February.
After unsuccessful military operations on the Don, the Volunteer Army retreats to Kuban.
18th of Febuary.
After the refusal of the Soviet delegation in Brest-Litovsk to sign a peace treaty on German terms, German and Austrian troops go on the offensive along the entire front.
February 23.
Germany is putting forward even more difficult conditions for signing peace. Lenin is leading the struggle in the Soviet leadership for the signing of peace. The decree “The Socialist Fatherland is in danger!” is adopted.
April 13.
After the death of L. Kornilov, A. Denikin becomes commander of the Volunteer Army.
May 25.
The Czechoslovak Corps (50 thousand people), in response to Trotsky’s directive on its disarmament, opposes the Bolsheviks.
July.
The beginning of the White Guards' offensive against Tsaritsyn.
August 2.
Landing of Entente troops in Arkhangelsk. Formation of the government of the North of Russia, headed by N. Tchaikovsky.
August 8 - 23.
At a meeting of anti-Bolshevik political forces in Ufa, a compromise was reached and the Ufa Directory was created. It was headed by N. Avksentyev.
November.
The offensive of the Red Army in the Baltic states. The beginning of the establishment of Soviet regimes in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania.
November 18th.
A coup took place in Omsk, putting Admiral A. Kolchak in power as the supreme ruler of Russia.
1919
January 8.
General A. Denikin unites the Volunteer Army, Don and Kuban Cossack formations under his command.
February 5th.
The Red Army occupies Kyiv. The Ukrainian directory asks for support from the French government.
May.
The offensive of the troops of General N. Yudenich towards Petrograd.
End of october.
Counter-offensive of the Red Army against Yudenich's troops.
November.
Yudenich's troops were thrown back to Estonia.
1920
February March.
The Bolsheviks regain control of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk.
April, 4.
Denikin transfers power as Commander-in-Chief of the Volunteer Army to General Wrangel.
June.
The army of General P. Wrangel begins an offensive from Crimea to Ukraine.
4th of July.
Soviet troops under the command of M. Tukhachevsky at Western Front begin the offensive.
Beginning of August.
Tukhachevsky's troops approach Warsaw.
1921
30 June.
Creation of the Military Council of the Far Eastern Republic. V. K. Blucher becomes the commander-in-chief of the troops of the Far Eastern Republic.
December.
The White Guards go on the offensive and capture Khabarovsk.
1922
February.
Battles near Volochaevka (near Khabarovsk).
Chronology of the Civil War.
October 27 – 30, 1917 – unsuccessful attempt troops loyal to the Provisional Government led by General P.N. Krasnov and A.F. Kerensky recapture Petrograd from the Bolsheviks.
December 2, 1917: the Volunteer Army created by generals Alekseev and Dukhonin occupies Rostov-on-Don.
On February 22, 1918, General Kornilov gave the order to his units to retreat beyond the Don. The beginning of the “Ice Campaign” of the Volunteer Army.
March 9, 1918 - the landing of British infantry from the battleship Gloria in Murmansk. The beginning of foreign intervention against Soviet Russia.
April 13, 1918 - during the assault on Yekaterinodar, the commander and founder of the Volunteer Army, the founder of the “white” movement, General L.G., was killed. Kornilov.
May 29, 1918 - Resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on compulsory recruitment into the Red Army. Previously, it was formed on the basis of military democracy, which presupposed the voluntary principle of entering military service and the election of command personnel. From May 29, Soviet Russia introduced universal military service for workers from 18 to 40 years of age. The election of command personnel is abolished, and the recruitment of old specialists from among former officers and generals into the army begins. In the same year, the main governing structures were created armed forces Soviet Russia: Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, Defense Council, Field Headquarters of the Revolutionary Military Forces. The positions of commanders-in-chief and division staffs are established. Distinctive feature The new army saw a sharp increase in ideological work among military personnel. For this purpose, the Political Directorate of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic was created, and political departments were organized in the armies.
July 22, 1918 ᴦ. The defense of Tsaritsyn by the Red Army began from the troops of the Don Ataman P.N. Krasnova.
August 6 – The Czechoslovak Corps and the White Guards capture Kazan, where part of Russia’s gold reserves evacuated here by the Bolsheviks falls into their hands. (40 thousand pounds of gold). The gold was transferred to the Committee of the Constituent Assembly, which ordered the transfer of gold reserves to Samara and then to Siberia. There, gold soon fell into the hands of Admiral Kolchak, who captured Omsk in November 1918. By order of the admiral, in May 1919, a complete inventory of the gold reserves was carried out. Valuables with a nominal value of 651532117 rubles 86 kopecks were available. At the end of December, Kolchak, retreating, again transferred the gold under the protection of the Czechoslovak Corps. By agreement with the Reds on February 7, 1920. The Czechs gave up the gold in exchange for guarantees to let them through to Vladivostok to be sent home. 18 wagons were transferred. ʼʼGold evaporated for 241,906,247 rubles, or 1/3. According to the most common version, Admiral Kolchak spent this amount on combat operations and maintaining his power.
August 15, 1918 ᴦ. - landing of the 9 thousandth American Expeditionary Force in Vladivostok.
September 2, 1918 ᴦ. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopts a resolution to turn the country into a military camp. The Revolutionary Military Council is created, headed by Trotsky. The beginning of the “red terror”. Until the end of 1918. The press published reports of the execution of 50 thousand people.
September 10, 1918 ᴦ. The Red Army captured Kazan - the first major victory of the Reds in the Civil War.
November - December 1918 ᴦ. – the Reds occupy part of the territory of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus.
November 18 – in Omsk A.V. Kolchak, who returned from the USA and was recognized by the Entente as the “supreme ruler of Russia,” overthrows the Ufa Directory and declares himself the supreme ruler of Russia. This draws a line under the democratic counter-revolution, which has shown its inconsistency in the fight against Bolshevism, and opens new page in the history of the fight against Bolshevism - military-patriotic counter-revolution expressed through military dictatorship. At the same time, such zealous support of Kolchak by the West alienated other leaders from him white movement. The patriotic A. Denikin, N. Yudenich and other generals considered the “supreme ruler of Russia” to be just a puppet in the hands of the Entente, who would be able to thank the “Western helpers” with Russian territory. From their point of view, none of the commanders of the white armies had the right to declare themselves “master of the country.” The fate of Russia and the form of government in it were to be decided only by the peoples of the former empire through the elected deputies of the Constituent Assembly.
January 8, 1919 ᴦ. General A.I. Denikin unites under his command the Volunteer Army, Don and Kuban Cossack formations.
February 5, 1919 ᴦ. The Red Army entered Kyiv. At the same time, in a little over a year she will have to recapture the city again, this time from the Poles. Kyiv has had the worst luck in years civil war it changed hands 18 times!
