The victory of the October Revolution and the advent of Soviet power provoked active resistance of representatives of deposed classes in all regions of the country. The irreconcilable confrontation of the main political forces in the spring of 1918 led to open large-scale military clashes. Society was choked with “red” and “white” terror. The fratricidal war that began was a struggle for power of the two warring camps and was, in fact, a continuation of the October uprising of 1917, to summarize briefly.
On the territory of Kazakhstan, the Civil War unfolded by the active actions of the main all-Russian fronts (East and South), and most of its areas were covered by a conflict of the opposing forces. In addition, the situation was greatly aggravated by foreign interventionists, who provided considerable support to the counter-revolution.
Kazakhstan on the eve of the Civil War
The news about the February Revolution and the overthrow of the monarchy was enthusiastically received by the Kazakh people. The change in the political system in Russia gave hope for a weakening of the colonial policy of its outskirts. In Kazakhstan, during this period, workers', soldiers', peasants' and Kazakh Soviets were formed with a predominant number of representatives of the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. In some places, youth organizations were formed that rallied the Kazakh intelligentsia and studying youth in their ranks.
Active national movements spilled over into numerous congresses of the Kazakh intelligentsia, where delegates expressed their aspirations for the emerging possibility of national self-determination and an end to the resettlement policy. At the next meeting, held in the city of Orenburg, a unanimous decision was made to form the political party "Alash" (close in ideology to the Russian party of cadets). By April 1917, the Shura-i-Islamiya party was formed in the south of Kazakhstan, which was personified by some representatives of the Kazakh bourgeoisie and the clergy, who supported pan-Islamist positions and loyally perceived the Provisional Government.
At the end of 1917, the delegates of the Orenburg General Kazakh Congress proclaimed the territorial-national autonomy of Alash. The formed Alash-Orda government, chaired by A. Bukeikhanov, categorically did not recognize Soviet power. By that time, it was already crushed by the Cossacks in a number of cities. In this controversial environment, Kazakhstan entered the Civil War.
The first foci in Kazakhstan
The administrative center of the Turgai region in Kazakhstan was one of the first under the millstones of the civil war. At the end of November 1917, the chieftain of the Orenburg Cossack army A. Dutov managed to overthrow Soviet power in the city of Orenburg and capture the revolutionary committee led by S. Zwilling, delegate of the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets. The fight against the imposed system was organized in Semirechye. The Council of the Semireic Cossack Army founded a separate government. White Guard officers and cadets began to flock to the city of Verny (Almaty).
In the same period, another focus of the Civil War in Kazakhstan was formed in Uralsk. An educated army government overthrew the local Soviet and established its authority in the city. It is worth noting that troop governments have become the main forces of the counter-revolutionary movement on Kazakh soil. They were strongly supported by the White Guard officers, and also relied on local Cadets, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, leaders of the Alash, Shura-i-Islamiya and other political movements.
Rebellion of the Czechoslovak Corps
Activation of anti-Soviet forces in the country by May 1918 led to an even greater aggravation of the political situation. The Czechoslovak corps, formed before the revolution from prisoners of war Czechs and Slovaks, was the main blow of the rebels. The manned 50,000th legion simultaneously captured a number of cities in Siberia, the Urals and the Middle Volga region - the length of the entire Trans-Siberian Railway. Together with the counter-revolutionaries, its separate units captured the cities of Kazakhstan: Petropavlovsk, Akmolinsk, Atbasar, Kustanai, Pavlodar and Semipalatinsk. The seizure of the highway served as an obstacle to strengthening the position of Soviet power in the north of Kazakhstan.
As a result, the following Kazakhstani regions came under the rule of the White Guards: Ural, Akmola, Semipalatinsk and most of Turgai. In July, the Cossack chieftain A. Dutov managed to capture Orenburg, cutting off Soviet Turkestan from central Russia.
During the Civil War in Kazakhstan, Soviet power was able to stay on a significant part of the Bukeevsky Horde, in the southern regions of the Turgay region and for the most part in the territories of the Semirechensk and Syrdarya regions.
Aktobe front
After the capture of Orenburg and the overlap of the railway line between Kazakhstan and Central Russia, the Red Army forces had to retreat along the road to Aktyubinsk. In order to prevent further advancement of the White Guards to the south of the region, the Aktobe Front was organized under the command of G.V. Zinoviev. The further situation was further aggravated by foreign interventionists: British troops were noted in Iran and the Trans-Caspian region. There was a serious threat of the conquest of Central Asia and Kazakhstan.
