EntranceThe war of red and white history. White Army in the Civil War
>>History: Civil War: Reds
Civil War: Reds
1.Creation of the Red Army.
2. War communism.
3. "Red Terror". Execution of the royal family.
4. Decisive victories for the Reds.
5.War with Poland.
6. End of the civil war.
Creation of the Red Army.
On January 15, 1918, a decree of the Council of People's Commissars proclaimed the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and on January 29 - the Red Fleet. The army was built on the principles of voluntariness and a class approach, which excluded the penetration of “exploiting elements” into it.
But the first results of the creation of a new revolutionary army did not inspire optimism. The volunteer principle of recruitment inevitably led to organizational disunity and decentralization in command and control, which had the most detrimental effect on the combat effectiveness and discipline of the Red Army. Therefore, V.I. Lenin considered it possible to return to the traditional, “ bourgeois»principles of military development, i.e., universal conscription and unity of command.
In July 1918, a decree was published on universal military service for the male population aged 18 to 40 years. A network of military commissariats was created throughout the country to keep records of those liable for military service, organize and conduct military training, and mobilize those fit for duty. military service population, etc. During the summer - autumn of 1918, 300 thousand people were mobilized into the ranks of the Red Army. By the spring of 1919, the number of Red Army soldiers increased to 1.5 million people, and by October 1919 - to 3 million. In 1920, the number of Red Army soldiers approached 5 million. Much attention was paid to command personnel. Short-term courses and schools were created to train mid-level commanders from the most distinguished Red Army soldiers. In 1917 - 1919 the highest military were opened educational establishments: Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army, Artillery, Military Medical, Military Economic, Naval, Military Engineering Academies. A notice was published in the Soviet press about the recruitment of military specialists from the old army to serve in the Red Army.
The widespread involvement of military experts was accompanied by strict “class” control over their activities. For this purpose, in April 1918, the institute of military commissars was introduced in the Red Army, who not only supervised the command cadres, but also carried out the political education of the Red Army soldiers.
In September 1918, a unified structure for command and control of troops of the fronts and armies was organized. At the head of each front (army) was the Revolutionary Military Council (Revolutionary Military Council, or RVS), which consisted of the commander of the front (army) and two political commissars. All front-line and military institutions were headed by the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, headed by L. D. Trotsky.
Measures were taken to tighten discipline. Representatives of the RVS, empowered emergency powers right up to the execution of traitors and cowards without trial or investigation, they went to the most tense sections of the front.
In November 1918, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense was formed, headed by V.I. Lenin. He concentrated in his hands all the power of the state.
War communism.
Social-Soviet power also underwent significant changes.
The activities of the poor commanders heated the situation in the village to the limit. In many areas, the Pobedy Committees entered into conflicts with local Soviets, seeking to usurp power. In the village, “a dual power was created, which led to a fruitless waste of energy and confusion in relations,” which the congress of committees of the poor of the Petrograd province in November 1918 was forced to admit.
On December 2, 1918, a decree was promulgated on the dissolution of the committees. This was not only a political, but also an economic decision. The calculations that the poor committees would help increase the supply of grain did not materialize. The price of the bread that was obtained as a result of the “armed campaign in the village” turned out to be immeasurably high - the general indignation of the peasants, which resulted in a series of peasant uprisings against the Bolsheviks. Civil War this factor could be decisive in the overthrow of the Bolshevik government. It was necessary to regain the trust, first of all, of the middle peasantry, which, after the redistribution of the land, determined the face of the village. The dissolution of the committees of the village poor was the first step towards a policy of pacification of the middle peasantry.
On January 11, 1919, the decree “On the allocation of grain and fodder” was issued. According to this decree, the state communicated in advance the exact figure of its grain needs. Then this amount was distributed (developed) among provinces, districts, volosts and peasant households. Fulfillment of the grain procurement plan was mandatory. Moreover, surplus appropriation was based not on the capabilities of peasant farms, but on very conditional “state needs,” which in reality meant the confiscation of all surplus grain, and often necessary supplies. What was new compared to the policy of food dictatorship was that the peasants knew in advance the intentions of the state, and this was an important factor for peasant psychology. In 1920, surplus appropriation extended to potatoes, vegetables and other agricultural products.
In the field of industrial production, a course was set for the accelerated nationalization of all industries, and not just the most important ones, as provided for by the decree of July 28, 1918.
The government introduced universal labor conscription and labor mobilization of the population to carry out work of national importance: logging, road, construction, etc. The introduction of labor conscription influenced the solution to the problem of wages. Instead of money, workers were given food rations, food stamps in the canteen, and basic necessities. Payments for housing, transport, utilities and other services were canceled. The state, having mobilized the worker, almost completely took over his maintenance.
Commodity-money relations were virtually abolished. First, the free sale of food was prohibited, then other consumer goods, which were distributed by the state as naturalized wages. However, despite all the prohibitions, illegal market trade continued to exist. According to various estimates, the state distributed only 30 - 45% of real consumption. Everything else was purchased on black markets, from “baggers” - illegal food sellers.
Such a policy required the creation of special super-centralized economic bodies in charge of accounting and distribution of all available products. The central boards (or centers) created under the Supreme Economic Council controlled the activities of certain industries, were in charge of their financing, material and technical supplies, and distribution of manufactured products.
