"White" and "Red" movement in the Civil War. The largest civil wars

In domestic and foreign historiography, there are traditionally a number of acute debatable problems related to the history of the Civil War and foreign intervention during the years of the Great Russian Revolution.

I. The problem of the chronological framework and internal periodization of the war. In Russian historical science, there are traditionally two key problems related to the history of the Civil War:

a) the problem of determining the chronological framework of the Civil War;

b) the problem of its internal periodization.

On the first issue, there are three main points of view.

Some authors (Yu. Polyakov, V. Polikarpov, I. Ratkovsky) date the Civil War in Russia from November 1917 to December 1922: starting from the October events in Petrograd and ending with the defeat of the Japanese and American invaders in the Far East and the formation of the USSR .

Other authors (V. Brovkin, S. Kara-Murza) date the Civil War from the spring of 1918 to the summer of 1921, that is, from the emergence of the first obvious and large-scale centers of frontal confrontation between the "Whites" and "Reds" to the transition to the NEP and the suppression of the most powerful peasant movements - "Antonov rebellion" and "Makhnovshchina". At the same time, Professor S.G. Kara-Murza is absolutely right when he says that the very flywheel of the bloody fratricidal Civil War was launched not by the Bolsheviks, but by the “Russian” Freemasons and liberals during the days of the February Revolution, when the thousand-year-old Russian monarchy was overthrown.

The third group of historians (V. Naumov, N. Azovtsev, Yu. Korablev) claims that chronological framework The civil war should be limited to May 1918 - November 1920: from the rebellion of the Czechoslovaks to the defeat of the troops of General P.N. Wrangel in the Crimea.

In our opinion, all these approaches are quite legitimate, since the supporters of the first two points of view consider the Civil War as an open form of class struggle, the beginning of which was laid by the Great Russian Revolution. And supporters of the third point of view define the Civil War as a special stage in the history of the proletarian revolution, when the military question played a key role in the development of this revolution and on the outcome of which its entire future fate depended.

As for internal periodization, there are several points of view here.

1) "echelon" (November 1917 - May 1918) and

2) "frontal" (summer 1918 - December 1922).

Third historians (V. Brovkin) argue that three major periods should be distinguished within the framework of this war:

1) 1918 - the period of collapse Russian Empire and field Civil War ephemeral governments set up on its ruins;

2) 1919 - the period of the decisive military confrontation between the "Reds" and the "Whites";

3) 1920-1921 - period of general peasant war against the Bolsheviks.

The 1st stage of the Civil War came in May - November 1918, when the Czechoslovak rebellion took place and the Southern and Eastern Fronts of the Red Army were formed against the three white armies of Generals M.V. Alekseeva, P.N. Krasnov and Admiral A.V. Kolchak.

The 2nd stage of the Civil War, which took place in November 1918 - March 1919, was associated with the denunciation of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the beginning of a full-scale foreign intervention of the Entente and Germany against Soviet Russia.

Stage 3 of the Civil War, which lasted from March 1919 to March 1920, was associated with the most acute period confrontation between the troops of the Red Army and the white armies of Admiral A.V. Kolchak and generals A.I. Denikin, N.N. Yudenich and E.A. Miller.

The 4th stage of the Civil War, which took place in April - November 1920, was associated with the Soviet-Polish war and the fighting of the Red Army troops against the White Guard army of General P.N. Wrangel in Northern Tavria and the Crimea.

II. The problem of determining the causes of the Civil War. There are two diametrically opposed points of view on this issue:

In Soviet historical science (N. Azovtsev, L. Spirin, V. Naumov, Yu. Korablev), all the blame and responsibility for the outbreak of the Civil War in the country was entirely and completely assigned to the overthrown exploiting classes. Most of this blame was placed on the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, who, having betrayed the interests of the working class and the working peasantry, refused to enter into a broad political alliance with the Bolshevik Party and deliberately went over to the camp of the monarchist and bourgeois-landlord counter-revolution.

At present, many historians, mainly of a liberal persuasion (B. Klein, V. Brovkin, I. Dolutsky), have gone to the other extreme and have begun to assert that the main responsibility for the outbreak of the fratricidal Civil War lies entirely with the Bolshevik Party, which completely deliberately through the creation of committees and the policy of food requisitions (food detachments) unleashed a new social war in the countryside, which became the nutrient base for the escalation of a large-scale war in the country.

III. The problem of determining the main military-political camps during the war.

In the broad public consciousness, there are still a number of stereotypes created during the Soviet period, for example:

a) All representatives of the "white movement" were inveterate monarchists, who even in their sleep raved about the ideas of restoring the autocratic monarchy and the power of the landlords and capitalists, and all the leaders of this movement were generals P.N. Wrangel, A.I. Denikin, A.M. Kaledin, L.G. Kornilov, P.N. Krasnov, N.N. Yudenich and Admiral A.V. Kolchak were direct henchmen of the Entente.

b) The backbone of all the White Guard armies was the regular officer corps of the Russian Imperial Army, consisting entirely of representatives of the overthrown exploiting classes - the landowners and the bourgeoisie.

c) Mass demonstrations by Russian and Ukrainian peasants and the Cossacks against the policy of the Bolsheviks in the countryside were ordinary banditry, which were inspired by paid agents of the White Guard and foreign special services, etc.

However, even with a cursory glance at this problem, it is easy to see that all these ideas often contradicted the real state of affairs.

a) According to most modern scholars (A. Medvedev, V. Tsvetkov, S. Kara-Murza), the “white movement” was extremely heterogeneous in composition and consisted not so much of inveterate monarchists, landlords and conservatives, but of the so-called "Februaryists" - representatives of the liberal bourgeois (Kadets) and petty-bourgeois (Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks) parties. Moreover, it is the latter who are personally responsible for the overthrow of the thousand-year-old Russian monarchy and the collapse of the vast Russian Empire, the territory of which was collected bit by bit, sweat and blood by our ancestors for many centuries. In addition, not all leaders of the white movement were proteges of the Entente, since generals P.N. Krasnov and N.N. Yudenich always advocated a military and political alliance with Germany.

b) According to a number of modern historians (V. Kavtaradze, I. Livshits), more than half of the officer corps of the Russian Imperial Army (almost 75 thousand), including A.A. Brusilov, M.D. Bonch-Bruevich, P.P. Lebedev, A.I. Verkhovsky, D.P. Parsky, A.A. Svechin, A.E. Snesarev, B.M. Shaposhnikov, A.I. Egorov, S.S. Kamenev and many others formed the backbone of the officer corps of the Red Army. Moreover, in the ranks of the Red Army were two military ministers of the tsarist government - Generals A.A. Polivanov and D.S. Shuvaev. Some modern historians (A. Shuvalov) do not agree with this assessment of their colleagues and argue that 170 thousand (66%) of the Russian Imperial Army fought in the White armies, and 55 thousand (22%) of the former tsarist army fought in the Red Army, and more 30 thousand (12%) did not take part in the Civil War at all. Nevertheless, the very participation of a significant part of the old military experts in this war on the side of the Bolsheviks spoke of a serious split within Russian society, not only for class reasons, but also for other, deeper reasons.

The main supporter of attracting "military experts" into the ranks of the Red Army was the people's commissar-voenmor L.D. Trotsky, who only in 1918 published dozens of articles and speeches on this burning topic: “Officers’ Question”, “On Officers Deceived by Krasnov”, “Non-commissioned Officers, to Command Posts!”, “Military Specialists and the Red Army” and etc.

c) The broad peasant movement in the central and southern regions of Russia, Western Siberia, the Left-Bank Little Russia and Novorossia (“Makhnovshchina”, “Antonovshchina”) was so powerful and organized that it is at least impossible to explain its causes only through the prism of banal banditry. quite legitimate. Moreover, according to many historians (O. Radkov, O. Figes, A. Medvedev, V. Brovkin), the movement of the “greens” during the Civil War was just as significant a factor in the revolutionary process as the bloody confrontation between the “whites” and “ Reds", who at different stages of this war did not hesitate to use the armed force and power of the peasant armies in the fight against each other.

2. Fighting on the fields of the Civil War

a) The first stage of the Civil War (May - November 1918)

On May 25, 1918, the rebellion of the Separate Czechoslovak Army Corps of General V.N. began. Shokorov, as a result of which Soviet power was overthrown almost overnight in the vast territory of the country from Penza to Vladivostok and various anti-Bolshevik governments were created, in particular, the Committee of the Constituent Assembly in Samara (V.K. Volsky), the Ural military government in Perm (G. M. Fomichev), the Provisional Siberian Government in Tomsk (P.V. Vologodsky), etc.

In this situation, the top party and state leadership of the country had to urgently reconsider their previous views on the principles of the formation of the Red Army, and already on May 29, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR adopted a resolution “On forced recruitment into the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army”.

