The civil war in Russia refers to a series of armed conflicts of 1917-1922 that occurred on the territories of the former Russian Empire. The warring parties were various political, ethnic, social groups and state entities. The war began after the October Revolution, the main reason for which was the coming to power of the Bolsheviks. Let us take a closer look at the prerequisites, course and results of the Civil War in Russia 1917-1922.
Periodization
The main stages of the Civil War in Russia:
- Summer 1917 - end of autumn 1918. The main centers of the anti-Bolshevik movement were formed.
- Autumn 1918 - mid spring 1919 The Entente began its intervention.
- Spring 1919 - Spring 1920. The struggle of the Soviet authorities of Russia with the "white" armies and troops of the Entente.
- Spring 1920 - Autumn 1922. Victory of power and the end of the war.
Background
There is no strictly defined cause of the Civil War in Russia. It was the result of political, economic, social, national and even spiritual contradictions. An important role was played by the public discontent accumulated during the First World War, and the depreciation of human life by the authorities. The agrarian-peasant Bolshevik policy also became a stimulus for protest moods.
The Bolsheviks initiated the dissolution of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly and the liquidation of the multiparty system. In addition, after the adoption of the Brest Peace, they began to accuse them of destroying the state. The right of self-determination of peoples and the formation of independent state formations in different parts of the country was perceived by the supporters of indivisible Russia as a betrayal.
Dissatisfaction with the new government was expressed by those who were against a break with the historical past. A special resonance in society was caused by anti-church Bolshevik politics. All of the above reasons came together and led to the Civil War in Russia 1917-1922.
Military confrontation took all kinds of forms: uprisings, armed clashes, partisan actions, terrorist acts and large-scale operations involving the regular army. A feature of the Civil War in Russia of 1917-1922 was that it stood out for an exceptionally long, brutal and exciting vast territory.
Chronological framework
The widespread front-line character of the Civil War in Russia of 1917-1922 began to take place in the spring and summer of 1918, however, individual episodes of the confrontation took place as early as 1917. The final line of events is also difficult to determine. In the European part of Russia, front-line battles ended in 1920. However, after that there were mass peasant uprisings against Bolshevism and the actions of the Kronstadt sailors. In the Far East, the armed struggle ended completely in 1922-1923. It is this line that is considered the end of a large-scale war. Sometimes you can find the phrase "Civil War in Russia 1918-1922 years" and other displacements for 1-2 years.
Features of the confrontation
The military operations of 1917-1922 were radically different from the battles of previous periods. They broke more than a dozen stereotypes regarding the management of units, army control systems and military discipline. Significant successes were achieved by those generals who commanded in a new way, used all possible means to achieve the task. The civil war was very maneuverable. In contrast to the positional battles of previous years, solid front lines were not used in 1917-1922. Cities and towns could change hands several times. Of decisive importance were active offensives aimed at intercepting the superiority of the enemy.
The civil war in Russia of 1917-1922 was characterized by the use of diverse tactics and strategies. During the establishment of Soviet power in Moscow and Petrograd, street fighting tactics were used. In October 1917, the Military Revolutionary Committee, led by V.I. Lenin and N.I. Podvoisky, developed a plan for the seizure of the main city objects. During the battles in Moscow (autumn 1917), Red Guard detachments advanced from the outskirts to the city center, which was occupied by the White Guard and cadets. To suppress strongholds, artillery was used. Similar tactics were used during the establishment of Soviet power in Kiev, Irkutsk, Kaluga and Chita.
Formation of centers of the anti-Bolshevik movement
With the beginning of the formation of units of the Red and White armies, the Civil War in Russia of 1917-1922 became more widespread. In 1918, military operations were conducted, as a rule, along railway lines and were reduced to the seizure of important nodal stations. This period was called the "echelon war."
In the first months of 1918 in Rostov-on-Don and Novocherkassk, where the forces of the volunteer units of Generals L. G. Kornilov and M. V. Alekseev were concentrated, the Red Guards advanced under the leadership of R. F. Siver and V. A. Antonov Ovseenko. In the spring of the same year, the Czechoslovak corps formed from Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war set off on the Trans-Siberian Railway to the Western Front. During May-June, this corps overthrew power in Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Vladivostok, Novonikolaevsk and throughout the territory adjacent to the Trans-Siberian Railway.
During the second Kuban campaign (summer-autumn 1918), the Volunteer Army took the key stations: Tikhoretskaya, Torgovaya, Armavir and Stavropol, which in fact determined the outcome of the North Caucasus operation.
