Civil War- one of the bloodiest pages in the history of our country of the twentieth century. The front line in this war did not pass through fields and forests, but in the souls and minds of people, forcing a brother to shoot at his brother, and a son to raise a saber against his father.

Beginning of the Russian Civil War 1917-1922

In October 1917, the Bolsheviks came to power in Petrograd. Establishment period Soviet power was distinguished by the swiftness and speed with which the Bolsheviks established control over military depots, infrastructure and created new armed detachments.

The Bolsheviks had extensive social support thanks to the decrees on peace and land. This massive support compensated for the poor organization and combat training of the Bolshevik detachments.

At the same time, mainly among the educated part of the population, the basis of which was the nobility and the middle class, there was an understanding that the Bolsheviks came to power illegitimately, and, therefore, they should be fought. The political struggle was lost, only the armed one remained.

Causes of the Civil War

Any step taken by the Bolsheviks gave them both a new army of supporters and opponents. Therefore, the citizens of the Russian Republic had reason to organize armed resistance to the Bolsheviks.

The Bolsheviks demolished the front, seized power, launched terror. This could not help but force those whom they used to take up the rifle as a bargaining chip in the future construction of socialism.

The nationalization of the land caused discontent among those who owned it. This immediately turned the bourgeoisie and landlords against the Bolsheviks.

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The "dictatorship of the proletariat" promised by V. I. Lenin turned out to be the dictatorship of the Central Committee. The publication of the decree "On the arrest of the leaders of the Civil War" in November 1917 and on the "Red Terror" allowed the Bolsheviks to calmly exterminate their opposition. This caused retaliatory aggression on the part of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and anarchists.

Rice. 1. Lenin in October.

The methodology of the government did not correspond to the slogans that the Bolshevik Party put forward during its coming to power, which forced the kulaks, the Cossacks and the bourgeoisie to turn away from them.

And, finally, seeing how the empire was collapsing, the neighboring states actively tried to get personal benefit from the political processes taking place on the territory of Russia.

Date of the beginning of the Civil War in Russia

There is no consensus on the exact date. Some historians believe that the conflict began immediately after the October Revolution, others call the beginning of the war in the spring of 1918, when foreign intervention took place and opposition to Soviet power was formed.
There is also no single point of view on the question of who is to blame at the beginning of the Civil War: the Bolsheviks or those who began to resist them.

First stage of the war

After the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks, among the dispersed representatives there were those who did not agree with this and were ready to fight. They fled from Petrograd to territories not controlled by the Bolsheviks - to Samara. There they formed the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch) and declared themselves the only legitimate authority and made it their task to overthrow the power of the Bolsheviks. The Komuch of the first convocation included five Social Revolutionaries.

Rice. 2. Members of the Komuch of the first convocation.

Forces opposing Soviet power were also formed in many regions of the former empire. Let's show them in the table:

In the spring of 1918, Germany occupied Ukraine, Crimea and part of North Caucasus; Romania - Bessarabia; England, France and the United States landed in Murmansk, while Japan deployed its troops on Far East. In May 1918, the uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps also took place. Thus, Soviet power was overthrown in Siberia, and in the south, the Volunteer Army, having laid the foundation of the White Army "Armed Forces of the South of Russia", set off on the famous Ice Campaign, freeing the Don steppes from the Bolsheviks. Thus ended the first phase of the Civil War.

Rice. 3. Portrait of L. G. Kornilov.

What have we learned?

The beginning of the Civil War was marked by the establishment of Soviet power, followed by the formation of pockets of resistance in all the outskirts of the former Russian Empire and foreign intervention.

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Civil War

Civil war poster.

Artist D. Moor, 1920

Civil War is an armed struggle of various social, political and national forces for power within the country.

When the event took place: October 1917-1922

Causes

Irreconcilable contradictions between the main social strata of society

Features of the Bolshevik policy, which was aimed at inciting hostility in society

The desire of the bourgeoisie and the nobility to return to their former position in society

Features of the civil war in Russia

Accompanied by the intervention of foreign powers ( Intervention- violent intervention of one or several states in the internal affairs of other countries and peoples, may be military (aggression), economic, diplomatic, ideological).

Conducted with extreme cruelty ("red" and "white" terror)

Members

The Reds are a supporter of Soviet power.

Whites - opponents of Soviet power

Greens are against everyone

National movements

Milestones and events

First stage: October 1917-spring 1918

The military actions of the opponents of the new government were of a local nature, they created armed formations ( Volunteer army- creator and leader Alekseev V.A.). Krasnov P.- near Petrograd, Dutov A.- in the Urals, Kaledin A.- on the Don.

Second stage: spring - December 1918

March, April. Germany occupies Ukraine, the Baltic States, Crimea. England - landing in Murmansk, Japan - in Vladivostok

May. rebellion Czechoslovak Corps(these are captive Czechs and Slovaks who have crossed over to the side of the Entente and are moving on trains to Vladivostok for transfer to France). Cause of rebellion: the Bolsheviks tried to disarm the corps under the terms of the Brest Peace. Outcome: the fall of Soviet power throughout the entire Trans-Siberian Railway.

June. Creation of SR governments: Committee of members of the Constituent meetings in Samara Komuch, chairman of the Social Revolutionary Volsky V.K.), provisional government Siberia in Tomsk (chairman Vologodsky P.V.), Ural regional government in Yekaterinburg.

July. Revolts of the Left SRs in Moscow, Yaroslavl and other cities. Suppressed.

