Civil war course of events table. Stages of the Civil War

Civil War 1918 – 1920 in Russia: reasons, participants, results.

Civil war is a fierce armed struggle of various social, national and political forces for power within the country.

Causes of the Civil War:

1. a national crisis in the country, which has given rise to irreconcilable contradictions between the main social strata society;

2. features of the socio-economic and anti-religious policy of the Bolsheviks, aimed at inciting hostility in society;

3. the desire of the nobility and bourgeoisie to regain their lost position;

4. The decline in the value of human life during the First World War is a psychological factor.

Specific features Civil War:

1. was accompanied by the intervention of foreign powers who sought to weaken Russia as much as possible;

2. was carried out with extreme cruelty (“red” and “white” terror).

Main events of the Civil War.

First stage (October 1917 - spring 1918): 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).

The second stage (spring - December 1918): the formation of anti-Bolshevik centers and the beginning of active hostilities.

Key dates

March - April- German occupation of Ukraine, the Baltic states and Crimea, in response, the Entente countries decide to send their troops into Russian territory. England lands troops in Murmansk, Japan - in Vladivostok and intervention

May- a rebellion of the Czechoslovak Corps, which consisted of captured Czechs and Slovaks who had gone over to the Entente side and was moving on trains to Vladivostok for transfer to France. The reason for the uprising was the Bolsheviks' attempt to disarm the corps. Results: the simultaneous fall of Soviet power along the entire length of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

June- the creation of a number of Socialist Revolutionary governments: the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly in Samara, the Provisional Siberian Government in Tomsk, the Ural Regional Government in Yekaterinburg.

September- creation of an “all-Russian government” in Ufa - the Ufa Directory.

November- dispersal of the Ufa Directory by Admiral A.V. Kolchak, who declared himself the “supreme ruler of Russia.”

The third stage (January - December 1919) is the culmination of the Civil War: relative equality of forces, large-scale operations on all fronts. By the beginning of 1919, three main center of the White movement:

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.

Key dates

March - April- the general offensive of Kolchak’s troops on Kazan and Moscow, the mobilization of all possible resources by the Bolsheviks.

End of April - December- counter-offensive of the Red Army (S. S. Kamenev, M. V. Frunze, M. N. Tukhachevsky), displacing Kolchak’s troops beyond the Urals and their complete defeat by the end of 1919.

May- June- Yudenich's first attack on Petrograd. Recaptured with difficulty. General offensive of Denikin's troops. Donbass, part of Ukraine, Belgorod, Tsaritsyn were captured.

September - October- the beginning of Denikin’s attack on Moscow (maximum advance - to Orel). The second offensive of General Yudenich’s troops against Petrograd. Counter-offensive of the Red Army against the forces of Denikin (A.I. Egorov, SM. Budyonny) and Yudenich (A.I. Kork).

November- Yudenich's troops were thrown back to Estonia.

Results: By the end of 1919, there was a clear preponderance of forces in favor of the Bolsheviks; in fact, the outcome of the war was a foregone conclusion.

Fourth stage (January - November 1920): defeat of the White movement in the European part of Russia.

Key dates

April - October- Soviet-Polish war. Invasion of Polish troops into Ukraine and capture of Kiev (May). Counter-offensive of the Red Army.

October- Riga Peace Treaty with Poland: Western Ukraine and Western Belarus were transferred to Poland. But due to this, Soviet Russia managed to free up troops for an offensive in Crimea.

November- the offensive of the Red Army in Crimea (M.V. Frunze) and the complete defeat of Wrangel’s troops. The end of the Civil War in the European part of Russia.

Fifth stage (late 1920-1922): defeat of the White movement in Far East.

October 1922- liberation of Vladivostok from the Japanese.