In mid-June 1918, by decision of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, the Eastern Front of the Red Army was created, the troops of which were led by the lieutenant colonel of the tsarist army, the Left Social Revolutionary M.A. Ants. And at the end of June 1918, at the direction of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), the Supreme Military Council of the Republic and the All-Russian General Staff formed and sent five combined arms armies to the Eastern Front, which were to take part in the upcoming general offensive against the troops of the People's, Ural Cossack and Siberian separate armies created by the Cadets, Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks to fight the Soviet regime in the eastern regions of the country.

In early July 1918, the troops of the Eastern Front of the Red Army, which was headed by the former tsarist colonel I.I. Vatsetis, went on the offensive against the troops of the People's and Ural Cossack armies of generals S.N. Voitsekhovsky and M.F. Martynov. This offensive ended in a major defeat and the loss of Kazan, where a good half of the entire gold reserve of the Russian Empire was located in the amount of 650 million gold rubles. On July 10, 1918, the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted a resolution "On the construction of the Red Army", which enshrined the basic principles of the construction of the Red Army: universal military duty, the class principle of construction, regularity, strict discipline, the abolition of the election of commanders of all military units and formations and the introduction institute of military commissars.

Simultaneously with the work of the congress on the night of July 17, 1918 in Yekaterinburg, in the house of the merchant N.N. Ipatiev, employees of the local Cheka, headed by Yakov Yurovsky, on the direct instructions of the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR Ya.M. Sverdlov shot the entire royal family and members of the royal retinue, including the former Emperor Nicholas II, the former Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarevich Alexei and the four Grand Duchesses - Olga, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia.

At the end of August 1918, the troops of the Don Army of Generals P.N. Krasnova and S.V. Denisov took full control of the region of the Don troops and launched a powerful offensive in the Voronezh and Tsaritsyno directions. At the same time, the troops of the Volunteer Army of General M.V. Alekseev during the Second Kuban campaign defeated the Taman army E.I. Kovtyukh and occupied the entire territory of the Kuban, Terek and Stavropol.

In this situation, on September 2, 1918, by a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Soviet Republic was declared a military camp and the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (RVSR) was created to manage all military operations on the war fronts, headed by the People's Commissar of the Navy L.D. Trotsky. At the same time, by decision of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, the RVSR transferred all the rights of the Collegium of the People's Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs and the abolished Supreme Military Council, whose members were former tsarist generals headed by M.D. Bonch-Bruevich. In addition, the Field Headquarters of the Red Army (P.P. Lebedev), the All-Russian Bureau of Military Commissars (K.K. Yurenev), the Higher Military Inspectorate (N.I. Podvoisky) and the Central Administration for Supply of Troops (L.P. Krasin). At the same time, by decision of the RVSR, the High Command of the Red Army troops was created, headed by I.I. Vatsetis, and two groupings of troops were created - the Northern and Southern fronts, which were headed by the former tsarist generals D.P. Parsky and P.P. Sytin.

On September 5, 1918, in response to the assassination of the chairman of the Petrograd Cheka, M.S. Uritsky and severely injured V.I. Lenin issued a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR "On the Red Terror", in accordance with which the organs of the Cheka were granted an unprecedented right to execution without trial and investigation of all persons who were members of the White Guard organizations and were involved in various kinds of conspiracies and rebellions. In addition, the first concentration camps were created by the same decree to isolate all class enemies. Having begun to implement this decree, the organs of the Cheka only in September-November 1918 uncovered several dozen underground anti-Bolshevik centers that aimed to overthrow Soviet power in the country, including the Union for the Salvation of the Motherland, the Union of the Constituent Assembly, the Union Revival of Russia”, “Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom”, “Military League”, “Black Dot”, “White Cross”, “Everything for the Motherland” and many others.

Meanwhile, in different regions of the country, the process of consolidation of the former anti-Bolshevik governments began to rapidly gain momentum. In particular, at the end of September 1918, at a meeting of plenipotentiaries of the Samara Committee of the Constituent Assembly, the Ural Provisional Government, the Turkestan Autonomous Government, the Yenisei, Siberian, Orenburg, Ural, Semirechensk and Irkutsk military Cossack governments, the Provisional All-Russian Government was created - the "Ufa Directory" , which was headed by the leader of the People's Socialists Nikolai Dmitrievich Avksentiev.

In September - October 1918, during a series of offensive operations on the Eastern Front of the Red Army, which was led by the tsarist colonel S.S. Kamenev, the troops of the 1st, 3rd and 5th armies, having defeated the troops of the Volga and Ural armies of the enemy, occupied Kazan, Samara, Simbirsk, Izhevsk and other cities.

b) The second stage of the Civil War (November 1918 - March 1919)

On November 11, 1918, after the signing of the act of surrender by the powers of the Quadruple Bloc, the First World War which claimed more than 10 million lives. In this situation, the Supreme Council of the Entente decided to launch a large-scale intervention against Soviet Russia, although the first stage of this intervention began much earlier, as early as July 1918.

In July-August 1918, troops of French, British, American, Canadian and Japanese invaders landed in different regions of Russia and, having overthrown the Bolshevik Soviets, seized power in Baku, Arkhangelsk, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Blagoveshchensk and other Russian cities. In total, according to historians (N. Azovtsev, Yu. Korablev), at the first stage of the intervention, the troops of nine Entente countries with a total number of more than 42 thousand soldiers and took part in it.

November 1918 - January 1919 during the second stage of the intervention, Anglo-French troops landed in Novorossiysk, Odessa, Kherson, Nikolaev and Sevastopol, and the old interventionist military contingents in Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok were replenished with new units and formations of the armies of the allied powers. Thus, by the end of 1918, a 200,000-strong group of occupation troops was located throughout Russia.

On November 13, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR denounced the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. By decision of the RVSR, the Western and Ukrainian fronts of the Red Army were created to fight the German invaders in the Baltics, Belarus, Little Russia and Novorossia, which were headed by the former tsarist general A.E. Snesarev and member of the Bolshevik Central Committee V.A. Antonov-Ovseenko.

In November-December 1918, by agreement with the German military command, the troops of the Western Front of the Red Army almost bloodlessly occupied the entire territory of the Baltic states and Belarus. In Ukraine, where a classic multi-government took shape, the situation developed more dramatically. In particular, the troops of the Ukrainian Front of the Red Army had to simultaneously fight against the troops of the pro-German regime of Hetman P.P. Skoropadsky and the troops of the Ukrainian People's Directory, which was headed by S.A. Petliura and V.K. Vinnichenko.

On November 18, 1918, with the active support of the All-Russian Council of Ministers, which was headed by Pyotr Vasilyevich Vologodsky, and the joint command of the occupation forces in Siberia, consisting of generals W. Grevs, O. Knight, M. Janen, A. Knox and D. Ward, a coup d'état. As a result of this coup, the former Minister of War of the Ufa Directory, Admiral A.V., came to power. Kolchak, who proclaimed himself the Supreme Ruler of Russia and the commander-in-chief of all the armed forces of the country. The former government of the Ufa Directory, consisting of Socialist-Revolutionaries, Popular Socialists and Mensheviks, was arrested, and all power passed to the new government, which was first headed by P.V. Vologda, and then General V.N. Pepelyaev.

At the end of November 1918, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, based on the proposals of the chairman of the RVSR L.D. Trotsky and Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army I.I. Vatsetis took a number of drastic measures aimed at strengthening the Red Army. In particular, a strict regime of revolutionary dictatorship was established in the troops, and a significant part of the powers previously held by combat commanders of marching units and formations was transferred to military commissars and members of the Revolutionary Military Council of all armies and fronts.

On November 30, 1918, by decision of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the highest military-political and economic body of the RSFSR, the Workers' and Peasants' Defense Council, was created, which initially included the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V.I. Lenin, People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs L.D. Trotsky, People's Commissar for Nationalities I.V. Stalin and People's Commissar for Foreign Trade L.B. Krasin.

In December 1918, the troops of the Eastern Front of the Red Army under the command of S.S. Kamenev went on the offensive against the troops of the Ural, Orenburg and Siberian armies of A.I. Dutova, M.F. Martynov and A.V. Kolchak.

In January - February 1919, on the southern sector of the Eastern Front, the troops of the 1st, 4th and 5th Soviet armies, defeating the advanced units of Generals A.I. Dutov and M.F. Martynov, occupied Ufa, Orenburg, Uralsk and Orsk, and joined with units of the Turkestan Army of the Red Army, commanded by Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze. On the northern sector of the Eastern Front, the offensive of the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Soviet armies against the Siberian army of Admiral A.V. Kolchak ended in complete defeat: they were forced to retreat behind the Kama and leave Perm.