September. Created in Ufa Ufa directory- "All-Russian government" chairman of the Social Revolutionary Avksentiev N.D.

November. Dispersed the Ufa directory Admiral Kolchak A.V.., who declared himself "supreme ruler of Russia". The initiative in the counter-revolution passed from the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks to the military and anarchists.

Actively acted green movement - not with reds and not with whites. Green color- a symbol of will and freedom. They operated in the Black Sea region, in the Crimea, in the North Caucasus and southern Ukraine. Leaders: Makhno N.I., Antonov A.S. (Tambov province), Mironov F.K.

In Ukraine - detachments father Makhno (created a republic walk-field). During the German occupation of Ukraine, they headed partisan movement. They fought under a black flag with the inscription "Freedom or death!". Then they began to fight against the Reds until October 1921, before Makhno was wounded (he emigrated).

Third stage: January-December 1919

The climax of the war. Relative equality of forces. Large-scale operations on all fronts. But foreign intervention intensified.

4 centers of white movement

Admiral's Troops Kolchak A.V..(Ural, Siberia)

Armed Forces of the South of Russia General Denikina A.I.(Don region, North Caucasus)

Armed Forces of the North of Russia General Miller E.K.(region of Arkhangelsk)

General's Troops Yudenich N.N. in the Baltics

March, April. Kolchak's attack on Kazan and Moscow, the Bolsheviks mobilize all possible resources.

End of April - December. Counteroffensive of the Red Army ( Kamenev S.S., Frunze M.V., Tukhachevsky M.N..). By the end of 1919 - complete defeat of Kolchak.

May June. The Bolsheviks barely repelled the offensive Yudenich to Petrograd. Troops Denikin captured Donbass, part of Ukraine, Belgorod, Tsaritsyn.

September October. Denikin advances to Moscow, reached Orel (against him - Egorov A.I., Budyonny S.M..).Yudenich the second time trying to capture Petrograd (against him - Kork A.I.)

November. Troops Yudenich thrown back to Estonia.

Outcome: by the end of 1919 - the preponderance of forces on the side of the Bolsheviks.

Fourth stage: January - November 1920

February March. The defeat of Miller in the north of Russia, the liberation of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk.

March-April. Denikin driven out to the Crimea and the North Caucasus, Denikin himself handed over command to the baron Wrangel P.N.. and emigrated.

April. Education DVR - Far Eastern Republic.

April-October. War with Poland . The Poles invaded Ukraine and captured Kyiv in May. Counteroffensive of the Red Army.

August. Tukhachevsky reaches Warsaw. Assistance to Poland from France. The Red Army has been pushed into the Ukraine.

September. Offensive Wrangel to southern Ukraine.

October. Treaty of Riga with Poland . Poland was given Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.

November. Offensive Frunze M.V.. in the Crimea. Defeat Wrangel.

In the European part of Russia, the civil war is over.

Fifth stage: late 1920-1922

December 1920. The Whites captured Khabarovsk.

February 1922.Khabarovsk is liberated.

October 1922.Liberation from the Japanese of Vladivostok.

Leaders of the white movement

Kolchak A.V.

Denikin A.I.

Yudenich N.N.

Wrangel P.N.

Alekseev V.A.

Wrangel

Dutov A.

Kaledin A.

Krasnov P.

Miller E.K.

Leaders of the red movement

Kamenev S.S.

Frunze M.V.

Shorin V.I.

Budyonny S.M.

Tukhachevsky M.N.

Kork A.I.

Egorov A.I.

Chapaev V.I.- leader of one of the Red Army detachments.

Anarchists

Makhno N.I.

Antonov A.S.

Mironov F.K.

The most important events of the civil war

May-November 1918 . - the struggle of Soviet power with the so-called "democratic counter-revolution"(former members of the Constituent Assembly, representatives of the Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries, etc.); start of military intervention Entente;

November 1918 - March 1919 g. - the main battles on southern front countries (Red Army - army Denikin); the strengthening and failure of the Entente's direct intervention;

March 1919 – March 1920 - major military operations Eastern Front (Red Army - army Kolchak);

April-November 1920 – Soviet-Polish war; rout of troops Wrangel in Crimea;

1921–1922 . - the end of the Civil War on the outskirts of Russia.

National movements.

One of important features civil war - national movements: the struggle for the acquisition of independent statehood and separation from Russia.

This was especially evident in Ukraine.

in Kyiv after February Revolution, in March 1917, the Central Rada was created.

In January 1918. she entered into an agreement with the Austro-German command and declared independence.

With the support of the Germans, power passed to Hetman P.P. Skoropadsky(April-December 1918).

In November 1918, a Directory, at the head - S.V. Petliura.

In January 1919, the Directory declared war Soviet Russia.

S.V. Petliura had to confront both the Red Army and Denikin's army, which fought for a united and indivisible Russia. In October 1919, the "White" army defeated the Petliurists.

Reasons for the Reds' victory

The Reds were on the side of the peasants, as it was promised to implement the Decree on Land after the war. According to the agrarian program of the whites, the land remained in the hands of the landowners.

Single leader - Lenin, unified combat plans. Whites didn't have it.

attractive to the people national policy red-the right of nations to self-determination. Whites - the slogan "one and indivisible Russia"

The Whites relied on the help of the Entente - the interventionists, therefore they looked like an anti-national force.

The policy of "war communism" helped to mobilize all the forces of the Reds.

