Vladimir Lenin believed that in the country of the victorious proletariat, the need for a regular army would disappear. In 1917, he wrote the work "State and Revolution", where he advocated the replacement of the regular army with the general armament of the people.

The armament of the people by the end of the First World War was indeed close to universal. True, by no means all the people were ready to defend the “gains of the revolution” with arms in their hands.
At the first clashes "with the cruel revolutionary reality," the idea of ​​a voluntary principle of recruitment into the Red Guard detachments showed its complete unviability.

"The principle of voluntariness" as a factor in inciting civil war

The detachments of the Red Guard, assembled in late 1917 and early 1918 from volunteers, quickly degenerated into semi-bandit or openly bandit formations. Here is how one of the delegates to the VIII Congress of the RCP (b) recalls this period of the formation of the Red Army: “... The best elements were knocked out, died, were captured, and thus a selection of the worst elements was created. These worst elements were joined by those who went to the volunteer army not to fight and die, but went because they were left without work, because they were thrown into the street as a result of a catastrophic breakdown of the entire social order. Finally, just the half-rotten remnants of the old army went there ... ".
It was the "gangster bias" of the first Red Army detachments that provoked the proliferation of the civil war. Suffice it to recall the uprisings of the Don Cossacks in April 1918, outraged by the "revolutionary" lawlessness.

The real birthday of the Red Army

Around the holiday on February 23, many copies broke and breaks. Its supporters say that it was on this day that the “revolutionary consciousness of the working masses” woke up, spurred on by the just published appeal of the Council of People’s Commissars of February 21 “The socialist fatherland is in danger”, as well as the “Appeal of the Military Commander-in-Chief” Nikolai Krylenko, which ended with the words : “All to arms. All in defense of the revolution." IN major cities Central Russia, primarily in Petrograd and Moscow, rallies were held, after which thousands of volunteers signed up for the Red Army. With their help, in March 1918, with difficulty, it was possible to stop the advance of small German units approximately on the line of the modern Russian-Estonian border.

On January 15 (28), 1918, the Council of People's Commissars Soviet Russia issued a Decree on the creation of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (published on January 20 (February 2), 1918). However, it seems that April 22, 1918 can be considered the real birthday of the Red Army. On this day, by the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee "On the procedure for filling positions in the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army" election commanders has been cancelled. The commanders of individual units, brigades, divisions began to be appointed by the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs, and the commanders of battalions, companies and platoons were recommended for positions by local military registration and enlistment offices.

The Bolsheviks in the construction of the Red Army once again demonstrated the skillful use of "double standards". If in order to destroy and demoralize the tsarist army, they welcomed its “democratization” in every possible way, then the aforementioned decree returned the Red Army to the “vertical of power”, without which not a single combat-ready army in the world can exist.

From Democracy to Decimation

Leon Trotsky played an important role in the formation of the Red Army. It was he who headed for the construction of the army on traditional principles: unity of command, the restoration of the death penalty, mobilization, the restoration of insignia, uniform uniforms and even military parades, the first of which took place on May 1, 1918 in Moscow, on the Khodynka field. an important step began the struggle against the "military anarchism" of the first months of the existence of the Red Army. For example, executions for desertion were restored. By the end of 1918, the power of the military committees was reduced to nothing.
People's Commissar Trotsky, by his personal example, showed the red commanders how to restore discipline. On August 10, 1918, he arrived in Sviyazhsk to take part in the battles for Kazan. When the 2nd Petrograd Regiment arbitrarily fled from the battlefield, Trotsky applied the ancient Roman ritual of decimation to deserters (execution of every tenth by lot). On August 31, Trotsky personally shot 20 people from among the unauthorized retreating units of the 5th Army.
With the filing of Trotsky, by a decree of July 29, the entire population of the country liable for military service between the ages of 18 and 40 was registered and military horse duty was established. This made it possible to sharply increase the size of the armed forces. In September 1918, about half a million people were already in the ranks of the Red Army - more than two times more than 5 months ago.
By 1920, the number of the Red Army was already more than 5.5 million people.