It should be noted that during the Civil War in Kazakhstan, it was the Aktobe Front that was assigned one of the important roles: it repeatedly stopped and discarded the advance of the White Guards breaking into the southern regions and Central Asia. In 1919, after the liberation of Orenburg, Orsk and Uralsk, his troops were combined with the troops of the Eastern Front. In September of the same year, the Aktobe front was disbanded.
Fighting in the Semirechensk region
Active hostilities were launched in the summer and autumn of 1918 in the Semirechensk region of Kazakhstan. The civil war in this region was particularly fierce. The counterrevolutionaries sought to occupy the Ili Territory and the city of Verny in order to further advance to the south of Kazakhstan and Central Asia. They have already taken the village of Sergiopol (now Ayagoz), the villages of Urjar and Sarkands, the city of Lepsinsk. To stop the advance of the White Guards in this direction, the Semirechensky Front was organized, the main parts of which were located in the village of Gavrilovka (Taldykorgan), under the command of L.P. Emelev.
In early September, Soviet troops managed to defeat the enemy at the Pokatilovskoye station and liberate Lepsinsk, and then take the village of Abakumovskaya (Zhansugurov village), where they went on the defensive and held it until December. In the following months, the front line did not change significantly.
Since June 1918, in the White Guard rear was the Cherkasy defense region, without the liquidation of which they could not get through to the city of Verny. In order to break the resistance, ataman B. Annenkov’s division was transferred from the city of Semipalatinsk. Throughout July and August 1919, the troops of the Semirechensky Front repeatedly tried to help the Cherkasy people, but were unsuccessful. After the October fierce fighting, the White Guards managed to capture the Cherkasy region, and the troops of the Semirechensky Front returned to their previous positions: the Ak-Ichke Canal and the settlements - Gavrilovka, Sarybulak and Voznesenskoye.
In the battle for Turkestan
The Turkestan front was officially formed as the main one in the Red Army by August 1919. It was formed by renaming the Southern Group from the Eastern Front. However, in fact, it has already been operating since February on the territory of Kazakhstan.
During the Civil War, the geographic and socio-economic features of the Turkestan district precluded the formation of clear front lines. On a vast territory, the opposing camps tried, first of all, to occupy important administrative centers and areas that were separated from each other by desert and mountain ranges. As a result, large-scale armed clashes were observed in outbreaks in different parts of Turkestan. In a persistent and protracted struggle, local fronts were organized, such as the Transcaspian and Ferghana.
In the Trans-Caspian region in early summer 1919, troops of the Turkestan Front defeated the White Guard formation of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia. By the fall, crushing the southern army of Admiral Kolchak, they managed to break through the blockade of Turkestan. The liberated Central Asian Highway opened up the long-awaited access to food resources in this region.
In September, units of the 4th Army of the Turkestan Front fought against the Ural Cossack formation of General Tolstov and Denikin's troops in the areas of the Ural River and lower Volga. As a result of the offensive Ural-Guryev operation, which lasted from November 1919 to January 10, 1920, the Ural White Cossacks and Alash-Horde troops were defeated. Then the troops of the Turkestan Front liquidated the White Guard forces in Semirechye.
Eastern Front of the Civil War in Kazakhstan
In November 1918, units of the Red Army of the Eastern Front launched a counterattack against the Ural White Guards and Cossack troops of Ataman A. Dutov. Already in January 1919 they liberated Orenburg and Uralsk, which gave the restoration of Kazakhstan’s ties with Soviet Russia. Nevertheless, in the spring of that year, an unexpected blow from the Entente was inflicted by the troops of Admiral A. Kolchak. Its defeat became one of the most important moments of the Civil War.
In Kazakhstan, the mission to crush the Kolchak forces was assigned to the Northern and Southern groups of the Eastern Front under the command of M.V. Frunze. On April 28, Soviet troops launched a counterattack, and by the end of spring the strategic initiative was already in their hands.
In the summer of 1919, the main forces of the army of A. V. Kolchak on the Eastern Front suffered heavy losses, which gave a favorable situation for the liberation of all of Kazakhstan. In the fall, the fifth army of the Eastern Front, under the command of M.N. Tukhachevsky, cleared Northern and then Eastern Kazakhstan from Kolchakites. In November, the revolutionary committee returned Soviet power to Semipalatinsk. Semipalatinsk Oblast received full liberation in the spring of 1920, at the same time the Semirechye Front was abolished. He was the last in Kazakhstan.
