Revolution, others call the beginning of the war in the spring of 1918, when foreign intervention took place and opposition to Soviet power was formed.
There is also no single point of view on the question of who is to blame at the beginning of the Civil War: the Bolsheviks or those who began to resist them.

First stage of the war

After the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks, among the dispersed representatives there were those who did not agree with this and were ready to fight. They fled from Petrograd to territories not controlled by the Bolsheviks - to Samara. There they formed the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch) and declared themselves the only legitimate authority and made it their task to overthrow the power of the Bolsheviks. The Komuch of the first convocation included five Social Revolutionaries.

Rice. 2. Members of the Komuch of the first convocation.

Forces opposing Soviet power were also formed in many regions of the former empire. Let's show them in the table:

In the spring of 1918, Germany occupied the Ukraine, the Crimea, and part of the North Caucasus; Romania - Bessarabia; England, France and the United States landed in Murmansk, while Japan deployed its troops in the Far East. In May 1918, the uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps also took place. Thus, Soviet power was overthrown in Siberia, and in the south, the Volunteer Army, having laid the foundation of the White Army "Armed Forces of the South of Russia", set off on the famous Ice Campaign, freeing the Don steppes from the Bolsheviks. Thus ended the first phase of the Civil War.

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

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Civil war in Russia - armed confrontation in 1917-1922. between various political, ethnic, social groups and state formations on the territory of the former Russian Empire, which followed the coming to power of the Bolsheviks as a result of the October Revolution of 1917. The Civil War was the result of a 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 ruin, and a deep social, national, political and ideological split in Russian society. The apogee of this split was a fierce war on a national scale between the 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 carried out 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 stable naming of the main parties to the conflict "Red ' and 'white'.

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

The decisive factor in the course of the Civil War was the position of the peasantry, which accounted for more than 80% of the population, which ranged from passive waiting to active armed struggle. The fluctuations of the peasantry, reacting in this way to the policy of the Bolshevik government and the dictatorships of the white generals, radically changed the balance of power and, ultimately, predetermined the outcome of the war. First of all, we are certainly talking about the middle peasantry. In some areas (the Volga region, Siberia), these fluctuations raised the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks to power, and sometimes contributed to the advancement of the White Guards deep into Soviet territory. However, with the course of the Civil War, 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 general dictatorship, which, in turn, inevitably leads to the return of the landowners and the restoration of pre-revolutionary relations. The strength of the vacillation of the middle peasants in the direction of Soviet power was especially manifested in the combat readiness of the White and Red armies. White armies were essentially combat-ready only as long as they were more or less homogeneous in terms of class. When, as the front expanded and moved forward, the White Guards resorted to mobilizing the peasantry, they inevitably lost their combat capability and fell apart. And vice versa, the Red Army was constantly strengthened, and the mobilized middle peasant masses of the countryside staunchly defended Soviet power from the counter-revolution.

The basis of the counter-revolution in the countryside was the kulaks, especially after the organization of the Kombeds and the beginning of a decisive struggle for grain. The kulaks were only interested in liquidating large landlord farms as competitors in the exploitation of the poor and middle peasants, whose departure opened wide prospects for the kulaks. The struggle of the kulaks against the proletarian revolution took place both 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. A characteristic feature of 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 the armed struggle of the national outskirts of the former Russian Empire for their independence and the insurrectionary movement of the general population against the troops of the main warring parties - the "red" and "white". Attempts to declare independence were rebuffed both by the "whites", who fought for a "united and indivisible Russia", and by the "reds", who saw the growth of nationalism as a threat to the gains of the revolution.