Reasons for the Reds' victory in the war:

They managed to win over the peasantry with a promise to implement the Decree on Land after victory in the war. The white agrarian program provided for the return of seized lands to the landowners;

The absence of a unified command and plans for waging war among the whites. The Reds, on the contrary, had a compact territory, a single leader - Lenin, and uniform plans for conducting military operations;

the unsuccessful national policy of the Whites - the slogan of “united and indivisible Russia” alienated the national outskirts from the White movement, while the slogan of freedom of national self-determination provided the Bolsheviks with their support;

The Whites relied on the help of the Entente, i.e. interventionists, and therefore in the eyes of the population they looked like their accomplices and acted as an anti-national force. For the same reason, almost half of the officers of the tsarist army went over to the Red side as military experts;

The Reds managed to mobilize all resources through politics "war communism" what whites could not do. The main measures of this policy: the introduction of surplus appropriation (essentially, the confiscation of food from peasants for the needs of the army) and universal labor service (i.e., the militarization of labor), the ban on private trade, the nationalization of medium-sized and even small enterprises, and a course towards curtailing commodity-money relations

Consequences of the Civil War:

A severe economic crisis, economic devastation, a decline in industrial production by 7 times, agricultural production by 2 times;

Huge demographic losses - during 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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49. Civil war in Russia: causes, course, results: Reasons civil war in historical literature

World historical theory:Materialistic direction (Kim, Kukushkin Zimin, Rabakov, Fedorov): After the October Socialist Revolution, Soviet power was established throughout the country in a few months, the people began to build a new society on communist principles. The world bourgeoisie, with the aim of restoring the capitalist order, unleashed the Civil War in Russia. The territory of Russia was divided between capitalist countries, and the internal counter-revolution received political, economic, and military assistance from world capitalism.

Liberal direction (Ostrovsky, Utkin, Ionov, Pipes, Kobrin, Skrynnikov): As a result of the coup d'etat, the Bolsheviks seized power, began to liquidate private property and unleashed the Red Terror, which marked the beginning of the Civil War in Russia.

Regarding the beginning of the Civil War, historians of different directions also disagree. Materialist historians date the war from the entry of Entente troops into Russian territory and the emergence of counter-revolutionary armies, i.e. since November 1918. Liberal historians They consider the coming of the Bolsheviks to power to be the beginning of the Civil War - i.e. from October 1917

Causes of the war

The Civil War in Russia was an armed struggle between various groups of the population, which initially had a regional (local) and then acquired a national scale. Among the reasons for the outbreak of the Civil War in Russia were:

changes in the political system in the state;

the Bolsheviks’ refusal of the principles of parliamentarism (dispersal of the Constituent Assembly), other undemocratic measures of the Bolsheviks, which caused discontent not only among the intelligentsia and peasants, but also among the workers.

The economic policy of the Soviet government in the countryside, which led to the actual abolition of the Decree on Land.

The nationalization of all land and the confiscation of the landowners caused fierce resistance from its former owners. The bourgeoisie, frightened by the scale of nationalization of industry, wanted to return factories and factories. The liquidation of commodity-money relations and the establishment of a state monopoly on the distribution of products and goods hit hard the property status of the middle and petty bourgeoisie.

The creation of a one-party political system alienated socialist parties and democratic public organizations from the Bolsheviks.

A feature of the Civil War in Russia was the presence on its territory of a large interventionist group of troops, which led to the prolongation of the war and increased human casualties.

Classes and political parties in the civil war

The armed confrontation between opponents and supporters of Soviet power began from the first days of the revolution. By the summer of 1918, the entire spectrum of political forces opposing the Bolsheviks was divided into three main camps.

The first of them was represented by a coalition of the Russian bourgeoisie, nobility, and political elite with the leading force of the Cadet Party.

The second camp of the so-called “third way” or “democratic counter-revolution” was made up of the Socialist Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks who joined them at various stages, whose activities in practice were expressed in the creation of self-declared governments - Komuch in Samara, the Provisional Siberian Government in Tomsk, etc.