Commissioners are the key to success

The sharp increase in the number of the Red Army led to the fact that an acute shortage of competent, trained military commanders began to be felt. According to various sources, from 2 to 8 thousand former "tsarist officers" voluntarily joined the ranks of the Red Army. This was clearly not enough. Therefore, in relation to the most suspicious social group from the point of view of the Bolsheviks, they also had to resort to the method of mobilization. However, he will rely entirely on the "military experts", as officers began to be called. Imperial Army they couldn't. This is also why the institute of commissars was introduced in the troops, who looked after the "former".
This step played perhaps the main role in the outcome of the Civil War. It was the commissars, who were all members of the RCP(b), who undertook political work both with the troops and with the population. Relying on a powerful propaganda apparatus, they intelligibly explained to the fighters why it was necessary to fight for Soviet power "to the last drop of workers' and peasants' blood." While explaining the goals of the "whites", as an additional burden fell on the officers, who had mostly purely military education and were completely unprepared for such work. Therefore, not only ordinary White Guards, but also the officers themselves often did not have a clear idea of ​​what they were fighting for.

The Reds defeated the Whites more by numbers than skill. So, even in the most difficult period for the Bolsheviks at the end of summer - in the autumn of 1919, when the fate of the first in the world Soviet Republic hung in the balance, the number of the Red Army exceeded the combined strength of all the white armies for that period, according to various sources, from 1.5 to 3 times.
One of the outstanding phenomena in the history of military art was the legendary red cavalry. At first, a clear advantage in the cavalry was for the whites, for whom, as you know, the majority of the Cossacks spoke. In addition, the South and South-East of Russia (territories where horse breeding was traditionally developed) were cut off from the Bolsheviks. But gradually, from separate red cavalry regiments and cavalry detachments, a transition began to the formation of brigades, and then divisions. So, a small cavalry partisan detachment of Semyon Budyonny, created in February 1918, grew within a year to a consolidated cavalry division of the Tsaritsyn Front, and then to the First Cavalry Army, which played an important, and, according to some historians, a decisive role in the defeat of Denikin's army . During the years of the Civil War, in individual operations, the red cavalry accounted for up to half of the total number of troops involved in the Red Army. Often horse attacks were supported by powerful machine gun fire from carts.

The success of the combat operations of the Soviet cavalry during the years of the Civil War was facilitated by the vastness of the theaters of operations, the stretching of the opposing armies on broad fronts, the presence of gaps that were poorly covered or not at all occupied by troops, which were used by cavalry formations to reach the enemy’s flanks and carry out deep raids in his rear. Under these conditions, the cavalry could fully realize its combat properties and capabilities: mobility, surprise attacks, speed and decisiveness of actions.

The Red Army, created by the Bolsheviks, was formed to defend the new state from imperialist intervention. The revolution that broke out in the Russian Empire and subsequent events led to the collapse of the old tsarist army that had existed since the time of Peter the Great. From its wreckage, the parties participating in the Civil War tried to put together their "new" armed forces. Only the Bolsheviks-Communists managed to do this, who created an army that won not only a civilian, but also the most bloody and cruel in the history of mankind - the Second world war.

Reasons for the creation of the Red Army

The Bolsheviks, who came to power as a result of the October uprising of 1917, seized it with the help of Red Guard detachments, which consisted mainly of Bolshevik workers and the most revolutionary-minded soldiers and sailors. Considering the old tsarist army "bourgeois", the Bolsheviks wanted to abandon the old system, and at first they were going to build a new type of "revolutionary" army based on voluntary principles. The history of the Red Army is full of heroic events, its formation is the creation of a powerful army that has never been seen before in the world.

According to Marxist doctrine, in society, instead of a regular army - "a tool for the oppression of the working people by the bourgeoisie", there should have been only "universal arming of the people." This new "people's revolutionary" army was opposed to the "bourgeois" regular armies capitalist countries of the West. But this utopian statement did not justify itself in the critical conditions of post-revolutionary Russia.

12/16/1917 a decree on the abolition of officer ranks. Now the subordinates themselves chose their commanders. According to the plan of the party leadership, such an army was to become truly "people's". However, inflamed by the spring of 1918 Civil War and the ensuing armed intervention of the Entente countries showed the complete utopian nature of these plans and forced the army to be built, as before, on the principles of unity of command and centralized control and command.

Creation of a new army

Already at the beginning of 1918, it became clear to the leadership of the Bolsheviks that the victory, in the conditions of the flaring full-scale war, would be won by the one who would have a strong, well-organized and ideologically welded army. Red Guard detachments were often unreliable and uncontrollable, as many who served in them were guided by revolutionary chaos and general confusion, as well as their own political views, which could change at any time.

The position of the newly victorious Soviet Power was very unstable. Under these conditions, a new type of army was required. January 15, 1918 V.I. Lenin signs a decree on the formation of the Red Army (Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army). The newly created Red Army was built on the principle of class struggle - the struggle of "the oppressed against the oppressors."