The entire set of these emergency measures was called the policy of “war communism.” Military because this policy was subordinated to the sole goal - to concentrate all forces for military victory over one’s political opponents, communism because the measures undertaken Bolsheviks the measures surprisingly coincided with the Marxist forecast of some socio-economic features of the future communist society. The new program of the RCP(b), adopted in March 1919 at the VIII Congress, already linked “military-communist” measures with theoretical ideas about communism.
"Red Terror". Execution of the royal family.
Along with economic and military measures, the Soviet government on a national scale began to pursue a policy of intimidation of the population, called “red terror.”
In the cities, the “red terror” took on widespread proportions from September 1918 - after the murder of the chairman of the Petrograd Cheka, M. S. Uritsky, and the attempt on the life of V. I. Lenin. On September 5, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR adopted a resolution that “in this situation, ensuring the rear through terror is a direct necessity”, that “it is necessary to liberate Soviet republic from class enemies by isolating them in concentration camps,” that “all persons involved in White Guard organizations, conspiracies and rebellions are subject to execution.” The terror was widespread. Only in response to the assassination attempt on V.I. Lenin, the Petrograd Cheka shot, according to official reports, 500 hostages.
In the armored train on which L. D. Trotsky made his journeys along the fronts, there was a military revolutionary tribunal with unlimited powers. The first concentration camps were created in Murom, Arzamas, and Sviyazhsk. Between the front and the rear, special barrage detachments were formed to fight deserters.
One of the ominous pages of the “Red Terror” was the execution of the former royal family and other members of the imperial family.
Oktyabrskaya revolution found the former Russian emperor and his family in Tobolsk, where he was sent into exile by order of A.F. Kerensky. Tobolsk imprisonment lasted until the end of April 1918. Then royal family was transferred to Yekaterinburg and placed in a house that previously belonged to the merchant Ipatiev.
On July 16, 1918, apparently in agreement with the Council of People's Commissars, the Ural Regional Council decided to shoot Nikolai Romanov and members of his family. 12 people were selected to carry out this secret “operation”. On the night of July 17, the awakened family was transferred to the basement, where the bloody tragedy took place. Along with Nikolai, his wife, five children and servants were shot. There are 11 people in total.
Even earlier, on July 13, the Tsar’s brother Mikhail was killed in Perm. On July 18, 18 members of the imperial family were shot and thrown into a mine in Alapaevsk.
Decisive victories for the Reds.
On November 13, 1918, the Soviet government annulled the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty and began making every effort to expel German troops from the territories they occupied. At the end of November, Soviet power was proclaimed in Estonia, in December - in Lithuania, Latvia, in January 1919 - in Belarus, in February - March - in Ukraine.
Summer 1918 main danger for the Bolsheviks it represented the Czechoslovak corps, and above all its units in the Middle Volga region. In September - early October, the Reds took Kazan, Simbirsk, Syzran and Samara. Czechoslovak troops retreated to the Urals. At the end of 1918 - beginning of 1919, large-scale fighting took place on the Southern Front. In November 1918, Krasnov's Don Army broke through the Southern Front of the Red Army, inflicted a serious defeat on it and began to advance north. At the cost of incredible efforts, in December 1918 it was possible to stop the advance of the White Cossack troops.
In January - February 1919, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive, and by March 1919, Krasnov's army was virtually defeated, and a significant part of the Don region returned to Soviet rule.
In the spring of 1919, the Eastern front again became the main front. Here the troops of Admiral Kolchak began their offensive. In March - April they captured Sarapul, Izhevsk, and Ufa. The advanced units of Kolchak’s army were located several tens of kilometers from Kazan, Samara and Simbirsk.
This success allowed the Whites to outline a new perspective - the possibility of Kolchak’s march on Moscow while the left flank of his army simultaneously reached the junction with Denikin’s forces.
The current situation seriously alarmed the Soviet leadership. Lenin demanded that emergency measures be taken to organize a rebuff to Kolchak. A group of troops under the command of M.V. Frunze in battles near Samara defeated selected Kolchak units and took Ufa on June 9, 1919. On July 14, Yekaterinburg was occupied. In November, Kolchak's capital, Omsk, fell. The remnants of his army rolled further east.
In the first half of May 1919, when the Reds were winning their first victories over Kolchak, General Yudenich’s attack on Petrograd began. At the same time, anti-Bolshevik protests took place among the Red Army soldiers in the forts near Petrograd. Having suppressed these protests, the troops of the Petrograd Front went on the offensive. Yudenich's units were driven back to Estonian territory. Yudenich’s second offensive against St. Petersburg in October 1919 also ended in failure.
In February 1920, the Red Army liberated Arkhangelsk, and in March - Murmansk. The "white" north became "red".
The real danger to the Bolsheviks was Denikin's Volunteer Army. By June 1919, it captured the Donbass, a significant part of Ukraine, Belgorod, and Tsaritsyn. In July, Denikin's attack on Moscow began. In September, the Whites entered Kursk and Orel and occupied Voronezh. The critical moment had come for the Bolshevik power. The Bolsheviks organized the mobilization of forces and resources under the motto: “Everything to fight Denikin!” Big role The First Cavalry Army of S. M. Budyonny played a role in changing the situation at the front. Significant assistance to the Red Army was provided by rebel peasant detachments led by N. I. Makhno, who deployed a “second front” in the rear of Denikin’s army.
The rapid advance of the Reds in the fall of 1919 forced the Volunteer Army to retreat south. In February - March 1920, its main forces were defeated and the Volunteer Army itself ceased to exist. A significant group of whites led by General Wrangel took refuge in the Crimea.
War with Poland.