The third political camp was represented mainly by former allies of the Bolsheviks - anarchists and left Socialist Revolutionaries, who found themselves in opposition to the RSDLP (b) after the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty and the suppression of the left Socialist Revolutionary rebellion.

During the Civil War, the leading force in the fight against the Bolsheviks and Soviet power was a powerful military-political force represented by the white movement, whose representatives opposed the Bolsheviks for the salvation of a united and indivisible Russia. The number of white armies was relatively small. The outcome of the Civil War was largely determined by the behavior of the peasantry.

Main stages of the Civil War

First stage: October 1917 - May 1918. During this period, armed clashes were local in nature. After the October uprising, General Kaledin rose to fight the revolution, followed by the overthrown Prime Minister Kerensky, and the Cossack General Krasnov. By the end of 1917, a powerful center of counter-revolution arose in the south of Russia. The Central Rada of Ukraine spoke out against the new government here. A Volunteer Army was formed on the Don (commander-in-chief - Kornilov, after his death - Denikin). In March-April 1918, units of British, American and Japanese (in the Far East) troops landed.

Second stage: May - November 1918. At the end of May, an armed uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps in Siberia began. More than 200 peasant uprisings took place in the summer. Socialist parties, relying on peasant rebel groups, formed a number of governments in the summer of 1918 - Komuch in Samara; Ufa directory. Their programs included demands for the convening of the Constituent Assembly, the restoration of the political rights of citizens, the rejection of one-party dictatorship and strict state regulation economic activity peasants

In November 1918, in Omsk, Admiral Kolchak carried out a coup, as a result of which the provisional governments were dispersed and a military dictatorship was established, under which the whole of Siberia, the Urals, and the Orenburg province came under power.

Third stage: November 1918 - spring 1919. At this stage, the leading force in the fight against the Bolsheviks became the military dictatorial regimes in the East (Kolchak), South (Denikin), North-West (Yudenich) and North of the country (Miller).

By the beginning of 1919, the number of foreign armed forces had grown significantly, which caused a patriotic upsurge in the country, and in the world - a solidarity movement under the slogan “Hands off Soviet Russia!”

Fourth stage: spring 1919 - April 1920- characterized by a combined offensive of anti-Bolshevik forces. From the East, in order to unite with Denikin’s troops for a joint attack on Moscow, Kolchak’s army launched an offensive (the offensive was repelled by the Eastern Front under the command of Kamenev and Frunze), in the north-west, Yudenich’s army carried out military operations against Petrograd.

Simultaneously with the actions of the white armies, peasant uprisings began in the Don, Ukraine, the Urals, and the Volga region. At the end of 1919 - beginning of 1920, under the blows of the Red Army and peasant rebel detachments, Kolchak’s troops were finally defeated. Yudenich was pushed back to Estonia, the remnants of Denikin’s army, led by General Wrangel, fortified themselves in the Crimea.

Fifth stage: May - November 1920. In May 1920, the Red Army entered the war with Poland, trying to capture the capital and create the necessary conditions for the proclamation of Soviet power there. However, this attempt ended in military failure. Under the terms of the Riga Peace Treaty, a significant part of the territory of Ukraine and Belarus went to Poland.

The main event of the final period of the Civil War was the defeat of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, led by General Wrangel. During 1920-1921 With the help of Red Army detachments, the process of Sovietization in Central Asia and Transcaucasia was completed. The civil war ended by the end of 1920, but the peasant war continued.

Reasons for the Bolshevik victory.

The leaders of the white movement canceled the Decree on Land and returned the land to the previous owners. This turned the peasants against them.

The slogan of preserving a “united and indivisible Russia” contradicted the hopes of many peoples for independence.

The reluctance of the leaders of the white movement to cooperate with liberal and socialist parties narrowed its socio-political base.

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. Their actions were poorly coordinated.