Structure

The headquarters of the Supreme Military Council was created on the basis of the old General Headquarters, and subsequently the Field Headquarters of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic was created on the basis of the headquarters. It was headed by the tsarist staff generals Bonch-Bruevich M.D., Rattel N.I., Kostyaev F.V., Lebedev P.P.

In September, by a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, initiated by L. Trotsky and Ya. Trotsky was appointed chairman of the RVSR. Danishevsky K.Kh., Kobozev P.A., Mekhnoshin K.A., Raskolnikov F.F., Rozengolts A.P., Smirnov I.N. were elected members of the council. and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. This post was introduced in September 1918, the first commander-in-chief was colonel of the tsarist army I.I. Vatsetis, in July 1919 Colonel S.S. was appointed. Kamenev.

The Council of People's Commissars (SNK) was declared the governing body of the army. Direct control and leadership is entrusted to the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs, to the Supreme Military Council (VVS) created under it. Nikolai Podvoisky (1880-1948) was the first people's commissar for military affairs. He was elected in November 1917. In March 1918, Lev Trotsky (1879-1940), one of the outstanding organizers of Soviet power, became People's Commissar. It was he who was the chairman of the RVSR in the difficult time of the Civil War, and his contribution to the formation of the Red Army is colossal.

Development of the Red Army

Following the signing Brest Peace, the formation of the Red Army went at an accelerated pace. Despite the onerous conditions for Russia under this agreement, the Bolsheviks needed time to organize the army. They were not capable of fighting on two fronts, and they were clearly aware of this. On April 22, 1918, the Supreme Military Council canceled the election of commanders. This was a very important step in strengthening the Red Army and involving military personnel, most of whom were officers of the tsarist army.

The commanders of units, brigades, and divisions were now appointed by the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs. In the spring of 1918, the Air Force makes a decision that determines the main military unit, it becomes a division. The states of all formations, units are approved. Work was completed on the plan to create a million-strong army. With the accumulation of combat experience, especially after the mass recruitment of former officers - "military experts" into the ranks of the army, the formation of full-fledged military formations and institutions proceeded at an accelerated pace.

In November 1918, the RVSR order on conscription was published. All former chief officers under the age of 50, staff officers under 55 and generals under 60 were subject to it.

More than 50,000 military specialists joined the Red Army. The leadership of the Republic was also intensively engaged in the training of new specialists for the Red Army. Vseobuch was established - a structure for military training of citizens of the Republic. A system of military educational institutions was deployed. They trained cadres of red commanders. The Civil War put forward such commanders as M. Frunze, K. Voroshilov, S. Budyonny, V. Chapaev, V. Blucher, G. Kotovsky, I. Yakir and others.

Party political apparatus

The party-political apparatus of the Red Army was actively formed. In the spring of 1918, the so-called institute of commissars was formed to organize control of the party and restore order in the units. According to the documents, 2 commissars were supposed to be in all units, headquarters and institutions. The controlling body was the Bureau of Military Commissars, created under the RVSR. It was headed by K.K. Yurenev.

Bodies of local military administration

In parallel with this, the creation of local military administration bodies, including military districts, as well as military commissariats - district, provincial, district and volost. When forming the district system, the headquarters and institutions of the old army were used. For 1918-1920 27 military districts were re-created or reconstructed. The district system played an outstanding role in the creation of the Red Army, significantly increasing its mobilization and organizational capabilities.

Strengthening the army

All these measures have yielded positive results. During 1918-1920. the army grew steadily stronger. If in September 1918 the Bolsheviks could advance up to 30 combat-ready divisions, then in September 1919 their number was 62. If at the beginning of 1919 3 cavalry divisions were formed in the Red Army, then in 1920 already - 22.

The army grew not only in numbers, but with the accumulation of experience, the combat capabilities of the Red Army also grew, the level of planning and organization of military operations increased. During the Civil War, 33 regular armies were formed, of which 2 were cavalry. On the fronts there were 85 rifle divisions, 39 rifle brigades, 27 cavalry divisions and 7 cavalry brigades.

Formation of the White Army

The first baptism of fire part of the young Red Army took in February 1918, during the advance of the Germans on Petrograd. In general, the situation for the Bolsheviks was very difficult. On the Don, in the Cossack lands, as a result of the struggle for power, A.M. was elected ataman. Kaledin is an ardent opponent of Soviet power. In the same place on the Don, a group of former tsarist generals, which included Alekseev M.V., Kornilov P.G., Denikin A.I., Markov S.L., the formation of the White Volunteer Army began. The above-mentioned generals did not accept the power of the Soviets and could not come to terms with the signing of the "obscene" Brest peace treaty.