In mid-January 1919, Generals A.I. Denikin and P.N. Krasnov signed a joint agreement on the creation of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (VSYUR), which included all the troops of the Volunteer, Don, Caucasian, Crimean-Azov, Terek-Dagestan and Separate Turkestan armies, as well as units and formations of the Black Sea Navy and the Caspian military flotilla. At the head of this impressive military force, which controlled a significant part of the territory of the south of the country, stood Lieutenant General of the tsarist army Anton Ivanovich Denikin.

In January - March 1919, Soviet troops carried out a number of successful offensive operations in the southern and southwestern strategic directions:

1) The troops of the Southern Front of the Red Army under the command of the former colonel of the tsarist army P.A. Slavena inflicted a number of major defeats on the troops of the Don Army of General P.N. Krasnov and entered the territory of the Region of the Don Army, where, under the leadership of members of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front, G.Ya. Sokolnikov and S.I. Syrtsov began a total red terror against the Don Cossacks, which was sanctioned by the secret directive "To all responsible comrades working in the Cossack regions" of January 24, 1919. The results of this barbaric policy backfired on the Bolsheviks already in early March 1919, when: a) on On the Upper Don in the village of Vyoshenskaya, a mass anti-Bolshevik uprising of the Don Cossacks began; b) the combined troops of the Don and Volunteer armies under the overall command of General A.I. Denikin stopped the advance of the troops of the 9th and 10th armies of the Southern Front and withdrew in an organized manner across the Don and Manych rivers.

In mid-March 1919, the troops of the Caspian-Caucasian Front of the Red Army, which was headed by the former tsarist colonel M.S. Svechnikov, went on the offensive against the troops of the Volunteer Army. Soon, units and formations of the 11th and 12th Soviet armies were stopped, and then thrown back to their original lines, where they had to go on a forced defense along the entire front line.

2) Troops of the Ukrainian Front of the Red Army under the command of V.A. Antonova-Ovseenko, advancing in the Kiev and Kharkov directions, defeated units of the Ukrainian People's Army and occupied Kyiv, Kharkov, Chernigov, Konotop, Bakhmach, Poltava, Yekaterinoslav, Nikolaev, Kherson and other cities. Government of the Ukrainian Directory headed by S.V. Petlyura hastily fled to Vinnitsa.

At the end of March 1919, at the Paris Peace Conference, the heads of the victorious Allied Powers decided to evacuate the Anglo-French expeditionary force from the territory of Southern Novorossia and the Crimea, and already in April 1919, the troops of the Ukrainian Front of the Red Army, defeating parts of the Crimean-Azov Volunteer Army General P.N. Wrangel, occupied Odessa and Sevastopol.

On March 18–23, 1919, the VIII Congress of the RCP(b) was held in Moscow, the delegates of which discussed three main issues: 1) a new party program, 2) a change in the party's policy towards the middle peasantry, and 3) problems of military construction.

1) On the first issue, the delegates of the party congress discussed and adopted the "Second Party Program", which in Soviet historiography was traditionally called the "program for the construction of socialism." This party program, which was replaced by the "Third Party Program" only in 1961, consolidated those most important principles of building socialism and its main features, which were really embodied in politics, and then in the integral system of "war communism", which collapsed in 1921

2) On the second question, after the fact, it was decided to eliminate the combos and move from "the policy of neutralizing the middle peasantry towards a close alliance with it."

3) On the third question, after a tough discussion on the problems of military development, the majority of delegates of the party forum rejected the "partisan" principles of building the Red Army, which were defended by the "military opposition" represented by I.V. Stalin, K.E. Voroshilov, A.S. Bubnova, G.L. Pyatakova, V.V. Kuibysheva, K.A. Mekhonoshina, F.I. Goloshchekina, N.I. Podvoisky and other party and military figures. IN AND. Lenin and other leaders of the party supported the principled position of L.D. Trotsky, who in his theses "Our Policy in the Creation of the Army" actively advocated the creation of a regular Red Army based on iron discipline, military regulations and extensive use of the experience and knowledge of old military experts.

In addition, the congress delegates decided to abolish the All-Russian Bureau of Military Commissars and create the Political Directorate of the RVSR, headed by I.T. Smilga.

c) The third stage of the Civil War (March 1919 - March 1920)

In March 1919, the Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army I.I. Vatsetis presented a plan for the upcoming spring-summer military campaign for consideration by the RVSR. According to this plan, it was supposed to deliver two main blows in the southern and western strategic directions and one auxiliary blow in the eastern strategic direction. Soon the situation at the front changed dramatically and did not allow the Bolsheviks to realize their plan. In mid-March 1919, units and formations of the Siberian and Western armies of generals R. Gaida and M.V. Khanzhina unexpectedly went on the offensive against the troops of the Eastern Front of the Red Army. As a result of a number of successful operations in the northern sector of the front, the Siberian army of General R. Gaida, breaking through the defenses of the 2nd and 3rd Soviet armies, captured Votkinsk, Sarapul, Izhevsk and advanced 130 km. On the southern sector of the Eastern Front, the troops of the Western Army of General M.V. Khanzhin, having defeated the advanced units of the 5th Soviet Army, in mid-April they took Bugulma, Belebey, Buguruslan, Sterlitamak and Aktyubinsk.

The success of the troops of Admiral A.V. Kolchak turned out to be so unexpected that at first he could not decide where to deliver the main blow to the enemy troops. A.V. himself Kolchak, following the recommendations of the English General A. Knox, was more inclined towards the northern option of delivering the main attack and connecting with the troops of General E.K. Miller in the Vyatka region. And his chief of staff, General D.A. Lebedev insisted on the southern version of the main attack and connection with the troops of General A.I. Denikin near Tsaritsyn. In the end, the success of the Western Army, General M.V. Khanzhina in the southern sector of the Eastern Front predetermined the entire further course of events. On April 12, 1919, Admiral A. V. Kolchak gave the troops the so-called "Volga Directive", in which he set them the task of capturing strategically important bridges in the Kazan, Syzran and Simbirsk regions.

By decision of the RVSR and the High Command of the Red Army, the troops of the Eastern Front were reorganized, which included the creation of two operational groups: the Northern Group of Forces as part of the 2nd and 3rd armies under the command of V. I. Shorin, and the Southern Group of Forces consisting of 1 th, 4th, 5th and Turkestan armies under the command of M.V. Frunze.

At the end of April 1919, the Southern Group of Forces of the Red Army launched a counteroffensive against the Western Army of General M.V. Khanzhin and the Volga Corps of General V.O. Kappel and by the beginning of May 1919, during the Ufa offensive operation, captured Buguruslan, Belebey and Ufa. At the same time, the troops of M.V. Frunze repelled all the attempts of the Orenburg and Ural armies of generals A.I. Dutov and V.S. Tolstov to capture Orenburg and Uralsk. At the same time, the Northern Group of Forces of the Red Army, having carried out a successful Sarapul-Votkinsk offensive operation, inflicted a major defeat on the Siberian army of General R. Gaida and, having liberated Sarapul and Izhevsk, began fierce battles for Perm.

In the southern strategic direction, events unfolded as follows.

In March 1919, the troops of the Southern Front of the Red Army under the command of the former tsarist general V.N. Egorieva went on the offensive against the troops of the Don Army, General V.I. Sidorina. In the course of heavy and bloody battles in the Rostov direction, the 9th and 10th Soviet armies approached Rostov, crossed Manych and began to advance towards Bataysk and Tikhoretskaya. Soon, the offensive of the Soviet troops had to be stopped and the main forces were sent to fight the rebellious Don Cossacks and the detachments of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, father N.I. Makhno. In May 1919, units of the Southern Front of the Red Army, under powerful blows from the Volunteer Army, which went on the offensive in the Tsaritsyno and Donbas directions, were forced to leave all of the Don region, Donbass and Southern Novorossia.

In mid-March 1919, the troops of the Ukrainian Front of the Red Army under the command of V.A. Antonov-Ovseenko went on the offensive and, quickly defeating the scattered units of the Ukrainian People's Army S.V. Petliura, in April 1919 captured Odessa, Sevastopol and other cities of the Crimea and Southern New Russia. However, soon, in the rear of the troops of the Ukrainian Front, the rebellion of the former Petliura ataman N.A. began. Grigoriev, who with great difficulty managed to suppress.

In May 1919, the situation on the Western Front of the Red Army worsened sharply, where, with the support of the Finnish and Estonian troops, the North-Western Army of General N.N. Yudenich launched an attack on Petrograd. During heavy fighting, units of the White Finns captured Vidlitsa and Olonets, and the corps of General A.P. Rodzianko, breaking through the defenses of the 7th Soviet Army in the Narva direction, captured Gdov, Yamburg and Pskov. The success of the army N.N. Yudenich turned out to be short-lived and in mid-June 1919, having suppressed anti-Soviet rebellions in the forts Krasnaya Gorka and Gray Horse, the troops of the Western Front of the Red Army, led by the former tsarist general D.N. Reliable went on the offensive in the Narva and Pskov directions.