Consequences of the civil war

Economic crisis, devastation, fall industrial production 7 times, agricultural - 2 times

demographic loss. About 10 million people died from hostilities, famine, epidemics

The establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the harsh methods of government used during the war years, began to be regarded as quite acceptable in peacetime.

Material prepared: Melnikova Vera Aleksandrovna

Good new day, dear site users!

The Civil War is certainly one of the most difficult events of the Soviet period. No wonder the days of this war in his diary entries, Ivan Bunin calls "cursed". Internal conflicts, the decline of the economy, the arbitrariness of the ruling party - all this greatly weakened the country and provoked strong foreign powers to take advantage of this situation in their interests.

Now let's take a closer look at this time.

Beginning of the Civil War

There is no consensus among historians on this issue. Some believe that the conflict began immediately after the revolution, that is, in October 1917. Others argue that the origin of the war should be attributed to the spring of 1918, when the intervention began and a strong opposition to the Soviet regime formed. There is also no consensus on who is the initiator of this fratricidal war: the leaders of the Bolshevik Party or the former upper classes of society who lost their influence and property as a result of the revolution.

Causes of the Civil War

• The nationalization of land and industry aroused the discontent of those from whom this property was taken away, and turned the landlords and the bourgeoisie against Soviet power.
• The methods of the government to transform society did not correspond to the goals set when the Bolsheviks came to power, which alienated the Cossacks, kulaks, middle peasants and the democratic bourgeoisie
• The promised "dictatorship of the proletariat" actually turned out to be the dictatorship of only one state body - the Central Committee. The Decrees "On the Arrest of the Leaders of the Civil War" (November 1917) and on the "Red Terror" issued by him legally gave the Bolsheviks a free hand for the physical extermination of the opposition. This was the reason for the entry of the Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries and anarchists into the Civil War.
• Also, the Civil War was accompanied by active foreign intervention. Neighboring states financially and politically helped to crack down on the Bolsheviks in order to return the confiscated property of foreigners and prevent the revolution from spreading widely. But at the same time, they, seeing that the country was "bursting at the seams", wanted to grab a "tidbit" for themselves.

1st stage of the Civil War

In 1918, anti-Soviet pockets were formed.

In the spring of 1918 foreign intervention began.

In May 1918, an uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps took place. The military overthrew Soviet power in the Volga region and Siberia. Then, in Samara, Ufa and Omsk, the power of the Cadets, Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks was briefly established, whose goal was to return to the Constituent Assembly.

In the summer of 1918 in Central Russia a large-scale movement against the Bolsheviks, led by the Social Revolutionaries, unfolded. But it ended up only in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Soviet government in Moscow and activate the protection of Bolshevik power by strengthening the power of the Red Army.

The Red Army began its offensive in September 1918. In three months, she restored the power of the Soviets in the Volga and Ural regions.

Culmination of the Civil War

The end of 1918 - the beginning of 1919 - the period in which the White movement reached its peak.

Admiral A.V. Kolchak, seeking to unite with the army of General Miller for the subsequent joint offensive against Moscow, began military operations in the Urals. But the Red Army stopped their advance.

In 1919, the White Guards planned a joint strike from different directions: south (Denikin), east (Kolchak) and west (Yudenich). But he was not destined to come true.

In March 1919, Kolchak was stopped and moved to Siberia, where, in turn, the partisans and peasants supported the Bolsheviks to restore their power.

Both attempts at Yudenich's Petrograd Offensive ended in failure.

In July 1919, Denikin, having captured Ukraine, moved to Moscow, occupying Kursk, Orel and Voronezh along the way. But soon the Southern Front of the Red Army was created against such a strong enemy, which, with the support of N.I. Makhno defeated Denikin's army.

In 1919, the interventionists liberated the territories of Russia they had occupied.

End of the Civil War

In 1920, the Bolsheviks faced two main tasks: the defeat of Wrangel in the south and the resolution of the issue of establishing borders with Poland.

The Bolsheviks recognized the independence of Poland, but the Polish government made too great territorial demands. The dispute could not be resolved through diplomacy, and Poland seized Belarus and Ukraine in May. For resistance, the Red Army was sent there under the command of Tukhachevsky. The confrontation was defeated, and the Soviet-Polish war ended with the Peace of Riga in March 1921, signed on more favorable terms for the enemy: Western Belarus and Western Ukraine were ceded to Poland.

To destroy the army of Wrangel, the Southern Front was created under the leadership of M.V. Frunze. At the end of October 1920, Wrangel was defeated in Northern Tavria and was driven back to the Crimea. After the Red Army captured Perekop and captured the Crimea. In November 1920, the Civil War actually ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks.

Reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks

• The anti-Soviet forces sought to return to the previous order, to cancel the Decree on Land, which turned against them most of the population - the peasants.
• There was no unity among the opponents of Soviet power. They all acted in isolation, which made them more vulnerable to the well-organized Red Army.
• The Bolsheviks united all the forces of the country to create a single military camp and a powerful Red Army
• The Bolsheviks had a single program understandable to the common people under the slogan of restoring justice and social equality.
• The Bolsheviks had the support of the largest segment of the population - the peasantry.

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© Anastasia Prikhodchenko 2015

After October revolution a struggle for power began in the country, and against the background of this struggle, Civil War. Thus, October 25, 1917 can be considered the date of the beginning of the civil war, which lasted until October 1922. differ significantly from each other.

Civil War- the first stage (Stages of the civil war ) .