Military-political situation

This led to the occupation by German troops of vast territories of the former tsarist Russia(Ukraine, Belarus, Crimea, Baltic States, part of the South of Russia). In addition, in the spring of 1918, under the pretext of "protection from Germany", an armed intervention of the Entente countries began, in March 1918 the British occupied Arkhangelsk, in June - Murmansk, under the cover of British troops in the North, a white government was formed, which began the formation of the "Slavic-British Legion" , and the so-called "Murmansk Volunteer Army".

May 1918 was marked by the rebellion of the Czechoslovak Corps. It is considered to be the beginning of the Civil War. As a result of this rebellion, Soviet power was suppressed for vast territories from the Volga to Vladivostok. The SR-Menshevik Komuch (committee of members of the Constituent Assembly) was formed in Samara, the government of the Ufa directory arose in Siberia, which was overthrown in November by Admiral A.V. Kolchak.

The fighting of the Red Army, years 1918 - 1919

However, despite all their weakness and lack of organization, units of the young Red Army were able to keep Petrograd and Moscow, as well as part of the most important industrial regions.

1919 was the most critical moment for Soviet power. The "white flood" began. Three white armies are being formed, which have become the main ones in the white movement:

• Volunteer army, created in the South of Russia, commanded by L. Kornilov, and after his death A. Denikin.
• Army of A. Kolchak in Siberia. It is he who is proclaimed the Supreme Ruler of Russia.
• N. Yudenich's army was formed in the North-West.

Kolchak's troops crossed the Urals and almost reached the Volga. Denikin's volunteer army occupied Kyiv. In the autumn of 1919 Oryol fell. Yudenich's troops reached the near approaches to Petrograd. It seemed that everything was over for the Bolsheviks, but the Red Army managed to stop the big offensive of the White armies at the end of 1919.

The troops of the Eastern Front, under the command of the talented nugget commander M. Frunze, defeated Kolchak's armies, threw them back beyond the Urals and went on the offensive. The Red Army entered Siberia. Yudenich's army was defeated and retreated to the territory of the Baltic states. On the Southern Front, the Red Army, reinforced by the First Cavalry Army, commanded by the legendary commander S. Budyonny, defeated the Volunteer Army and forced it to retreat.

Red Army victories, years 1920 -1921

Truly, 1920 was the year of the "red flood". The Red Army was victorious on all fronts. In January, Admiral A. Kolchak was arrested and shot in Irkutsk, and a large-scale retreat of the Volunteer Army began. The Red Army occupies Rostov-on-Don, Odessa was occupied on February 8, Novorossiysk fell on March 27. In February 1920, after the departure of the Entente troops, the Northern Region was occupied by the Red Army - Arkhangelsk and Murmansk again passed to the Reds.

The Red Army managed to repel the offensive Polish invaders during the Soviet-Polish war that broke out in 1919-1921. However, further offensive actions aimed at capturing Warsaw were unsuccessful and ended in disaster. Peace was signed with Poland, according to which she received the Western regions of Ukraine and Belarus.

The last attempt to destroy Soviet power was made by Baron P. Wrangel in the summer of 1920. Taking advantage of the fact that the main forces of the Red Army are engaged in a war with Poland, the White Guard Armed Forces of the South of Russia struck from the Crimea, hoping to connect with the Polish army and cut off the South of Russia from the RSFSR.

However, these plans failed, the Red Army, under the command of M. Frunze, urgently called from Turkestan, stopped the advance of the Whites. Then she threw them back to the Crimea. On October 28, 1920, the Bolshevik army launched an offensive against the Crimea, forcing the Sivash and breaking through the defenses of the White troops.

The Red Army occupied Simferopol and Sevastopol, forcing the remnants of the White troops to hastily evacuate. By the end of 1922, units of the Red Army, commanded by V. Blucher, occupied Vladivostok. The bloody and bitter Civil War was over.

Afterword

The myth that the Bolsheviks who came to power were a bunch of adventurers, corrupt German recruited agents is a lie designed to denigrate our history, once again present our people as brainless sheep. The people have made their choice. The victory of the Red Army was a natural event in the development of the country. Not all officers ran to the Don to Baron Wrangel or to Siberia to Admiral Kolchak.

Their reasons for this were different. Someone stayed due to some circumstances, but the majority, having swallowed the shame in the Russian-Japanese and World War I, faced with the decay of the ruling army elite, did not want to restore the monarchy, save the mediocre Provisional Government. They remained with their people, not always understanding them and not sharing many of the views of the Bolsheviks. Helped build new army. Trained red commanders. It was thanks to them that a powerful army was created in a short time, capable of repelling the White Army and the Entente interventionists.