The Bolsheviks won the civil war because they managed to mobilize all the country's resources and turn it into a single military camp. The Central Committee of the RCP(b) and the Council of People's Commissars created a politicized Red Army, ready to defend Soviet power. The Bolshevik leadership managed to present itself as a defender of the Fatherland and accuse its opponents of betraying national interests.

International solidarity and the help of the proletariat of Europe and the United States were of great importance, which undermined the unity of action of the Entente powers, weakening the strength of their military onslaught on Bolshevism.

Results of the civil war

The Bolsheviks, during fierce resistance, managed to retain power and, in the fight against the forces of intervention, preserve Russian statehood.

However, the Civil War led to further deterioration economic situation in the country, to complete economic ruin. Material damage amounted to more than 50 billion rubles. gold. Industrial production decreased by 7 times. The transport system was completely paralyzed.

Many segments of the population, forcibly drawn into the war by the warring parties, became its innocent victims. In battles, from hunger, disease and terror, 8 million people died, 2 million people were forced to emigrate. Among them were many representatives of the intellectual elite.

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 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. Distinctive feature new army there was 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 - a military-patriotic counter-revolution, expressed through the dictatorship of the military. At the same time, 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 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 was the most unlucky - during the years of the 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 Poland's borders 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.

Domestic policy The Bolsheviks from the October Revolution to the spring of 1921 were formed under the influence of three basic 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.
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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;

* introduction of universal labor conscription and 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 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 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.

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 End of the civil war on European territory
• 1922, October End of the civil war in the Far East

Civil war and military intervention

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).

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

Currently, various definitions are given, but their essence mainly boils down to the definition of the Civil War as a large-scale armed confrontation, in which, undoubtedly, the issue of power was decided. The seizure of state power in Russia by the Bolsheviks 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 fall of 1917.

General Alekseev, the last chief of staff of the 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.

As A.I. wrote 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 took on a truly front-line, large-scale character in the spring of 1918. Let us highlight three main stages in the 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 begins in the spring of 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 the socialist parties acted as an independent anti-Bolshevik camp with slogans for the return of political power to the Constituent Assembly and the restoration of gains February Revolution. It is this camp that is chronologically ahead of 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 political system"and the liquidation of Soviet power. This direction threatened not only the October, but also the February conquests. Their main political force was the Cadets 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, and the desire to preserve a united and indivisible Russia.

The final stage of the Civil War begins in 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

Nationwide scale armed struggle has acquired from spring 1918 and turned into the greatest disaster, the tragedy of the entire Russian people. In this war there were no right and wrong, no winners and losers. 1918 - 1920 — in these years, the military issue was of decisive importance for the fate of the Soviet government 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 Crimea). In general, the country emerged from the state of civil war in the fall 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 intertwining with anti-Soviet military intervention Entente powers. It was the main factor in prolonging and aggravating the bloody “Russian Troubles.”

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. The 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 influence 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, whose help they used during the occupation of Ukrainian lands, and in April 1918 they put Hetman P.P. in power. Skoropadsky.

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 railway to Vladivostok for subsequent transfer to France.

According to the 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 equipped with weapons to repel armed attacks by counter-revolutionaries.” However, during their movement, their conflicts with local authorities. Since the Czechs and Slovaks had more military weapons than provided for in the agreement, the authorities decided to confiscate them. 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 there were trains with Czechoslovak legionnaires - Soviet power was overthrown. 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 large anti-Soviet peasant uprisings alone).

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. Their programs included demands for the convening of the Constituent Assembly, the restoration of the political rights of all citizens without exception, freedom of trade and the abandonment 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” of workers and capitalists during the denationalization of industrial enterprises and etc.