The first stage of the civil war began with the armed seizure of power by the Bolsheviks on October 25, 1917 and continued until March 1918. This period can be safely called moderate, since no active hostilities were observed at this stage. The reasons for this lie in the fact that the "white" movement at this stage was only being formed, and the political opponents of the Bolsheviks, the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, preferred to seize power by political means. After the Bolsheviks announced the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries realized that they would not be able to seize power peacefully, and began to prepare for an armed takeover.

Civil War- the second stage (Stages of the civil war ) .

The second stage of the war is characterized by active hostilities, both on the part of the Mensheviks and on the part of the "whites". Until the end of the autumn of 1918, a rumble of distrust of the new government swept through the country, the reason for which was given by the Bolsheviks themselves. At this time, a food dictatorship was declared and the class struggle began in the villages. Wealthy peasants, as well as the middle stratum, actively opposed the Bolsheviks.

From December 1918 to June 1919, bloody battles took place in the country between the red and white armies. From July 1919 until September 1920, white army is defeated in the war with the Reds. At the same time, the Soviet government at the 8th Congress of Soviets declares the urgent need to focus on the needs of the middle class of peasants. This forced many wealthy peasants to reconsider their positions and once again support the Bolsheviks. However, after the introduction of the policy of war communism, the attitude of wealthy peasants towards the Bolsheviks again noticeably deteriorated. This led to mass peasant uprisings that took place in the country until the end of 1922. The policy of war communism introduced by the Bolsheviks once again strengthened the positions of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries in the country. As a result, the Soviet government was forced to significantly soften its policy.

The civil war ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks, who were able to assert their power, even though the country was subjected to foreign intervention Western countries. Russia's foreign intervention began as early as December 1917, when Romania, taking advantage of Russia's weakness, occupied the region of Bessarabia.

Russian foreign intervention actively continued after the end of the First World War. The Entente countries, under the pretext of fulfilling allied obligations to Russia, occupied the Far East, part of the Caucasus, the territory of Ukraine and Belarus. Wherein foreign armies behaved like real invaders. However, after the first major victories of the Red Army, the majority of the invaders left the country. Already in 1920, Russia's foreign intervention by England and America was completed. Behind them, the troops of other countries also left the country. Only the Japanese army continued its presence in the Far East until October 1922.

Chronology

• 1918 I stage of the civil war - "democratic"
• 1918 June Nationalization Decree
• January 1919 Introduction of the surplus appraisal
• 1919 Fight against A.V. Kolchak, A.I. Denikin, Yudenich
• 1920 Soviet-Polish war
• 1920 Fight against P.N. Wrangel
• 1920 November End of the civil war in European territory
• 1922 October End of the civil war in the Far East

Civil war and military intervention

Civil War- “the armed struggle between different groups of the population, which was based on deep social, national and political contradictions, took place with the active intervention of foreign forces at various stages and stages ...” (Academician Yu.A. Polyakov).

In modern historical science There is no single definition of "civil war". In the encyclopedic dictionary we read: “Civil war is an organized armed struggle for power between classes, social groups the most acute form of the class struggle. This definition actually repeats Lenin's well-known saying that civil war is the most acute form of class struggle.

Currently, various definitions are given, but their essence basically boils down to the definition of the Civil War as a large-scale armed confrontation, in which, of course, the issue of power was decided. The seizure of state power by the Bolsheviks in Russia and the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly that followed soon after can be considered the beginning of an armed confrontation in Russia. The first shots are heard in the South of Russia, in the Cossack regions, already in the autumn of 1917.

General Alekseev, last chief of staff tsarist army, begins to form a Volunteer Army on the Don, but by the beginning of 1918 it is no more than 3,000 officers and cadets.

As A.I. Denikin in "Essays on Russian Troubles", "the white movement grew spontaneously and inevitably."

During the first months of the victory of Soviet power, armed clashes were local in nature, all opponents of the new government gradually determined their strategy and tactics.

This confrontation took on a truly front-line, large-scale character in the spring of 1918. Let us single out three main stages in the development of armed confrontation in Russia, proceeding primarily from taking into account the alignment of political forces and the specifics of the formation of fronts.

The first stage begins in the spring of 1918 when the military-political confrontation acquires a global character, large-scale military operations begin. The defining feature of this stage is its so-called "democratic" character, when representatives of the socialist parties came forward as an independent anti-Bolshevik camp with slogans for the return of political power to the Constituent Assembly and the restoration of the gains of the February Revolution. It is this camp that chronologically outstrips the White Guard camp in its organizational design.

At the end of 1918, the second stage begins- confrontation between whites and reds. Until the beginning of 1920, one of the main political opponents of the Bolsheviks was the white movement with the slogans of "non-decision of the state system" and the elimination of Soviet power. This direction endangered not only the October, but also the February conquests. Their main political force was the Cadet Party, and the base for the formation of the army was the generals and officers of the former tsarist army. The Whites were united by their hatred of the Soviet regime and the Bolsheviks, the desire to preserve a united and indivisible Russia.

The final stage of the Civil War begins in 1920. the events of the Soviet-Polish war and the fight against P. N. Wrangel. The defeat of Wrangel at the end of 1920 marked the end of the Civil War, but anti-Soviet armed uprisings continued in many regions of Soviet Russia even during the years of the new economic policy.

nationwide scope armed struggle has acquired since the spring of 1918 and turned into the greatest disaster, the tragedy of the entire Russian people. In this war there were no right and wrong, winners and losers. 1918 - 1920 - in these years the military question was of decisive importance for the fate of the Soviet power and the bloc of anti-Bolshevik forces opposing it. This period ended with the liquidation in November 1920 of the last white front in the European part of Russia (in the Crimea). On the whole, the country emerged from the state of civil war in the autumn of 1922 after the remnants of white formations and foreign (Japanese) military units were expelled from the territory of the Russian Far East.