In June 1919, the troops of the Eastern Front of the Red Army inflicted a number of major defeats on the armies of Admiral A.V. Kolchak and occupied the entire territory of the Urals, including Perm, Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg. Due to the sharp aggravation of the situation on the Southern Front, on the orders of Commander-in-Chief I.I. Vatsetis, the further advance of the troops of the Eastern Front of the Red Army was suspended.

The Plenum of the Central Committee, which met urgently, condemned the defeatist plan of I.I. Vatsetis, who was removed from his post. Colonel S.S. was appointed the new commander-in-chief of the Red Army troops. Kamenev, and the troops of the Eastern Front of the Red Army were headed by M.V. Frunze. L.D. Trotsky, who shared the position of I.I. Vatsetis, also resigned from all military posts, but this demarche of the oracle of the revolution was decisively rejected.

Meanwhile, the troops of the Volunteer, Caucasian and Don armies of generals V.Z. May-Maevsky, P.N. Wrangel and V.I. Sidorin continued a successful offensive in the Tsaritsyn and Donbas directions and soon, having defeated the advanced units of the troops of the Southern Front of the Red Army, they occupied Tsaritsyn, Kharkov and Yekaterinoslav. July 3, 1919 General A.I. Denikin issued the famous “Moscow Directive”, according to which the troops of the Caucasian, Don and Volunteer armies of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (VSYUR) were ordered to launch a general offensive against Moscow from three strategic directions: Penza, Voronezh and Kursk-Oryol.

In these critical days On July 9, 1919, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) published the famous Leninist letter “Everything to fight Denikin!”, In which the main tasks of the present moment were very clearly outlined: the complete defeat of the troops of General A.I. Denikin in the southern direction and the continuation of the victorious offensive of the Soviet troops in the eastern direction against the armies of Admiral A.V. Kolchak.

In August-December 1919, the situation on the fronts of the war looked as follows.

The troops of the Western Front of the Red Army (D.N. Nadezhny), continuing their offensive in two operational directions, defeated the enemy army and in August 1919 occupied Yamburg, Narva and Pskov. In early October, the troops of the Northwestern Army, led by General N.N. Yudenich, launched a second campaign against Petrograd and captured Yamburg, Luga, Gatchina, Pavlovsk and Krasnoye Selo. At the end of October 1919, the troops of the North-Western Front of the Red Army, led by L.D. Trotsky, stopped the enemy on the outskirts of the northern capital, and then, having launched a counteroffensive, threw them back into Estonian territory. In November 1919, the remnants of N.N. Yudenich were disarmed, and then, by decision of the Estonian government, interned in Russia to be torn to pieces by the Bolsheviks.

Troops of the Turkestan Front of the Red Army under the command of M.V. Frunze during the Ural-Guryev offensive operation defeated the troops of the Southern and Ural armies of generals G.A. Belova and V.S. Tolstov and, having crossed the Amu Darya, approached the borders of the Khiva Khanate.

Troops of the Eastern Front of the Red Army under the command of V.I. Shorin after heavy and bloody battles with the Western Army of General M.V. Khanzhina crossed Tobol and, having liberated Petropavlovsk, Ishim and Omsk, pushed back the remnants of the army of A.V. Kolchak to the Krasnoyarsk region.

The troops of the Southern Front of the Red Army under the command of V.N. Egoryev during heavy defensive battles against two cavalry corps of generals K.K. Mamontov and A.G. Shkuro and the army corps of General A.P. Kutepova by the beginning of October 1919 left Odessa, Kyiv, Kharkov, Kursk, Orel, Voronezh and retreated to Tula.

Soon the successful actions of the armies of generals P.N. Wrangel, V.Z. May-Maevsky and V.I. Sidorin was replaced by a series of major military failures, the causes of which, according to historians (V. Fedyuk, A. Butakov), were multifaceted. In particular, due to the mediocre domestic policy of the head of the South Russian government, N.M. Melnikov, in the rear of the White Guard troops, a powerful uprising of the Kuban Cossacks and detachments of father N.I. Makhno. In addition, serious disagreements arose between the generals A.I. Denikin and P.N. Wrangel on the issues of the white movement and further maintenance war.

In the meantime, by decision of the RVSR, two new groupings of troops were created against the White Guard armies of the All-Union Socialist Republic of Russia: the Southern Front of the Red Army, which was headed by the former tsarist colonel A.I. Egorov, and the South-Eastern Front of the Red Army, which was headed by V.I. Shorin.

October 1919 - January 1920 during the Voronezh-Kastornensk offensive operation, the troops of the 1st Cavalry Army S.M. Budyonny and K.E. Voroshilov was defeated by the cavalry corps of generals K.K. Mamontov and A.G. Shkuro and liberated the entire territory of Central Russia (Kursk, Orel, Voronezh, Kastornaya), Left-bank Little Russia and Novorossia (Kyiv, Kharkov, Poltava) and the Don Army Region (Tsaritsyn, Novocherkassk, Taganrog, Rostov-on-Don). With the withdrawal of Soviet troops to the North Caucasus, in January 1920, by decision of the RVSR, the South-Eastern Front was renamed the Caucasian Front of the Red Army, and the Southern Front - the South-Western Front of the Red Army. At the same time, by decision of the RVSR, the Eastern Front of the Red Army was disbanded, the final defeat of A.V. Kolchak was assigned to parts of the 5th Soviet Army, which was headed by M.N. Tukhachevsky. During the rapid offensive of the 5th Army units, the remnants of the White Guard troops were completely defeated near Krasnoyarsk, Novo-Nikolaevsk and Irkutsk, and Admiral A.V. Kolchak and the head of his government V.N. Pepelyaev were taken prisoner and, by decision of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee, were shot in February 1920.

In February-April 1920, events on the fronts of the war developed as follows.

The troops of the 6th Soviet Army under the command of the former tsarist general A.A. Samoilo was defeated by the White Guard troops of the Northern Region of Generals E.K. Miller and V.V. Marushevsky and captured Murmansk and Arkhangelsk.

The troops of the Amur, Primorsky and Okhotsk fronts of the Red Army under the overall command of S.G. Lazo started fighting against the Japanese interventionists and the White Guard troops of Ataman G.M. Semenov and General V.O. Kappel in Transbaikalia and the Far East.

The troops of the Caucasian Front of the Red Army under the command of M.N. Tukhachevsky carried out the North Caucasian offensive operation and, having liberated the entire territory of the Kuban, Stavropol, Terek region and Dagestan, reached the borders of Azerbaijan and Georgia. As a result of these events, General A.I. Denikin voluntarily resigned as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia and transferred them to Lieutenant General P.N. Wrangel, who evacuated the remnants of his troops (50 thousand bayonets and sabers) to the territory of Crimea, which was held by the Russian army of General Ya.A. Slashchev.

Troops of the Southwestern Front of the Red Army under the command of A.I. Yegorov, during the Odessa offensive operation, they liberated the entire territory of the Right-bank Little Russia and Southern New Russia and reached the borders of Romania and Galicia.

Troops of the Turkestan Front of the Red Army under the command of M.V. Frunze, having defeated the remnants of the White Army in the Central Asian region, captured the entire territory of the Bukhara Emirate and the Khiva Khanate, where the Bukhara and Khiva People's Soviet Republics were soon created.

d) The fourth stage of the Civil War (April - November 1920)

In January 1920, the Soviet government proposed to the Polish government to start peace negotiations on the demarcation of the state border. The People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, which in March 1918 was headed by Georgy Vasilievich Chicherin, proposed to carry out this demarcation in favor of his neighbor, that is, 200-250 kilometers east of the border line that was determined for the restored Poland by the Treaty of Versailles in July 1919.

However, its military-political leadership, headed by Jozef Pilsudski, refused this "flattering" offer, since their grandiose plans included the reconstruction of the Commonwealth "from mozh to mozh", i.e. within the borders of 1772. Starting to implement this crazy idea, the government of Marshal Yu. Pilsudsky signed with the emigrant government of the Ukrainian Directory, which continued to be headed by the fugitive independent S.V. Petlyura, an agreement on the actual occupation of the entire Right-Bank Little Russia.