The civil war unfolded under conditions of foreign military intervention and was accompanied by military operations on the territory of the former Russian Empire, both by the troops of the countries of the Quadruple Alliance and the troops of the Entente countries. The motives for the active intervention of the leading Western powers were the realization of their own economic and political interests in Russia and assistance to the whites in order to eliminate the Bolshevik power. Although the possibilities 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 (Anzelian 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

Dinner of the Red Army at 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 trophies of the Civil War near the Kremlin, dedicated to the II 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 the regiment of the rural poor. 1918

Soldiers of the First Cavalry Army of Budyonny at a rally
January 1920

Otsup Petr Adolfovich

Funeral of victims of the February Revolution
March 1917

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

Work on the site of a train wreck after an anarchist attack. January 1920

Red commander in the new office. January 1920

Commander-in-Chief Lavr Kornilov. 1917

Chairman of the Provisional Government Alexander Kerensky. 1917

Commander of the 25th Rifle Division of the 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 of People's Commissars. January 1918

February Revolution. Checking documents on Nevsky Prospekt
February 1917

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

Steinberg Yakov Vladimirovich

Military intervention in Soviet Russia. The command structure of the White Army units with representatives of foreign troops

Station in Yekaterinburg after the capture of the city by parts of the Siberian army and the Czechoslovak corps. 1918

Demolition of the monument to Alexander III near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior

Political workers at the staff car. Western front. Voronezh direction

Military portrait

Date of shooting: 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

Detachments of the Red Cossacks Nikolai and Ivan Kashirin in the summer of 1918 became part of the consolidated South Ural partisan detachment of Vasily Blucher, who raided 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 the reorganization in January 1920, these troops became known as the Army of Labor, the purpose of which was to restore the national economy of the 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 the city liberated from the whites. 1919

Overcoats of the 1918 model, which came into use during the civil war, originally in the army of Budyonny, were preserved with minor changes until the military reform of 1939. The machine gun "Maxim" is mounted on the cart.

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

Pavel Dybenko and Nestor Makhno. November - December 1918

Employees 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 in charge in the south of Russia and sent him as an extraordinary representative of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee for the procurement of grain from the North Caucasus to industrial centers.

The defense of Tsaritsyn is a military campaign of the "red" troops against the "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 Lev 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 troops of the Red Army
June - August 1919

General Radola Gaida and Admiral Alexander Kolchak (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. For the first time the name of Dutov became known in August 1917, when he was an active participant in the Kornilov rebellion. After that, Dutov was sent by the Provisional Government to the Orenburg province, where in the fall he fortified himself in Troitsk and Verkhneuralsk. His power lasted until April 1918.

homeless children
1920s

Soshalsky Georgy Nikolaevich

Homeless children transport the city archive. 1920s

Civil War

Russian Civil War- an irreconcilable armed struggle for the possession of state power by large masses of people belonging to different classes and social groups, accompanied by military intervention by foreign states.

Chronological framework: 1917 - 1922 or 1918 - 1920, 1918 - 1922

Causes: political extremism of the Bolsheviks, the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly, the usurpation of power by the Bolsheviks (the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks exacerbated social confrontation), the signing of the Brest peace treaty, which was humiliating for Russia, the introduction of a food dictatorship, the elimination of landownership, the nationalization of banks and enterprises.

Red- The Red Army of the Bolsheviks.

white movement- a military-political movement of politically heterogeneous forces, formed with the aim of overthrowing the Soviet regime. It included representatives of both moderate socialists and republicans, and monarchists united against the Bolshevik ideology and acting on the basis of the principle of "one and indivisible Russia." The backbone of the White movement was the officers of the old Russian army. The original goal of the White movement: to prevent the establishment of the power of the Bolsheviks. The political program of the white movement was extremely controversial, but at the first stage of the Civil War it included the elimination of the power of the Bolsheviks, the restoration of a united Russia, and the convening of a nationwide people's assembly on the basis of universal suffrage.

"Greens" called peasant rebels who fought against surplus appropriation in the territories controlled by the Soviet government, and against the return of landowners' land ownership and requisitions in the territories of the white governments. The peasants, after the division of the landlords' lands, desired class peace, looked for an opportunity to do without a struggle, but were drawn into it by the active actions of the Whites and Reds.