August 1919 ᴦ. fall of Soviet power in Lithuania. Units of the Red Army finally leave the territory of the Baltic republics.
October 10 – The Supreme Council of the Entente and the United States declare an economic blockade of Soviet Russia.
October 13 – Denikin’s troops occupied the city of Orel. Latest success white army in the Moscow campaign.
October – November 1919 ᴦ. - defeat of Yudenich's troops near Petrograd.
November 14, 1919 ᴦ. The Red Army captured Kolchak's capital, the city of Omsk. Liquidation of the largest front of the Civil War - the Eastern.
January 4, 1920 ᴦ. Kolchak renounces his title of Supreme Ruler in favor of Denikin.
January 10 – The Red Army occupied Rostov-on-Don, the center of Denikin’s armed forces in southern Russia.
January 16, 19120 ᴦ. – The Supreme Council of the Entente decided to lift the economic blockade of Soviet Russia.
On March 27, the Red Army captured Novorossiysk. The remnants of Denikin's troops are evacuated to Crimea.
April 25, 1920 - Polish troops went on the offensive to expand the borders of Poland in the east. The beginning of the Soviet-Polish war.
On August 16, 1920, the Red Army under the command of Tukhachevsky was defeated near Warsaw. The victory of the Poles stopped the communist invasion of Europe (Mikhail Tukhachevsky’s army fought 500 km in a month and numbered 55 thousand soldiers against 110 thousand Polish troops). The attempt to “export communism” by means of bayonets failed. Leon Trotsky's doctrine of “permanent revolution” suffered its first defeat.
On October 12, a truce was concluded with Poland, which retained the western part of Ukraine and Belarus.
On October 14, a peace treaty was signed with Finland. Finland left behind the Karelian Isthmus.
November 17, 1920 ᴦ. the remnants of Wrangel's army and refugees with a total number of 140 thousand people left the Crimean peninsula on English ships.
On February 25, 1921, the Red Army occupied Tiflis (Tbilisi). Victory of Soviet power in Transcaucasia.
March 18, 1921 ᴦ. A peace treaty was signed with Poland. The western regions of Belarus and Ukraine were returned to the Poles.
On March 12, 1922, the Transcaucasian Federation was formed - the TSFSR, consisting of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
On October 25, 1922, the Red Army occupied Vladivostok. The generally accepted date for the end of the Russian Civil War.
III. ʼʼWar communismʼʼ.
The internal policy of the Bolsheviks from the October Revolution to the spring of 1921 was formed under the influence of three basic components:
· Russian historical tradition(active government intervention in the economy;
· emergency conditions of war;
· ideas of socialist theory.
The Bolsheviks, having come to power, not only inherited a destroyed economy, but also state distribution and production under wartime conditions. By 1918, the situation worsened even more, war and famine took their toll. The central regions of the country were cut off from the grain producing regions and in May 1918 a food dictatorship and a system of emergency measures were introduced.
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All this is superimposed on the so-called “doctrinal syndrome” of socialist theory, according to which the new society was presented in the form of a state - a commune without commodity and monetary relations, replaced by direct product exchange between city and countryside.
By mid-1918, the policy of “war communism” gradually took shape and included the following directions:
* nationalization of industry, incl. medium and small;
* naturalization of economic relations and prohibition of private trade;
* state centralized distribution of food and goods based on cards and class principles;
* the introduction of universal labor conscription and the militarization of labor;
* abolition of money, free utilities;
* prohibition of land leasing and the use of hired labor in agriculture;
* policy of “red terror”;
* over-centralization of economic and army management.
Naturally, not all of these measures were fully implemented during the period of “war communism”. Thus, the elimination of free trade announced by the Bolsheviks only confirmed the vitality of this ancient looking commodity-money relations, which was actually replaced by a spontaneously operating “black market” and railway fraud.
The policy of “war communism” had the most profound and negative impact on the basic methods of governing public and economic development. Forceful methods, transferred from emergency situations, have become the main ones for regulating all aspects of life. Soviet power at that time did not have a clearly defined economic policy; each stage was characterized by a contradictory combination of various trends. For this reason, the economic policy of “war communism” can least of all be considered as an integral economic program. Most likely, this is a set of hasty, forced and emergency measures based on the euphoric basis of socialist theory.
The results of “war communism,” as well as its essence, turned out to be contradictory. In military-political terms, it was successful, as it ensured victory for the Bolsheviks in the civil war. But victory stimulated barracks spirit, militarism, violence and terror.
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This was not enough for economic success. Industrial production decreased by 7 times compared to 1913, agricultural production by 40%. Coal production was less than a third of the pre-war level, cast iron - 2 times, 31 railways did not work, trains with grain got stuck on the way. Due to the lack of raw materials and fuel, and labor, most factories and factories were inactive. Gross output Agriculture in 1921 was 60% of the level in 1913., the number of livestock decreased and livestock products decreased. Cultivated areas decreased by 25% in 1920, and yields decreased by 43%. The crop failure of 1920, the drought of 1921, famine in the Volga region and the North Caucasus claimed the lives of about 5 million people.
The country lacked soap, kerosene, glass and shoes, bricks and matches. In January 1919 the minimum daily norm bread amounted to 50 grams.
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The price of one ruble fell 800 times. The modest lunch cost several million rubles.
Economic devastation entailed serious social consequences. The population of Russia decreased by 10.9 million people compared to 1917. The number of industrial workers has halved. Many workers went to the village. The peasantry became more and more active in opposing the surplus appropriation system.
The policy of “war communism” after the end of the Civil War did not meet the interests of the people. A wave of peasant uprisings and anti-Soviet riots swept across the country in Ukraine, Siberia, Central Asia, Tambov, Voronezh and Saratov provinces. The social support of these revolts was the peasantry, dissatisfied with the surplus appropriation system. The military anti-communist mutiny of sailors in Kronstadt - the general political crisis in March 1921, the threat of loss of power, forced the Soviet government to realize the inevitability of a turn in politics. Τᴀᴋᴎᴍ ᴏϬᴩᴀᴈᴏᴍ, turn to a new economic policy was carried out under severe pressure from general discontent in the country to normalize internal economic, social and political relations.
Chronology of the Civil War. - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Chronology of the Civil War." 2017, 2018.
Top to bottom, left to right:
- Armed forces of the South of Russia in 1919,
- hanging of Ekaterinoslav workers by Austro-Hungarian troops during the Austro-German occupation in 1918,
- red infantry on the march in 1920,
- L. D. Trotsky in 1918,
- cart of the 1st Cavalry Army.