The leadership of the formation of the Red Army, on the part of the Bolsheviks, was headed by talented organizers and leaders who accurately represented the goals of the tasks assigned to him to create an army capable of repelling anyone who encroached on the gains of the revolution. There were no military personnel among them, but outstanding personalities, faced with the need to build a new army, managed to organize work in the shortest possible time in such a way that the result was simply stunning not only for the White Army, but for the whole world.

The 20th century for Russia was a time of upheavals and cardinal changes caused by the fall of the era of autocracy, the rise of the Bolshevik party on the political Olympus, participation in a bloody fratricidal war, of course, one should not forget about the two world wars that became a difficult test for the state, especially World War II. We should not, of course, forget about what tense relations were between the USSR and the USA, enclosed in the framework of the Cold War, perestroika, the fall of the great USSR.

The phenomenon of the Civil War

Modern academia everyone is plagued by doubts and contradictions when it comes to the Civil War in Russia. Historians still cannot agree among themselves and conclude the past war period within a certain time frame, as a result of which the dates (tentative) for such an event are such dates as October 25, 1917 to July 16, 1923.

This event is essentially a series of armed conflicts that took place between various state entities and groups divided in turn along ethnic, social and political lines. The war was formed from conflicts on the territory of the former Russian Empire by that time during the coming to power of the Bolshevik party in October 1917.

The civil war was the final result of the crisis that arose in the course of revolutionary actions. This event is not only the result of political contradictions: the life of the common people in Russia has always been overshadowed by a plight of distress, the people were brought to the extreme by the tsarist regime, class inequality, and participation in the First World War.

Transformations in the state could not pass without a trace, against the backdrop of a change of power and the establishment of new orders and rules, there must have been people who were not at all satisfied with the innovations, they showed with their whole appearance that the former life was closer to them in spirit than the Soviet cardinal transformations.

Causes

Just as scientists do not have accurate information relating to a specific chronology of hostilities, so there is also no consensus on the causes that influence the incitement of hostilities.

However, many historians are inclined to believe that the war could have arisen due to:

1. Dispersal by the Bolsheviks of Kerensky and his supporters (members of the Constituent Assembly). The tsarist regime was overthrown, a new government was already established in its place, which the Bolsheviks hurried to overthrow, of course, such a course of events could lead to such actions. The old nobility instantly began to appear, which was true to the ideals of the imperial family, they dreamed of restoring the former regime and expelling Lenin and his associates from the state with their forcibly imposed new ideals.
2. The aspirations of the new owners of Russia (the Bolsheviks) by all means to hold on to their new position. Naturally, the adherents of Lenin's teachings wanted to take root firmly in the field they occupied, so they tried, as best they could, to propagate the Soviet teaching, accompanying it with various slogans. These people, for their bright ideas, were ready to kill their enemies, so that socialism could come.
3. Willingness to fight white and red. In the Civil War, both opposing camps had a huge number of supporters who tried to achieve ideal conditions for their existence.
4. Nationalization of enterprises, food, banks, business sphere. Under the tsarist regime, many people lived freely, this applies to breeders, manufacturers, merchants (especially the 1st guild). In an instant, the oxygen of their labor activity is blocked for them, these people, of course, did not put up with the new regime, they sharply criticized Bolshevism.
5. Distribution of land to the poor and disadvantaged. Although the serfs were abolished in the 19th century, few peasants had their own land, they continued to work for the masters. Lenin ordered that land from rich people be actively confiscated and distributed to those in dire need. Against this background, state farms and collective farms began to form, which also began to include the selected land. The agrarian question could be that very sharp stumbling block between the Bolsheviks and their opponents and lead to civil war, since it was closely connected with the dispossession of wealthy peasants and landowners.
6. The signing of the humiliating Brest peace, which did not suit the population Russian Empire(lost a lot of land).

Stages of hostilities

Traditionally, the Civil War is usually divided into 3 stages, enclosed in a certain chronological framework.