A feature of the civil war in Russia was its close interweaving with anti-Soviet military intervention powers of the Entente. It acted as the main factor in prolonging and exacerbating the bloody "Russian turmoil".

So, in the periodization of the civil war and intervention, three stages are quite clearly distinguished. The first of them covers the time from spring to autumn 1918; the second - from the autumn of 1918 to the end of 1919; and the third - from the spring of 1920 to the end of 1920.

The first stage of the civil war (spring - autumn 1918)

In the first months of the establishment of Soviet power in Russia, armed clashes were local in nature, all opponents of the new government gradually determined their strategy and tactics. Armed struggle acquired a nationwide scale in the spring of 1918. Back in January 1918, Romania, taking advantage of the weakness of the Soviet government, captured Bessarabia. In March-April 1918, the first contingents of troops from England, France, the USA and Japan appeared on Russian territory (in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, in Vladivostok, in Central Asia). They were small and could not significantly affect the military and political situation in the country. "War Communism"

At the same time, the enemy of the Entente - Germany - occupied the Baltic states, part of Belarus, Transcaucasia and the North Caucasus. The Germans actually dominated Ukraine: they overthrew the bourgeois-democratic Verkhovna Rada, which they used during the occupation of Ukrainian lands, and in April 1918 put Hetman P.P. Skoropadsky.

Under these conditions, the Supreme Council of the Entente decided to use the 45,000th Czechoslovak Corps, who was (in agreement with Moscow) subordinate to him. It consisted of captured Slavic soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army and followed railway to Vladivostok for subsequent transfer to France.

According to an agreement concluded on March 26, 1918 with the Soviet government, the Czechoslovak legionnaires were to advance "not as a combat unit, but as a group of citizens with weapons in order to repel the armed attacks of counter-revolutionaries." However, during the movement, their conflicts with local authorities became more frequent. Since the Czechs and Slovaks had more military weapons than provided for in the agreement, the authorities decided to confiscate them. On May 26, in Chelyabinsk, conflicts escalated into real battles, and the legionnaires occupied the city. Their armed action was immediately supported by the military missions of the Entente in Russia and the anti-Bolshevik forces. As a result, in the Volga region, in the Urals, in Siberia and in the Far East - wherever there were echelons with Czechoslovak legionnaires - Soviet power was overthrown. At the same time, in many provinces of Russia, the peasants, dissatisfied with the food policy of the Bolsheviks, revolted (according to official data, there were at least 130 major anti-Soviet peasant uprisings alone).

Socialist parties(mainly right SRs), relying on interventionist landings, the Czechoslovak Corps and peasant insurgent detachments, formed a number of governments Komuch (Committee of members of the Constituent Assembly) in Samara, the Supreme Administration of the Northern Region in Arkhangelsk, the West Siberian Commissariat in Novonikolaevsk (now Novosibirsk), The Provisional Siberian Government in Tomsk, the Trans-Caspian Provisional Government in Ashgabat, etc. In their activities, they tried to compose “ democratic alternative”both the Bolshevik dictatorship and the bourgeois-monarchist counter-revolution. Their programs included demands for the convocation of a Constituent Assembly, the restoration of the political rights of all citizens without exception, freedom of trade and the rejection of strict state regulation of the economic activities of peasants while maintaining a number of important provisions of the Soviet Decree on Land, the establishment of a “social partnership” between workers and capitalists during denationalization industrial enterprises etc.

Thus, the performance of the Czechoslovak corps gave impetus to the formation of the front, which bore the so-called "democratic coloring" and was mainly Socialist-Revolutionary. It was this front, and not the white movement, that was decisive at the initial stage of the Civil War.

In the summer of 1918, all opposition forces became a real threat to the Bolshevik government, which controlled only the territory of the center of Russia. The territory controlled by Komuch included the Volga region and part of the Urals. Bolshevik power was also overthrown in Siberia, where a regional government of the Siberian Duma was formed. The breakaway parts of the empire - Transcaucasia, Central Asia, the Baltic States - had their own national governments. The Germans captured the Ukraine, the Don and Kuban were captured by Krasnov and Denikin.

On August 30, 1918, a terrorist group killed the chairman of the Petrograd Cheka, Uritsky, and the right-wing Socialist-Revolutionary Kaplan seriously wounded Lenin. The threat of losing political power to the ruling Bolshevik Party became catastrophically real.

In September 1918, a meeting of representatives of a number of anti-Bolshevik governments of democratic and social orientation was held in Ufa. Under the pressure of the Czechoslovaks, who threatened to open the front to the Bolsheviks, they established a single All-Russian government - the Ufa directory, headed by the leaders of the Socialist-Revolutionaries N.D. Avksentiev and V.M. Zenzinov. Soon the directory settled in Omsk, where a well-known polar explorer and scientist, former commander Black Sea Fleet Admiral A.V. Kolchak.

The right, bourgeois-monarchist wing of the camp opposing the Bolsheviks as a whole had not yet recovered at that time from the defeat of its first post-October armed onslaught on them (which largely explained the “democratic coloring” initial stage civil war by anti-Soviet forces). The White Volunteer Army, which, after the death of General L.G. Kornilov in April 1918 was headed by General A.I. Denikin, operated on a limited territory of the Don and Kuban. Only the Cossack army of ataman P.N. Krasnov managed to advance to Tsaritsyn and cut off the grain regions of the North Caucasus from the central regions of Russia, and Ataman A.I. Dutov - to capture Orenburg.

