Russia civil war

Created by: sophie.pilendiram
Created on: 13-04-18 13:05

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Bolshevik Foreign Policy
- Bolsheviks seized power in 1917 - promised "Bread, Peace and land"
  - Once in power Lenin immediately sought peace with the german high command
    - Why did lenin seek peace?
      - Russia's army was badly equipped and had undisciplined troops who where tired of fighting
      - Food shortages made people angry
      - Lenin knew he would not be able to strengthen Bolshevik power in russia whilst fighting a costly war
      - Perhaps - he didn't want to be blamed for war loses like the tsar- maybe he wanted a fresh start for russia + he would win support if he stopped the war
      - Lenin disagreed with the reasons behind the war - he blamed capitalist countries for plunging Europe into a destructive conflict at the expense of the working lower class
      - Vital part of Bolsheviks securing power after 1917 rev
        Historians have suggested that Lenin was confident that any lands/ resources lost to the germans would be restored if german forces where defeated by remaining allied powers
    - Resulted in the loss of a lot of russian land on the german/ Russian border
      - Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 3rd of march 1918
        Gave Germany 3/4 of Russia's coal and iron resources
        
        1/6th of Russian population now under german control
        
        Germans demanded almost 300 million rubles as reparations
        
        Germany insisted of occupying the agricultural heartland of the Ukraine
- This new foreign policy angered the communists gov wartime allies - as they lost the advantage of fighting on two fronts of Germany
  - And lead to suspicion that the capitalist allies already had towards lenin and the bolsheviks
  - "Lenin and Trotsky have committed far more atrocities, of a far worse kind than the kaiser ever did" - Churchill
- Comintern
  - Distrust between Bolsheviks and foreign countries grew during civil war
  - Britain, France, USA provided troops and supplies to white armies
  - lenin set up comintern in response to capitalist countries supporting the whites
  - Comintern = a group set up to encourage opposition groups throughput europe to overthrow their corrupt capitalist gov in favour of communist revolution
  - Lenin did this because he thought russia would be safer if they had other communist countries near by
  - But these revolutions never happened due to fear of political system that preached the elimination of wealthy and ruling classes in favour of working class domination
    - Fears heightened due to secret police of bolsheviks and the murder of the tsar and his family
- Control and Red Terror
  - how did the reds win the civil war?
    - The weakness of the whites
      - made themselves unpopular - they followed policies of intimidation and terror
      - foreign intervention aid the whites was a propaganda win for reds
      - whites didn't have a large population to conscript - many would only fight for their own area
      - geographically spread out - supplies and communication was difficult
      - they didn't control many industrial areas = low supplies
      - weren't popular with workers or peasants
      - there was no white leader (like trotsky) white leaders competed with each other
      - whites didn't share the same aims left wings, monarchists, liberals all disagreed on how to run russia
    - Strengths of the red under leadership of trotsky
      - Trotsky would often kidnap his troops family members and hold them hostage to ensure loyalty
        he told people their entire family would be killed if they did not continue to fight against the whites - which meant less and less soldiers deserted
      - Cheka - newly formed secret police ruled bolshevik held areas - anyone who was thought to be collaborating with the whites was imprisoned or executed without trial
        This became known as the red terror
        July 1914 - execution of the tsar due to the possibility of him reclaiming the throne, white forces approached Yekaterinburg in Siberia - the town the tsar and his family was staying
        countries throughout the world where disgusted by the murder of the tsar and their family
        
        red terror ensured that the population and army where kept under strict control = a key reason reds won civil war
        
        Cheka roamed the country seeking out opponents to the red army and taking grain from peasants to feed the red army
        if peasants objected to grain being taken they where accused of working with the whites
        any soldiers who refused to follow orders where killed
    - Strengths of the reds
      - war communism : led by lenin to tackle economic crisis
      - control of central russia = shorter distances to supply their armies
      - central russia contained most of russias population = more people for conscription
      - had over 5 million soldier due to conscription - whites had only 250000 soldiers
      - control of russias railways and industries = weapons
      - effective propaganda - only the bolsheviks would look after russia
        whites needed foreign intervention = propaganda win
      - trotsky
      - tactical alliances = didn't have to fight everyone at once
  - Civil war
    - Reasons for the civil war
      - huge territorial loses from treaty of breast Litovsk appealed many Russians
      - Nationalist , conservativesand middle/upper classmen had everything to loose from bolsheviks
      - former moderats , mensheviks and some SR's opposed the Bolshevik dictatorship - they had wanted the constituent assembly
      - monarchists wanted to reinstate the tsar
      - bolsheviks made enemies of the chez legion - the 40000 troops who took control of the trans - siberian railway
      - nationalists within the old russian empire wanted to break away from russia
    - Effects of civil war on the bolsheviks
      - Terror tactics to ensure control - once they had captured an enemy area the cheka hunted down any suspected opponents and executed them
        this may have reminded the russians of the oppressive tsar times and the Okrana which would have lost them support
      - Harsh discipline to ensure obedience - red army deserters where shot - if a red army unit retreated one man in every ten was shot
        resentment from troops but ensured everyone was loyal to the red army = wins
      - ideological victories - winning the civil war agains so many opponents made bolshevik party more confident in their rev
      - centralised control - war strengthened bolsheviks belief in highly organised control in a central area
      - Russia under threat - the involvement of former foreign allies made the bolsheviks fear foreign invasion
    - Key event of the civil war
      - Admiral Kolchak led a white army from the east but was beaten by Red army in 1919
      - Red army fought green army made up of peasants and others looking for freedom from gov
      - General Yudenich led a white army from the west and nearly captured petrograd but was defeated by red army october 1919
      - July 16th 1918 tsar and family killed
      - August 30th 1918 lenin shot in the face but recovers
      - September 5-10 1918 Battle of Kazan between the Reds and Whites are allied with the Czechs The Red Army earns another decisive victory
      - November 7th-15th 1920- The Battle of Perekop between the Whites and Reds, leading to another Red victory and the winning of the Civil War
    - Red Terror
      - Red terror was a period of executions and arrests between Sep 1918 and feb 1919
      - established to get rid of suspected threats or opposition to bolshevik party
      - bolsheviks steadily removed individual freedom - lead to a dictatorship
      - Cheka
        Cheka could arrest imprison torture or execute anyone they suspected
        
        grew rapidly in civil war - by 1919 it had 100000 employees
        
        Cheka - bolsheviks secret police
        
        suspected up to 12000 people where executed by cheka between 1918 and 1920
      - Role of red terror
        introduced by lenin after surviving an assassination attempt by an SR Fanya Kaplan
        
        bolsheviks called on workers to report those who made remarks against the soviets these "class enemies" went to prison camps
        
        red terror grew rapidly during cicil war
        when red took control of whites area cheka where sent in to arrest anyone suspected of supporting the whites/ helping them
        
        cheka shot any red army deserters
        
        lasted from 1918 - 1920 but its methods never went away under bolshevik leadership
      - Kronstadt Mutiny
        naval base which guarded Petrograd - their soldiers fought in the feb rev, the july day and the oct rev
        
        28 feb 1921 it was a shock to bolshevik leaders
        
        the sailors where sick of war communism - the way the bolsheviks requisitioned food , the red terror and the lack of freedom
        
        trotsky sent 50000 red army soldiers to take back the base
        
        took until the 17 march for the sailors to be defeated 500 were executed by the cheka
        
        calls for "soviets without bolsheviks"

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Russia civil war

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