Chronology
- 1918 Stage I of the civil war - “democratic”
- 1918, June Nationalization Decree
- 1919, January Introduction of surplus appropriation
- 1919 Fight against A.V. Kolchak, A.I. Denikin, Yudenich
- 1920 Soviet-Polish War
- 1920 Fight against P.N. Wrangel
- 1920, November. The end of the civil war on European territory
- 1922, October. The end of the civil war in the Far East
Civil War - organized armed struggle for power between classes, social groups, the most acute form of class struggle.
Civil War - “armed struggle between various groups population, which was based on deep social, national and political contradictions, went through various stages and phases with the active intervention of foreign forces...” ( Academician Yu.A. Polyakov).
Bolshevik takeover state power in Russia and the subsequent dispersal of the Constituent Assembly can be considered the beginning of armed confrontation in Russia. The first shots were 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 the Volunteer Army on the Don, but by the beginning of 1918 it amounted to no more than 3,000 officers and cadets.
Founder and Supreme Leader of the Volunteer Army - General Staff, Adjutant General Mikhail Alekseev
As I wrote A.I. Denikin in “Essays on Russian Troubles,” “the white movement grew spontaneously and inevitably.”
In 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 truly took on a front-line, large-scale character in the spring of 1918. Let us highlight three main stages development of armed confrontation in Russia, based primarily on taking into account the alignment of political forces and the peculiarities of the formation of fronts.
- The first stage covers the time from spring to autumn 1918., when the military-political confrontation becomes global character, large-scale military operations begin. The defining feature of this stage is its so-called "democratic" character , when representatives of socialist parties with l return slogans political power Constituent Assembly and restoration of the gains of the February Revolution. It is this camp that is chronologically ahead of the White Guard camp in its organizational design.
- The second stage - from the autumn of 1918 to the end of 1919. - confrontation between white and red . Until the beginning of 1920, one of the main political opponents of the Bolsheviks was the white movement with the slogans of “non-decision political system" And liquidation of Soviet power . This direction threatened not only the October, but also the February conquests. Their the main political force was the cadet party, and the army was formed by generals and officers of the former tsarist army. The Whites were united by hatred of the Soviet regime and the Bolsheviks, the desire to preserve united and indivisible Russia.
- The third stage of the Civil War - from the spring of 1920 to the end of 1920. events of the Soviet-Polish war and the fight against P. N. Wrangel . Wrangel's defeat at the end of 1920 marked the end of the Civil War, but anti-Soviet armed protests continued in many regions of Soviet Russia during the years of the New Economic Policy
A feature of the civil war in Russia was its close intertwining with anti-Soviet military intervention Entente powers. It was the main factor in prolonging and aggravating the bloody “Russian Troubles.” Participated in the intervention Germany, France, England, USA, Japan, Poland and others. They supplied the anti-Bolshevik forces with weapons and provided financial and military-political support. The policy of the interventionists was determined:
- desire to end the Bolshevik regime and
- prevent the revolution from spreading,
- return lost property foreign citizens And
- obtain new territories and spheres of influence at Russia’s expense.
The first stage of the civil war (spring - autumn 1918)
Beginning of foreign military intervention and civil war (February 1918 – March 1919)
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. The armed struggle acquired a nationwide scale in the spring of 1918.
In 1918 they formed the main centers of the anti-Bolshevik movement in Moscow and Petrograd, uniting the Cadets, Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries.
A strong anti-Bolshevik movement developed among Cossacks
- On the Don and Kuban they were led by General P.N. Krasnov
Pyotr Nikolaevich Krasnov - general of the Russian Imperial Army, ataman of the All-Great Don Army
- on Southern Urals- Ataman P.I. Dutov.
Ataman of the Orenburg Cossacks A. I. Dutov
The basis of the white movement on the south of Russia and the North Caucasus became the General's Volunteer Army L.G. Kornilov.
Leader of the White Movement in the South of Russia of the General Staff, Infantry General Lavr Kornilov
- German troops occupied the Baltic states, part of Belarus, Transcaucasia and North Caucasus. The Germans actually dominated Ukraine: they overthrew the bourgeois-democratic Verkhovna Rada, whose help they used during the occupation of Ukrainian lands, and in April 1918 they put Hetman P.P. in power. Skoropadsky.
Territory occupied by German troops after imprisonmentTreaty of Brest-Litovsk
- Romania 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).
Under these conditions, the Supreme Council of the Entente decided to use the 45,000th Czechoslovak Corps, which was (in agreement with Moscow) under his subordination. It consisted of captured Slavic soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army and followed the railway to Vladivostok for subsequent transfer to France. According to the agreement concluded March 26, 1918 with the Soviet government, the Czechoslovak legionnaires were to advance “not as a combat unit, but as a group of citizens equipped with weapons to repel armed attacks by counter-revolutionaries.” However, during their movement, their conflicts with local authorities became more frequent. On May 26, conflicts in Chelyabinsk escalated into real battles, and legionnaires occupied the city . Their armed uprising was immediately supported by the military missions of the Entente in Russia and anti-Bolshevik forces. As a result, in the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East - wherever trains with Czechoslovak legionnaires were located - Soviet power was overthrown.
General of the Czechoslovak Corps R. Gaida
At the same time, in many provinces of Russia, peasants, dissatisfied with the food policy of the Bolsheviks, rebelled (according to official data, there were at least 130 major anti-Soviet peasant uprisings alone).
The performance of the Czechoslavak corps gave impetus 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 in initial stage Civil War.
Socialist parties(mainly right-wing Social Revolutionaries), relying on interventionist landings, the Czechoslovak Corps and peasant rebel 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.
Komuch of the first composition - I. M. Brushvit, P. D. Klimushkin, B. K. Fortunatov, V. K. Volsky (chairman) and I. P. Nesterov
Their programs included requirements
- convening the Constituent Assembly,
- restoration of the political rights of all citizens without exception,
- freedom of trade and rejection of strict government regulation economic activity peasants while maintaining a number of important provisions of the Soviet Decree on Land,
- establishing “ social partnership” workers and capitalists during denationalization industrial enterprises etc.
In the summer of 1918, all opposition forces became a real threat to Bolshevik power , which controlled only the territory of the center of Russia. The territory controlled by Komuch included the Volga region and part of the Urals. The Bolshevik government was also overthrown in Siberia, where the 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. Ukraine was captured by the Germans, Don and Kuban by Krasnov and Denikin.
August 30, 1918 . terrorist group killed the chairman of the Petrograd Cheka Uritsky, and right-wing Socialist-Revolutionary Kaplan was seriously wounded Lenin .
On August 30, 1918, an assassination attempt was made on Lenin at the Mikhelson plant by Socialist-Revolutionary Fanny Kaplan.