The position of Soviet power by the end of the summer of 1918 became critical. Almost three-quarters of the territory of the former Russian Empire was under the control of various anti-Bolshevik forces, as well as the occupying Austro-German troops.

Soon, however, a turning point occurs on the main front (Eastern). Soviet troops under the command of I.I. Vatsetis and S.S. Kamenev in September 1918 went on the offensive there. Kazan fell first, then Simbirsk, and Samara in October. By winter, the Reds approached the Urals. The attempts of General P.N. Krasnov to capture Tsaritsyn, undertaken in July and September 1918.

From October 1918, the Southern Front became the main one. In the South of Russia, the Volunteer Army of General A.I. Denikin captured the Kuban, and the Don Cossack army of Ataman P.N. Krasnova tried to take Tsaritsyn and cut the Volga.

The Soviet government launched active actions to protect its power. In 1918, a transition was made to universal military service , a broad mobilization was launched. The constitution, adopted in July 1918, established discipline in the army and introduced the institution of military commissars.

As part of the Central Committee, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) was allocated for the prompt solution of problems of a military and political nature. It included: V.I. Lenin --Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars; L.B. Krestinsky - Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party; I.V. Stalin - People's Commissar for Nationalities; L.D. Trotsky - Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs. Candidate members were N.I. Bukharin - editor of the newspaper Pravda, G.E. Zinoviev - Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, M.I. Kalinin - Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

Under the direct control of the Central Committee of the party, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, headed by L.D. Trotsky. The institute of military commissars was introduced in the spring of 1918, one of its important tasks was to control the activities of military specialists - former officers. By the end of 1918, there were about 7,000 commissars in the Soviet armed forces. About 30% of the former generals and officers of the old army during the Civil War came out on the side of the Red Army.

This was determined by two main factors:

• speaking on the side of the Bolshevik government for ideological reasons;
• the policy of attracting "military specialists" to the Red Army - former tsarist officers - was carried out by L.D. Trotsky using repressive methods.

war communism

In 1918, the Bolsheviks introduced a system of emergency measures, economic and political, known as “ war communism policy”. Basic acts this policy became Decree of May 13, 1918 g., giving broad powers to the People's Commissariat for Food (People's Commissariat for Food), and Decree of 28 June 1918 on nationalization.

The main provisions of this policy:

• nationalization of all industry;
• centralization of economic management;
• prohibition of private trade;
• curtailment of commodity-money relations;
• food allocation;
• an equalizing system of wages for workers and employees;
• wages in kind for workers and employees;
• free public services;
• universal labor service.

June 11, 1918 were created combos(committees of the poor), which were supposed to seize surplus agricultural products from wealthy peasants. Their actions were supported by parts of the prodarmiya (food army), consisting of Bolsheviks and workers. From January 1919, the search for surpluses was replaced by a centralized and planned system of surplus appropriations (Reader T8 No. 5).

Each region and county had to hand over a fixed amount of grain and other products (potatoes, honey, butter, eggs, milk). When the rate of change was met, the villagers received a receipt for the right to purchase manufactured goods (cloth, sugar, salt, matches, kerosene).

June 28, 1918 the state has started nationalization of enterprises with a capital of more than 500 rubles. Back in December 1917, when the Supreme Council of National Economy (Supreme Council of National economy), he engaged in nationalization. But the nationalization of labor was not massive (by March 1918 no more than 80 enterprises had been nationalized). It was primarily a repressive measure against entrepreneurs who resisted workers' control. Now it was public policy. By November 1, 1919, 2,500 enterprises had been nationalized. In November 1920, a decree was issued extending the nationalization to all enterprises with more than 10 or 5 workers, but using a mechanical engine.

Decree of November 21, 1918 was established monopoly on internal trade. The Soviet government replaced trade with state distribution. Citizens received food through the system of the People's Commissariat for Food on cards, of which, for example, in Petrograd in 1919 there were 33 types: bread, dairy, shoe, etc. The population was divided into three categories:
workers and scientists and artists equated to them;
employees;
former exploiters.

Due to the lack of food, even the wealthiest received only ¼ of the prescribed ration.

Under such conditions, the “black market” flourished. The government fought the "pouchers" by forbidding them to travel by train.

IN social sphere the policy of "war communism" was based on the principle "who does not work, he does not eat." In 1918, labor service was introduced for representatives of the former exploiting classes, and in 1920, universal labor service.

In the political sphere"war communism" meant the undivided dictatorship of the RCP (b). The activities of other parties (the Cadets, Mensheviks, Right and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries) were banned.

The consequences of the policy of “war communism” were the deepening of economic ruin, the reduction in production in industry and agriculture. However, it was precisely this policy that in many ways allowed the Bolsheviks to mobilize all the resources and win the Civil War.

The Bolsheviks assigned a special role in the victory over the class enemy to mass terror. On September 2, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a resolution proclaiming the beginning of "mass terror against the bourgeoisie and its agents." Head of the Cheka F.E. Dzherzhinsky said: "We are terrorizing the enemies of Soviet power." The policy of mass terror assumed a state character. Shooting on the spot became commonplace.