Anarchists: The most significant were the actions of the anarchists in Ukraine, led by the anarcho-communist Nestor Makhno. The Makhnovists acted against whites, reds, nationalists and interventionists. During the fighting, the Makhnovists entered into an alliance with the Bolsheviks three times, but all three times the Bolsheviks violated the alliance, so that in the end the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (RPAU) was defeated by the many times superior forces of the Red Army, and Makhno and several comrades fled abroad.

National separatist militias: Symon Petliura fought for the independence of Ukraine. On February 10, 1919, after Vynnichenko's resignation, Petlyura actually became the sole dictator of Ukraine. In the spring of the same year, trying to stop the Red Army from seizing the entire territory of Ukraine, he reorganized the UNR army. He tried to negotiate with the White Guard command of the VSYUR (Armed Forces of the South of Russia) on joint actions against the Bolsheviks, but did not achieve success.

Intervention (14 states):

December 1917 Romania in Bessarabia

March 1918 Austria-Hungary and Germany in Ukraine

April 1918 Türkiye in Georgia

May 1918 Germany in Georgia

April 1918 France, USA, England, Japan in the Far East

March 1918 England, USA, France in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk

January 1919 left Odessa, Crimea, Vladivostok, ports of the North

Spring 1919 left the Baltic and the Black Sea

1922 the Japanese left the Far East

Reasons for intervention:

The threat of the spread of the socialist revolution and communist ideas around the world,

Nationalization by the Soviet government of the property of foreign citizens,

Refusal to pay the debts of the tsarist and Provisional governments,

They did not want to see their political and economic competitor in Europe and Asia in the future Russia.

The main stages of the Civil War in Russia (1917-1922)

	The beginning of an armed civil confrontation. "Limited" war (performances by Krasnov near Petrograd, General A.M. Kaledin on the Don, Ataman A.I. Dutov in the South Urals).
May–November 1918	The beginning of a full-scale civil war: performance of the Czechoslovak Corps(the reason is the attempt of the Soviet government to disarm the Czechoslovak corps in Chelyabinsk, which is being transferred from the country to France through Vladivostok to the Western Front to participate in the war against Germany). In response, on May 26, 1918, Czechoslovak troops captured the city. The Czechs, who were in trains from Penza to Vladivostok, began an armed seizure of the stations. Performance Volunteer and Don armies. Entente landings. September 1918 decree on the Red Terror (reason - the attempt on Lenin and the murder of Uritsky). On the night of July 16-17, 1918 in Yekaterinburg, in the basement of Ipatiev's private house, a detachment of Chekists shot the former Emperor Nicholas II and his family. The "mutiny" of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries in Moscow in July 1918 (the murder of the German ambassador V. Mirbach in Moscow, the capture of F.E. Dzerzhinsky). Russia was declared a "single military camp", the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic was created - the highest military body (L.D. Trotsky). Vatsetis is the commander of all fronts.
November 1918 - Spring 1919	Strengthening the military confrontation between the reds and whites. Military operations of the troops of Kolchak, Denikin, Krasnov, Yudenich, Semyonov. The number of army units of the Entente in Russia reaches 200 thousand people
Spring - end of 1919	The defeat of the main forces of the Whites (Kolchak, Denikin, Yudenich). Evacuation of the main forces of foreign troops
Spring - autumn 1920	The war with Poland (the goals of Poland (Polish leader Yu. Pilsudsky): the fight against the Bolsheviks, the seizure of the territories of Ukraine and Belarus. Russia lost these lands) (Tukhachevsky, Yegorov, Budyonny - red commanders). The defeat of the army of the white General Wrangel in the Crimea (Frunze)
	Red victories in Central Asia, Transcaucasia, the Far East. End of the civil war.