On April 25, 1920, Polish troops and units of the Ukrainian People's Army launched an offensive against the 12th and 14th armies of the Southwestern Front of the Red Army, which held the defense from Pripyat to the Dniester. On April 27, the enemy captured Proskurov, Zhitomir and Zhmerinka, and on May 6 entered Kyiv. In this situation, without completing the transfer of troops of the 1st Cavalry Army, S.M. Budyonny from the Caucasian front, commander-in-chief S.S. Kamenev gave the order to go on the offensive against the Polish-Ukrainian army of the troops of the Western Front of the Red Army, which was headed by M.N. Tukhachevsky.

On May 23, 1920, the Central Committee of the RCP(b) published its theses "The Polish Front and Our Tasks", in which he called the fight against the White Poles the main task for the near future. And already on May 26, 1920, taking advantage of the transfer of part of the Polish army to the central regions of Belarus, the troops of the Southwestern Front of the Red Army went on the offensive against the troops of Marshal Yu. Pilsudsky, who captured Kyiv on June 12.

Meanwhile, in Southern Novorossia, the offensive of the troops of General P.N. Wrangel to the Donbass and Odessa. All attempts by the 13th Soviet Army under the command of R.P. Eideman to stop the advance of the enemy in these areas were unsuccessful, and by the end of June he captured Kherson, Nikolaev, Odessa and rushed to the Donbass. In early July 1920, a joint offensive began between the troops of the Southwestern and Western fronts of the Red Army against the army of Yu. Pilsudsky, as a result of which the troops of the 1st Cavalry Army S.M. Budyonny was occupied by Rovno, and the 16th Soviet army under the command of V.K. Putny liberated Minsk.

The sharp aggravation of the situation on the Soviet-Polish front alarmed the leaders of the leading European powers. On July 12, 1920, the British Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lord J. Curzon, sent an ultimatum to the government of the RSFSR to immediately stop the offensive of Soviet troops against the sovereign Polish state and start a negotiation process on the demarcation of the state border of the two powers. The Central Committee of the RCP(b) categorically rejected the "Curzon note" and decided to start a revolutionary war in Europe.

In mid-July 1920, the Soviet troops, following the directive of the Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army S.S. Kamenev, continued the offensive in the Warsaw and Lvov directions and soon, having liberated Pinsk, Baranovichi, Grodno and Vilnius, they reached the ethnic borders of Poland. On July 30, 1920, by decision of the Central Committee of the RCP(b), a pro-Soviet Polish government was created in Bialystok - the Provisional Revolutionary Committee, which was headed by a member of the Polish Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) Yu.B. Markhlevsky.

On the same day, the troops of the Western Front of the Red Army launched the Warsaw offensive operation, which ended in disaster for the Soviet troops and the capture of 130,000 Red Army soldiers. In mid-August 1920, the Polish troops, led by the French General M. Weigen, inflicted a strong beat on the left flank of the armies of M.N. Tukhachevsky and surrounded the Soviet troops on the outskirts of Warsaw. During the week of fierce fighting, units and formations of the Western Front of the Red Army suffered huge losses and, having rolled back to their original positions, went over to forced defense along the entire front line from Bialystok to Brest.

Thus, the “miracle on the Vistula” not only saved the reconstituted lordly Poland from new destruction, but also put an end to the utopian plans of the top Soviet leadership to kindle the fire of the proletarian revolution in Europe and destroy the Versailles Treaty.

During the years of "Gorbachev's perestroika" and unbridled anti-Stalinism, the main blame for the catastrophe of the Western Front of the Red Army was assigned to I.V. Stalin, who, being a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southwestern Front, sabotaged in every way the decision of the Plenum of the Central Committee and the order of the commander-in-chief S.S. Kamenev about the transfer of the 1st Cavalry Army S.M. Budyonny at the disposal of M.N. Tukhachevsky. Of course, this circumstance played a certain negative role in the catastrophe of the Western Front, but it was by no means decisive. According to a number of historians (I. Mikhutin, S. Poltorak), the main reasons for the defeat of the Soviet troops in the Warsaw offensive operation consisted in the grossest miscalculations of the operational-tactical situation at the front, which M.N. himself made. Tukhachevsky and his field headquarters:

Firstly, the scale of concentration, the number and combat potential of the enemy troops located in the Warsaw region were incorrectly determined;

Secondly, the direction of the main attack on the enemy troops was incorrectly determined;

Thirdly, during the Warsaw operation, the troops of the first echelon of the Soviet troops significantly broke away not only from their rear units, but also from the front headquarters;

Finally, fourthly, a telegram from Moscow about the transfer of the 1st Cavalry Army to the Western Front arrived with a huge delay, when the troops of S.M. Budyonny had already got involved in bloody battles for Lvov and were in an extremely exhausted state.

In addition, according to the same authors, the Soviet political leadership absolutely misjudged the level of class solidarity of the Polish workers and peasants, who, completely forgetting about their class affiliation, stood up as a united national front to defend their Fatherland from Russian invaders and Bolsheviks.

The defeat of the Soviet troops near Warsaw predetermined the outcome of the entire war with Poland. On October 12, 1920, a preliminary truce was signed and the warring parties began negotiations, which ended on March 18, 1921 with the signing of the Riga Peace Treaty. Under the terms of this agreement: 1) the entire territory of Western Ukraine and Belarus departed to pan Poland; 2) Soviet Russia over the next year was to pay a military indemnity in the amount of 30 million gold rubles.

The end of hostilities in Poland allowed the top leadership of the country to concentrate the main forces against the Russian army of General P.N. Wrangel, whose troops dug in in the Crimea. On September 21, 1920, by decision of the RVSR, to fight the army of P.N. Wrangel, the Southern Front of the Red Army was created, which was headed by M.V. Frunze. The structure of the new front, in addition to the 4th, 6th and 13th Soviet armies, included the troops of the 1st and 2nd Cavalry armies of S.M. Budyonny and F.K. Mironov.

At the end of September, the troops of General P.N. Wrangel resumed their offensive in Northern Tavria and soon captured Alexandrovka and Mariupol. However, all attempts to capture Kakhovka and Yuzovka were unsuccessful. On October 15, 1920, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive along the entire front line, during which they liberated the entire territory of Northern Tavria and threw back the defeated enemy units to the Crimea.

On November 7–20, 1920, during the Chongar-Perekop offensive operation, the troops of the Southern Front of the Red Army and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, father N.I. Makhno broke through the defenses of the White troops on the heavily fortified Perekop Isthmus and completely liberated the Crimea. A significant part of the White Guard troops, led by their commander, General P.N. Wrangel managed to leave the peninsula at the very last moment. However, about 12 thousand soldiers and the Russian army, who did not want to part with their homeland, were shot during a terror unprecedented in its cruelty, led by Joseph Drabkin, Rozalia Zemlyachka and Bela Kun.

The defeat of the Russian army of General P.N. Wrangel in the Crimea marked the end of a large-scale Civil War, although for another two years (1921–1922) Soviet troops had to suppress individual pockets of armed civil confrontation in various parts of the country, in particular in the Transcaucasus (1920–1921), Turkestan (1920– 1921), Transbaikalia (1921), and the Far East (1921–1922).

The top political leadership of the country followed especially closely the development of the situation in Transbaikalia and the Far East. The fact is that back in April 1920, by decision of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), on the Far Eastern borders occupied by the Japanese and Americans, for purely pragmatic reasons, a buffer state was created - the Far Eastern Republic (FER), which included the Trans-Baikal, Amur, Primorsky, Sakhalin and Kamchatka regions of the RSFSR. Throughout 1920, units and formations of the People's Revolutionary Army of the Far East, led by G.Kh. Eikhe fought fierce battles with the White Guard troops of General V.O. Kappel and military ataman G.M. Semenov, who controlled most of the Trans-Baikal Territory. And only at the very end of October, units of the NRA, with the support of Siberian partisans, occupied Chita.

In May 1921, a coup d'etat took place in Vladivostok, as a result of which the government of S.D. came to power in Primorye. Merkulov, and the troops of General R.F. invaded Transbaikalia from the territory of Outer Mongolia. Ungern. In June 1921 - February 1922, units and formations of the NRA, which was already headed by V.K. Blucher, as a result of a series of successful operations, including in the Volochaevka region, defeated all the White Guard troops and established their control over the territory of the Amur Territory (Khabarovsk). Then, in October 1922, part of the NRA, which was now headed by I.P. Uborevich, with the support of the coastal partisans, defeated the Japanese troops and occupied Vladivostok. On November 14, 1922, the People's Assembly of the Far East Republic announced the restoration of Soviet power on its territory and the entry of the Far Eastern Republic into the RSFSR.

3. Results and significance of the Civil War

The three-year Civil War and foreign intervention turned out to be the greatest tragedy for Russia, which had the most severe consequences. According to the majority of Soviet and Russian historians (Yu. Polyakov, Y. Korablev, S. Kara-Murza):

1) The total amount of economic damage from the Civil War amounted to more than 50 billion gold rubles.