By the end of the summer of 1918, the position of Soviet power had become 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, the main front (Eastern) is undergoing a turning point. Soviet troops under the command of I.I. Vatsetis and S.S. Kamenev went on the offensive there in September 1918. Kazan fell first, then Simbirsk, and Samara in October. By winter the Reds approached the Urals.
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic (09/01/1918-07/09/1919)
I. I. Vatsetis
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic (1919-1924)
S. S. Kamenev
The restoration of Soviet power in the Urals and Volga region ended the first stage of the civil war.
Second stage of the civil war (autumn 1918 - end of 1919)
The year 1919 became decisive for the Bolsheviks; a reliable and constantly growing Red Army.
The Central Committee was allocated Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) for prompt resolution of military and political problems. It included:
IN AND. Lenin - Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars;
L.B. Krestinsky - Secretary of the Party Central Committee;
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.
The candidate members were
N.I. Bukharin - editor of the newspaper Pravda,
G.E. Zinoviev - Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet,
M.I. Kalinin is the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
Worked under the direct control of the Party Central Committee 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 control over the activities of military specialists - former officers. Already at the end of 1918, the Soviet armed forces operated about 7 thousand commissars. Near 30% of former generals and officers of the old army during the Civil War sided with the Red Army.
This was determined by two main factors:
- acting on the side of the Bolshevik government for ideological reasons;
- The policy of attracting “military specialists” - former tsarist officers - to the Red Army was carried out by L.D. Trotsky using repressive methods.
“It is possible that one of the most decisive moments that led to the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War was precisely the widespread participation in the Civil War on the side of the Bolsheviks, and not just “use in the most responsible positions,” and quite conscious participation, and not under compulsion, well-educated and gifted former officers of the tsarist army, which was caused by their patriotic sentiments in conditions when representatives of many foreign countries acted on the side of the anti-Bolshevik forces on a broad front.”
Seriously changed and international situation. Germany and its allies in the world war laid down their arms before the Entente in November. Revolutions took place in Germany and Austria-Hungary. The leadership of the RSFSR annulled the Brest Peace Treaty on November 13, 1918, and the new governments of these countries were forced to evacuate their troops from Russia. In Poland, the Baltic states, Belarus, and Ukraine, bourgeois-national governments arose, 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 it a convenient and short road to Moscow from the southern regions. Under these conditions, the Entente leadership prevailed in the intention to defeat Soviet Russia using its own armies.
In the spring of 1919, Supreme The Entente Council developed a plan for the next military campaign. As noted in one of his secret documents, the intervention was “to be expressed in combined military actions of Russian anti-Bolshevik forces and the armies of neighboring allied states.” At the end of November 1918, a joint Anglo-French squadron of 32 pennants (12 battleships, 10 cruisers and 10 destroyers) appeared off the Black Sea coast of Russia. English 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. The Entente contingents in the Far East and Siberia (up to 150 thousand people), as well as in the North (up to 20 thousand people) increased significantly.
In Siberia on November 18, 1918 he came to power Admiral A.V. Kolchak.. He put an end to the chaotic 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 their submission to him)
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, Kolchak’s troops fought their way to Simbirsk, Samara, Votkinsk, but were soon stopped by the Red Army. At the end of April, Soviet troops under the command of S.S. Kamenev and M.V. The Frunzes went on the offensive and advanced deep into Siberia in the summer. By the beginning of 1920, the Kolchakites were completely defeated, and the admiral himself was arrested and executed by verdict of the Irkutsk Revolutionary Committee.
In the summer of 1919, the center of the armed struggle moved to the Southern Front. July 3 General A.I. Denikin issued his famous “Moscow directive”, and his army
150 thousand people began an offensive along the entire 700-km 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 there were 18 provinces and regions. By mid-autumn, Denikin's army captured Kursk and Orel. But by the end of October, the troops of the Southern Front (commander A.I. Egorov) defeated the white regiments, and then began to press them along the entire front line. The remnants of Denikin’s army, headed by General P.N. in April 1920. Wrangel, strengthened in Crimea.
At the same time as Denikin, the Entente moved an army to Petrograd to help him. General Yudenich. On June 5, 1919, Yudenich was appointed by A.V. Kolchak as commander-in-chief of all Russian land and naval armed forces operating against the Bolsheviks on the North-Western Front
Whites undertook two attacks on Petrograd - in the spring and autumn of 1919. As a result May offensive The Northern Corps occupied Gdov, Yamburg and Pskov, but by August 26, as a result of the Red counter-offensive of the 7th and 15th armies of the Western Front, the Whites were forced out of these cities. Then, on August 26, in Riga, representatives of the White movement, the Baltic countries and Poland decided on joint actions against the Bolsheviks and an attack on Petrograd on September 15. However, after the Soviet government proposed (August 31 and September 11) to begin peace negotiations with the Baltic republics on the basis of recognition of their independence, Yudenich lost the help of these allies.
Autumn offensive Yudenich's attack on Petrograd was unsuccessful, the North-Western Army was forced into Estonia, where after the signing of the Tartu Peace Treaty between the RSFSR and Estonia, 15 thousand soldiers and officers of Yudenich's North-Western Army were first disarmed, and then 5 thousand of them were captured and sent to concentration camps . The slogan of the White movement about “United and indivisible Russia”, that is, non-recognition of separatist regimes, deprived Yudenich of support not only from Estonia, but also from Finland, which never provided any assistance to the North-Western Army in its battles near Petrograd
The war with bourgeois-landlord Poland and the defeat of Wrangel’s troops (IV-XI 1920)
At the beginning of 1920, as a result of military operations, 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 Polish State Marshal Jozef Piłsudski
(Polish military, statesman and political figure, the first head of the revived Polish state, founder of the Polish army; Marshal of Poland.)
hatched a plan to create “ Greater Poland within the borders of 1772” from Baltic Sea to Chernoe, which includes a large part of 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 gave the order to attack Kyiv and signed an agreement with Ataman Petliura,
Poland recognized the Directory headed by Petliura as the supreme authority of Ukraine. For this, S. Petliura transferred the territory of Western Ukraine to Poland.
On May 7, Kyiv was captured. The victory was achieved unusually easily, because the Soviet troops withdrew without serious resistance.
But already on May 14, a successful counter-offensive began by the troops of the Western Front (commander M.N. Tukhachevsky), and on May 26 - by the Southwestern 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 can only be compared with the speed of a previously suffered defeat.
Using harsh measures, including 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, troops were landed from the Crimea on the Don and Kuban, and the main forces of the Wrangel troops were sent to the Donbass. On October 3, the Russian army began its offensive in the northwestern direction towards Kakhovka.
The offensive of Wrangel’s troops was repulsed, and during the operation of the army of the Southern Front under the command of M. V. Frunze
completely captured Crimea. On November 14 - 16, 1920, an armada of ships flying the St. Andrew's flag left the shores of the peninsula, taking 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 fell on Crimea immediately after the evacuation of the whites.