Main fronts:

Don: Kaledin A.M. (shot himself in January 1918), Cossack formations led by General Krasnov. Volunteer army. Initiator - M.V. Alekseev. Commanders: Kornilov (killed), Denikin, Wrangel

(Red Army - Yakir, Budyonny)

Southern Urals: Dutov (killed in exile). In the spring of 1918, Soviet detachments under the command of V.K. Blucher (1890-1938) managed to defeat the Dutovites.

Transbaikalia: Ataman Semenov G.M. (translated into Mongolian Tyutchev and Pushkin)

Eastern front: Czechs (Gaida, 1918, from Penza to Vladivostok). The actions of the Czechs contributed to the consolidation of anti-Bolshevik forces in Siberia and the Volga region. A new government was formed: in Samara - the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch - the government of the Socialist-Revolutionaries), in the Urals - the Ural Provisional Government, in Siberia - the Provisional Siberian Government (Omsk, A.V. Kolchak - the supreme ruler of Russia), the Socialist-Revolutionary was created in Ufa -Cadet Directory (Socialist-Revolutionary Avksentiev), which declared itself the all-Russian authority. Thus, the Czechoslovak rebellion contributed to the elimination of Bolshevik power in a large area of the Volga region and Siberia.

(Red Army - Muravyov, Vatsetis, Kamenev, M.N. Tukhachevsky)

North: the government of the Socialist-Revolutionary N.V. Tchaikovsky (Arkhangelsk), the army of General N.N. Yudenich (headed the forces acting against the Soviet regime in the North-Western direction), Governor-General in Reval Miller (commander-in-chief of the troops acting against the Bolsheviks on the Northern Front).

Ukraine: the peasant rebel army of Makhno; Petliura and Vinnichenko

New cadres of the Red Army were created from workers and peasants, bright nuggets appeared - S. M. Budyonny, G. I. Kotovsky, M. V. Frunze, V. I. Chapaev, N. A. Shchors and many others. Participants in the world war were mobilized into the Red Army, bringing with them the experience of major military operations. The Red Army managed to attract 75 thousand former generals and officers (there were more than 100 thousand people in the ranks of the Whites). Unlike the anti-Bolshevik forces, in the Red Army, political commissars in all units carried out constant educational and propaganda work among soldiers and officers, introducing a single communist ideology.

Reasons for White's defeat:

There is no constructive program (they could not put forward and justify a program that would provide them with support from the general population, the consolidation of anti-Bolshevik forces): restoration of the laws of the Russian Empire, imperial national policy

Refusal to cooperate with socialist parties

Lack of a single leader, military command

Cooperation with the interventionists (the Bolsheviks objectively acted as a force that defended the state independence of the country)

The moral decay of the army

The recognition by the Bolsheviks of the independence of Finland, Poland, the Baltic countries, Georgia, and Ukraine contributed to the neutrality of their armies at decisive, turning points in the military confrontation.

Thus, the Bolsheviks owed their victory to a large extent to the failure of their opponents.

The Bolsheviks, in turn, were able to win thanks to a better knowledge of the psychology of the people, their mentality. They were able to offer Russia a strategy that at that time found support among a significant part of the Russian population. Utopian ideas of social equality (which the white army did not have), promises to distribute land to peasants, factories and factories - the workers fell on favorable ground and multiplied the number of their supporters among different social strata. The Bolsheviks created a combat-ready regular army. Not the last role in the success of the proletarian dictatorship was played by policy of mass terror , with the help of which the Bolsheviks were able to localize manifestations of discontent and ferment and did not allow them to acquire a mass form.

"War Communism" - socio-economic policy of the Bolsheviks in the conditions of the civil war.