Thus, the performance of the Czechoslavak corps gave impetus to the formation of a front that 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 the regional government of the Siberian Duma was formed. The breakaway parts of the empire were Transcaucasia, Central Asia The Baltic states had their own national governments. Ukraine was captured by the Germans, Don and Kuban 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 loss of political power from 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 pressure from the Czechoslovaks, who threatened to open the front to the Bolsheviks, they established a unified All-Russian government - the Ufa Directory, headed by the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionaries N.D. Avksentiev and V.M. Zenzinov. Soon the directorate settled in Omsk, where the famous polar explorer and scientist, former commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral A.V., was invited to the post of Minister of War. 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 attack on them (which largely explained the “democratic coloring” initial stage civil war by anti-Soviet forces). 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-producing regions of the North Caucasus from the central regions of Russia, and Ataman A.I. Dutov - to capture Orenburg.

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, a turning point occurs on the main front (Eastern). 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. The attempts of General P.N. were also repelled. Krasnov to take possession of Tsaritsyn, undertaken in July and September 1918.

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

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

Poster "You have signed up to volunteer"

The Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) was allocated as part of the Central Committee to quickly resolve 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 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. Candidates for membership 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.

The Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, headed by L.D., worked under the direct control of the Party Central Committee. 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, there were about 7 thousand commissars in the Soviet armed forces. About 30% of former generals and officers of the old army during the civil war took the side of 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.

War communism

In 1918, the Bolsheviks introduced a system of emergency measures, economic and political, known as “ policy of war communism”. Main 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 June 28, 1918 on nationalization.

The main provisions of this policy:

• nationalization of all industry;
• centralization of economic management;
• ban on private trade;
• curtailment of commodity-money relations;
• food allocation;
• equalization system of remuneration for workers and employees;
• payment in kind for workers and employees;
• free utilities;
• universal labor conscription.

June 11, 1918 were created committees(committees of the poor), which were supposed to seize surplus agricultural products from wealthy peasants. Their actions were supported by units 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 appropriation (Chrestomathy T8 No. 5).

Each region and county had to hand over a set amount of grain and other products (potatoes, honey, butter, eggs, milk). When the delivery quota was met, the village residents received a receipt for the right to purchase industrial goods (fabric, sugar, salt, matches, kerosene).

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

Decree of November 21, 1918 was installed monopoly on domestic trade. Soviet power replaced trade with state distribution. Citizens received products through the People's Commissariat for Food using 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.

In such conditions, the “black market” flourished. The government fought against bag smugglers, prohibiting them from traveling by train.

In the social sphere, the policy of “war communism” was based on the principle “he who does not work, neither shall he eat.” In 1918, labor conscription was introduced for representatives of the former exploiting classes, and in 1920, universal labor conscription.

IN political sphere “War communism” meant the undivided dictatorship of the RCP (b). The activities of other parties (cadets, mensheviks, right and left socialist revolutionaries) were prohibited.

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

The Bolsheviks assigned a special role to mass terror in the victory over the class enemy. 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 took on a state character. Execution on the spot became commonplace.

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

From November 1918, the front-line war entered the stage of confrontation between the Reds and the Whites. The year 1919 was decisive for the Bolsheviks; a reliable and constantly growing Red Army was created. But their opponents, actively supported by their former allies, united among themselves. 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. Leadership of the RSFSR November 13, 1918 canceled, 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, the Supreme Council of the Entente developed a plan for the next military campaign. (Chrestomathy T8 No. 8) 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.

Beginning of foreign military intervention and civil war (February 1918 - March 1919)

In Siberia, on November 18, 1918, Admiral A.V. came to power. 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). 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 a leading role. Miller, in the north-west - General N.N. Yudenich. In the south, the dictatorship of the commander of the Volunteer Army A.I. is strengthening. Denikin, who in January 1919 subjugated the Don Army of General P.N. Krasnov and created the united Armed Forces of southern Russia.

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

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. (Reader T8 No. 7) July 3, General A.I. Denikin issued his famous “Moscow directive”, and his army of 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.

The final stage of the civil war (spring - autumn 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 military operations 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 J. Pilsudski 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 Lithuanian, Belarusian and Ukrainian lands, including those never controlled by Warsaw. The Polish national government was supported by the Entente countries, who 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 Kiev and signed an agreement with Ataman Petliura, Poland recognized the Directory headed by Petliura as the supreme authority of Ukraine. 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.