In the European part of Russia, after the capture of Crimea, it was liquidated last white front. The military issue ceased to be the main one for Moscow, but fighting on the outskirts of the country continued for many months.
The defeat of the interventionists and White Guards in Eastern Siberia and in the Far East (1918-1922)
The Red Army, having defeated Kolchak, reached Transbaikalia in the spring of 1920. 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 interventionists. After this, a decision was made to liquidate the Far Eastern Republic and incorporate it into the RSFSR.
The Civil War became the biggest drama of the twentieth century and the greatest tragedy in Russia. The armed struggle that unfolded across the expanses of the country was carried out with extreme tension of the opponents' forces, was accompanied by mass terror (both white and red), and was distinguished by exceptional mutual bitterness. 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.
“Reds” (the 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.” Bolsheviks had a stronger social base than their opponents. They received strong support from urban workers and the rural poor. The position of the main peasant mass was not stable and unambiguous; only the poorest part of the peasants consistently followed the Bolsheviks. The peasants' hesitation had its reasons: the “Reds” gave the land, but then introduced surplus appropriation, which caused strong discontent in the village. However, the return of the previous order was also unacceptable for the peasantry: the victory of the “whites” threatened the return of the land to the landowners and severe punishments for the destruction of the landowners’ estates. The Socialist Revolutionaries and anarchists rushed to take advantage of the hesitations 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.
In the political struggle against Soviet power, two political movements were consolidated:
- democratic counter-revolution with slogans of returning political power to the Constituent Assembly and restoring the gains of the February (1917) Revolution (many Socialist 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 threatened 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 also differences in foreign policy guidelines: some hoped for support from Germany (Ataman Krasnov), others hoped for help from the Entente powers (Denikin, Kolchak, Yudenich). The “Whites” were united by hatred of the Soviet regime and the Bolsheviks, and the desire to preserve a united and indivisible Russia. They did not have a unified political program; the military in the leadership of the “white movement” relegated politicians to the background. There was also no clear coordination of actions between the main “white” groups. The leaders of the Russian counter-revolution competed and fought with each other.
For both warring parties, it was also important what position it would take in the conditions of the civil war. Russian officers. Approximately 40% of the officers of the tsarist army joined the “white movement”, 30% sided with the Soviet regime, 30% avoided participating in the civil war.
The Russian Civil War worsened armed intervention foreign powers. The interventionists carried out active military operations on the territory of the former Russian Empire, occupied some of its regions, helped incite the civil war in the country and contributed to its prolongation. The intervention turned out to be an important factor in the “revolutionary all-Russian unrest” and multiplied the number of victims.
The Bolsheviks won the civil war and repelled foreign intervention. This victory was due to a number of reasons.
- The Bolsheviks managed to mobilize all the country's resources, turn it into a single military camp,
- International solidarity and the help of the proletariat of Europe and the USA were of great importance.
- The policy of the White Guards is the abolition of the Decree on Land, the return of land to the previous owners, reluctance to cooperate with liberal and socialist parties, punitive expeditions, pogroms, mass shootings prisoners - all this caused discontent among the population, even to the point of armed resistance.
- During the civil war, opponents of the Bolsheviks failed to agree on a single program and a single leader of the movement.
There was a civil war terrible tragedy For Russia. By 1921, Russia was literally in ruins. Material damage amounted to more than 50 billion rubles gold . industrial production fell to 4-20 % from the level of 1913.
During the hostilities, mining enterprises in the Donetsk coal basin, Baku oil region, the Urals and Siberia were especially damaged, and many mines and mines were destroyed. Factories shut down due to a lack of fuel and raw materials. Workers were forced to leave the cities and go to the countryside. The overall level of industrial production fell by 7 times . The equipment has not been updated for a long time. Metallurgy produced as much metal as it was smelted under Peter I.
Departed from the former Russian Empire territories of Poland, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Western Ukraine, Belarus, Kars region (in Armenia) and Bessarabia. According to experts, the population in the remaining territories barely reached 135 million people. Losses in these territories as a result of wars, epidemics, emigration, and declining birth rates amounted to:
Losses during the war (table)
The number has increased sharply street children after the First World War and the Civil War. According to one data, in 1921 in Russia there were 4.5 million homeless children, according to others - in 1922 there were 7 million street children
October 27 - 30, 1917 - an unsuccessful attempt by troops loyal to the Provisional Government led by General P.N. Krasnov and A.F. Kerensky recapture Petrograd from the Bolsheviks.
December 2, 1917: the Volunteer Army created by generals Alekseev and Dukhonin occupies Rostov-on-Don.
On February 22, 1918, General Kornilov gave the order to his units to retreat beyond the Don. The beginning of the “Ice March” of the Volunteer Army.
March 9, 1918 - the landing of British infantry from the battleship Gloria in Murmansk. The beginning of foreign intervention against Soviet Russia.
April 13, 1918 - during the assault on Yekaterinodar, the commander and founder of the Volunteer Army, the founder of the “white” movement, General L.G., was killed. Kornilov.
May 29, 1918 - Resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on compulsory recruitment into the Red Army. Previously, it was formed on the basis of military democracy, which presupposed the voluntary principle of enrollment in military service and the election of command personnel. From May 29, Soviet Russia introduced universal military service for workers from 18 to 40 years of age. The election of command personnel is abolished, and the recruitment of old specialists from among former officers and generals into the army begins. In the same year, the main governing structures of the armed forces of Soviet Russia were created: the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, the Defense Council, and the Field Headquarters of the Revolutionary Military Forces. The positions of commanders-in-chief and division staffs are established. A distinctive feature of the new army was the sharp increase in ideological work among military personnel. For this purpose, the Political Directorate of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic was created, and political departments were organized in the armies.
On July 22, 1918, the defense of Tsaritsyn by the Red Army began from the troops of the Don Ataman P.N. Krasnova.
August 6 – The Czechoslovak Corps and the White Guards capture Kazan, where part of Russia’s gold reserves evacuated here by the Bolsheviks falls into their hands. (40 thousand pounds of gold). The gold was transferred to the Committee of the Constituent Assembly, which ordered the transfer of gold reserves to Samara and then to Siberia. There, gold soon fell into the hands of Admiral Kolchak, who captured Omsk in November 1918. By order of the admiral, in May 1919, a complete inventory of the gold reserves was carried out. Valuables with a nominal value of 651532117 rubles 86 kopecks were available. At the end of December, Kolchak, retreating, again transferred the gold under the protection of the Czechoslovak Corps. By agreement with the Reds on February 7, 1920, the Czechs gave up gold in exchange for guarantees to let them through to Vladivostok to be sent home. 18 wagons were transferred. Gold worth 241,906,247 rubles, or 1/3, “evaporated.” According to the most common version, Admiral Kolchak spent this amount on combat operations and maintaining his power.