The main event of 1920 was the war with Poland. In April 1920, the head of Poland, J. Pilsudski, gave the order to attack Kyiv. It was officially announced that it was only about providing assistance to the Ukrainian people in eliminating the illegal Soviet power and restoring the independence of Ukraine. On the night of May 6–7, Kyiv was taken, but the intervention of the Poles was perceived by the population of Ukraine as an occupation. The Bolsheviks took advantage of these sentiments and managed to unite various layers of society in the face of external danger. Almost all the available forces of the Red Army, united as part of the Western and Southwestern Fronts, were thrown against Poland. Their commanders were former officers tsarist army M. N. Tukhachevsky and A. I. Egorov. On June 12, Kyiv was liberated. Soon the Red Army reached the border with Poland, which raised hopes among some Bolshevik leaders for the speedy implementation of the idea of world revolution in Western Europe.
In an order on the Western Front, Tukhachevsky wrote: “With our bayonets we will bring happiness and peace to working humanity. To the west!"
However, the Red Army, which entered Polish territory, received rebuff from the enemy. The Polish “class brothers” did not support the idea of a world revolution either; they preferred the state sovereignty of their country to the world proletarian revolution.
On October 12, 1920, a peace treaty with Poland was signed in Riga, according to which the territories of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus were transferred to it.
The end of the civil war.
Having made peace with Poland, the Soviet command concentrated all the power of the Red Army to fight the last major White Guard hotbed - the army of General Wrangel.
The troops of the Southern Front under the command of M. V. Frunze in early November 1920 stormed the seemingly impregnable fortifications of Perekop and Chongar and crossed the Sivash Bay.
The last battle between the Reds and Whites was especially fierce and cruel. Remains of a once formidable Volunteer Army rushed to the ships of the Black Sea squadron concentrated in the Crimean ports. Almost 100 thousand people were forced to leave their homeland.
Thus, the civil war in Russia ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks. They managed to mobilize economic and human resources for the needs of the front, and most importantly, to convince huge masses of people that they were the only defenders of Russia’s national interests, and to captivate them with the prospects for a new life.
Documentation
A. I. Denikin about the Red Army
By the spring of 1918, the complete insolvency of the Red Guard was finally revealed. The organization of the workers' and peasants' Red Army began. It was built on old principles, swept aside by the revolution and the Bolsheviks in the first period of their rule, including normal organization, autocracy and discipline. “Universal compulsory training in the art of war” was introduced, instructor schools were founded for the training of command personnel, the old officer corps was registered, officers of the General Staff were brought into service without exception, etc. The Soviet government considered itself already strong enough to pour in without fear the ranks of their army are tens of thousands of “specialists”, obviously alien or hostile to the ruling party.
Order of the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic to troops and Soviet institutions southern front No. 65. November 24, 1918
1. Any scoundrel who incites retreat, desertion, or failure to carry out a combat order will be SHOOTED.
2. Any Red Army soldier who leaves his combat post without permission will be SHOOTED.
3. Any soldier who throws down his rifle or sells part of his uniform will be SHOOTED.
4. Barrage detachments are distributed in every front-line zone to catch deserters. Any soldier who tries to resist these detachments must be SHOOTED on the spot.
5. All local councils and committees undertake, for their part, to take all measures to catch deserters, organizing raids twice a day: at 8 o’clock in the morning and at 8 o’clock in the evening. Those caught should be taken to the headquarters of the nearest unit and to the nearest military commissariat.
6. For harboring deserters, the perpetrators are subject to SHOOTING.
7. Houses in which deserters are hidden will be burned.
Death to selfish people and traitors!
Death to deserters and Krasnov agents!
Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic
Questions and tasks:
1. Explain how and why the views of the Bolshevik leadership on the principles of organizing the armed forces in a proletarian state changed.
2. What is the essence of military policy?
However, from the spring - summer of 1918, the fierce political struggle began to develop into forms of open military confrontation between the Bolsheviks and their opponents: moderate socialists, some foreign units, the White Army, and the Cossacks. The second - “front” stage of the Civil War begins, in which, in turn, several periods can be distinguished.
Summer - autumn 1918 - the period of escalation of the war.
It was caused by a change in the agrarian policy of the Bolsheviks: the introduction of a food dictatorship, the organization of poor committees and the incitement of class struggle in the countryside. This led to discontent among the middle and wealthy peasants and the creation of a mass base for the anti-Bolshevik movement, which, in turn, contributed to the consolidation of two movements: the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik “democratic counter-revolution” and the White movement. The period ends with the rupture of these forces.
December 1918 - June 1919 - a period of confrontation between the regular Red and White armies.
In the armed struggle against Soviet power, the white movement achieves greatest success. Part of the revolutionary democracy cooperates with the Soviet government. Many supporters of a democratic alternative are fighting on two fronts: against the regime of the White and Bolshevik dictatorships. This period of fierce front-line war, red and white terror.
The second half of 1919 - autumn 1920 - the period of military defeat of the white armies.
The Bolsheviks somewhat softened their position towards the middle peasantry, declaring at the VIII Congress of the RCP(b) about “the need for a more attentive attitude to their needs - the elimination of arbitrariness on the part of local authorities and the desire to reach an agreement with them.” Oscillating peasantry leans towards the side of the Soviet regime. The stage ends with an acute crisis in the relations of the Bolsheviks with the middle and wealthy peasantry, who did not want to continue the policy of “war communism” after the defeat of the main forces of the white armies.