2) Industrial production in the country has decreased many times and amounted to only 4–20% of the pre-war level in various sectors of industrial production, and a significant part of the country's scientific and technical potential simply ceased to exist.

3) Agricultural production decreased by almost 40% from the pre-war level, and the result of such a deplorable state of the agrarian sector of the national economy was not slow to affect the massive famine in the Volga region and other regions of the country, which, according to the most conservative estimates, claimed more than 3 million human lives.

4) All commodity-money relations in the country were almost completely destroyed, free trade disappeared in all its regions, and primitive naturalization of the economy reigned everywhere.

5) Irretrievable casualties in the Civil War, according to various estimates, ranged from 8 (Yu. Polyakov) to 13 (I. Ratkovsky, M. Khodyakov) million people, while only 1 million 200 thousand people fell to the share of both regular armies. The total demographic losses, according to scientists (V. Kozhinov), amounted to an astronomical figure of 25 million people.

At the same time, according to a number of Russian historians (I. Ratkovsky, M. Khodyakov), the results of the Civil War were also positive, because:

The bloody and chaotic disintegration of the Russian Empire, which began after the February Revolution of 1917, was stopped;

The union of Soviet states that arose during the Civil War, regardless of the will of its new rulers, restored the thousand-year historical space of Russia;

The victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War dealt a significant blow to the entire colonial system of imperialism and forced the governments of all world bourgeois powers to launch large-scale social reforms in their countries.

Speaking about the results and significance of the Civil War, one should recognize the correctness of those modern authors (V. Buldakov, V. Kabanov, V. Brovkin, V. Kondrashin), who claim that:

Ultimately, the bloody Civil War ended with the victory of the multi-million Russian peasantry, which, having risen to the armed struggle, nevertheless forced the Bolsheviks to retreat from the harsh policy of war communism and go over to the NEP;

During the years of the Civil War, the foundations of that one-party command-administrative system in our country were modeled and laid, which lasted until the collapse of the CPSU and the Soviet state.

Where did the terms "red" and "white" come from? The Civil War also knew the "greens", "cadets", "SRs" and other formations. What is their fundamental difference?

In this article, we will answer not only these questions, but also get acquainted briefly with the history of formation in the country. Let's talk about the confrontation between the White Guard and the Red Army.

Origin of the terms "red" and "white"

Today, the history of the Fatherland is less and less concerned with young people. According to polls, many do not even have an idea, what can we say about the Patriotic War of 1812...

However, such words and phrases as "red" and "white", "Civil War" and "October Revolution" are still well known. Most, however, do not know the details, but they have heard the terms.

Let's take a closer look at this issue. We should start with where the two opposing camps came from - "white" and "red" in the Civil War. In principle, it was just an ideological move by Soviet propagandists and nothing more. Now you will understand this riddle yourself.

If you turn to the textbooks and reference books of the Soviet Union, it explains that the “whites” are the White Guards, supporters of the tsar and enemies of the “reds”, the Bolsheviks.

It seems that everything was like that. But in fact, this is another enemy that the Soviets fought.

After all, the country has lived for seventy years in opposition to fictitious opponents. These were the "whites", the kulaks, the decaying West, the capitalists. Very often, such a vague definition of the enemy served as the foundation for slander and terror.

Next, we will discuss the causes of the Civil War. The "Whites", according to the Bolshevik ideology, were monarchists. But here's the catch, there were practically no monarchists in the war. They had no one to fight for, and honor did not suffer from this. Nicholas II abdicated the throne, but his brother did not accept the crown. Thus, all the royal officers were free from the oath.

Where, then, did this “color” difference come from? If the Bolsheviks did have a red flag, then their opponents never had a white one. The answer lies in the history of a century and a half ago.

The Great French Revolution gave the world two opposing camps. The royal troops wore a white banner, a sign of the dynasty of the French rulers. Their opponents, after the seizure of power, hung a red canvas in the window of the city hall as a sign of the introduction of wartime. On such days, any gathering of people was dispersed by soldiers.

The Bolsheviks were opposed not by monarchists, but by supporters of the convocation of the Constituent Assembly (Constitutional Democrats, Cadets), anarchists (Makhnovists), "Green Army" (fought against the "Reds", "Whites", interventionists) and those who wanted to separate their territory into a free state .

Thus, the term "whites" has been cleverly used by ideologues to define a common enemy. His winning position turned out to be that any Red Army soldier could explain in a nutshell what he was fighting for, unlike all the other rebels. This attracted ordinary people to the side of the Bolsheviks and made it possible for the latter to win the Civil War.

Background of the war

When the Civil War is studied in the classroom, the table is simply necessary for a good assimilation of the material. Below are the stages of this military conflict, which will help you better navigate not only in the article, but also in this period of the history of the Fatherland.

Now that we have decided who the “reds” and “whites” are, the Civil War, or rather its stages, will be more understandable. You can proceed to a deeper study of them. Let's start with the prerequisites.

So, the main reason for such a heat of passion, which subsequently resulted in a five-year Civil War, was the accumulated contradictions and problems.

First, the participation of the Russian Empire in the First World War destroyed the economy and drained resources in the country. The bulk of the male population was in the army; Agriculture and urban industry. The soldiers were tired of fighting for other people's ideals when there were hungry families at home.

The second reason was agrarian and industrial issues. There were too many peasants and workers who lived below the poverty line and destitution. The Bolsheviks took full advantage of this.

In order to turn participation in the world war into an interclass struggle, certain steps were taken.

First, the first wave of nationalization of enterprises, banks, and lands took place. Then the Brest Treaty was signed, which plunged Russia into the abyss of complete ruin. Against the background of the general devastation, the Red Army men staged a terror in order to stay in power.

To justify their behavior, they built an ideology of struggle against the White Guards and interventionists.

background

Let's take a closer look at why the Civil War began. The table we cited earlier illustrates the stages of conflict. But we will start with the events that took place before the Great October Revolution.

Weakened by participation in the First World War, the Russian Empire is in decline. Nicholas II abdicates the throne. More importantly, he does not have a successor. In the light of such events, two new forces are being formed simultaneously - the Provisional Government and the Soviet of Workers' Deputies.

The former begin to deal with the social and political spheres of the crisis, while the Bolsheviks concentrated on increasing their influence in the army. This path led them subsequently to the opportunity to become the only ruling force in the country.
It was the confusion in the administration of the state that led to the formation of "red" and "white". The civil war was only the apotheosis of their differences. Which is to be expected.

October Revolution

In fact, the tragedy of the Civil War begins with the October Revolution. The Bolsheviks were gaining strength and more confidently went to power. In mid-October 1917, a very tense situation began to develop in Petrograd.

October 25 Alexander Kerensky, head of the Provisional Government, leaves Petrograd for Pskov for help. He personally assesses the events in the city as an uprising.

In Pskov, he asks to help him with troops. Kerensky seems to be getting support from the Cossacks, but suddenly the Cadets leave the regular army. Now the Constitutional Democrats refuse to support the head of government.

Not finding proper support in Pskov, Alexander Fedorovich travels to the city of Ostrov, where he meets with General Krasnov. At the same time, the Winter Palace was stormed in Petrograd. In Soviet history, this event is presented as a key one. But in fact, it happened without resistance from the deputies.

After a blank shot from the Aurora cruiser, the sailors, soldiers and workers approached the palace and arrested all the members of the Provisional Government who were present there. In addition, the Second Congress of Soviets took place, where a number of basic declarations were adopted and executions at the front were abolished.

In view of the coup, Krasnov decides to help Alexander Kerensky. On October 26, a cavalry detachment of seven hundred people leaves in the direction of Petrograd. It was assumed that in the city itself they would be supported by the uprising of the Junkers. But it was suppressed by the Bolsheviks.

In the current situation, it became clear that the Provisional Government no longer had power. Kerensky fled, General Krasnov bargained with the Bolsheviks for the opportunity to return to Ostrov with the detachment without hindrance.

Meanwhile, the Socialist-Revolutionaries begin a radical struggle against the Bolsheviks, who, in their opinion, have gained more power. The answer to the murders of some "red" leaders was the terror of the Bolsheviks, and the Civil War began (1917-1922). We now consider further developments.

Establishment of "red" power

As we said above, the tragedy of the Civil War began long before the October Revolution. The common people, soldiers, workers and peasants were dissatisfied with the current situation. If in the central regions many paramilitary detachments were under the tight control of the Headquarters, then completely different moods reigned in the eastern detachments.

It was the presence of a large number of reserve troops and their unwillingness to enter the war with Germany that helped the Bolsheviks quickly and bloodlessly gain the support of almost two-thirds of the army. Only 15 large cities resisted the "red" government, while 84, on their own initiative, passed into their hands.