August 15, 1918 - landing of the 9 thousandth American Expeditionary Force in Vladivostok.
On September 2, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a resolution to turn the country into a military camp. The Revolutionary Military Council is created, headed by Trotsky. The beginning of the "Red Terror". Until the end of 1918, reports of the execution of 50 thousand people were published in the press.
On September 10, 1918, the Red Army captured Kazan - the first major victory of the Reds in the Civil War.
November - December 1918 - the Reds occupy part of the territory of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus.
November 18 – in Omsk A.V. Kolchak, who returned from the USA and was recognized by the Entente as the “supreme ruler of Russia,” overthrows the Ufa Directory and declares himself the supreme ruler of Russia. This draws a line under the democratic counter-revolution, which showed its inconsistency in the fight against Bolshevism, and opens a new page in the history of the fight against Bolshevism - the military-patriotic counter-revolution, expressed through the dictatorship of the military. However, such zealous support for Kolchak by the West alienated other leaders of the white movement from him. The patriotic A. Denikin, N. Yudenich and other generals considered “the supreme ruler of Russia to be just a puppet in the hands of the Entente, who would be able to thank the “Western helpers” with Russian territory. From their point of view, none of the commanders of the white armies had the right to declare themselves “master of the country.” The fate of Russia and the form of government in it were to be decided only by the peoples of the former empire through the elected deputies of the Constituent Assembly.
January 8, 1919 General A.I. Denikin unites under his command the Volunteer Army, Don and Kuban Cossack formations.
On February 5, 1919, the Red Army entered Kyiv. However, in a little over a year she will have to recapture the city again, this time from the Poles. Kyiv was the most unlucky - during the years of the civil war it changed hands 18 times!
August 1919 fall of Soviet power in Lithuania. Units of the Red Army finally leave the territory of the Baltic republics.
October 10 – The Supreme Council of the Entente and the United States declare an economic blockade of Soviet Russia.
October 13 – Denikin’s troops occupied the city of Orel. The last success of the white army in the Moscow campaign.
October – November 1919 – defeat of Yudenich’s troops near Petrograd.
On November 14, 1919, the Red Army captured Kolchak’s capital, the city of Omsk. Liquidation of the largest front of the Civil War - the Eastern.
January 4, 1920 Kolchak renounces his title of Supreme Ruler in favor of Denikin.
January 10 – The Red Army occupied Rostov-on-Don, the center of Denikin’s armed forces in southern Russia.
January 16, 19120 - The Supreme Council of the Entente decided to lift the economic blockade of Soviet Russia.
On March 27, the Red Army captured Novorossiysk. The remnants of Denikin's troops are evacuated to Crimea.
April 25, 1920 - Polish troops went on the offensive to expand the borders of Poland in the east. The beginning of the Soviet-Polish war.
On August 16, 1920, the Red Army under the command of Tukhachevsky was defeated near Warsaw. The victory of the Poles stopped the communist invasion of Europe (Mikhail Tukhachevsky’s army fought 500 km in a month and numbered 55 thousand soldiers against 110 thousand Polish troops). The attempt to “export communism” through bayonets failed. Leon Trotsky's doctrine of “permanent revolution” suffered its first defeat.
On October 12, a truce was concluded with Poland, which retained the western part of Ukraine and Belarus.
On October 14, a peace treaty was signed with Finland. Finland left behind the Karelian Isthmus.
On November 17, 1920, the remnants of Wrangel’s army and refugees totaling 140 thousand people on British ships left the Crimean Peninsula.
On February 25, 1921, the Red Army occupied Tiflis (Tbilisi). Victory of Soviet power in Transcaucasia.
On March 18, 1921, a peace treaty was signed with Poland. The western regions of Belarus and Ukraine were returned to the Poles.
On March 12, 1922, the Transcaucasian Federation was formed - the TSFSR, consisting of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
On October 25, 1922, the Red Army occupied Vladivostok. The generally accepted date for the end of the Russian Civil War.
III. "War communism".
The internal policy of the Bolsheviks from the October Revolution to the spring of 1921 was formed under the influence of three main components:
· Russian historical tradition (active state intervention in the economy;
· emergency conditions of war;
· ideas of socialist theory.
The Bolsheviks, having come to power, not only inherited a destroyed economy, but also state distribution and production under wartime conditions. By 1918, the situation worsened even more, war and famine took their toll. The central regions of the country were cut off from the grain producing regions and in May 1918 a food dictatorship and a system of emergency measures were introduced. All this is superimposed on the so-called “doctrinal syndrome” of socialist theory, according to which the new society was presented in the form of a state - a commune without commodity and monetary relations, replaced by direct product exchange between city and countryside.
By mid-1918, the policy of “war communism” gradually took shape and included the following directions:
* nationalization of industry, including medium and small;
* naturalization of economic relations and prohibition of private trade;
* state centralized distribution of food and goods based on cards and class principles;
* the introduction of universal labor conscription and the militarization of labor;
* abolition of money, free utilities;
* prohibition of land leasing and the use of hired labor in agriculture;
* the policy of “red terror”;
* over-centralization of economic and army management.
Naturally, not all of these measures were fully implemented during the period of “war communism.” Thus, the liquidation of free trade announced by the Bolsheviks only confirmed the vitality of this ancient type of commodity-money relations, which was actually replaced by the spontaneously operating “black market” and railway fraud.
The policy of “war communism” had the most profound and negative impact on the basic methods of managing social and economic development. Forceful methods, transferred from emergency situations, have become the main ones for regulating all aspects of life. Soviet power at that time did not have a clearly defined economic policy; each stage was characterized by a contradictory combination of various trends. Therefore, the economic policy of “war communism” can least of all be considered as an integral economic program. Most likely, this is a set of hasty, forced and emergency measures based on the euphoric basis of socialist theory.
The results of “war communism,” as well as its essence, turned out to be contradictory. In military-political terms, it was successful, as it ensured victory for the Bolsheviks in the civil war. But victory stimulated barracks spirit, militarism, violence and terror. This was not enough for economic success. Industrial production decreased by 7 times compared to 1913, agricultural production by 40%. Coal production was less than a third of the pre-war level, cast iron - 2 times, 31 Railway did not work, trains with bread got stuck on the way. Due to the lack of raw materials and fuel, and labor, most factories and factories were inactive. Gross agricultural output in 1921 was 60% of the 1913 level, the number of livestock and livestock products decreased. Cultivated area decreased by 25% in 1920, and yields decreased by 43%. The crop failure of 1920, the drought of 1921, and famine in the Volga region and the North Caucasus claimed the lives of about 5 million people.
