The Russian Civil War refers to a series of armed conflicts between 1917 and 1922 that took place in the territories of the former Russian Empire. The opposing sides were various political, ethnic, social groups and government entities. The war started after October revolution, the main reason for which was the rise to power of the Bolsheviks. Let's take a closer look at the prerequisites, course and results of the Civil War in Russia of 1917-1922.

Periodization

Main stages of the Civil War in Russia:

Summer 1917 - late 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 Entente troops.
Spring 1920 - autumn 1922. Victory of the authorities and the end of the war.

Prerequisites

There is no strictly defined reason for the Russian Civil War. It was the result of political, economic, social, national and even spiritual contradictions. An important role was played by public discontent that accumulated during the First World War and the devaluation of human life by the authorities. The Bolshevik agrarian-peasant policy also became an incentive for protest sentiments.

The Bolsheviks initiated the dissolution of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly and the liquidation of the multi-party system. Moreover, after accepting Treaty of Brest-Litovsk they began to be accused of destroying the state. The right of self-determination of peoples and the formation of independent state entities in different parts of the country was perceived by supporters of an indivisible Russia as a betrayal.

Those who were against a break with the historical past also expressed dissatisfaction with the new government. The anti-church Bolshevik policy caused a particular resonance in society. All of the above reasons came together and led to the Russian Civil War of 1917-1922.

The military confrontation took all sorts of forms: clashes, guerrilla actions, Act of terrorism and large-scale operations involving the regular army. The peculiarity of the Civil War in Russia of 1917-1922 was that it turned out to be exceptionally long, brutal and covering vast territories.

Chronological framework

Wide-scale front-line character Civil War in Russia 1917-1922 began to emerge in the spring and summer of 1918, but individual episodes of confrontation took place already in 1917. The final milestone of events is also difficult to determine. On the territory of the European part of Russia, front-line battles ended back in 1920. However, after this there were mass uprisings of peasants against Bolshevism and performances by Kronstadt sailors. In the Far East, the armed struggle ended completely in 1922-1923. It is this milestone that is considered the end of a large-scale war. Sometimes you can find the phrase “Civil War in Russia 1918-1922” and other shifts of 1-2 years.

Features of the confrontation

The military actions of 1917-1922 were radically different from the battles of previous periods. They broke more than a dozen stereotypes regarding the management of units, the army command and control system and military discipline. Significant successes were achieved by those military leaders who commanded in a new way and used everything to achieve the assigned task. possible means. The Civil War was very maneuverable. Unlike positional battles of previous years, continuous front lines were not used in 1917-1922. Cities and towns could change hands several times. Active offensives aimed at seizing the championship from the enemy were of decisive importance.

The Russian Civil War 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 to seize 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. Artillery was used to suppress strong points. Similar tactics were used during the establishment of Soviet power in Kyiv, 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 carried out, as a rule, along railway communications and were limited to the capture of important junction stations. This period was called the “echelon war.”

In the first months of 1918, on 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 were advancing 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 along the Trans-Siberian railway to the Western Front. During May-June, this corps overthrew the authorities 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 junction stations: Tikhoretskaya, Torgovaya, Armavir and Stavropol, which actually determined the outcome of the North Caucasus operation.

The beginning of the Civil War in Russia was marked by extensive activities of underground organizations White movement. IN big cities The country had cells that were connected 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, the underground operated 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 regulation was approved regarding the recruitment centers of the army of volunteers in Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkov and Taganrog. They were engaged in the transfer of intelligence information, sent officers across the front line and intended to oppose the authorities when the White Army approached the city of their base.

The Soviet underground, which was active in the Crimea, Eastern Siberia, the North Caucasus and the Far East, had a similar function. It created very strong partisan detachments, 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 highest military leadership was concentrated under L.D. Trotsky, Chairman of the RVSR (Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic) and S.S. Kamenev - Commander-in-Chief. The logistical support of the front and the regulation of the economy in the territories of Soviet Russia were handled by the STO (Council of Labor and Defense), whose chairman was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. He also headed the Sovnarkom (Council of People's Commissars) - in fact, the Soviet government.