The end of 1920 - 1922 - the period of the “small civil war”.
The development of mass peasant uprisings against the policy of “war communism”. Growing discontent among workers and the performance of the Kronstadt sailors. At this time, the influence of the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks was again increasing. The Bolsheviks were forced to retreat and introduce a new, more liberal one.
Such actions contributed to the gradual fading of the civil war.
The first outbreaks of the Civil War.
Formation of the White movement. On the night of October 26, a group of Mensheviks and Right Socialist Revolutionaries who left the Second Congress of Soviets formed the All-Russian Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland in the City Duma and revolution. Relying on the help of cadets from Petrograd schools, on October 29 the committee attempted to carry out a counter-coup. But the very next day this performance was suppressed by Red Guard troops.
A.F. Kerensky led the campaign of General P.N. Krasnov’s corps to Petrograd. On October 27 and 28, the Cossacks captured Gatchina and Tsarskoe Selo, creating an immediate threat to Petrograd, but on October 30, Krasnov’s troops were defeated. Kerensky fled. P. N. Krasnov was arrested by his own Cossacks, but then released on his word of honor that he would not fight against the new government.
Soviet power was established in Moscow with great complications. Here, on October 26, the City Duma created a Public Security Committee, which had 10 thousand well-armed soldiers at its disposal. Bloody battles broke out in the city. Only on November 3, after the storming of the Kremlin by revolutionary forces, Moscow came under Soviet control.
With the help of weapons, new power was established in the Cossack regions of the Don, Kuban, and Southern Urals.
Ataman A. M. Kaledin headed the anti-Bolshevik movement on the Don. He declared the Don Army's disobedience to the Soviet government. Everyone dissatisfied with the new regime began to flock to the Don.
However, most of the Cossacks adopted a policy of benevolent neutrality towards the new government. And although the Decree on Land gave the Cossacks little, they had land, but they were very impressed by the Decree on Peace.
At the end of November 1917, General M.V. Alekseev began the formation of the Volunteer Army to fight Soviet power. This army marked the beginning of the white movement, so named in contrast to the red one - revolutionary. White color seemed to symbolize law and order. And the participants in the white movement considered themselves the spokesmen for the idea of restoring the former power and might of the Russian state, the “Russian state principle” and a merciless struggle against those forces that, in their opinion, plunged Russia into chaos - the Bolsheviks, as well as representatives of other socialist parties.
The Soviet government managed to form a 10,000-strong army, which entered the Don territory in mid-January 1918. Part of the population fought on the side of the Reds. Considering his cause lost, Ataman A. M. Kaledin shot himself. The volunteer army, burdened with convoys with children, women, politicians, journalists, professors, went to the steppes, hoping to continue their work in the Kuban. On April 17, 1918, near Ekaterinodar, the commander of the Volunteer Army, General L. G. Kornilov, was killed. General A.I. Denikin took command.
Simultaneously with the anti-Soviet protests on the Don, a Cossack movement began in the Southern Urals. It was headed by the ataman of Orenburg Cossack army A. I. Dutov. In Transbaikalia, the fight against the new government was led by Ataman G. M. Semenov.
These protests against Soviet power, although fierce, were spontaneous and scattered, did not enjoy mass support from the population, and took place against the backdrop of the relatively rapid and peaceful establishment of Soviet power almost everywhere (“the triumphal march of Soviet power,” as the Bolsheviks declared). The rebel chieftains were defeated fairly quickly. At the same time, these speeches clearly indicated the formation of two main centers of resistance. In Siberia, the face of resistance was determined by the farms of wealthy peasant owners, often united in cooperatives with the predominant influence of the Socialist Revolutionaries. Resistance in the south was provided by the Cossacks, known for their love of freedom and commitment to a special way of economic and social life.
Intervention.
If you have corrections or suggestions for this lesson, write to us.
Who are the “Reds” and “Whites”
If we are talking about the Red Army, then the Red Army was created as a real army, not so much by the Bolsheviks, but by those same former gold chasers (former tsarist officers) who were mobilized or voluntarily went to serve the new government.
Some figures can be cited to outline the scale of the myth that has existed and still exists in the public consciousness. After all, the main heroes of the Civil War for the older and middle generations are Chapaev, Budyonny, Voroshilov and other “Reds”. You are unlikely to find anyone else in our textbooks. Well, also Frunze, perhaps, with Tukhachevsky.
In fact, there were not much fewer officers serving in the Red Army than in the White armies. About 100,000 former officers served in all the White armies combined, from Siberia to the North-West. And in the Red Army there are approximately 70,000-75,000. Moreover, almost all the highest command posts in the Red Army were occupied by former officers and generals of the tsarist army.
This also applies to the composition of the field headquarters of the Red Army, which consisted almost entirely of former officers and generals, and to commanders at various levels. For example, 85% of all front commanders were former officers of the tsarist army.
So, in Russia everyone knows about the “reds” and “whites”. From school, and even preschool years. “Reds” and “Whites” is the history of the civil war, these are the events of 1917-1920. Who was good then, who was bad - in this case it does not matter. Estimates change. But the terms remained: “white” versus “red”. On the one hand are the armed forces of the young Soviet state, on the other are the opponents of this state. The Soviets are “red”. The opponents, accordingly, are “white”.