The outbreak of the Civil War in Russia was marked by the extensive activity of clandestine organizations of the White movement. In the big cities of the country there were cells that were associated with the former military districts and military units of these cities, as well as local cadets, Socialist-Revolutionaries and monarchists. In the spring of 1918, an underground was operating in Tomsk under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Pepelyaev, in Omsk - Colonel Ivanov-Rinov, in Nikolaevsk - Colonel Grishin-Almazov. In the summer of 1918, a secret provision was approved regarding the recruitment centers of the army of volunteers in Kiev, Odessa, Kharkov and Taganrog. They were engaged in the transmission of intelligence, sent officers across the front line and intended to oppose the authorities when the White Army approached their base city.
The Soviet underground, which was active in the Crimea, in Eastern Siberia, the North Caucasus and the Far East, had a similar function. It created very strong partisan units, which later became part of the regular units of the Red Army.
By the beginning of 1919, the White and Red armies were finally formed. The RKKR included 15 armies, which covered the entire front of the European part of the country. The top military leadership was concentrated with L. D. Trotsky - Chairman of the RVSR (Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic) and S. S. Kamenev - Commander-in-Chief. Logistical support of the front and regulation of the economy in Soviet Russia was handled by the service station (Council of Labor and Defense), chaired by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. He headed the Council of People's Commissars (Council of People's Commissars) - in fact, the Soviet government.
The Red Army was opposed by the combined armies of the Eastern Front under the command of Admiral A.V. Kolchak: Western, Southern, Orenburg. They were also joined by the armies of the Commander-in-Chief of the All-Union Union of Liberal Democratic Forces (Armed Forces of the South of Russia), Lieutenant General A. I. Denikin: Volunteer, Don and the Caucasus. In addition, in the general direction of Petrograd, the troops of the general from infantry N.N. Yudenich - Commander-in-Chief of the North-Western Front and E.K. Miller - Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Region.
Intervention
The civil war and foreign intervention in Russia were closely related to each other. Intervention is the armed intervention of foreign powers in the internal affairs of a country. Its main goals in this case: to force Russia to continue to fight on the side of the Entente; protect personal interests in Russian territories; to provide financial, political and military support to the participants of the White Movement, as well as to the governments of countries formed after the October Revolution; and not allow the ideas of the world revolution to penetrate the countries of Europe and Asia.
War development
In the spring of 1919, the first attempts were made at the combined strike of the "white" fronts. Since this period, the Civil War in Russia has become widespread, it began to use all kinds of troops (infantry, artillery, cavalry), military operations were conducted with the assistance of tanks, armored trains and aircraft. In March 1919, the eastern front of Admiral Kolchak began his offensive, striking in two directions: the Vyatka-Kotlas and the Volga.
The armies of the Soviet Eastern Front under the command of S. S. Kamenev at the beginning of June 1919 were able to restrain the White’s offensive by delivering counter-attacks in the Southern Urals and in the Kama area.
In the summer of that year, VSYUR began their offensive against Kharkov, Tsaritsyn and Yekaterinoslav. On July 3, when these cities were taken, Denikin signed the directive "On a campaign against Moscow." From that moment until October, VSYUR troops occupied the bulk of Ukraine and the Black Earth Center of Russia. They stopped on the line Kiev - Tsaritsyn, passing through Bryansk, Oryol and Voronezh. Almost at the same time as the All-Russian Union of National Liberal Democratic Forces entered Moscow, the North-West Army of General Yudenich went to Petrograd.
The fall of 1919 was the most critical period for the Soviet army. Under the slogans “Everything for the defense of Moscow” and “Everything for the defense of Petrograd”, a total mobilization of Komsomol members and communists was carried out. Control over railways that converged to the center of Russia allowed the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic to transfer troops between fronts. So, in the midst of the battles in the Moscow direction near Petrograd and the Southern Front, several divisions were transferred from Siberia and the Western Front. At the same time, the white armies could not establish a common anti-Bolshevik front. The exception was perhaps a few local contacts at the level of detachments.
The concentration of forces from different fronts allowed Lieutenant General V.N. Egorov, the commander of the southern front, to create a strike group, the basis of which became parts of the Estonian and Latvian rifle divisions, as well as the horse army K.E. Voroshilova and S.M. Budyonny. Impressive blows were inflicted on the flanks of the 1st Volunteer Corps, which was under the command of Lieutenant General A.P. Kutepova and attacked Moscow.