The Red Army was opposed by the united 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 AFSR (Armed Forces of the South of Russia), Lieutenant General A.I. Denikin: Volunteer, Don and Caucasian. In addition, the troops of Infantry General N.N. operated in the general Petrograd direction. Yudenich - Commander-in-Chief of the Northwestern 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 are in this case: force Russia to continue fighting on the side of the Entente; protect personal interests in Russian territories; provide financial, political and military support to participants in the White movement, as well as to the governments of countries formed after the October Revolution; and prevent the ideas of world revolution from penetrating the countries of Europe and Asia.

Development of the war

In the spring of 1919, the first attempts at a combined attack by the “white” fronts were made. From this period, the Civil War in Russia acquired a large-scale character, all types of troops began to be used in it (infantry, artillery, cavalry), and military operations were carried out with the assistance of tanks, armored trains and aviation. In March 1919, Admiral Kolchak's eastern front began its offensive, striking in two directions: 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 hold back the White advance, inflicting counter-attacks on them in the Southern Urals and the Kama region.

In the summer of the same year, the AFSR began its attack on Kharkov, Tsaritsyn and Yekaterinoslav. On July 3, when these cities were taken, Denikin signed the directive “On the March to Moscow.” From that moment until October, the AFSR troops occupied the main part of Ukraine and the Black Earth Center of Russia. They stopped on the Kyiv - Tsaritsyn line, passing through Bryansk, Orel and Voronezh. Almost simultaneously with the advance of the AFSR to Moscow, the North-Western Army of General Yudenich went to Petrograd.

The autumn of 1919 became for Soviet army the most critical period. 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 the railway lines, which converged towards the center of Russia, allowed the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic to transfer troops between fronts. Thus, at the height of the battles in the Moscow direction, several divisions from Siberia and the Western Front were transferred to Petrograd and the Southern Front. At the same time, the white armies were never able to establish a common anti-Bolshevik front. The only exceptions were a few local contacts at the detachment level.

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 was parts of the Estonian and Latvian rifle divisions, as well as the cavalry army of K.E. Voroshilov and S.M. Budyonny. Impressive attacks were carried out on the flanks of the 1st Volunteer Corps, which was under the command of Lieutenant General A.P. Kutepov and advanced on Moscow.

After intense battles in October-November 1919, the front of the AFSR was broken and the Whites began to retreat from Moscow. In mid-November, units of the North-Western Army were stopped and defeated, which were 25 kilometers short of reaching Petrograd.

The battles of 1919 were characterized by extensive use of maneuver. In order to break through the front and conduct a raid behind enemy lines, large cavalry formations were used. The White Army used Cossack cavalry for this purpose. Thus, 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 of Major General Ivanov-Rinov managed to break through the “red” front near Petropavlovsk. Meanwhile, the “Chervonnaya 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, it 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 the operations on the Manych River and near the village of Yegorlykskaya, the last mass cavalry battles in the history of mankind took place. The number of horsemen who took part in them on both sides was about 50 thousand. The result of the brutal confrontation was the defeat of the AFSR. In April of the same year, the White troops began to be called the “Russian Army” and obey Lieutenant General Wrangel.

End of the war

At the end of 1919 - beginning of 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 army. A month earlier, after a couple of unsuccessful campaigns, General Yudenich announced the dissolution of the North-Western 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 civilian) left the peninsula. It seemed that the end of the Russian Civil War of 1917-1922 was just around the corner, but everything was not so simple.

In 1920-1922 fighting took place in small territories (Transbaikalia, Primorye, Tavria) and began to acquire elements of positional warfare. For defense, they began to actively use fortifications, to break through which the warring side needed long-term artillery preparation, as well as flamethrower and tank support.