According to official historiography, there were, in fact, many opponents. But the main ones are those who have shoulder straps on their uniforms and cockades of the Russian Tsarist Army on their caps. Recognizable opponents, not to be confused with anyone. Kornilovites, Denikinites, Wrangelites, Kolchakites, etc. They are white". These are the ones the “reds” must defeat first. They are also recognizable: they do not have shoulder straps, and they have red stars on their caps. This is the pictorial series of the civil war.
This is a tradition. It was affirmed by Soviet propaganda for more than seventy years. The propaganda was very effective, the visual range became familiar, thanks to which the very symbolism of the civil war remained beyond comprehension. In particular, questions about the reasons that led to the choice of red and white colors to designate opposing forces remained beyond the scope of comprehension.
As for the “Reds,” the reason seemed obvious. The “Reds” called themselves that. Soviet troops originally called the Red Guard. Then - the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. The Red Army soldiers swore an oath to the red banner. State flag. Why the red flag was chosen - different explanations were given. For example: it is a symbol of “the blood of freedom fighters.” But in any case, the name “red” corresponded to the color of the banner.
Nothing like this can be said about the so-called “whites”. The opponents of the “reds” did not swear allegiance to the white banner. During the Civil War there was no such banner at all. No one has. Nevertheless, the opponents of the “Reds” adopted the name “Whites”. At least one reason is also obvious: the leaders of the Soviet state called their opponents “white.” First of all - V. Lenin. If we use his terminology, the “reds” defended the “power of workers and peasants,” the power of the “workers’ and peasants’ government,” and the “whites” defended “the power of the tsar, landowners and capitalists.” It was precisely this scheme that was asserted with all the might of Soviet propaganda.
They were called this way in the Soviet press: “White Army”, “Whites” or “White Guards”. However, the reasons for choosing these terms were not explained. Soviet historians also avoided the question of the reasons. They reported something, but at the same time literally dodged a direct answer.
The subterfuges of Soviet historians look rather strange. It would seem that there is no reason to avoid the question of the history of terms. In fact, there was never any secret here. And there was a propaganda scheme, which Soviet ideologists considered inappropriate to explain in reference publications.
It was during the Soviet era that the terms “red” and “white” were predictably associated with the Russian civil war. And before 1917, the terms “white” and “red” were correlated with a different tradition. Another civil war.
Beginning - The Great French Revolution. Confrontation between monarchists and republicans. Then, indeed, the essence of the confrontation was expressed at the level of the color of the banners. The white banner was originally there. This is the royal banner. Well, the red banner is the banner of the Republicans.
Armed sans-culottes gathered under red flags. It was under the red flag in August 1792 that detachments of sans-culottes, organized by the then city government, stormed the Tuileries. That's when the red flag really became a banner. The banner of uncompromising Republicans. Radicals. The red banner and the white banner became symbols of the warring sides. Republicans and monarchists. Later, as you know, the red banner was no longer so popular. The French tricolor became the national flag of the Republic. During the Napoleonic era, the red banner was almost forgotten. And after the restoration of the monarchy, it - as a symbol - completely lost its relevance.
This symbol was updated in the 1840s. Updated for those who declared themselves heirs of the Jacobins. Then the contrast between “reds” and “whites” became a commonplace in journalism. But the French Revolution of 1848 ended with another restoration of the monarchy. Therefore, the opposition between “red” and “white” has again lost its relevance.
Once again, the “Red” - “White” opposition arose at the end of the Franco-Prussian War. It was finally established from March to May 1871, during the existence of the Paris Commune.
City-republic Paris Commune was perceived as the implementation of the most radical ideas. The Paris Commune declared itself the heir to the Jacobin traditions, the heir to the traditions of those sans-culottes who came out under the red banner to defend the “gains of the revolution.” The state flag was also a symbol of continuity. Red. Accordingly, the “reds” are communards. Defenders of the city-republic.
As you know, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, many socialists declared themselves heirs of the communards. And at the beginning of the 20th century, the Bolsheviks called themselves such. Communists. They considered the red flag theirs.
As for the confrontation with the “whites,” there seemed to be no contradictions here. By definition, socialists are opponents of autocracy, therefore, nothing has changed. The “Reds” were still opposed to the “Whites”. Republicans to monarchists.
After the abdication of Nicholas II, the situation changed. The king abdicated in favor of his brother, but the brother did not accept the crown. A Provisional Government was formed, so there was no longer a monarchy, and the opposition of “red” to “white” seemed to have lost its relevance. New Russian government, as is known, was called “temporary” because it was supposed to prepare for the convening of the Constituent Assembly. And the Constituent Assembly, popularly elected, was to determine further forms of Russian statehood. Determined democratically. The issue of abolishing the monarchy was considered already resolved.
But the Provisional Government lost power without having time to convene the Constituent Assembly, which was convened by the Council people's commissars. It’s hardly worth speculating now about why the Council of People’s Commissars considered it necessary to dissolve the Constituent Assembly. In this case, something else is more important: the majority of opponents of the Soviet regime set the task of reconvening the Constituent Assembly. This was their slogan.
In particular, this was the slogan of the so-called Volunteer Army formed on the Don, which was eventually led by Kornilov. Other military leaders, referred to as “whites” in Soviet periodicals, also fought for the Constituent Assembly. They fought against the Soviet state, and not for the monarchy.
And here we should pay tribute to the talents of Soviet ideologists and the skill of Soviet propagandists. By declaring themselves “Reds,” the Bolsheviks were able to secure the label “Whites” for their opponents. They managed to impose this label despite the facts.
Soviet ideologists declared all their opponents to be supporters of the destroyed regime - autocracy. They were declared “white”. This label was itself a political argument. Every monarchist is “white” by definition. Accordingly, if “white”, it means a monarchist.