The war with bourgeois-landlord Poland and the defeat of Wrangel’s troops (IV-XI 1920)

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 passed mainly along the ethnic border of the settlement of Poles.

The Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), having clearly overestimated its own strengths and underestimated the enemy’s, set a new strategic task for the main command of the Red Army: to continue the revolutionary war. V.I. 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 quickly formed - the Provisional Revolutionary Committee consisting of F.E. Dzerzhinsky, F.M. Kona, Yu.Yu. Markhlevsky and others.

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

In October, the warring parties concluded a truce, and in March 1921, a peace treaty. Under its terms, a significant part of the lands in western Ukraine and Belarus went to Poland.

At the height of the Soviet-Polish war, General P.N. took active action in the south. Wrangel. 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., which began on October 28. The Frunzes 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 Red Army, having defeated Kolchak, reached Transbaikalia in the spring of 1920. The Far East was at this time in the hands of Japan. To avoid a collision with it, the government of Soviet Russia promoted 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 defeat of the interventionists and White Guards in Eastern Siberia and the Far East (1918-1922)

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. Here is an excerpt from the memoirs of a participant in the Civil War, talking about soldiers of the Caucasian Front: “Well, son, isn’t it scary for a Russian to beat a Russian?” - the comrades ask the recruit. “At first it’s really kind of awkward,” he answers, “and then, if your heart gets hot, then no, nothing.” These words contain the merciless truth about the fratricidal war, into 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.

“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.”

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 the support of Germany (Ataman Krasnov), others hoped for the help of 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.

In the anti-Soviet anti-Bolshevik camp, some of the political opponents of the Soviets acted under a single Socialist Revolutionary-White Guard flag, while others acted only under the White Guard.

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.

For both warring sides, 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 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.

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 has given rise to irreconcilable contradictions between the main social strata of 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 the decline in the value of 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).

	Events of the Civil War
	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.
	By decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Constituent Assembly was dissolved.
	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).
	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 large number old military specialists, officer elections were cancelled, political commissars appeared in units).
	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
	The volunteer army, after failures on the Don (the loss of Rostov and Novocherkassk), is forced to retreat to Kuban (“Ice March” by L.G. Kornilov)
	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.
	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.
	British landing in Murmansk (initially this landing was planned to repel the offensive of the Germans and their Finnish allies).
	Moscow becomes the capital of the Soviet state.
	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.
	Landing of Japanese troops in Vladivostok. The Japanese will be followed by the Americans, British and French.
	L.G. was killed near Ekaterinodar. Kornilov - he is replaced at the head of the Volunteer Army by A.I. Denikin.
	II was elected Ataman of the Don Army. Krasnov
	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.
	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.
	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.

	A Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly was formed in Samara, which included the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks.
	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.
	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.
	Conservatives and monarchists form the Siberian government in Omsk.
	General nationalization of large industrial enterprises.
	The beginning of the White offensive against Tsaritsyn.
	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.
	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.
	At the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the first Constitution of the RSFSR was adopted.
	Landing of Entente troops in Arkhangelsk. Formation of the Government of the North of Russia" led by the old populist N. Tchaikovsky.
	All “bourgeois newspapers” are banned.
	White takes Kazan.
	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.
	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.”
	Decree of the Council of People's Commissars on the Red Terror.
	The first major victory of the Red Army: Kazan was captured.
	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.
	In connection with the signing of an armistice between the Allies and defeated Germany, the Soviet government annuls the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty.
	In Ukraine, a directory was formed headed by S. Petlyura, who overthrows Hetman P. Skoropadsky and on December 14. Occupies Kyiv.
	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.
	Nationalization of domestic trade.
	The beginning of the Anglo-French intervention on the Black Sea coast
	The Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense was created, headed by V.I. Lenin.
	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.