The defeat of the army of P.N. Wrangel did not mean at all that the Civil War in Russia was over. The Reds also had to deal with peasant insurgent movements that called themselves “greens.” 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 control of M. N. Tukhachevsky. However, resisting the partisans of the peasant army turned out to be even more difficult than open pressure from the White Guards. The Tambov uprising of the “greens” was suppressed only in 1921. A. S. Antonov was killed in a shootout. Around the same time, Makhno’s army was defeated.

During 1920-1921, the Red Army soldiers made a series of campaigns in Transcaucasia, as a result of which Soviet power was established in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. To suppress the White Guards and interventionists in the Far East, the Bolsheviks created the DVR (Far Eastern Republic) in 1921. For two years, the army of the republic held back 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 the intervention in Russia. At the end of 1922, the Far Eastern Republic joined the RSFSR. During the same period, having defeated the Basmachi, who fought to preserve medieval traditions, the Bolsheviks consolidated their power in Central Asia. Speaking about the Civil War in Russia, it is worth noting that individual rebel groups operated until the 1940s.

Reasons for the Reds' victory

The superiority of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War of 1917-1922 was due to the following reasons:

Powerful propaganda and exploitation of the political mood of the masses.
Control of the central provinces of Russia, where the main military enterprises were located.
Disunity and territorial fragmentation of the White Guards.

The main result of the events of 1917-1922 was the establishment of Bolshevik power. The revolution and civil war in Russia took about 13 million lives. Almost half of them became victims of mass epidemics and famine. About 2 million Russians left their homeland in those years to protect themselves and their families. During the years of the Civil War in Russia, the state's economy fell to catastrophic levels. In 1922, compared with pre-war data, industrial production decreased by 5-7 times, and agricultural production by a third. The empire was completely destroyed, and the largest of the formed states became the RSFSR.

The Civil War is one of the bloodiest conflicts in the history of the Russian people. For many decades, the Russian Empire demanded reforms. Seizing the moment, the Bolsheviks seized power in the country, killing the Tsar. Supporters of the monarchy did not plan to cede influence and created the White movement, which was supposed to return the former political system. The fighting on the territory of the empire changed further development country - it turned into a socialist state under the rule of the Communist Party.

In contact with

Civil war in Russia (Russian Republic) in 1917-1922.

In short, the Civil War is a pivotal event that changed fate forever of the Russian people: its result was the victory over tsarism and the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks.

The civil war in Russia (Russian Republic) took place from 1917 to 1922 between two warring parties: supporters of the monarchy and its opponents - the Bolsheviks.

Features of the Civil War was that many foreign countries took part in it, including France, Germany and the UK.

Important! During the Civil War, combatants - white and red - destroyed the country, putting it on the verge of a political, economic and cultural crisis.

The civil war in Russia (Russian Republic) is one of the bloodiest in the 20th century, during which more than 20 million military and civilians died.

Fragmentation of the Russian Empire during the Civil War. September 1918.

Causes of the Civil War

Historians still do not agree on the causes of the Civil War, which took place from 1917 to 1922. Of course, everyone is of the opinion that main reason consists of political, ethnic and social contradictions that were never resolved during the mass protests of Petrograd workers and military personnel in February 1917.

As a result, the Bolsheviks came to power and carried out a number of reforms, which are considered to be the main prerequisites for the split of the country. At this point, historians agree that the following reasons were key:

liquidation of the Constituent Assembly;
exit by signing the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, which was humiliating for the Russian people;
pressure on the peasantry;
the nationalization of all industrial enterprises and the liquidation of private property, which caused a storm of discontent among people who lost their real estate.

Prerequisites for the Civil War in Russia (Russian Republic) (1917-1922):

formation of the Red and White movement;
creation of the Red Army;
local clashes between monarchists and Bolsheviks in 1917;
execution royal family.

Stages of the Civil War

Attention! Most historians believe that the beginning of the Civil War should be dated to 1917. Others deny this fact, since large-scale hostilities began to occur only in 1918.

