Chapter 14 The Civil War
The Civil War was fought right across Russia, involving several different forces. The Reds were the defenders of Lenin, supporters of his revolution. The Whites were a lose collection of anti-Red forces, most of which desired a return to a traditional Tsarist-regime. The Greens were opponents of both the Reds and the Whites and were in favour of a radical alternative to communist style of government. Greens wanted political and economic power handed to local groups of peasants.
Nationalists, such as Finns, Poles, Ukrainians, and Georgians, fought for national independence.
International Aid, several foreign states such as Britain, France, the USA and Japan, had sent troops to Russia to fight alongside the Whites.
Military Opposition to the Communists
Opponent
Reason
Allied Intervention Force(s) in 1918
To overthrow the Communist regime and get Russia back into the First World War
White Armies
Different Reasons:
To return Russia to rule by a monarchy (majority of Whites wanted this) – Tsarist-style government
To establish democratic rule
Green Armies
To create a society based on local organisations of peasants
Left Social Revolutionaries
To create a more open society with major social and economic change to aid the peasants
Opposition to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Nationalist Movements
To gain independence from Russian rule
Outbreak of Civil War, 1918 – Why?
There were three reasons why Civil War broke out in Russia in 1918:
The first reason was that there was bound to be a challenge to the Bolsheviks, who had seized power by a surprise coup d’état. After 1918, their political opponents tried to reverse it. The Bolsheviks had many enemies. One group who wanted to destroy the Bolsheviks were the Social Revolutionaries. At first, they had supported the November Revolution.
elections had been held in November 1917 for a new government – the Assembly – in which the Bolsheviks had won 175 seats...