Partisan movement
During the Civil War, Kazakhstan was notable for the large scale of the partisan movement and popular uprising. Their main centers are Akmola and Semipalatinsk regions.
Popular resistance against the White Guards and interventionists began in the first months of hostilities. It in every possible way disorganized the rear of the enemy with sudden blows, destroying his communications and intercepting convoys. Examples of the heroic struggle of the working class are Kustanai Uyezd, the Trans-Ural side, participants in the Mariinsky Uprising and the legendary Cherkasy Defense. Detachments of A. Imanov fought fiercely in the Turgai steppe; operations in the East Kazakhstan region were conducted under the command of K. Vaytskovsky. Large partisan detachments were also formed in Semirechye and other areas.
The White Guards brought much concern to the partisan detachment of the northern Semirechye, who called himself the "Mountain Eagles of Tarbagatai." The detachment was formed in the summer of 1918 from the villages of Sergiopol, Urdzhar and nearby villages that had gone into the mountains of the Red Guards. In the spring of 1920, the "Mountain Eagles of Tarbagatai" joined the Red Army, reorganized into a cavalry regiment.
Features of the Civil War in Kazakhstan (1918-1920)
The successful union of Turkestan with Russia in the early fall of 1919 actually determined the final victory of the revolution in this region. A significant part of the representatives of the Kazakh intelligentsia of Alash-Horde sided with the Soviet government. The recognition of socialist ideas in the poor, the concentration of important resources in the hands of the Bolsheviks, and the easing of policies with regard to the national suburbs played a decisive role.
Historians highlight the following features of the Civil War in Kazakhstan:
- economic backwardness of regions;
- lack of a common front line, which complicated the coordination of military operations;
- sparseness of the region;
- guerrilla resistance;
- unequal balance of power in favor of the supporters of counter-revolution;
- low proportion of the working class;
- deployment of Cossack troops (Orenburg, Uralsk, Omsk, Semirechye);
- the proximity of external borders, which allowed the White Guards to receive support from abroad.
It is worth noting that the military maneuvers of this war varied significantly from previous periods and were marked by a kind of creativity that broke all sorts of stereotypes of command and control and military discipline.
Civil War Results
The civil conflict of society has greatly depleted the state in economic and demographic terms. And its main result was the final consolidation of the power of the Bolsheviks and the laying of the foundations of a new political system with the dominance of a one-party system.
If we talk about the consequences of the Civil War in Kazakhstan, as in the whole country, it brought irreparable material and human losses, which for a long time affected the following years. The regional policy pursued in no way contributed to the growth of undermined production. Of the 307 nationalized enterprises, 250 did not function. The mines of the Dzhezkazgan and Uspensky deposits were sunk, and of the 147 oil wells in the Embensky district, only 8 remained operational.
The situation with agriculture was even worse: the sown area was significantly reduced, and the livestock sector was in a deplorable state. The general decline, ruin, hunger and disease led to the pestilence and mass emigration of the population. Further mobilization of the region’s resources by non-economic and force methods has repeatedly provoked uprisings of the masses.
Conclusion
The victory of the Bolsheviks in a war that has no analogues in history was determined by a number of factors, the most important of which is the political unity of the working class. The development of the situation was also affected by the fact that the uncoordinated actions of the Entente countries failed to deliver the planned blow to the former Russian Empire.
If we talk briefly about the features of the Civil War in Kazakhstan, it is first necessary to note the competent interaction of military operations taking place on the main fronts of the country with operations unfolding on the battlefields of Kazakhstan. It is also worth paying tribute to those who stood behind all the masterly maneuvers of the Red Army, defeating the enemies: M.V. Frunze, M.N. Tukhachevsky, V.I. Chapaev and talented commanders I.P. Belov, I.S. Kutyakov , A. Imanov, as well as others.
It is also impossible to ignore the fact that the national formations of Kazakhstan made a serious contribution to the victory over the enemy of the Red Army. As the front lines approached, the number of volunteers joining the Soviet troops and partisan units increased. The desperate struggle of the Kazakh people against the invaders and White Guards was anti-colonial and national liberation.