In the table generally recognized stages of the Civil War are highlighted 1917-1922:

Periods of war	Description
	During this period, anti-Bolshevik centers were formed - the White movement. Germany transfers troops to the eastern border of Russia, where small skirmishes with the Bolsheviks begin. In May 1918, there was an uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps, which was opposed by the commander-in-chief of the Red Army, General Vatsetis. During the fighting in the fall of 1918, the Czechoslovak Corps was defeated and retreated beyond the Urals.
Stage II (late November 1918 – winter 1920)	After the defeat of the Czechoslovak Corps, the Entente coalition begins military operations against the Bolsheviks, supporting the White movement. In November 1918, White Guard Admiral Kolchak launched an offensive in the East of the country. The Red Army generals are defeated and surrender the key city of Perm in December of that year. At the end of 1918, the Red Army stopped the White advance. In the spring, hostilities begin again - Kolchak launches an offensive towards the Volga, but the Reds stop him two months later. In May 1919, General Yudenich led an attack on Petrograd, but the Red Army forces once again managed to stop him and oust the whites from the country. At the same time, one of the leaders of the White movement, General Denikin, seizes the territory of Ukraine and prepares to attack the capital. The forces of Nestor Makhno begin to take part in the Civil War. In response to this, the Bolsheviks open a new front under the leadership of Yegorov. In early 1920, Denikin's forces are defeated, forcing foreign monarchs to withdraw their troops from the Russian Republic. In 1920 a radical fracture occurs in the Civil War.
III stage (May–November 1920)	In May 1920, Poland declares war on the Bolsheviks and advances on Moscow. During bloody battles, the Red Army manages to stop the offensive and launch a counterattack. The "Miracle on the Vistula" allows the Poles to sign a peace treaty on favorable terms in 1921. In the spring of 1920, General Wrangel launched an attack on the territory of Eastern Ukraine, but in the fall he was defeated, and the Whites lost Crimea. The Red Army generals are victorious on the Western Front in the Civil War - it remains to destroy the group of White Guards in Siberia.
Stage IV (late 1920 – 1922)	In the spring of 1921, the Red Army begins to advance to the East, capturing Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. White continues to suffer one defeat after another. As a result, the commander-in-chief of the White movement, Admiral Kolchak, was betrayed and handed over to the Bolsheviks. A few weeks later the Civil War ends with the victory of the Red Army.

Civil War in Russia (Russian Republic) 1917-1922: briefly

In the period from December 1918 to the summer of 1919, the Reds and Whites converged in bloody battles, however neither side gains an advantage yet.

In June 1919, the Reds seized the advantage, inflicting one defeat after another on the Whites. The Bolsheviks carry out reforms that appeal to the peasants, and therefore the Red Army receives even more recruits.

During this period, there was intervention from countries Western Europe. However, none of the foreign armies manages to win. By 1920, a huge part of the White movement's army was defeated, and all their allies left the Republic.

Over the next two years, the Reds advance to the east of the country, destroying one enemy group after another. It all ends when the admiral and supreme commander of the White movement, Kolchak, is captured and executed.

The results of the civil war were catastrophic for the people

Results of the Civil War 1917-1922: briefly

Periods I-IV of the war led to the complete destruction of the state. Results of the Civil War for the people were catastrophic: almost all enterprises lay in ruins, millions of people died.

In the Civil War, people died not only from bullets and bayonets - severe epidemics raged. According to the calculations of foreign historians, taking into account the reduction in the birth rate in the future, the Russian people have lost about 26 million people.

Destroyed factories and mines led to a halt in industrial activity in the country. The working class began to starve and left the cities in search of food, usually going to the countryside. The level of industrial production fell approximately 5 times compared to the pre-war level. Production volumes of grains and other agricultural crops also fell by 45-50%.

On the other hand, the war was aimed against the intelligentsia, who owned real estate and other property. As a result, about 80% of the representatives of the intelligentsia class were destroyed, a small part took the side of the Reds, and the rest fled abroad.

Separately, it should be highlighted how results of the Civil War loss by the state of the following territories:

Poland;
Latvia;
Estonia;
partly Ukraine;
Belarus;
Armenia;
Bessarabia.

As already mentioned, the main feature of the Civil War is intervention foreign countries . The main reason why Great Britain, France and others interfered in Russian affairs was the fear of a worldwide socialist revolution.