	Formation of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic.
	General A.I. Denikin unites under his command the Volunteer Army and the Don and Kuban Cossack armed formations.
	Food allocation is introduced: peasants are obliged to hand over surplus grain to the state.
	American President Wilson proposes organizing a conference on the Princes' Islands with the participation of all warring parties in Russia. White refuses.
	The Red Army occupies Kyiv (the Ukrainian directorate of Semyon Petlyura accepts the patronage of France).
	Decree on the transfer of all lands into state ownership and on the transition “from individual forms of land use to partnership forms.”
	The beginning of the offensive of the troops of Admiral A.V. Kolchak, which are moving towards Simbirsk and Samara.
	Consumer cooperatives have complete control over the distribution system.
	The Bolsheviks occupy Odessa. French troops leave the city and also leave Crimea.
	A decree of the Soviet government created a system of forced labor camps - the beginning of the formation of the Gulag archipelago was laid.”
	The beginning of the Red Army's counteroffensive against the forces of A.V. Kolchak.
	The offensive of the white general N.N. Yudenich to Petrograd. It is reflected at the end of June.
	The beginning of Denikin's offensive in Ukraine and in the direction of the Volga.
	The Allied Supreme Council provides support for Kolchak on the condition that he establishes democratic rule and recognizes the rights of national minorities.
	The Red Army drives Kolchak's troops out of Ufa, who continues to retreat and completely loses the Urals in July - August.
	Denikin's troops take Kharkov.
	Denikin launches an attack on Moscow. Kursk (Sept. 20) and Orel (Oct. 13) were taken, and a threat loomed over Tula.
	The Allies establish an economic blockade of Soviet Russia, which will last until January 1920.
	The beginning of the Red Army's counteroffensive against Denikin.
	The counter-offensive of the Red Army pushes Yudenich back to Estonia.
	The Red Army occupies Omsk, displacing Kolchak's forces.
	The Red Army drives Denikin's troops out of Kursk
	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.
	The Supreme Council of the Allies establishes a temporary military border for Poland along the “Curzon Line”.
	The Red Army recaptures Kharkov (12th) and Kyiv (16th). "
	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.

	Admiral Kolchak renounces his title as the Supreme Ruler of Russia in favor of Denikin.
	The Red Army reoccupies Tsaritsyn (3rd), Krasnoyarsk (7th) and Rostov (10th).
	Decree on the introduction of labor service.
	Deprived of the support of the Czechoslovak corps, Admiral Kolchak was shot in Irkutsk.
	February - March. The Bolsheviks again take control of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk.
	The Red Army enters Novorossiysk. Denikin retreats to Crimea, where he transfers power to General P.N. Wrangel (April 4).
	Formation of the Far Eastern Republic.
	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.
	The People's Soviet Republic was proclaimed in Khorezm.
	Establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan.
	Polish troops occupy Kyiv
	In the war with Poland, the Soviet counter-offensive on the South- Western Front. Zhitomir was taken and Kyiv was taken (June 12).
	Taking advantage of the war with Poland, Wrangel’s White Army launches an offensive from Crimea to Ukraine.
	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.
	"Miracle on the Vistula": near 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.
	The People's Soviet Republic was proclaimed in Bukhara
	Armistice and preliminary peace talks with Poland in Riga.
	In Dorpat, a peace treaty was signed between Finland and the RSFSR (which retains the eastern part of Karelia).
	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.
	The Red Army occupies Crimea completely.
	Proclamation of the Armenian Soviet Republic.
	In Riga Soviet Russia and Poland sign the Border Treaty. The Soviet-Polish war of 1919 -1921 ended.
	Defensive battles began during the Mongolian operation, defensive (May - June), and then offensive (June - August) actions of the troops of the 5th Soviet army, 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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Source of information: History in tables and diagrams./ Edition 2e, St. Petersburg: 2013.