The second stage of the civil war (autumn 1918 - late 1919)

From November 1918, the front-line war entered the stage of confrontation between the Reds and the Whites. The year 1919 became decisive for the Bolsheviks, a reliable and constantly growing Red Army was created. But their opponents, actively supported by former allies, united among themselves. The international situation has also changed drastically. Germany and her allies in the world war laid down their arms before the Entente in November. Revolutions took place in Germany and Austria-Hungary. Leadership of the RSFSR November 13, 1918 annulled, and the new governments of these countries were forced to evacuate their troops from Russia. Bourgeois-national governments arose in Poland, the Baltic States, Belarus, and the Ukraine, which immediately took the side of the Entente.

The defeat of Germany freed up significant combat contingents of the Entente and at the same time opened up for her a convenient and short road to Moscow from the southern regions. Under these conditions, the intention to crush Soviet Russia with the forces of its own armies prevailed in the Entente leadership.

In the spring of 1919, the Supreme Council of the Entente developed a plan for the next military campaign. (Reader T8 No. 8) As noted in one of his secret documents, the intervention was to be “expressed in the combined military actions of the Russian anti-Bolshevik forces and the armies of neighboring allied states". At the end of November 1918, a combined Anglo-French squadron of 32 pennants (12 battleships, 10 cruisers and 10 destroyers) appeared off the Black Sea coast of Russia. British troops landed in Batum and Novorossiysk, and French troops landed in Odessa and Sevastopol. The total number of interventionist combat forces concentrated in the south of Russia was increased by February 1919 to 130 thousand people. Entente contingents increased significantly in the Far East and Siberia (up to 150,000 men) and also in the North (up to 20,000 men).

In Siberia, on November 18, 1918, Admiral A.V. came to power. Kolchak. . He put an end to the disorderly actions of the anti-Bolshevik coalition.

Having dispersed the Directory, he proclaimed himself the Supreme Ruler of Russia (the rest of the leaders of the white movement soon declared subordination to him). Admiral Kolchak in March 1919 began to advance on a broad front from the Urals to the Volga. The main bases of his army were Siberia, the Urals, the Orenburg province and the Ural region. In the north, from January 1919, General E.K. began to play the leading role. Miller, in the northwest - General N.N. Yudenich. In the south, the dictatorship of the commander is being strengthened Volunteer army A.I. Denikin, who in January 1919 subjugated the Don Army of General P.N. Krasnov and created the united Armed Forces of the South of Russia.

In March 1919, the well-armed 300,000-strong army of A.V. Kolchak launched an offensive from the east, intending to unite with Denikin's forces for a joint attack on Moscow. Having captured Ufa, the Kolchakites fought their way to Simbirsk, Samara, Votkinsk, but were soon stopped by the Red Army. In the end of April Soviet troops under the command of S.S. Kamenev and M.V. The Frunze went on the offensive and in the summer advanced deep into Siberia. By the beginning of 1920, the Kolchakites were finally defeated, and the admiral himself was arrested and shot by the verdict of the Irkutsk Revolutionary Committee.

In the summer of 1919, the center of the armed struggle moved to the Southern Front. (Reader T8 No. 7) On July 3, General A.I. Denikin issued his famous "Moscow Directive", and his army of 150,000 men launched an offensive along the entire 700-kilometer front from Kyiv to Tsaritsyn. The White Front included such important centers as Voronezh, Orel, Kyiv. In this space of 1 million square meters. km with a population of up to 50 million people located 18 provinces and regions. By mid-autumn, Denikin's army captured Kursk and Orel. But by the end of October the troops Southern Front(commander A.I. Egorov) defeated the white regiments, and then began to push them along the entire front line. The remnants of Denikin's army, headed by General P.N. Wrangel, strengthened in the Crimea.

The final stage of the civil war (spring-autumn 1920)

At the beginning of 1920, as a result of hostilities, the outcome of the front-line Civil War was actually decided in favor of the Bolshevik government. At the final stage, the main hostilities were associated with the Soviet-Polish war and the fight against Wrangel's army.

Significantly aggravated the nature of the civil war Soviet-Polish war. Head of the Polish State Marshal Y. Pilsudsky hatched a plan to create " Greater Poland within the borders of 1772” from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, including a large part of the Lithuanian, Belarusian and Ukrainian lands, including those never controlled by Warsaw. The Polish national government was supported by the Entente countries, which sought to create a "sanitary bloc" of Eastern European countries between Bolshevik Russia and Western countries. On April 17, Pilsudski ordered an attack on Kiev and signed an agreement with Ataman Petliura, Poland recognized the Directory headed by Petliura as the supreme power of Ukraine. May 7 Kyiv was taken. The victory was won unusually easily, because the Soviet troops withdrew without serious resistance.

But already on May 14, a successful counter-offensive of the troops of the Western Front (commander M.N. Tukhachevsky) began, and on May 26 - the South-Western Front (commander A.I. Egorov). In mid-July, they reached the borders of Poland. On June 12, Soviet troops occupied Kyiv. The speed of a victory won can only be compared with the speed of an earlier defeat.

On July 12, British Foreign Secretary Lord D. Curzon sent a note to the Soviet government - in fact, an ultimatum from the Entente demanding to stop the Red Army's advance on Poland. As a truce, the so-called “ Curzon line”, which took place mainly along the ethnic border of the settlement of the Poles.

Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), clearly overestimating own forces and underestimating the strength of the enemy, set a new strategic task for the high command of the Red Army: to continue the revolutionary war. IN AND. Lenin believed that the victorious entry of the Red Army into Poland would cause uprisings of the Polish working class and revolutionary uprisings in Germany. For this purpose, the Soviet government of Poland was promptly formed - the Provisional Revolutionary Committee consisting of F.E. Dzerzhinsky, F.M. Kona, Yu.Yu. Marchlevsky and others.