In addition, the following features can be noted:

during the fighting, a confrontation unfolded between different parties who saw the future of the country differently;
fights took place between different sectors of society;
the national liberation nature of the war;
anarchist movement against reds and whites;
peasant war against both regimes.

The Tachanka was used as a method of transportation in Russia from 1917 to 1922.

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.

***
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 of the October Revolution of 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 a fierce war throughout the country between the Soviet and anti-Bolshevik armed forces. The civil war ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks.

The main struggle for power during the Civil War was waged between the armed formations of the Bolsheviks and their supporters (Red Guard and Red Army) on the one hand and the armed formations of the White movement (White Army) on the other, which was reflected in the persistent naming of the main parties to the conflict as “Reds”. " 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 aid 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 of the Red Army Vasily Chapaev (right) and commander Sergei Zakharov. 1918

Sound recording of Vladimir Lenin's speech in the Kremlin. 1919

Vladimir Lenin in Smolny at a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars. January 1918

February revolution. Checking documents on Nevsky Prospekt
February 1917

Fraternization of 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 of the Kashirin partisan detachment. 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 of the Eastern Front. After the reorganization in January 1920, these troops became known as the Army of Labor, whose goal was to restore the national economy of the Chelyabinsk province.

Red commander Anton Boliznyuk, wounded thirteen times

Mikhail Tukhachevsky

Grigory Kotovsky
1919

At the entrance to the building of the Smolny Institute - the headquarters of the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution. 1917

Medical examination of workers mobilized into the Red Army. 1918

On the boat "Voronezh"

Red Army soldiers in 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 military reform 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 responsible in the south of Russia and sent him as an extraordinary commissioner of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee for the procurement of grain from the 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) declared the new government criminal and illegal, organized armed Cossack squads, which became the base of the Orenburg (southwestern) army. Most of the White Cossacks were in this army. 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

Content

The 20th century for Russia was a time of turmoil and dramatic changes caused by the fall of the era of autocracy, the rise of the Bolshevik Party on the political Olympus, participation in a bloody fratricidal war, of course, we should not forget about the two world wars, which became a difficult test for the state, especially World War II. We should not, of course, forget about the tense relations between the USSR and the USA, enclosed within the framework Cold War, perestroika, the fall of the great USSR.

Civil War phenomenon

The modern scientific world is plagued by doubts and contradictions when it comes to the Civil War in Russia. Historians still cannot agree among themselves and conclude the past war period within a certain time frame, as a result of which dates such as October 25, 1917 to July 16, 1923 are considered to be the approximate dating for such an event.

This event is essentially a series of armed conflicts that took place between various state entities and groups, divided in turn by ethnic, social and political nature. The war was formed from conflicts on the territory of what was by that time the Russian Empire during the coming to power of the Bolshevik Party in October 1917.

The civil war was the final outcome of the crisis that arose during the revolutionary actions. This event is not only a consequence of political contradictions: the life of the common people in Russia has always been overshadowed by a difficult plight, the people were driven to extremes by the tsarist regime, class inequality, and participation in the First World War.

Transformations in the state could not pass without a trace; against the backdrop of a change of power and the establishment of new orders and rules, there must have been people who were not at all happy with the innovations; they showed with all their appearance that the old life was closer to them in spirit than the Soviet cardinal transformations.

Causes

Just as scientists do not have accurate information related to the specific chronology of military operations, there is also no consensus regarding the reasons influencing the outbreak of hostilities.