The country lacked soap, kerosene, glass and shoes, bricks and matches. In January 1919, the minimum daily allowance of bread was 50 grams. The price of one ruble fell 800 times. The modest lunch cost several million rubles.
Economic devastation entailed serious social consequences. The population of Russia has decreased by 10.9 million people compared to 1917. The number of industrial workers has halved. Many workers went to the village. The peasantry became more and more active in opposing the surplus appropriation system.
The policy of “war communism” after the end of the Civil War did not meet the interests of the people. A wave of peasant uprisings and anti-Soviet riots swept across the country in Ukraine, Siberia, Central Asia, Tambov, Voronezh and Saratov provinces. The social support of these revolts was the peasantry, dissatisfied with the surplus appropriation system. The military anti-communist mutiny of sailors in Kronstadt was a general political crisis in March 1921, the threat of loss of power forced the Soviet government to realize the inevitability of a turn in politics. Thus, the turn to the new economic policy was carried out under the severe pressure of general discontent in the country in order to normalize internal economic, social and political relations.
Reference table of milestones, dates, events, causes and results civil war in Russia 1917 - 1922. This table is convenient for schoolchildren and applicants to use for self-study, in preparation for tests, exams and the Unified State Exam in history.
The main causes of the civil war:
1. national crisis in the country, which gave rise to irreconcilable contradictions between the main social strata society;
2. socio-economic and anti-religious policy of the Bolsheviks, aimed at inciting hostility in society;
3. attempts by the nobility to regain their lost position in society;
4. psychological factor due to a drop in value human life during the events of the First World War.
The first stage of the civil war (October 1917 - spring 1918)
Key events: the victory of the armed uprising in Petrograd and the overthrow of the Provisional Government, military actions were local in nature, anti-Bolshevik forces used political methods of struggle or created armed formations (Volunteer Army).
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Events of the Civil War |
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The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly takes place in Petrograd. The Bolsheviks, finding themselves in a clear minority (about 175 deputies against 410 Socialist Revolutionaries), leave the hall. |
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By decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Constituent Assembly was dissolved. |
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III All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies. It adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Working and Exploited People and proclaimed the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). |
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Decree on the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. It is organized by L.D. Trotsky, People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, and soon it will become a truly powerful and disciplined army (voluntary recruitment replaced by mandatory military service, dialed a large number of old military specialists, officer elections were cancelled, political commissars appeared in units). |
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Decree on the creation of the Red Fleet. The suicide of Ataman A. Kaledin, who failed to rouse the Don Cossacks to fight the Bolsheviks |
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The volunteer army, after failures on the Don (the loss of Rostov and Novocherkassk), is forced to retreat to the Kuban (“Ice March” by L.G. Kornilov) |
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In Brest-Litovsk, the Brest Peace Treaty was signed between Soviet Russia and the Central European powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary) and Turkey. Under the agreement, Russia loses Poland, Finland, the Baltic states, Ukraine and part of Belarus, and also cedes Kars, Ardahan and Batum to Turkey. In general, losses amount to 1/4 of the population, 1/4 of cultivated land, and about 3/4 of the coal and metallurgical industries. After the signing of the agreement, Trotsky resigned from the post of People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and on April 8. becomes People's Commissar for Naval Affairs. |
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March 6-8. VIII Congress of the Bolshevik Party (emergency), which takes a new name - the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). At the congress, Lenin’s theses against the “left communists” supporting line II were approved. Bukharin to continue the revolutionary war. |
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British landing in Murmansk (initially this landing was planned to repel the offensive of the Germans and their Finnish allies). |
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Moscow becomes the capital of the Soviet state. |
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March 14-16. The IV Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets takes place, ratifying the peace treaty signed in Brest-Litovsk. As a sign of protest, the Left Social Revolutionaries leave the government. |
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Landing of Japanese troops in Vladivostok. The Japanese will be followed by the Americans, British and French. |
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L.G. was killed near Ekaterinodar. Kornilov - he is replaced at the head of the Volunteer Army by A.I. Denikin. |
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II was elected Ataman of the Don Army. Krasnov |
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The People's Commissariat for Food has been given extraordinary powers to use force against peasants who do not want to hand over grain to the state. |
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The Czechoslovak Legion (formed from approximately 50 thousand former prisoners of war who were supposed to be evacuated through Vladivostok) sides with opponents of the Soviet regime. |
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Decree on general mobilization into the Red Army. |
The second stage of the civil war (spring - December 1918)
Key events: the formation of anti-Bolshevik centers and the beginning of active hostilities.
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A Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly was formed in Samara, which included Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. |
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In the villages, committees of the poor (bed committees) were formed, which were tasked with fighting the kulaks. By November 1918, there were more than 100 thousand committees of poor people, but they would soon be dissolved due to numerous cases of abuse of power. |
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The All-Russian Central Executive Committee decides to expel right-wing Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks from the Soviets at all levels for counter-revolutionary activities. |
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Conservatives and monarchists form the Siberian government in Omsk. |
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General nationalization of large industrial enterprises. |
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The beginning of the White offensive against Tsaritsyn. |
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During the congress, the Left SRs attempt a coup in Moscow: J. Blumkin kills the new German ambassador, Count von Mirbach; F. E. Dzerzhinsky, chairman of the Cheka, was arrested. |
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The government suppresses the rebellion with the support of the Latvian riflemen. There are widespread arrests of left Socialist Revolutionaries. The uprising, raised in Yaroslavl by the Socialist-Revolutionary terrorist B. Savinkov, continues until July 21. |
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At the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the first Constitution of the RSFSR was adopted. |
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Landing of Entente troops in Arkhangelsk. Formation of the Government of the North of Russia" led by the old populist N. Tchaikovsky. |
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All “bourgeois newspapers” are banned. |
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White takes Kazan. |
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8-23 Aug. A meeting of anti-Bolshevik parties and organizations is taking place in Ufa, at which the Ufa Directory was created, headed by the Socialist-Revolutionary N. Avksentiev. |
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The murder of the chairman of the Petrograd Cheka M. Uritsky by the Socialist Revolutionary student L. Kanegisser. On the same day, in Moscow, Socialist Revolutionary Fanny Kaplan seriously wounded Lenin. The Soviet government declares that it will respond to “white terror” with “red terror.” |
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Decree of the Council of People's Commissars on the Red Terror. |
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The first major victory of the Red Army: Kazan was captured. |
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Faced with the threat of a White offensive and foreign intervention, the Mensheviks declare their conditional support for the authorities. Their exclusion from the Soviets was canceled on November 30, 1919. |
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In connection with the signing of an armistice between the Allies and defeated Germany, the Soviet government annuls the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty. |
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In Ukraine, a directory was formed headed by S. Petlyura, who overthrows Hetman P. Skoropadsky and on December 14. Occupies Kyiv. |
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The coup in Omsk carried out by Admiral A.V. Kolchak. With the support of the Entente forces, he overthrows the Ufa Directory and declares himself the supreme ruler of Russia. |
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Nationalization of domestic trade. |
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The beginning of the Anglo-French intervention on the Black Sea coast |
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The Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense was created, headed by V.I. Lenin. |
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The beginning of the Red Army's offensive in the Baltic states, which continues until January. 1919. With the support of the RSFSR, ephemeral Soviet regimes are established in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. |
Third stage (January - December 1919)
Key events: The culmination of the Civil War is the equality of forces between the Reds and the Whites, large-scale operations take place on all fronts.