The label was used even when its use seemed absurd. For example, “White Czechs”, “White Finns” arose, then “White Poles”, although the Czechs, Finns and Poles who fought with the “Reds” did not intend to recreate the monarchy. Neither in Russia nor abroad. However, most “reds” were accustomed to the label “whites,” which is why the term itself seemed understandable. If they are “white,” it means they are always “for the Tsar.” Opponents of the Soviet government could prove that they - for the most part - are not monarchists at all. But there was nowhere to prove it. Soviet ideologists had a major advantage in the information war: in the territory controlled by the Soviet government, political events were discussed only in the Soviet press. There was almost no other one. All opposition publications were closed. And Soviet publications were strictly controlled by censorship. The population had practically no other sources of information. On the Don, where Soviet newspapers had not yet been read, the Kornilovites, and then the Denikinites, were called not “whites”, but “volunteers” or “cadets”.
But not all Russian intellectuals, despising Soviet power, rushed to identify with its opponents. With those who were called “whites” in the Soviet press. They were indeed perceived as monarchists, and intellectuals saw monarchists as a danger to democracy. Moreover, the danger is no less than the communists. Still, the “Reds” were perceived as Republicans. Well, the victory of the “whites” implied the restoration of the monarchy. Which was unacceptable for intellectuals. And not only for intellectuals - for the majority of the population of the former Russian Empire. Why did Soviet ideologists affirm the labels “red” and “white” in the public consciousness?
Thanks to these labels, not only Russians, but also many Western public figures interpreted the struggle of supporters and opponents of Soviet power as a struggle of republicans and monarchists. Supporters of the republic and supporters of the restoration of autocracy. And Russian autocracy was considered savagery in Europe, a relic of barbarism.
That is why the support of supporters of autocracy among Western intellectuals provoked a predictable protest. Western intellectuals discredited the actions of their governments. Set against them public opinion, which governments could not ignore. With all the ensuing grave consequences - for Russian opponents of Soviet power. Therefore, the so-called “whites” lost the propaganda war. Not only in Russia, but also abroad. Yes, it turns out that the so-called “whites” were essentially “red”. But that didn't change anything. The propagandists who sought to help Kornilov, Denikin, Wrangel and other opponents of the Soviet regime were not as energetic, talented, and efficient as Soviet propagandists.
Moreover, the tasks solved by Soviet propagandists were much simpler. Soviet propagandists could clearly and briefly explain why and with whom the “Reds” were fighting. Whether it's true or not, it doesn't matter. The main thing is to be brief and clear. The positive part of the program was obvious. Ahead is the kingdom of equality, justice, where there are no poor and humiliated, where there will always be plenty of everything. The opponents, accordingly, are the rich, fighting for their privileges. “Whites” and allies of “whites”. Because of them all the troubles and hardships. There will be no “whites”, there will be no troubles, no deprivations.
Opponents of the Soviet regime could not clearly and briefly explain why they were fighting. Slogans such as the convening of the Constituent Assembly and the preservation of “united and indivisible Russia” were not and could not be popular. Of course, opponents of the Soviet regime could more or less convincingly explain with whom and why they were fighting. However, the positive part of the program remained unclear. And there was no such general program.
Moreover, in territories not controlled by the Soviet government, opponents of the regime were unable to achieve an information monopoly. This is partly why the results of propaganda were incommensurate with the results of Bolshevik propagandists.
It is difficult to determine whether Soviet ideologists consciously immediately imposed the label “white” on their opponents, or whether they intuitively chose such a move. In any case, they made a good choice, and most importantly, they acted consistently and effectively. Convincing the population that opponents of the Soviet regime are fighting to restore autocracy. Because they are “white”.
Of course, among the so-called “whites” there were also monarchists. Real “whites”. Defended the principles of the autocratic monarchy long before its fall.
But in the Volunteer Army, as in other armies that fought the “Reds,” there were negligibly few monarchists. Why didn't they play any important role?
For the most part, ideological monarchists generally avoided participating in civil war. This was not their war. They had no one to fight for.
Nicholas II was not forcibly deprived of the throne. The Russian emperor abdicated voluntarily. And he released everyone who swore allegiance to him from the oath. His brother did not accept the crown, so the monarchists did not swear allegiance to the new king. Because there was no new king. There was no one to serve, no one to protect. The monarchy no longer existed.
Undoubtedly, it was not appropriate for a monarchist to fight for the Council of People's Commissars. However, it did not follow from anywhere that a monarchist should - in the absence of a monarch - fight for the Constituent Assembly. Both the Council of People's Commissars and the Constituent Assembly were not legitimate authorities for the monarchist.
For a monarchist, legitimate power is only the power of the God-given monarch to whom the monarchist swore allegiance. Therefore, the war with the “reds” - for the monarchists - became a matter of personal choice, and not of religious duty. For the “white,” if he is truly “white,” those fighting for the Constituent Assembly are “red.” Most monarchists did not want to understand the shades of “red.” I saw no point in fighting together with some “Reds” against other “Reds”.
The tragedy of the Civil War, which according to one version ended in November 1920 in the Crimea, was that it brought together two camps in an irreconcilable battle, each of which was sincerely loyal to Russia, but understood this Russia in its own way. On both sides there were scoundrels who warmed their hands in this war, who organized the Red and White Terror, who unscrupulously tried to profit from other people's goods and who made a career out of horrific examples of bloodthirstiness. But at the same time, on both sides there were people filled with nobility, devotion to the Motherland, who put the well-being of the Fatherland above all else, including personal happiness. Let us recall, for example, “Walking Through Torment” by Alexei Tolstoy.