However, many historians are inclined to believe that the war could have arisen as a result of:

Dispersal of Kerensky and his supporters (members of the Constituent Assembly) by the Bolsheviks. The tsarist regime was overthrown, a new government had already established itself in its place, which the Bolsheviks, in turn, hastened to overthrow; of course, such a course of events could lead to similar actions. Instantly, the old nobility began to appear, which was true to the ideals imperial family, they dreamed of restoring the former regime and expelling Lenin and his associates with their forcibly imposed new ideals from the state.
The aspirations of the new owners of Russia (Bolsheviks) to do their best to stay in their new position. Naturally, the adherents of Lenin’s teachings wanted to firmly take root in the field they occupied, so they tried as best they could to propagate the Soviet teachings, accompanying it with various slogans. These people, for their bright ideas, were ready to kill their enemies so that socialism could come.
Readiness to fight between whites and reds. During the Civil War, both opposing camps had a huge number of supporters who tried to achieve ideal living conditions for themselves.
Nationalization of enterprises, food, banks, and the business sector. Under the tsarist regime, many people lived freely, this applies to factory owners, manufacturers, and merchants (especially the 1st guild). In an instant, the oxygen of their work activity is cut off for them; these people, of course, did not put up with the new regime, they sharply criticized Bolshevism.
Distribution of land to the poor and disadvantaged. Although the serfdom was abolished in the 19th century, few peasants had their own land; they continued to work for the masters. Lenin ordered that lands be actively confiscated from rich people and distributed to those in dire need. Against this background, state and collective farms began to form, which also began to include selected land. The agrarian question could be the sharpest stumbling block between the Bolsheviks and their opponents and lead to a civil war, since it was closely connected with the dispossession of wealthy peasants and landowners.
The signing of the humiliating Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which did not suit the population of the Russian Empire (a large amount of land was lost).

Stages of military operations

Traditionally, the Civil War is usually divided into 3 stages, enclosed within a certain chronological framework.

October 1917 – November 1918. This stage began even when the entire civilized world was taking a direct part in the First World War. During this time period, the formation of opposing forces and the formation of main fronts of armed clashes between them took place. As soon as the Bolsheviks were at the helm of the government ship, immediately in opposition to the party an opposition arose for them in the person of the White Guards, whose ranks included officers, clergy, Cossacks, landowners and other other wealthy people who, for personal reasons, did not want to voluntarily part with their money funds and property.
Since this stage was associated with actions taking place in Europe, it is clear that an event of such a scale simply could not attract the attention of the participants of the Entente and the Triple Alliance.
The Civil War itself began with the opposition of the ruling new political regime to the old one in the form of local skirmishes, which over time grew into theaters of military operations.
November 1918 – end of March/beginning of April 1920. During this time period, the most important, and at the same time the most significant, military battles took place between the workers' and peasants' Red Army and the White Guard movement. First World War is over, Russian troops return to their homeland, where a new event awaits them - the war is already civil.
Initially, fortune showed its favor and sympathy to the whites, and then it also attracted the reds, which by the end of the second stage of hostilities were able to spread throughout almost the entire territory of the state.
March 1920 – October 1922. The struggle at this stage is already taking place on the very outskirts of the country. From this moment on, Soviet power was established everywhere; from now on, nothing threatens this political system.

The main participants in the hostilities: red versus white

Many people, of course, know who the “reds” are and who the “whites” are, and what the Civil War itself was like.

Where did these two opposing politicized camps come from: In fact, everything is very simple: whites are adherents of the old regime, faithful servants of the monarchy, terrible owners of land and all kinds of wealth that are so necessary for the common people, and reds are essentially there are the common people themselves, workers, Bolshevik deputies, peasants. Such information is available in every history textbook, regardless of who the author is. teaching aid, and in the old days a lot of films were made on this topic.

In fact, the White Guards were not monarchists as such. Emperor Nicholas II had already abdicated the throne, his brother Mikhail himself refused the bequeathed throne, so the entire White Guard movement, which once had a military obligation to the royal family, was deprived of it, because there was no one to swear allegiance to. Due to the fact that the officers and Cossacks were exempt from the oath, in fact, although they supported the royal power, they were opponents of the Bolshevik system and fought first of all for their own property, and only then for the idea.

The color difference is also very interesting fact that took place in history. The Bolsheviks really had a red banner, and their army was called red, but the White Guards did not have a white flag, only their uniform corresponded to the name.