• October 1917 - November 1918. This stage began even when the entire civilized world took a direct part in the First World War with might and main. In this time period, the formation of the opposing forces and the formation of the main fronts of armed clashes between them took place. As soon as the Bolsheviks were at the helm of the government ship, the opposition immediately arose in opposition to the party in the person of the White Guards, whose ranks included officers, clergy, Cossacks, landowners and other other wealthy people who, for personal reasons, did not want to voluntarily part with money funds and property.
  Since this stage was associated with the actions taking place in Europe, then clearly an event of this magnitude simply could not rivet the views of the members of the Entente and the Triple Alliance.
  The Civil War itself began with a confrontation between the ruling new political regime old in the form of local skirmishes, which eventually developed into theaters of war.
• November 1918 - end of March / beginning of April 1920. In this time period, the most important, and at the same time the most significant, battles took place between the worker-peasant red army and the White Guard movement. The First World War is over, the Russian troops are returning to their homeland, where a new event awaits them - the war is already civil.
  Initially, fortune showed its favor and sympathy to the whites, and then she liked the reds, who by the end of the second stage of hostilities were able to spread almost throughout the entire territory of the state.
• March 1920 - October 1922. The struggle at this stage is already taking place on the very outskirts of the country. From this moment on, the establishment of Soviet power takes place everywhere, from now on this political order nothing threatens.

The main defendants in the hostilities: reds against whites

Many people, of course, know who the "Reds" are, and who the "Whites" are, and what the Civil War itself was like.

Where did these two politicized camps opposing each other come from: In fact, everything is very simple: whites are adherents of the old regime, faithful servants of the monarchy, terrible owners of land and all kinds of wealth that are so necessary for ordinary people, and reds are, in essence, and there is the simple people themselves, the workers, the Bolshevik deputies, the peasants. Such information is available in every history textbook, regardless of who is the author. study guide, and a lot of films were made on this topic in the old days.

In fact, the White Guards were not monarchists as such. Emperor Nicholas II had already abdicated from the throne, his brother Mikhail refused the bequeathed throne himself, so that the entire White Guard movement, which once had a military obligation to the royal family, was deprived of it, because there was no one to swear allegiance to. Due to the fact that the officers and the Cossacks were released from the oath, in fact, although they supported the monarchy, they were opponents of the Bolshevik system and fought first of all for their own property, and only then for the idea.

The color difference is also very interesting fact that took place in history. The Bolsheviks really had a red banner, and their army was called red, but the White Guards did not have a white flag, only the uniform corresponded to the name.

Great revolutionary events have already shaken the world before, what is only worth the French Bourgeois. It was then that the supporters of the king dragged a white cloth around them, symbolizing the flag of the monarch. The opposing force, which consisted of the bourgeoisie, the peasantry, the simple plebs, having captured some object, having previously recaptured it from the French military, the supporters of the revolution hung a red canvas under the window, indicating that this building was already occupied.

Here, according to such a similar analogy, it is customary to distinguish between the two opposing forces that operated in Russia during the Civil War.

In fact, the Bolshevik political machine was opposed by supporters of the Provisional Government, wealthy people, and other political parties represented by anarchists, democrats, socialist-revolutionaries, and cadets.

The term "white" was applied to the main enemy of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War.

History of hostilities

In February 1917, the Provisional Committee was formed on the basis of the State Duma and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers and soldiers' deputies. The simultaneous appearance on the political arena of the state of two powerful government forces could only signify a fierce confrontation in the form of dual power.

The following events took place as follows: on March 2, the emperor abdicates the throne under pressure, and his brother Michael, to whom power was supposed to come as a result of a personal decision (of course, under pressure from certain people), also did not show much interest in the throne and hastened to give it up.

The Provisional Committee, together with the executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet, is in a hurry to form the Provisional Government, which was supposed to concentrate the reins of government in its hands.

Alexander Kerensky tried to take his firm place in the political arena, trying to ban the activities of the Bolshevik Party. Naturally, Ilyich's associates did not tolerate such an attitude towards themselves and began to rapidly develop a plan to disperse the Provisional Government. As soon as the Bolsheviks began their movements, in the South of Russia, a White Guard army began to form in opposition to them, led by the famous officer Lavr Kornilov, an infantry general.

Czechoslovaks

The uprising at the first stage of the war of the Czechoslovak Corps became the starting point of paramilitary actions directed against Bolshevism.

Poor Czechoslovaks, dispersed almost along the entire Trans-Siberian Railway, peacefully headed for Far East so that from there they could go to France to fight the Triple Alliance. However, they could not get there without problems. Foreign Minister GV Chicherin, under pressure from the German government, was forced to stop the legionnaires' journey. Those, in turn, decided that the Russian government, instead of the promised shipment, would begin to extradite them to the enemy. The fate of this nature, of course, did not appeal to the Czechoslovaks, they responded to such a decision with an uprising, subsequently undermining the Bolshevik authority. The actions of the legionnaires led to the formation of opposition organizations for the Bolsheviks (the Provisional Siberian Government and so on).

War history

This event is a confrontation between one political force and another. A huge number of people were involved on the sides of both opponents, talented military leaders ruled both armies.