The Soviet government hoped to gradually, "without violating the system," move on to genuine communism. The basis of the military-communist model was the unbridled artificial centralization and militarization of power, production, distribution and supply. The most important political feature of "war communism" was the understanding of the dictatorship of the proletariat as a power based directly on violence and not limited by any laws. The management systems were based on simple principles available in a collapsing economy and low-skilled personnel: monopolization of the produced product, centralized distribution, naturalization of exchange, command (directive) method of management, forced labor. In the financial and economic sphere, “war communism” manifested itself in an orientation towards the complete elimination of money, loans, and banks; in the organization within the framework of the state economy of non-monetary settlements and the naturalization of the economy.

The goal of the policy of "war communism": mobilization of the country's economic resources to defeat the enemy.

Activity:

January 1919 introduction of a surplus appraisal (a system of state measures aimed at fulfilling the procurement of agricultural products. The principle of surplus appraisal was the obligatory delivery by producers to the state of an established (“spread”) norm of products at prices established by the state). In accordance with the decree, the "surplus" of food left over from the personal consumption of the peasant was confiscated at fixed prices, which, in conditions of hyperinflation, meant in fact a complete confiscation. The state determined a mandatory plan for the delivery of agricultural products. At the same time, the last food was often taken from the peasants by force of arms, which doomed them to starvation and ruin. Establishment of direct product exchange between city and countryside, concentration in the hands of the state of food required to meet the needs of the army and defense enterprises.

Nationalization of industrial enterprises,

Cancellation of commodity-money relations. Introduction of free distribution of food products and consumer goods; the abolition of fees for all kinds of fuel, rent and utility bills, as well as fees for pharmaceuticals and printing; elimination of monetary taxes and mutual settlements between nationalized enterprises. All this not only did not improve the position of workers and employees, but, on the contrary, undermined the interest in efficient work and worsened its quality. These same measures contributed to the widespread dependency sentiment,

The introduction of universal labor service,

The introduction of "payment in kind" on an equalizing basis.

Thus, the economy was maximally subordinated to state control.

Outcome:"War Communism" helped the new Russia to survive in the conditions of the Civil War, but the result was a deep crisis.

After the October Revolution, a struggle for power began in the country, and against the background of this struggle, Civil War. Thus, October 25, 1917 can be considered the date of the beginning of the civil war, which continued until October 1922. differ significantly from each other.

Civil War- the first stage (Stages of the civil war ) .

The first stage of the civil war began with the armed seizure of power by the Bolsheviks on October 25, 1917 and continued until March 1918. This period can be safely called moderate, since no active hostilities were observed at this stage. The reasons for this lie in the fact that the "white" movement at this stage was only being formed, and the political opponents of the Bolsheviks, the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, preferred to seize power by political means. After the Bolsheviks announced the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries realized that they would not be able to seize power peacefully, and began to prepare for an armed takeover.

Civil War- the second stage (Stages of the civil war ) .

The second stage of the war is characterized by active hostilities, both on the part of the Mensheviks and on the part of the "whites". Until the end of the autumn of 1918, a rumble of distrust of the new government swept through the country, the reason for which was given by the Bolsheviks themselves. At this time, a food dictatorship was declared and the class struggle began in the villages. Wealthy peasants, as well as the middle stratum, actively opposed the Bolsheviks.

From December 1918 to June 1919, bloody battles took place in the country between the red and white armies. From July 1919 until September 1920, the White Army was defeated in the war against the Reds. At the same time, the Soviet government at the 8th Congress of Soviets declares the urgent need to focus on the needs of the middle class of peasants. This forced many wealthy peasants to reconsider their positions and once again support the Bolsheviks. However, after the introduction of the policy of war communism, the attitude of wealthy peasants towards the Bolsheviks again noticeably deteriorated. This led to mass peasant uprisings that took place in the country until the end of 1922. The policy of war communism introduced by the Bolsheviks once again strengthened the positions of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries in the country. As a result, the Soviet government was forced to significantly soften its policy.

The civil war ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks, who were able to assert their power, even though the country was subjected to foreign intervention by Western countries. Russia's foreign intervention began as early as December 1917, when Romania, taking advantage of Russia's weakness, occupied the region of Bessarabia.

