For many years, historians have been trying to formulate the reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War. The assessment of the events of those years changed greatly depending on the era.
Centralized authority
The main difference between the "red" and "white" was that the Communists from the very beginning of the war were able to create a centralized power, which subordinated the entire territory they conquered. The Bolsheviks managed to seize Petrograd and Moscow. In their hands were the two largest cities in the country.
The Whites have never been a single movement. Among the opponents of the Communists there were several leaders (for example, Denikin and Kolchak). All of them acted in different regions in the absence of clear communication and without setting a common goal. In many ways, the reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War lay precisely in this disunity.
Dissatisfied with Lenin and his party represented completely different political views. Among the “whites” were monarchists and republicans, nationalists and imperials. Contradictions and ideological disagreements often did not allow leaders to unite their efforts in the fight against the "reds". Thus, the reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War were not in their advantage, but in the shortcomings of their opponents.
Skillful Propaganda
The whites were bad agitators. The ideological work with the troops and the population of the conquered territories was carried out somehow. Only with time did the opponents of the Communists understand the importance of agitation, but by the end of the war the strategic advantage was already in the hands of Lenin's supporters.
Often the ideological treatment of troops lay on the shoulders of officers of the former tsarist army. Of course, they were completely unprepared for such a job. At the same time, the reasons for the Bolshevik victory during the Civil War also consisted in their ability to organize effective propaganda directed against enemies. This is not surprising, because the whole party elite had an excellent education and was savvy in ideological matters.
From the very first day after coming to power, the Soviet leadership had a clear program of action regarding the country's future transformations. As soon as the October Revolution took place, the famous decrees on land and peace were issued, which increased the popularity of the "reds" among the vacillating peasantry and the military.
The leaders of the "white" movement, as a rule, had a military education. They were good generals, but were completely lost in conversations about the future of Russia. The revolutions that took place before the eyes of the former aristocracy sowed horror and confusion of minds in the ranks of the "red" opponents. It was their insecurity that hid the causes of the Bolshevik victory in the Civil War. In short, the inconsistency of actions and decisions of the "white" generals nullified all their military successes.
Army discipline
Both sides of the conflict suffered desertion. People fled from the army due to poor conditions of detention, inept organization, officer dominance, etc.
When Denikin’s army achieved maximum success at the front, it was already on the outskirts of Moscow. It was at this moment that the main reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War affected. Moscow decided to launch repressions against deserters and hesitating. The surplus appraisal in the village also increased. The Bolsheviks did not reckon with the victims on the path to achieving their goal. As a result, the village was devastated (famine began there), but the army began to consistently receive rations and other resources. The discipline in the troops also intensified, which made it possible to coordinate forces for a decisive strike against the “whites”.
At the same time, the Armed Forces of the South of Russia suffered from the partisan movement of "green" gangs. The "whites" could not win over the entire peasantry, because their program to transfer land to the villagers was stalled. Denikins had to repulse the villages and towns that were already ravaged by the war. The deplorable state of the economy and the impoverishment of the population hurt the positions of the "white" governments.
Because of desertion, the opponents of the Communists had to recruit new troops from captured Red Army soldiers. There was much more harm than good from these armed groups. They quickly went over to the side of the enemy, arranged sabotage, fled the battlefield, etc.
Abandonment of the royal orders
In Soviet historiography, the reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War, the re -ization of the Civil War and its entire history were presented in textbooks within a very strict ideological framework. Emphasis was placed on hatred of the "white" urban proletariat, who did not want the return of the old order.
Indeed, the communist populist rhetoric about the onset of a socialist paradise acted on the poor inhabitants of the country much more strongly than the languid admonitions of the tsarist officers. In the "red" propaganda, the "whites" were exploiters, followed by the nobles and other insatiable capitalists, disliked by the workers. The proletariat believed that after the establishment of Soviet power throughout the country, a new era of prosperity for ordinary hard workers from factories would begin.
The fight against the bourgeoisie
Hardly anyone back then (even in the party leadership) assumed what the creation of the USSR would turn out to be. The reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War, in short, were largely in their support by the peasantry after the introduction of the Land Decree. However, none of the villagers understood that after the establishment of Soviet power, the reverse process of enslavement would begin in the form of creating collective farms in the most ugly forms.
Communist ideology suggested that it was necessary to destroy the capitalist exploitation of the workers. After the Civil War, the bourgeoisie was indeed wiped off the face of the country. But in place of the former exploiter, a state came that systematically squeezed all the juices from the peasantry and the working class. During the war, loud slogans about social justice were extremely effective among the poor and tired of the war population.
Heirs of the first revolution
For many proletarians, the 1905 revolution was memorable. Its continuation was the Civil War in Russia. The reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks were that they were supported by people who suffered from the tsarist repressions arranged ten years before. The episode with Bloody Sunday, when a delegation of workers who were walking with a petition to the sovereign, was shot especially vividly and was reminded.
To understand what are the reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War, it is enough to also recall the factor of the First World War. The "white" government (like the Provisional Government of 1917) consistently supported the Entente in a conflict with Germany. The slogan “war to the bitter end” has become a red rag for the exhausted war veterans.
Lenin and his party intercepted this banner in time. Negotiations with Germany began, ending with the signing of the Brest Peace. Hence the reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War. Communists in the mass consciousness became the messengers of the long-awaited world. The First World War was called "imperialist", it is branded for many years in Soviet textbooks.
Entente intervention
If we list the reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War point by point, then we cannot fail to mention the fatal mistake of the "whites" who accepted the help of European allies. After the conclusion of the Brest Treaty, the Entente rightly accused the Soviet leadership of betrayal.
The allies went closer to the “whites." However, their support was extremely weak and consisted in the occupation of several northern ports. Europeans did not go further. Their aggression also lies in the reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War. The Communist Party personalities took advantage of this attack as a successful propaganda move.
Now the "whites" were called traitors to national interests, who entered into a deal with the invaders. So there were new reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War. The main stages of this bloody conflict are often formulated according to the situation at the front. But the “whites” did not lose the war in battle, but in the ideological field. Every move of the enemy deft "red" propaganda used to their advantage.
And do not get lost if you are asked: "What are the reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War." In order to list them, it suffices to mention the theses described above.
War against the invaders
In its struggle against foreign invaders, the Soviet leadership effectively used the interests of the world proletariat. Workers from all European countries looked at the Russian revolution as their own victory. Foreign armies were invaded by Soviet agents and agitators who demoralized the enemy from within.
It is interesting that Lenin himself wrote in his letters that the countries of the Entente had enough general effort to destroy the Bolsheviks and occupy Moscow and Petrograd. However, the Allies did not. In their aid to the “whites,” they limited themselves to small (on a strategic scale) supplies of products and weapons.
The defeat of the "whites"
In 1919, a radical change occurred in the Civil War. The Whites on all fronts retreated. Kolchak with his army left behind all of Siberia and died in Irkutsk.
Denikin was also defeated and began to retreat south. In 1921, only the Crimea remained with the “whites”, from which the hasty evacuation of the opponents of the Communists began. With the end of the Civil War, the streets of European capitals were flooded with Russian monarchists, liberals and other ghosts of the "old order".