By the beginning of 1919, three main centers of the White movement had formed in the country:
1. troops of Admiral A.V. Kolchak (Ural, Siberia);
2. Armed forces of the South of Russia, General A. I. Denikin (Don region, North Caucasus);
3. troops of General N.N. Yudenich in the Baltic states.
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Formation of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. |
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General A.I. Denikin unites under his command the Volunteer Army and the Don and Kuban Cossack armed formations. |
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Food allocation is introduced: peasants are obliged to hand over surplus grain to the state. |
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American President Wilson proposes to organize a conference on the Princes' Islands with the participation of all warring parties in Russia. White refuses. |
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The Red Army occupies Kyiv (the Ukrainian directorate of Semyon Petlyura accepts the patronage of France). |
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Decree on the transfer of all lands into state ownership and on the transition “from individual forms of land use to partnership forms.” |
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The beginning of the offensive of the troops of Admiral A.V. Kolchak, which are moving towards Simbirsk and Samara. |
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Consumer cooperatives have complete control over the distribution system. |
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The Bolsheviks occupy Odessa. French troops leave the city and also leave Crimea. |
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A decree of the Soviet government created a system of forced labor camps - the beginning of the formation of the Gulag archipelago was laid.” |
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The beginning of the Red Army's counteroffensive against the forces of A.V. Kolchak. |
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The offensive of the white general N.N. Yudenich to Petrograd. It is reflected at the end of June. |
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The beginning of Denikin's offensive in Ukraine and in the direction of the Volga. |
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The Allied Supreme Council provides support for Kolchak on the condition that he establishes democratic rule and recognizes the rights of national minorities. |
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The Red Army knocks out Kolchak's troops from Ufa, who continues to retreat and completely loses the Urals in July - August. |
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Denikin's troops take Kharkov. |
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Denikin launches an attack on Moscow. Kursk (Sept. 20) and Orel (Oct. 13) were taken, and a threat loomed over Tula. |
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The Allies establish an economic blockade of Soviet Russia, which will last until January 1920. |
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The beginning of the Red Army's counteroffensive against Denikin. |
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The counteroffensive of the Red Army pushes Yudenich back to Estonia. |
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The Red Army occupies Omsk, displacing Kolchak's forces. |
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The Red Army drives Denikin's troops out of Kursk |
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The First Cavalry Army was created from two cavalry corps and one rifle division. S. M. Budyonny was appointed commander, K. E. Voroshilov and E. A. Shchadenko were appointed as members of the Revolutionary Military Council. |
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The Supreme Council of the Allies establishes a temporary military border for Poland along the “Curzon Line”. |
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The Red Army recaptures Kharkov (12th) and Kyiv (16th). " |
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L.D. Trotsky declares the need to “militarize the masses.” |
Fourth stage (January - November 1920)
Key events: the superiority of the Reds, the defeat of the White movement in the European part of Russia, and then in the Far East.
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Admiral Kolchak renounces his title as the Supreme Ruler of Russia in favor of Denikin. |
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The Red Army reoccupies Tsaritsyn (3rd), Krasnoyarsk (7th) and Rostov (10th). |
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Decree on the introduction of labor service. |
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Deprived of the support of the Czechoslovak corps, Admiral Kolchak was shot in Irkutsk. |
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February - March. The Bolsheviks again take control of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. |
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The Red Army enters Novorossiysk. Denikin retreats to Crimea, where he transfers power to General P.N. Wrangel (April 4). |
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Formation of the Far Eastern Republic. |
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The beginning of the Soviet-Polish war. The offensive of J. Pilsudski's troops with the aim of expanding the eastern borders of Poland and creating a Polish-Ukrainian federation. |
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The People's Soviet Republic was proclaimed in Khorezm. |
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Establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan. |
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Polish troops occupy Kyiv |
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In the war with Poland, the Soviet counteroffensive began on the Southwestern Front. Zhitomir was taken and Kyiv was taken (June 12). |
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Taking advantage of the war with Poland, Wrangel’s White Army launches an offensive from Crimea to Ukraine. |
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On the Western Front, the offensive of Soviet troops under the command of M. Tukhachevsky unfolds, which approach Warsaw in early August. According to the Bolsheviks, entry into Poland should lead to the establishment of Soviet power there and cause a revolution in Germany. |
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"Miracle on the Vistula": at Wieprze, Polish troops (supported by a Franco-British mission led by General Weygand) go behind the Red Army's rear and win. The Poles liberate Warsaw and go on the offensive. The hopes of the Soviet leaders for revolution in Europe are crumbling. |
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The People's Soviet Republic was proclaimed in Bukhara |
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Armistice and preliminary peace talks with Poland in Riga. |
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In Dorpat, a peace treaty was signed between Finland and the RSFSR (which retains the eastern part of Karelia). |
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The Red Army launches an offensive against Wrangel, crosses Sivash, takes Perekop (November 7-11) and by November 17. occupies the entire Crimea. Allied ships evacuate more than 140 thousand people - civilians and military personnel of the White Army - to Constantinople. |
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The Red Army occupies Crimea completely. |
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Proclamation of the Armenian Soviet Republic. |
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In Riga Soviet Russia and Poland sign the Border Treaty. Ended Soviet-Polish war 1919 -1921 |
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Defensive battles began during the Mongolian operation, defensive (May - June), and then offensive (June - August) actions of the troops of the 5th Soviet Army, the People's Revolutionary Army of the Far Eastern Republic and the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army. |
Results and consequences of the Civil War:
A very severe economic crisis, economic devastation, industrial production falling by 7 times, agricultural production by 2 times; huge demographic losses - during the years of the First World War and the Civil War, about 10 million people died from fighting, famine and epidemics; the final establishment of the Bolshevik dictatorship, while the harsh methods of governing the country during the Civil War began to be considered as completely acceptable for peacetime.
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A source of information: History in tables and diagrams./ Edition 2e, St. Petersburg: 2013.