After intense fighting in October-November 1919, the front of the FYUR was broken and the Whites began to retreat from Moscow. In mid-November, units of the North-West Army were stopped and defeated, which were not enough 25 kilometers to reach Petrograd.
The battles of 1919 were notable for their widespread use of maneuver. In order to break through the front and conduct a raid behind enemy lines, large horse-drawn formations were used. The White Army used the Cossack cavalry for this purpose. So, the fourth Don Corps under the leadership of Lieutenant General Mamontov in the fall of 1919 made a deep raid from the city of Tambov to the Ryazan province. And the Siberian Cossack Corps, Major General Ivanov-Rinov, managed to break through the "red" front near Petropavlovsk. Meanwhile, the “Red Division” of the Southern Front of the Red Army carried out a raid on the rear of the volunteer corps. At the end of 1919, the first Horse Army began to decisively attack the Rostov and Novocherkassk directions.
In the first months of 1920, a fierce battle unfolded in the Kuban. As part of operations on the Manych River and near the village of Yegorlykskaya, the last massive horse battles in the history of mankind took place. The number of riders who took part in them from both sides was about 50 thousand. The result of the fierce confrontation was the defeat of the All-Union Socialist League. In April of that year, the white troops began to be called the “Russian Army” and subordinate to Lieutenant General Wrangel.
End of war
In late 1919 - early 1920, the army of A.V. Kolchak was finally defeated. In February 1920, the admiral was shot by the Bolsheviks, and only small partisan detachments remained from his troops. A month earlier, after a couple of unsuccessful campaigns, General Yudenich announced the dissolution of the Northwest Army. After the defeat of Poland, the army of P.N. Wrangel, locked in the Crimea, was doomed. In the fall of 1920 (by the forces of the Southern Front of the Red Army), it was defeated. In this regard, about 150 thousand people (both military and civilians) left the peninsula. It seemed that the end of the Civil War in Russia 1917-1922 was not far off, but it was not so simple.
In 1920-1922, hostilities took place in small territories (Transbaikalia, Primorye, Tavria) and began to acquire elements of positional warfare. For defense, they began to actively use fortifications, for the breakthrough of which the warring side needed lengthy artillery preparation, as well as flamethrower and tank support.
The rout of the army P.N. Wrangel did not mean at all that the Civil War in Russia was over. The Reds had to deal with peasant rebel movements, which called themselves "green." The most powerful of them were deployed in the Voronezh and Tambov provinces. The rebel army was led by the Social Revolutionary A. S. Antonov. She even managed to overthrow the Bolsheviks from power in several areas.
At the end of 1920, the fight against the rebels was entrusted to units of the regular Red Army under the command of M.N. Tukhachevsky. However, it was even more difficult to resist the guerrillas of the peasant army than the open pressure of the White Guards. The Tambov uprising of the "greens" was crushed only in 1921. A. S. Antonov was killed in a shootout. Around the same time, the army of Makhno was defeated.
During 1920-1921, the Red Army made a number of campaigns in the Caucasus, which resulted in the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. To suppress the White Guards and interventionists in the Far East, the Bolsheviks in 1921 created the Far Eastern Democratic Republic (Far Eastern Republic). For two years, the army of the republic restrained the onslaught of Japanese troops in Primorye and neutralized several White Guard chieftains. She made a significant contribution to the outcome of the Civil War and intervention in Russia. At the end of 1922, the FER joined the RSFSR. In the same period, having defeated the Basmachi, who fought for the preservation of medieval traditions, the Bolsheviks consolidated their power in Central Asia. Speaking about the Civil War in Russia, it is worth noting that some insurgent groups operated until the 1940s.
Reasons for the victory of the Reds
The superiority of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War in Russia of 1917-1922 was due to such reasons:
- Powerful propaganda and use of the political mood of the masses.
- Control of the central provinces of Russia, in which the main military enterprises were located.
- Disunity and territorial fragmentation of the White Guards.
The results of the Civil War in Russia
The main result of the events of 1917-1922 was the approval of the Bolshevik government. The revolution and the Civil War in Russia took about 13 million lives. Almost half of them were victims of mass epidemics and famine. About 2 million Russians left their homeland in those years in order to protect themselves and their families. During the years of the Civil War in Russia, the state economy fell to catastrophic indicators. In 1922, compared with pre-war data, industrial production decreased by 5-7 times, and agricultural production by a third. The empire was finally destroyed, and the RSFSR became the largest of the educated states.