The “Russian schism” took place in families, dividing loved ones. I will give a Crimean example - the family of one of the first rectors of the Tauride University, Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky. He, a doctor of sciences, a professor, remains in Crimea, with the Reds, and his son, also a doctor of sciences, professor Georgy Vernadsky, goes into emigration with the whites. Or the Admiral Berens brothers. One is a white admiral, who takes the Russian Black Sea squadron to distant Tunisia, to Bizerte, and the second is a red one, and it is he who will go to this Tunisia in 1924 to return the ships of the Black Sea Fleet to their homeland. Or let us remember how M. Sholokhov describes the split in Cossack families in “Quiet Don”.
And many such examples can be given. The horror of the situation was that in this fierce battle of self-destruction for the amusement of the hostile world around us, we Russians destroyed not each other, but ourselves. At the end of this tragedy, we literally “bombarded” the whole world with Russian brains and talents.
In the history of every modern country (England, France, Germany, USA, Argentina, Australia) there are examples of scientific progress, outstanding creative achievements associated with the activities of Russian emigrants, including great scientists, military leaders, writers, artists, engineers, inventors, thinkers, farmers.
Our Sikorsky, a friend of Tupolev, practically created the entire American helicopter industry. Russian emigrants founded a number of leading universities in Slavic countries. Vladimir Nabokov created a new European and a new American novel. The Nobel Prize was presented to France by Ivan Bunin. Economist Leontiev, physicist Prigogine, biologist Metalnikov and many others became famous throughout the world.
It is very difficult to reconcile the “whites” and “reds” in our history. Each position has its own truth. After all, only 100 years ago they fought for it. The fight was fierce, brother went against brother, father against son. For some, the heroes will be the Budennovites of the First Cavalry, for others - the Kappel volunteers. The only people who are wrong are those who, hiding behind their position on the Civil War, are trying to erase a whole piece of Russian history from the past. Anyone who draws too far-reaching conclusions about the “anti-people character” of the Bolshevik government denies the entire Soviet era, all its accomplishments, and ultimately slides into outright Russophobia.
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Civil war in Russia - armed confrontation in 1917-1922. between different political, ethnic, social groups And state entities on the territory of the former Russian Empire, following the Bolsheviks' rise to power as a result October revolution 1917. The Civil War was the result of the 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 devastation, and a deep social, national, political and ideological split in Russian society. The apogee of this split was the fierce war throughout the country between 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 between armed groups 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 persistent naming of the main parties to the conflict “Red” and “White”.
For the Bolsheviks, who relied primarily on the organized industrial proletariat, suppressing the resistance of their opponents was the only way to maintain power in a peasant country. For many participants in the White movement - officers, Cossacks, intelligentsia, landowners, bourgeoisie, bureaucracy and clergy - armed resistance to the Bolsheviks was aimed at returning lost power and restoring their socio-economic rights and privileges. All these groups were the top of the counter-revolution, its organizers and inspirers. Officers and the village bourgeoisie created the first cadres of white troops.
The decisive factor during the Civil War was the position of the peasantry, who made up more than 80% of the population, which ranged from passive wait-and-see to active armed struggle. The fluctuations of the peasantry, which reacted in this way to the policies of the Bolshevik government and the dictatorships of the white generals, radically changed the balance of forces and, ultimately, predetermined the outcome of the war. First of all, we are, of course, talking about the middle peasantry. In some areas (Volga region, Siberia), these fluctuations raised the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks to power, and sometimes contributed to the advancement of the White Guards deeper into Soviet territory. However, as the Civil War progressed, 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 dictatorship of the generals, which, in turn, inevitably leads to the return of the landowners and the restoration of pre-revolutionary relations. The strength of the middle peasants' hesitation towards Soviet power was especially evident in the combat effectiveness of the White and Red armies. White armies were essentially combat-ready only as long as they were more or less homogeneous in class terms. When, as the front expanded and moved forward, the White Guards resorted to mobilizing the peasantry, they inevitably lost their combat effectiveness and collapsed. And vice versa, the Red Army was constantly strengthening, and the mobilized middle peasant masses of the village staunchly defended Soviet power from counter-revolution.
The base of the counter-revolution in the countryside was the kulaks, especially after the organization of the poor committees and the beginning of a decisive struggle for bread. The kulaks were interested in the liquidation of large landowner farms only as competitors in the exploitation of the poor and middle peasantry, whose departure opened up broad prospects for the kulaks. The struggle of the kulaks against the proletarian revolution took place 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. Characteristic feature 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 broad sections of the population against the troops of the main warring parties - the “Reds” and the “Whites”. Attempts to declare independence provoked resistance both from the “whites,” who fought for a “united and indivisible Russia,” and from 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 by both troops of the countries of the Quadruple Alliance and troops of the Entente countries. The motives for the active intervention of the leading Western powers were to realize their own economic and political interests in Russia and to assist the Whites in order to eliminate Bolshevik power. Although the capabilities 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 (Anzel 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
Lunch of the Red Army soldiers by 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 Civil War trophies near the Kremlin, timed to coincide with the Second 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 a regiment of rural poor. 1918
Soldiers of Budyonny's First Cavalry Army at a rally
January 1920
Otsup Petr Adolfovich
Funeral of the victims of the February Revolution
March 1917
July events in Petrograd. Soldiers of the Samokatny Regiment, who arrived from the front to suppress the rebellion. July 1917
Work at the site of a train crash after an anarchist attack. January 1920
Red commander in the new office. January 1920
Commander-in-Chief of the troops Lavr Kornilov. 1917
Chairman of the Provisional Government Alexander Kerensky. 1917
Commander of the 25th rifle division 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 soldiers of General Lavr Kornilov with the troops of the Provisional Government. 1 - 30 August 1917
Steinberg Yakov Vladimirovich
Military intervention in Soviet Russia. Command staff of White Army units with representatives of foreign troops
The station in Yekaterinburg after the capture of the city by units of the Siberian Army and the Czechoslovak Corps. 1918
Demolition of the monument Alexander III at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior
Political workers at the headquarters car. Western Front. Voronezh direction
Military portrait
Date of filming: 1917 - 1919
In the hospital laundry. 1919
Ukrainian front.