Russian foreign intervention actively continued after the end of the First World War. The Entente countries, under the pretext of fulfilling allied obligations to Russia, occupied the Far East, part of the Caucasus, the territory of Ukraine and Belarus. At the same time, foreign armies behaved like real invaders. However, after the first major victories of the Red Army, the majority of the invaders left the country. Already in 1920, Russia's foreign intervention by England and America was completed. Behind them, the troops of other countries also left the country. Only the Japanese army continued its presence in the Far East until October 1922.

The Great Russian Revolution of 1917 was the impetus for the deployment of armed struggle between different groups of the population. The revolution deprived some of them of everything, while for others it seemed to give everything, but did not say how it could be obtained. There were more dissatisfied people than one could imagine. The military-political structures that formed during the days of the revolution, and state formations on the territory of the former Russian Empire, were divided into two groups, which were assigned the names "white" and "red". The spontaneously arising military and socio-political groups, which were called the "third force" (insurgent, partisan detachments, and others), did not stand aside. Foreign states, or interventionists, did not stand aside from the civil confrontation in Russia either.

Stages and chronology of the Civil War

Until now, historians have no consensus on how to determine the chronology of the Civil War. There are experts who believe that the war began with the February bourgeois revolution, while others defend May 1918. There is also no final opinion on when the war ended.

The next stage can be called the period until April 1919, when the intervention of the Entente is expanding. The Entente made it its main task to support the anti-Bolshevik forces, strengthen its interests and resolve the issue that had been troubling it for many years: the fear of socialist influence.

The next stage is the most active on all fronts. Soviet Russia simultaneously waged a struggle against the interventionists and against the White armies.

Causes of the Civil War

Naturally, the beginning of the Civil War cannot be reduced to one reason. The contradictions that had accumulated in society by this time went off scale. The First World War aggravated them to the extreme, the values of human life were devalued.

Of no small importance in the aggravation of the situation were changes in the state political system, especially the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks, the creation of which many counted on. The actions of the Bolsheviks in the countryside gave rise to great unrest. The Decree on Land was announced, but new decrees reduced it to zero. The nationalization and confiscation of land plots from the landlords gave rise to a harsh rebuff from the owners. The bourgeoisie was also extremely dissatisfied with the nationalization that had taken place and sought to return factories and factories.

The actual withdrawal from the war, the Treaty of Brest - all this played against the Bolsheviks, which made it possible to accuse them of "the destruction of Russia."

The right of peoples to self-determination, which was proclaimed by the Bolsheviks, contributed to the emergence of independent states. This also caused irritation as a betrayal of Russia's interests.

Not everyone agreed with the policy of the new government, which broke with its past and ancient traditions. The anti-church policy was especially rejected.

There were many forms of the Civil War. Uprisings, armed clashes, large-scale operations involving regular armies. Partisan actions, terror, sabotage. The war was bloody and extremely long.

Major events of the Civil War

We offer you the following chronicle of the events of the Civil War:

1917

	Uprising in Petrograd. Fraternization of workers and soldiers. The capture by the rebels of the arsenal, a number of public buildings, the Winter Palace. Arrest of tsarist ministers. The formation of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies, to which the elected representatives of the soldiers adjoin.
	The executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet concluded an agreement with the Provisional Committee of the State Duma on the formation of the Provisional Government, one of whose tasks was to govern the country until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly.
	Since May 1917, on the Southwestern Front, the commander of the 8th shock army, General Kornilov L. G., begins the formation of volunteer units ( "Kornilovites", "drummers").
	Speech by General L. G. Kornilov, who sent the 3rd Corps of General A. M. Krymov (“Wild Division”) to Petrograd in order to prevent a possible action by the Bolsheviks. The general demanded the resignation of the socialist ministers and a tightening of the internal political course.
	Resignation of Cadets. Kerensky removes Kornilov from his duties as commander in chief and declares him a traitor. He turns to the Soviets for support, which send Red Guard detachments to repulse the military units sent to Petrograd.
	Kerensky takes command of the troops. An attempted military coup is finally averted.
	An open break between the Petrograd Soviet and the Provisional Government. The beginning of the uprising: the capture of the most important points of Petrograd by the Red Guards, soldiers and sailors. Departure of Kerensky for reinforcements.
	The rebels control almost all of Petrograd, except for the Winter Palace. The Military Revolutionary Committee declares the Provisional Government deposed. On the night of October 26, the rebels occupy the Winter Palace. At the same time, the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets opens its meetings (out of 650 delegates, 390 Bolsheviks and 150 Left Socialist-Revolutionaries). The Mensheviks and Right Socialist-Revolutionaries leave the congress in protest against the seizure of the Winter Palace, thereby making it easier for the Bolsheviks to make decisions affirming the victory of the rebels.
	The beginning of an armed uprising in Moscow.
	The unsuccessful offensive of the troops of General Krasnov (prepared by Kerensky) on Petrograd.
	The organization of the first counter-revolutionary military formations in the south of Russia (in particular, the Volunteer Army of Generals Alekseev and Kornilov).

1918

	In Brest-Litovsk, General Hoffmann, in the form of an ultimatum, presents the terms of peace put forward by the Central European powers (Russia is deprived of its western territories).
	The Council of People's Commissars adopted Decree on the organization of the Red Army- the Bolsheviks began to recreate the previously destroyed Russian army. It is organized by Trotsky, and soon it will become a really powerful and disciplined army. A large number of experienced military specialists were recruited, officer elections were canceled, political commissars appeared in the units).
	After the presentation of an ultimatum to Russia, the Austro-German offensive was launched along the entire front; despite the fact that the Soviet side on the night of February 18-19 accepts the terms of peace, the offensive continues.
	The volunteer army, after failures on the Don (the loss of Rostov and Novocherkassk), is forced to retreat to the Kuban (Ice Campaign).
	In Brest-Litovsk, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed between Soviet Russia and the Central European powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary) and Turkey. Under the treaty, Russia loses Poland, Finland, the Baltic states, Ukraine and part of Belarus, and also cedes Kars, Ardagan and Batum to Turkey. In general, losses amount to 1/4 of the population, 1/4 of cultivated land, about 3/4 of the coal and metallurgical industries. After the signing of the treaty, Trotsky resigned as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and on April 8 became People's Commissar for Naval Affairs.
	At the end of March, an anti-Bolshevik uprising of the Cossacks began on the Don under the leadership of General Krasnov.
	The landing of the British in Murmansk (initially, this landing was planned to repel the offensive of the Germans and their allies - the Finns).
	The landing of Japanese troops in Vladivostok began, the Americans, the British and the French would follow the Japanese.
	A coup took place in Ukraine, as a result of which, with the support of the German occupying army, Hetman Skoropadsky came to power.
	The Czechoslovak Legion (formed from about 50 thousand former prisoners of war who were supposed to be evacuated through Vladivostok) takes the side of the opponents of the Soviet regime.
	Decree on general mobilization into the Red Army.
	The 8,000th Volunteer Army began its second campaign (Second Kuban campaign)
	The uprising of the Terek Cossacks began under the leadership of Bicherakhov. The Cossacks defeated the Red troops and blocked their remnants in Grozny and Kizlyar.
	The beginning of the White offensive on Tsaritsyn.
	The Yaroslavl rebellion began - an anti-Soviet armed uprising in Yaroslavl (lasted from July 6 to 21 and was brutally suppressed).
	The first major victory of the Red Army: Kazan was taken by it.
	The coup in Omsk, committed by Admiral Kolchak: overthrows the Ufa directory, declares himself the supreme ruler of Russia. The beginning of the offensive of the Red Army in the Baltic States, which lasts until January 1919. With the support of the RSFSR, ephemeral Soviet regimes are established in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