Great revolutionary events have already shaken the world before, what is the French Bourgeoisie worth? It was then that the king’s followers carried the banner everywhere with them white, symbolizing the flag of the monarch. The opposing force, consisting of the bourgeoisie, peasantry, and ordinary plebs, having seized some object, having previously recaptured it from the French military, supporters of the revolution hung a red canvas under the window, indicating that this building was supposedly already occupied.

It is by this similar analogy that it is customary to distinguish between the two opposing forces that acted in Russia during the Civil War.

In fact, the Bolshevik political machine was opposed by supporters of the Provisional Government, wealthy people, and other political parties represented by anarchists, democrats, Socialist Revolutionaries, and Cadets.

The term "white" was applied to the main enemy of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War.

Background to military operations

In February 1917, a Provisional Committee was formed on the basis of the State Duma and the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. The simultaneous appearance of two powerful government forces on the political arena of the state could only mark a brutal confrontation in the form of dual power.

The following events happened like this: on March 2, the emperor, under pressure, abdicated the throne, and his brother Mikhail, to whom power was supposed to come as a result of a personal decision (naturally under pressure from certain individuals), also did not show much interest in the throne and hastened to abandon it.

The Provisional Committee, together with the executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet, is in a hurry to form a Provisional Government, which was supposed to concentrate the reins of government in its own hands.

Alexander Kerensky tried to take his strong place in the political field by trying to ban the activities of the Bolshevik Party. Naturally, Ilyich’s associates did not tolerate such an attitude towards themselves and began to rapidly develop a plan to disperse the Provisional Government. As soon as the Bolsheviks began their movements, in the south of Russia, a White Guard army began to form in opposition to them, led by the famous officer Lavr Kornilov, an infantry general.

Czechoslovaks

The uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps at the first stage of the war became the starting point of paramilitary actions directed against Bolshevism.

Poor Czechoslovaks, scattered throughout almost the entire Trans-Siberian Railway, were peacefully heading to Far East, so that from there they could head to France to fight the Triple Alliance. However, they were unable to get there without problems. Foreign Minister G.V. Chicherin, under pressure from the German government, was forced to stop the legionnaires’ journey. They, in turn, decided that the Russian government, instead of the promised shipment, would begin to hand them over to the enemy. Of course, the Czechoslovakians were not attracted to a fate of this nature; they responded to such a decision with an uprising, subsequently undermining Bolshevik authority. The actions of the legionnaires led to the formation of organizations opposition to the Bolsheviks (the Provisional Siberian Government and so on).

History of the war

This event is a confrontation between one political force and another. A huge number of people were involved on the sides of both opponents, and both armies were controlled by talented military leaders.

The outcome of these battles could be absolutely anything: up to the victory of the White Guards and the possible establishment of a monarchist system. However, the Bolsheviks won, and new orders began to be established in the state.

Reasons for victory

A huge number of Soviet historians were inclined to believe that the Bolsheviks were able to win for the reason that they were actively supported by the oppressed classes who were trying to find their place in society.

Despite the fact that there were also quite a large number of White Guards, their fate turned out to be extremely sad. The same simple people opposed the landowners, the rich and the usurpers, who just yesterday mocked the peasants and the working class, forcing them to work to the fullest for meager wages. Therefore, in the territories captured by the whites, they were mostly greeted as enemies, and they tried with all their might to expel the whites from the occupied territories.

The White Guards did not have a unified discipline in the army, there was no main leader of the army. The generals fought with their troops throughout Russian territory, primarily defending their personal interests with their soldiers.

The Red Army soldiers went into battle with a clearly defined goal, they fought for general views and ideas, defending the rights not of an individual person, but of the entire oppressed and disadvantaged people.

Consequences of the war

The civil war in Russia became a very difficult test for people. In many sources, historians call it “fratricidal.” Indeed, hostilities captured people in such a way that in one family there could be adherents of both the Bolsheviks and the White Guards, then often brother went against brother, and father against son.

The war claimed a large number of human lives; it also caused the destruction of the economic system in the state. People from cities began to return en masse to villages, trying to survive and not die of starvation.