The outcome of these battles could be absolutely anything: up to the victory of the White Guards and the possible establishment of a monarchist system. However, the Bolsheviks won, and new orders began to be established in the state.

Reasons for victory

A huge number of Soviet historians were inclined to believe that the Bolsheviks were able to win because they were actively supported by the oppressed classes who were trying to find their place in society.

Despite the fact that there were also quite a considerable number of White Guards, their fate turned out to be extremely sad. All the same simple people opposed the landowners, the rich and the usurpers, who only yesterday mocked the peasants and the working class, forcing them to work to the fullest for meager wages. Therefore, in the territories occupied by the whites, for the most part they were met as enemies, they tried with all their might to expel the whites from the occupied territories.

The White Guards did not have a single discipline in the army, there was no chief leader of the army. Generals fought with their troops throughout Russian territory, defending, first of all, with their soldiers their personal interests.

The Red Army soldiers, on the other hand, went into battle with a clearly defined goal, they fought for common views and ideas, defending the rights not of a single person, but of the entire oppressed and disadvantaged people.

Consequences of the war

The civil war in Russia was a very difficult test for people. In many sources, historians call it "fratricidal". Indeed, hostilities seized people in such a way that adherents of both the Bolsheviks and the White Guards could be in the same family, then often the brother went against the brother, and the father against the son.

The war claimed a large number of human lives, it also caused the destruction of the economic system in the state. People from the cities began to return en masse to the villages, trying to survive and not die of starvation.

Red and white terror

One has only to watch a few films about the Civil War, so one can immediately draw the following conclusion from their plot: the Red Army is the true defenders of their Motherland, they are fighters for a brighter future, led into battle by S. M. Budyonny, V. K. Blucher, M V. Frunze and other commanders, and all that sort of thing, but the White Guards, on the contrary, are extremely negative heroes, they live on old remnants, trying to plunge the state into the darkness of the monarchy, and so on.

"White Terror" national history It is customary to name a number of measures aimed at suppressing the activities of the Bolshevik Party, it includes repressed legislative acts and radical measures, which in turn were aimed at:

• representatives of the Soviet government,
• people who sympathize with the Bolsheviks.

In modern Russian historiography there is the concept of "white terror", but in fact this phrase is not even a stable term in its essence. The White Terror is a collective image, it was used by the Bolsheviks to refer to the White Guard policy.

Yes, in the White Guard army, although fragmented (since there was no single commander in chief), there were cruel measures to combat the enemy.

1. Revolutionary political sentiments had to be destroyed in the bud.
2. The Bolshevik underground and, together with them, representatives of the partisan movement were to be killed.
3. The exact same fate was suffered by people who served in the ranks of the Red Army.

However, in fact, the White Guards were not such cruel people, or rather, the degree of their cruelty is comparable to the cruelty of the Red Army soldiers and their leaders.

And L. G. Kornilov, and A. D. Denikin, and A. V. Kolchak tried to establish a strict discipline in the armies of their subordinates, which did not tolerate any deviations from the regulations established by them - violations were often punished by death.

The Red Terror is no less cruel policy of the now Bolsheviks, aimed at destroying the enemy. What is worth only the execution royal family in July 1918. Then not only members of the royal family were brutally killed, but also their faithful servants, who wished to remain near their masters and share their fate.

The Bolsheviks who came to power denied religion, which a large number time was an integral part of the state. With the advent of Bolshevism, religion ceased to be quoted in human society, almost all clergy were persecuted and repressed by new government. Clubs, reading rooms, libraries, Komsomol headquarters began to be arranged in the buildings of churches and temples. The country was going through terrible times, housewives in the countryside were having a hard time breaking the power with religion, they, as before, secretly continued to read prayers and hid icons. Being a religious person during the Civil War was extremely dangerous, since one could easily bring trouble for such beliefs.

The scope of the Red Terror also included the forcible taking of bread from wealthy peasants, whom the Bolsheviks called kulaks. These operations were carried out directly by punitive food detachments, which, in case of disobedience, could even kill a person who disobeyed them.

Both whites and reds caused the death of a huge number of people who died not from a bullet or a bayonet in a military clash, but died because of disobedience and disobedience to one or another opposing force.

Green Army

Standing apart in the Civil War is the army of Nestor Makhno, which was called the green army. Makhno's adherents became an opposing force opposing the Whites and Reds, as well as their sympathizers. The army was made up of peasants and Cossacks, who evaded general mobilization into the ranks of the White Guard or Red Army troops. The Makhnovists (Greens) advocated a state without a monarchy, but under the supervision of an influential anarchist (Nestor Makhno belonged precisely to this political movement).