1919

	General A. Denikin unites under his command the Volunteer Army and the Don and Kuban formations.
	The Red Army occupies Kyiv (the Ukrainian directory of Semyon Petliura accepts the patronage of France).
	The beginning of the offensive of the troops of Admiral A. V. Kolchak, who are advancing in the direction of Simbirsk and Samara.
	The offensive of the Eastern Front begins - the fighting of the Reds against the White troops of Admiral A. V. Kolchak.
	The offensive of the Whites on Petrograd. It is shown at the end of June.
	The beginning of the offensive of General Denikin in Ukraine and in the direction of the Volga.
	The Red Army knocks out Kolchak's troops from Ufa, who continues to retreat and in July-August completely loses the Urals.

	The August offensive of the Southern Front against the White armies of General Denikin begins (about 115-120 thousand bayonets and sabers, 300-350 guns). The main blow was delivered by the left wing of the front - the Special Group of V.I. Shorin (9th and 10th armies).
	Denikin launches an attack on Moscow. Kursk (September 20) and Orel (October 13) were taken, a threat loomed over Tula.

	The beginning of the counteroffensive of the Red Army against A. Denikin.
	The First Cavalry Army was created from two cavalry corps and one rifle division. S. M. Budyonny was appointed commander, and K. E. Voroshilov and E. A. Shchadenko were members of the Revolutionary Military Council.

1920

	The Red Army begins an offensive near Rostov-on-Don and Novocherkassk - the Rostov-Novocherkassk operation - and again occupies Tsaritsyn (January 3), Krasnoyarsk (January 7) and Rostov (January 10).
	Admiral Kolchak renounces his title of supreme ruler of Russia in favor of Denikin.
	The Red Army enters Novorossiysk. Denikin retreats to the Crimea, where he transfers power to General P. Wrangel (April 4).
	Beginning of the Polish-Soviet War. The offensive of J. Pilsudski (an ally of S. Petliura) in order to expand the eastern borders of Poland and create a Polish-Ukrainian federation.
	Polish troops occupy Kyiv.
	In the war with Poland, the beginning of a counteroffensive on the Southwestern Front. Zhytomyr taken and Kyiv taken (June 12).
	On the Western Front, the offensive of the Soviet troops under the command of M. Tukhachevsky is unfolding, which approach Warsaw in early August. According to Lenin, entry into Poland should lead to the establishment of Soviet power there and cause a revolution in Germany.
	The Red Army begins an offensive against Wrangel in Northern Tavria, crosses the Sivash, takes Perekop (November 7-11).
	The Red Army occupies the entire Crimea. Allied ships evacuate to Constantinople more than 140 thousand people - civilians and the remnants of the white army.
	Thanks to diplomatic efforts, Japanese troops were withdrawn from Transbaikalia, and during the third Chita operation, the troops of the Amur Front of the NRA and partisans defeated the Cossacks of Ataman Semyonov and the remnants of Kolchak's troops.

1921

1922

Results of the Civil War

The civil war ended, its main result was the establishment of Soviet power.

During the war years, the Red Army was able to turn into a well-organized and well-armed force. She learned a lot from her opponents, but her talented and original commanders also appeared a lot.

The Bolsheviks actively used the political mood of the masses, their propaganda set clear goals, promptly resolved issues of peace and land, etc. The government of the young republic was able to organize control over the central provinces of Russia, where the main military enterprises were located. The anti-Bolshevik forces were never able to unite until the end of the war.

The war ended, and Bolshevik power was established throughout the country, as well as in most national regions. According to various estimates, more than 15 million people died or died due to disease and starvation. More than 2.5 million people have gone abroad. The country was in a state of severe economic crisis. Entire social groups were on the verge of annihilation, primarily the officers, the intelligentsia, the Cossacks, the clergy and the nobility.