An unexpected surprise for the Bolsheviks in the form of tremendous support from the confused and tired soldiers was announced by the "Reds" as "the triumphal march of the Soviets."

The civil war (1917-1922) only worsened after the signing of the devastating for Russia Under the terms of the agreement, the former empire was losing more than a million square kilometers of territory. These included: the Baltic States, Belarus, Ukraine, the Caucasus, Romania, the Don territories. In addition, they had to pay Germany six billion marks indemnity.

This decision provoked protest both within the country and from the side of the Entente. Simultaneously with the intensification of various local conflicts, the military intervention of Western states on the territory of Russia begins.

The entry of the Entente troops in Siberia was reinforced by a revolt of the Kuban Cossacks led by General Krasnov. The defeated detachments of the White Guards and some interventionists went to Central Asia and continued the struggle against Soviet power for many more years.

Second period of the Civil War

It was at this stage that the White Guard Heroes of the Civil War were the most active. History has preserved such names as Kolchak, Yudenich, Denikin, Yuzefovich, Miller and others.

Each of these commanders had his own vision of the future for the state. Some tried to interact with the troops of the Entente in order to overthrow the Bolshevik government and still convene the Constituent Assembly. Others wanted to become local princelings. This includes such as Makhno, Grigoriev and others.

The difficulty of this period lies in the fact that as soon as the First World War was completed, the German troops had to leave the territory of Russia only after the arrival of the Entente. But according to a secret agreement, they left earlier, handing over the cities to the Bolsheviks.

As history shows us, it is after such a turn of events that the Civil War enters a phase of particular cruelty and bloodshed. The failure of the commanders, who were guided by Western governments, was aggravated by the fact that they were sorely lacking in qualified officers. So, the armies of Miller, Yudenich and some other formations disintegrated only because, with a lack of middle-level commanders, the main influx of forces came from captured Red Army soldiers.

Newspaper reports of this period are characterized by headlines of this type: "Two thousand servicemen with three guns went over to the side of the Red Army."

The final stage

Historians tend to associate the beginning of the last period of the war of 1917-1922 with the Polish War. With the help of his western neighbors, Piłsudski wanted to create a confederation with territory from the Baltic to the Black Sea. But his aspirations were not destined to come true. The armies of the Civil War, led by Yegorov and Tukhachevsky, fought their way deep into Western Ukraine and reached the Polish border.

The victory over this enemy was to rouse the workers in Europe to the struggle. But all the plans of the Red Army leaders failed after a devastating defeat in the battle, which has been preserved under the name "Miracle on the Vistula."

After the conclusion of a peace treaty between the Soviets and Poland, disagreements begin in the Entente camp. As a result, the financing of the "white" movement decreased, and the Civil War in Russia began to decline.

In the early 1920s, similar changes in foreign policy Western states led to the fact that the Soviet Union was recognized by most countries.

The heroes of the Civil War of the final period fought against Wrangel in Ukraine, the interventionists in the Caucasus and Central Asia, in Siberia. Among the particularly distinguished commanders, Tukhachevsky, Blucher, Frunze and some others should be noted.

Thus, as a result of five years of bloody battles, a new state was formed on the territory of the Russian Empire. Subsequently, it became the second superpower, the only rival of which was the United States.

Reasons for victory

Let's see why the "whites" were defeated in the Civil War. We will compare the assessments of the opposing camps and try to come to a common conclusion.

Soviet historians saw the main reason for their victory in the fact that they received massive support from the oppressed sections of society. Particular emphasis was placed on those who suffered as a result of the 1905 revolution. Because they unconditionally went over to the side of the Bolsheviks.

"Whites", on the contrary, complained about the lack of human and material resources. In the occupied territories with a million people, they could not even carry out a minimal mobilization to replenish the ranks.

Of particular interest are the statistics provided by the Civil War. The "Reds", "Whites" (table below) suffered particularly from desertion. Unbearable living conditions, as well as the lack of clear goals, made themselves felt. The data relates only to the Bolshevik forces, since the White Guard records did not save intelligible figures.

The main point noted by modern historians was the conflict.

The White Guards, firstly, did not have a centralized command and minimal cooperation between units. They fought locally, each for their own interests. The second feature was the absence of political workers and a clear program. These moments were often assigned to officers who only knew how to fight, but not to conduct diplomatic negotiations.

The Red Army soldiers created a powerful ideological network. A clear system of concepts was developed, which were hammered into the heads of workers and soldiers. The slogans made it possible for even the most downtrodden peasant to understand what he was going to fight for.

It was this policy that allowed the Bolsheviks to get the maximum support of the population.

Effects

The victory of the "Reds" in the Civil War was given to the state very dearly. The economy was completely destroyed. The country has lost territories with a population of more than 135 million people.

Agriculture and productivity, food production have decreased by 40-50 percent. Prodrazverstka and "red-white" terror in different regions led to the death of a huge number of people from starvation, torture and execution.

Industry, according to experts, has sunk to the level of the Russian Empire during the reign of Peter the Great. According to the researchers, production figures have fallen to 20 percent of the volume in 1913, and in some areas up to 4 percent.

As a result, a mass exodus of workers from cities to villages began. Since there was at least some hope not to die of hunger.

The "whites" in the Civil War reflected the desire of the nobility and higher ranks to return to their former living conditions. But their isolation from the real moods that prevailed among the common people led to the total defeat of the old order.

Reflection in culture

The leaders of the Civil War have been immortalized in thousands of different works - from cinema to paintings, from stories to sculptures and songs.

For example, such productions as "Days of the Turbins", "Running", "Optimistic Tragedy" immersed people in the tense atmosphere of wartime.

The films "Chapaev", "Red Devils", "We are from Kronstadt" showed the efforts that the "Reds" made in the Civil War to win their ideals.

The literary work of Babel, Bulgakov, Gaidar, Pasternak, Ostrovsky illustrates the life of representatives of different strata of society in those difficult days.

You can give examples almost endlessly, because the social catastrophe that resulted in the Civil War found a powerful response in the hearts of hundreds of artists.

Thus, today we have learned not only the origin of the concepts of "white" and "red", but also briefly got acquainted with the course of events of the Civil War.

Remember that any crisis contains the seed of future changes for the better.

The Great Russian Revolution of 1917 was the impetus for the deployment of armed struggle between different groups population. The revolution deprived some of them of everything, while for others it seemed to give everything, but did not say how it could be obtained. There were more dissatisfied people than one could imagine. The military-political structures formed during the days of the revolution, and state formations on the territory of the former Russian Empire, were divided into two groups, which were assigned the names "white" and "red". The spontaneously arising military and socio-political groups, which were called the "third force" (insurgent, partisan detachments, and others), did not stand aside. Foreign states, or interventionists, did not stand aside from the civil confrontation in Russia either.

Stages and chronology of the Civil War

Until now, historians have no consensus on how to determine the chronology of the Civil War. There are experts who believe that the war began with the February bourgeois revolution, while others defend May 1918. There is also no final opinion on when the war ended.

The next stage can be called the period until April 1919, when the intervention of the Entente is expanding. The Entente has set itself the main task of supporting the anti-Bolshevik forces, strengthening its interests and resolving the issue, which is still long years bothered her: it was the fear of socialist influence.

The next stage is the most active on all fronts. Soviet Russia simultaneously waged a struggle against the interventionists and against the White armies.

Causes of the Civil War

Naturally, the beginning of the Civil War cannot be reduced to one reason. The contradictions that had accumulated in society by this time went off scale. The First World War aggravated them to the extreme, the values ​​of human life were devalued.

Of no small importance in the aggravation of the situation were changes in the state political system, especially the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks, the creation of which many counted on. The actions of the Bolsheviks in the countryside gave rise to great unrest. The Decree on Land was announced, but new decrees reduced it to zero. The nationalization and confiscation of land plots from the landlords gave rise to a harsh rebuff from the owners. The bourgeoisie was also extremely dissatisfied with the nationalization that had taken place and sought to return factories and factories.

The actual withdrawal from the war, the Treaty of Brest - all this played against the Bolsheviks, which made it possible to accuse them of "the destruction of Russia."

The right of peoples to self-determination, which was proclaimed by the Bolsheviks, contributed to the emergence of independent states. This also caused irritation as a betrayal of Russia's interests.

Not everyone agreed with the policy of the new government, which broke with its past and ancient traditions. The anti-church policy was especially rejected.

There were many forms of the Civil War. Uprisings, armed clashes, large-scale operations involving regular armies. Partisan actions, terror, sabotage. The war was bloody and extremely long.

Major events of the Civil War

We offer you the following chronicle of the events of the Civil War:

1917

1918

1919

1920

1921

1922

Results of the Civil War

The civil war ended, its main result was the establishment of Soviet power.