This attempt ended in disaster. The troops of the Western Front in August 1920 were defeated near Warsaw.

In October, the belligerents signed an armistice, and in March 1921, a peace treaty. Under its terms, a significant part of the lands in the west of Ukraine and Belarus went to Poland.

In the midst of the Soviet-Polish war, General P.N. Wrangell. With the help of harsh measures, up to public executions of demoralized officers, and relying on the support of France, the general turned Denikin's scattered divisions into a disciplined and combat-ready Russian army. In June 1920, an assault was landed from the Crimea on the Don and Kuban, and the main forces of the Wrangelites were thrown into the Donbass. On October 3, the offensive of the Russian army began in a northwestern direction towards Kakhovka.

The offensive of the Wrangel troops was repulsed, and during the operation launched on October 28 by the army of the Southern Front under the command of M.V. Frunze completely captured the Crimea. On November 14-16, 1920, an armada of ships under the St. Andrew's flag left the shores of the peninsula, taking away the broken white regiments and tens of thousands of civilian refugees to a foreign land. Thus, P.N. Wrangel saved them from the merciless red terror that hit the Crimea immediately after the evacuation of the Whites.

In the European part of Russia, after the capture of the Crimea, it was liquidated last white front. The military question ceased to be the main one for Moscow, but fighting on the outskirts of the country continued for many more months.

The Red Army, having defeated Kolchak, went out in the spring of 1920 to Transbaikalia. The Far East was at that time in the hands of Japan. To avoid a collision with it, the government of Soviet Russia contributed to the formation in April 1920 of a formally independent "buffer" state - the Far Eastern Republic (FER) with its capital in Chita. Soon the army of the Far East began military operations against the White Guards, supported by the Japanese, and in October 1922 occupied Vladivostok, completely clearing the Far East of whites and invaders. After that, it was decided to liquidate the FER and include it in the RSFSR.

The Civil War became the biggest drama of the 20th century and the greatest tragedy of Russia. The armed struggle that unfolded in the vastness of the country was carried out with extreme tension of the forces of the opponents, was accompanied by mass terror (both white and red), and was distinguished by exceptional mutual bitterness. Here is an excerpt from the memoirs of a participant in the Civil War, who talks about the soldiers of the Caucasian Front: “Well, how, son, is it not scary for a Russian to beat a Russian?” — the comrades ask the recruit. “At first it really seems awkward,” he replies, “and then, if the heart is inflamed, then no, nothing.” These words contain the merciless truth about the fratricidal war, in which almost the entire population of the country was drawn.

The fighting parties clearly understood that the struggle could only have a fatal outcome for one of the parties. That is why the civil war in Russia became a great tragedy for all its political camps, movements and parties.

“Red” (Bolsheviks and their supporters) believed that they were defending not only Soviet power in Russia, but also “the world revolution and the ideas of socialism.”

In the political struggle against Soviet power, two political movements consolidated:

• democratic counterrevolution with slogans for the return of political power to the Constituent Assembly and the restoration of the gains of the February (1917) revolution (many Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks advocated the establishment of Soviet power in Russia, but without the Bolsheviks (“For Soviets without Bolsheviks”));
• white movement with the slogans of "non-decision of the state system" and the elimination of Soviet power. This direction endangered not only the October, but also the February conquests. The counter-revolutionary white movement was not homogeneous. It included monarchists and liberal republicans, supporters of the Constituent Assembly and supporters of the military dictatorship. Among the "whites" there were differences in foreign policy guidelines: some hoped for the support of Germany (Ataman Krasnov), others - for the help of the Entente powers (Denikin, Kolchak, Yudenich). The “Whites” were united by their hatred of the Soviet regime and the Bolsheviks, the desire to preserve a united and indivisible Russia. They did not have a single political program, the military in the leadership of the “white movement” pushed politicians into the background. There was also no clear coordination of actions between the main groups of "whites". The leaders of the Russian counter-revolution were competing and at enmity with each other.

In the anti-Soviet anti-Bolshevik camp, part of the political opponents of the Soviets acted under a single SR-White Guard flag, part - only under the White Guard.

Bolsheviks had a stronger social base than their opponents. They received the decisive support of the workers of the cities and the rural poor. The position of the main peasant mass was not stable and unequivocal, only the poorest part of the peasants consistently followed the Bolsheviks. The peasants' vacillation had its own reasons: the "Reds" gave land, but then introduced a surplus appropriation, which caused strong discontent in the countryside. However, the return of the old order was also unacceptable for the peasantry: the victory of the “whites” threatened the return of land to the landowners and severe punishments for the destruction of landlord estates.

The Socialist-Revolutionaries and Anarchists hurried to take advantage of the vacillations of the peasants. They managed to involve a significant part of the peasantry in the armed struggle, both against the whites and against the reds.

For both warring parties, it was also important what position the Russian officers would take in the conditions of the civil war. Approximately 40% of the officers of the tsarist army joined the “white movement”, 30% sided with the Soviet government, 30% evaded participation in the civil war.

The Russian Civil War escalated armed intervention foreign powers. The interventionists conducted active military operations on the territory of the former Russian Empire, occupied some of its regions, contributed to inciting a civil war in the country and contributed to its prolongation. The intervention turned out an important factor“revolutionary all-Russian turmoil”, increased the number of victims.