Sisters of Mercy partisan detachment Kashirina. Evdokia Aleksandrovna Davydova and Taisiya Petrovna Kuznetsova. 1919
In the summer of 1918, the detachments of the Red Cossacks Nikolai and Ivan Kashirin became part of the combined South Ural partisan detachment of Vasily Blucher, who carried out a raid in 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 Eastern Front. After reorganization in January 1920, these troops became known as the Army of Labor, whose goal was to restore National economy 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 a city liberated from the whites. 1919
Overcoats of the 1918 model, which came into use during the Civil War, initially in Budyonny’s army, were preserved with minor changes until the military reform of 1939. The cart is equipped with a Maxim machine gun.
July events in Petrograd. Funeral of the Cossacks who died during the suppression of the rebellion. 1917
Pavel Dybenko and Nestor Makhno. November - December 1918
Workers 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 of the south of Russia and sent him as an extraordinary commissioner of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee for the procurement of grain from North Caucasus to industrial centers.
The Defense of Tsaritsyn was a military campaign by “red” troops against “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 Leon 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, African Bogaevsky, at a solemn prayer service on the occasion of the liberation of the Don from the Red Army troops
June - August 1919
General Radola Gaida and Admiral Alexander Kolchak (from 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) announced 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. Dutov's name first became known in August 1917, when he was an active participant in the Kornilov rebellion. After this, Dutov was sent by the Provisional Government to the Orenburg province, where in the fall he strengthened himself in Troitsk and Verkhneuralsk. His power lasted until April 1918.
Street children
1920s
Soshalsky Georgy Nikolaevich
Street children transport the city archive. 1920s
The Russian Civil War had a number of distinctive features with internal confrontations that occurred in other states during this period. The civil war began virtually immediately after the establishment of Bolshevik power and lasted for five years.
Features of the Civil War in Russia
Military battles brought the people of Russia not only psychological suffering, but also large-scale human losses. The theater of military operations did not go beyond Russian state, there was also no front line in the civil confrontation.
The cruelty of the Civil War lay in the fact that the warring parties did not seek a compromise solution, but the complete physical destruction of each other. There were no prisoners in this confrontation: captured opponents were immediately shot.
The number of victims of the fratricidal war was several times higher than the number of Russian soldiers killed on the fronts of the First World War. The peoples of Russia were actually in two warring camps, one of which supported communist ideology, the second tried to eliminate the Bolsheviks and recreate the monarchy.
Both sides did not tolerate the political neutrality of people who refused to take part in hostilities; they were sent to the front by force, and those who were especially principled were shot.
Composition of the anti-Bolshevik White Army
The main driving force of the White Army were retired officers of the imperial army, who had previously taken an oath of allegiance to the imperial house and could not go against their own honor by recognizing Bolshevik power. The ideology of socialist equality was also alien to the wealthy sections of the population, who foresaw the future predatory policies of the Bolsheviks.
The large, middle bourgeoisie and landowners became the main source of income for the activities of the anti-Bolshevik army. Representatives of the clergy also joined the right, who could not accept the fact of the unpunished murder of “God’s anointed,” Nicholas II.
With the introduction of war communism, the ranks of whites swelled with dissatisfaction government policy peasants and workers who had previously sided with the Bolsheviks.
At the beginning of the revolution white army had a high chance of overthrowing the communists from the Bolsheviks: close relations with major industrialists, rich experience in suppressing revolutionary uprisings and the undeniable influence of the church on the people were impressive advantages of the monarchists.
The defeat of the White Guards is still quite understandable; the officers and commanders-in-chief placed their main emphasis on a professional army, without accelerating the mobilization of peasants and workers, who were ultimately “intercepted” by the Red Army, thus increasing its numbers.
Composition of the Red Guards
Unlike the White Guards, the Red Army did not arise chaotically, but as a result of many years of development by the Bolsheviks. It was based on the class principle, access of the noble class to the ranks of the Reds was closed, commanders were elected among ordinary workers, who represented the majority in the Red Army.
Initially, the army of the left forces was staffed by volunteers, soldiers who took part in the First World War, the poorest representatives of peasants and workers. There were no professional commanders in the ranks of the Red Army, so the Bolsheviks created special military courses where they trained future leadership personnel.
Thanks to this, the army was replenished with the most talented commissars and generals S. Budyonny, V. Blucher, G. Zhukov, I. Konev. Former generals of the tsarist army V. Egoryev, D. Parsky, P. Sytin also went over to the side of the Reds.