During the war years, the Red Army was able to turn into a well-organized and well-armed force. She learned a lot from her opponents, but her talented and original commanders also appeared a lot.

The Bolsheviks actively used the political mood of the masses, their propaganda set clear goals, promptly resolved issues of peace and land, etc. The government of the young republic was able to organize control over the central provinces of Russia, where the main military enterprises were located. The anti-Bolshevik forces were never able to unite until the end of the war.

The war ended, and Bolshevik power was established throughout the country, as well as in most national regions. According to various estimates, more than 15 million people died or died due to disease and starvation. More than 2.5 million people have gone abroad. The country was in a state of severe economic crisis. whole social groups were on the verge of annihilation, primarily the officers, the intelligentsia, the Cossacks, the clergy and the nobility.

Civil War - armed confrontation between different groups of the population, as well as the war of different national, social and political forces for the right to dominate the country.

The main causes of the Civil War in Russia

1. A nationwide crisis in the state, which sowed irreconcilable contradictions between the main social strata of society;
2. Getting rid of the Provisional Government, as well as the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks;
3. A special character in the anti-religious and socio-economic policy of the Bolsheviks, which consisted in inciting hostility between population groups;
4. An attempt by the bourgeoisie and the nobility to recapture their lost position;
5. Refusal to cooperate with the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and anarchists with the Soviet government;
6. Signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in 1918;
7. Loss of the value of human life during the war.

Key dates and events of the Civil War

First stage lasted from October 1917 to the spring of 1918. During this period, armed clashes had a local character. The Central Rada of Ukraine opposed the new government. Turkey launched an attack on Transcaucasia in February and was able to capture part of it. The Volunteer Army was created on the Don. During this period, the victory of the armed uprising in Petrograd, as well as the liberation from the Provisional Government, took place.

Second phase lasted from the spring to the winter of 1918. Anti-Bolshevik centers were formed.

Important dates:

March, April - the capture by Germany of Ukraine, the Baltic states and the Crimea. At this time, the Entente countries are thinking of setting foot with an army on the territory of Russia. England sends troops to Murmansk, and Japan - in Vladivostok.

May June - the battle takes on nationwide proportions. In Kazan, the Czechoslovaks took possession of the gold reserves of Russia (about 30,000 pounds of gold and silver, at that time their value was 650 million rubles). A number of Social Revolutionary governments were created: the Provisional Siberian Government in Tomsk, the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly in Samara, and the Ural Regional Government in Yekaterinburg.

August - the creation of an army of about 30,000 people due to the uprising of workers at the Izhevsk and Botkin factories. Then they were forced to retreat with their relatives to Kolchak's army.

September - was created in Ufa "all-Russian government" - the Ufa directory.

November - Admiral A. V. Kolchak dissolved the Ufa directory and presented himself as the "supreme ruler of Russia."

Third stage lasted from January to December 1919. There were large-scale operations on different fronts. By the beginning of 1919, 3 main centers of the White movement were formed in the state:

1. Army of Admiral A. V. Kolchak (Urals, Siberia);
2. Troops of the South of Russia, General A. I. Denikin (Don region, North Caucasus);
3. Armed Forces of General N. N. Yudenich (Baltic).

Important dates:

March, April - Kolchak's army attacked Kazan and Moscow, attracting many resources by the Bolsheviks.

April-December - The Red Army makes counteroffensives at the head (S. S. Kamenev, M. V. Frunze, M. N. Tukhachevsky). The armed forces of Kolchak are forced to retreat beyond the Urals, and then they are completely destroyed by the end of 1919.

May June - General N. N. Yudenich makes the first attack on Petrograd. Barely fought back. General offensive of Denikin's army. Part of Ukraine, Donbass, Tsaritsyn and Belgorod were captured.

September October - Denikin makes an attack on Moscow and advances to Orel. The second offensive of the armed forces of General Yudenich on Petrograd. The Red Army (A.I. Egorov, SM. Budyonny) is making a counteroffensive against Denikin's army, and A.I. Kork against Yudenich's forces.

November - Yudenich's detachment was driven back to Estonia.

Results: towards the end of 1919 there was a clear preponderance of forces in favor of the Bolsheviks.

Fourth stage lasted from January to November 1920. During this period, the White movement was completely defeated in the European part of Russia.

Important dates:

April-October - Soviet-Polish war. Polish troops invaded Ukraine and captured Kyiv in May. The Red Army makes a counteroffensive.

October - Treaty of Riga signed with Poland. Under the terms of the treaty, Poland took Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. However, Soviet Russia was able to release troops for an attack in the Crimea.

November - the war of the Red Army (M. V. Frunze) in the Crimea with the army of Wrangel. The end of the Civil War in the European part of Russia.

Fifth stage lasted from 1920 to 1922. During this period, the White movement in the Far East was completely destroyed. In October 1922, Vladivostok was liberated from Japanese forces.

Reasons for the victory of the Reds in the Civil War:

1. Broad support from various populace.
2. Weakened by the First World War, the Entente states were unable to coordinate their actions and make a successful offensive on the territory of the former Russian Empire.
3. It was possible to win over the peasantry by the obligation to return the seized lands to the landlords.
4. Weighted ideological support for military companies.
5. The Reds were able to mobilize all resources through the policy of "war communism", the Whites were unable to do this.
6. More military specialists who have strengthened and made the army stronger.

The results of the civil war

• The country was actually destroyed, a deep economic crisis, the loss of efficiency of many industrial production, the fall of agricultural work.
• Estonia, Poland, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Western, Bessarabia, Ukraine and small part Armenia was no longer part of Russia.
• Loss of population of about 25 million people (famine, war, epidemics).
• The absolute formation of the dictatorship of the Bolsheviks, strict methods governance of the country.

The chronological framework of this historical event is still controversial. The battles in Petrograd, which became the beginning, that is, October 1917, are officially considered the beginning of the war. There are also versions relating the beginning of the war to. or by May 1918. There is also no unanimous opinion about the end of the war: some scientists (and most of them) consider the capture of Vladivostok, that is, October 1922, to be the end of the war, but there are those who claim that the war ended in November 1920 or in 1923

Causes of the war

The most obvious reasons for the outbreak of hostilities are the most acute political, social and national-ethnic contradictions, which not only persisted, but also aggravated after February Revolution. The most pressing of them is considered to be the protracted participation of Russia in and the unresolved agrarian question.

Many researchers see a direct connection between the coming to power of the Bolsheviks and the beginning of the Civil War, and believe that this was one of their main tasks. The nationalization of production facilities, the ruinous Brest Peace for Russia, the aggravation of relations with the peasantry due to the activities of the committees and food detachments, as well as the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly - all these actions of the Soviet government, coupled with its desire to retain power and establish its own dictatorship at any cost, could not but cause discontent population.

The course of the war

It took place in 3 stages, differing in the composition of the participants in the hostilities and the intensity of the fighting. October 1917 - November 1918 - the formation of the armed forces of opponents and the formation of the main fronts. actively began the fight against the Bolshevik regime, but the intervention of third forces, primarily the Entente and the Quadruple Alliance, did not allow either side to gain advantages that would decide the outcome of the war.

November 1918 - March 1920 - the stage in which the radical turning point of the war came. The fighting of the interventionists was reduced, and their troops were withdrawn from the territory of Russia. At the very beginning of the stage, success was on the side of the White movement, but then the Red Army gained control over most of the territory of the state.

March 1920 - October 1922 - The final stage, during which the fighting moved to the border regions of the state and, in fact, did not pose a threat to the Bolshevik government. After October 1922, only the Siberian Volunteer Squad in Yakutia, commanded by A.N. Petlyaev, as well as a Cossack detachment under the command of Bologov near Nikolsk-Ussuriysk.

The results of the war

The power of the Bolsheviks was established throughout Russia, as well as in most of the national regions. Over 15 million people were killed or died due to disease and starvation. Over 2.5 million people have emigrated from the country. The state and society were in a state of economic decline, entire social groups were actually destroyed (first of all, this concerned the officers, the intelligentsia, the Cossacks, the clergy and the nobility).

Reasons for the defeat of the White Army

Today, many historians openly admit that during the war years several times more soldiers deserted from the Red Army than served in the White Army. At the same time, the leaders of the White movement (for example,) in their memoirs emphasized that the population of the territories they occupied not only supported the troops, supplying them with food, but also replenished the ranks of the White Army.

Nevertheless, the propaganda work of the Bolsheviks was of a massive and more aggressive nature, which made it possible to attract wider sections of the population to their side. In addition, almost all production facilities, huge human resources (after all, they controlled most of the territory), as well as material resources, were under their control, while the regions that provided support White movement, were exhausted, and their population (primarily workers and peasants) waited without showing obvious support for either side.