Red and white terror

One has only to watch a few films about the Civil War, and one can immediately draw the following conclusion from their plot: the Red Army are the true defenders of their Fatherland, they are fighters for a bright future, led into battle by S. M. Budyonny, V. K. Blucher, M V. Frunze and other commanders, and all that kind of stuff, but the White Guards, on the contrary, are extremely negative heroes, they live by old remnants, trying to plunge the state into the darkness of the monarchy and so on.

“White terror” in Russian history is usually called a number of measures aimed at suppressing the activities of the Bolshevik Party; it includes repressive legislative acts and radical measures, which in turn were aimed at:

representatives of the Soviet government,
people who sympathized with the Bolsheviks.

In modern Russian historiography there is the concept of “white terror”, but in fact this phrase is not even a stable term in its essence. White terror is a collective image; it was used by the Bolsheviks to designate White Guard policy.

Yes, in the White Guard army, although scattered (since there was no single commander in chief), there were brutal measures to combat the enemy.

Revolutionary political sentiments had to be destroyed in the bud.
Bolshevik underground and with them representatives partisan movement had to be killed.
People who served in the Red Army were subjected to exactly the same fate.

However, in fact, the White Guards were not such cruel people, or rather, the degree of their cruelty is comparable to the cruelty of the Red Army soldiers and their leaders.

And L. G. Kornilov, and A. D. Denikin, and A. V. Kolchak tried to establish strict discipline in the armies of their subordinates, which did not tolerate any deviations from the regulations they established - violations were often punishable by death.

The Red Terror is an equally cruel policy of the now Bolsheviks, aimed at destroying the enemy. Just look at the execution of the royal family in July 1918. Then not only members of the royal family were brutally killed, but also their faithful servants, who wished to remain near their masters and share their fate.

The Bolsheviks who came to power denied religion, which throughout large quantity time was an integral part of the state. With the advent of Bolshevism, religion ceased to be valued in human society; almost all clergy were subjected to persecution and repression by the new government. Clubs, reading rooms, libraries, and Komsomol headquarters began to be set up in the buildings of churches and temples. The country was going through terrible times, housewives in rural areas were having a hard time with the gap between power and religion, they, as before, secretly continued to read prayers and hid icons. Be religious person during the Civil War it was extremely dangerous, since one could easily get into trouble for such beliefs.

The scope of the Red Terror also included the forcible confiscation of bread from wealthy peasants, whom the Bolsheviks called kulaks. These operations were carried out directly by punitive food detachments, which, in case of disobedience, could even kill a person who disobeyed them.

Both whites and reds caused the death of a huge number of people who died not from a bullet or bayonet in a military clash, but who died due to insubordination and disobedience to one or another opposing force.

Green Army soldiers

The army of Nestor Makhno, which was called the green army, stands apart in the Civil War. Makhno's supporters became an opposing force, opposing the White Guards and Red Army soldiers, as well as their sympathizers. The army consisted of peasants and Cossacks who evaded general mobilization into the ranks of the White Guard or Red Army troops. The Makhnovists (Greens) advocated a state without a monarchy, but under the supervision of an influential anarchist (Nestor Makhno belonged to this particular political movement).

Bottom line

The civil war in Russia was a catastrophic shock for people. Until recently, they fought on European territory with the Triple Alliance, and today, having returned to their homeland, they were forced to take up arms again and go to fight a new enemy. The war split not only Russian society, it split many families, in which some supported the Red Army, while others supported the White Guards.

The war to establish their personal interests was won by the Bolsheviks thanks to the support of exclusively ordinary people who dreamed of a better life.

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 existed and still exists in 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 determined the choice of red and white flowers to indicate opposing forces.

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.

The city-republic of 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. The new Russian government, as is known, was called “provisional” because it was supposed to prepare 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 of 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 virtually 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 between supporters and opponents of Soviet power as a struggle between 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. They turned public opinion against them, 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 the 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 and 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 he describes the split in Cossack families in “ Quiet Don» M. Sholokhov.

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.