Outcome

The civil war in Russia was a catastrophic shock for people. Until recently, they fought on European territory with the Triple Alliance, and today, having returned to their homeland, they were forced to take up arms again and go to fight with a new enemy. The war split not only Russian society, it split many families in which some supported the Red Army, while others supported the White Guards.

The war to establish their personal interests was won by the Bolsheviks thanks to the support of an exceptionally simple people who dreamed of a better life.

By the beginning of the Civil War, the Whites were superior to the Reds in almost everything - it seemed that the Bolsheviks were doomed. Nevertheless, it was the Reds who were destined to emerge victorious from this confrontation. Among the whole huge complex of reasons that led to this, three key ones stand out clearly.

Under the control of chaos

"... I will immediately point out three reasons for the failure of the white movement:
1) insufficient and untimely,
self-serving allied aid,
2) the gradual strengthening of the reactionary elements in the composition of the movement and
3) as a consequence of the second, the disappointment of the masses in the white movement ...

P. Milyukov. Report on the white movement.
Newspaper Latest News (Paris), August 6, 1924

To begin with, it is worth stipulating that the definitions of "red" and "white" are largely arbitrary, as is always the case when describing civil unrest. War is chaos, and civil war is chaos raised to an infinite power. Even now, almost a century later, the question “so who was right?” remains open and intractable.

At the same time, everything that happened was perceived as a real end of the world, a time of complete unpredictability and uncertainty. The color of the banners, the declared beliefs - all this existed only "here and now" and in any case did not guarantee anything. Sides and beliefs changed with surprising ease, and this was not considered something abnormal and unnatural. Revolutionaries with many years of experience in the struggle - for example, the Socialist-Revolutionaries - became ministers of the new governments and were branded by their opponents as counter-revolutionaries. And the Bolsheviks were helped to create an army and counterintelligence by proven cadres of the tsarist regime - including nobles, guards officers, graduates of the Academy of the General Staff. People, in an attempt to somehow survive, were thrown from one extreme to another. Or "extremes" themselves came to them - in the form of an immortal phrase: "The whites came - they rob, the reds came - they rob, well, where should the poor peasant go?" Both individuals and entire military units regularly changed sides.

The prisoners could, in the best traditions of the 18th century, be released on parole, killed in the most savage ways, or placed in their own ranks. An orderly, harmonious division “these are red, these are white, those are green, and these are morally unstable and undecided” took shape only years later.

Therefore, it should always be remembered that when talking about any side of a civil conflict, we are not talking about strict ranks of regular formations, but rather "centers of power". Points of attraction for many groups that were in constant motion and incessant conflicts of everyone with everyone.

But why did the center of power, which we collectively call the “reds” win? Why did the "gentlemen" lose to the "comrades"?

Question about the "Red Terror"

"Red Terror" is often used as ultimate ratio, a description of the main tool of the Bolsheviks, who allegedly threw a frightened country at their feet. This is wrong. Terror has always gone hand in hand with civil unrest, because it is derived from the extreme bitterness of this kind of conflict, in which the opponents have nowhere to run and nothing to lose. Moreover, the adversaries could not, in principle, avoid organized terror as a means.

It has already been said earlier that initially the opponents were small groups, surrounded by a sea of ​​anarchist freemen and apolitical peasant masses. White General Mikhail Drozdovsky brought about two thousand people from Romania. Approximately the same number of volunteers were initially with Mikhail Alekseev and Lavr Kornilov. And the bulk simply did not want to fight, including a very significant part of the officers. In Kyiv, officers happened to work as waiters, with uniforms and all the awards - "they serve more like that, sir."

2nd Drozdov Cavalry Regiment
rusk.ru

In order to win and realize their vision of the future, all participants needed an army (that is, conscripts) and bread. Bread for the city (military production and transport), for the army and for rations for valuable specialists and commanders.

People and bread could be taken only in the village, from the peasant, who was not going to give either one or the other "for so", and there was nothing to pay. Hence the requisitions and mobilizations, which both the Whites and the Reds (and before them, the Provisional Government) had to resort to with equal zeal. As a result, unrest in the village, opposition, the need to suppress indignation by the most cruel methods.

Therefore, the notorious and terrible “Red Terror” was not a decisive argument or something that stood out sharply against the general background of the atrocities of the Civil War. Everyone was engaged in terror, and it was not he who brought victory to the Bolsheviks.

1. Unity of command.
2. Organization.
3. Ideology.

Let's consider these points sequentially.

1. Unity of command, or "When there is no agreement in the masters ...".

It should be noted that the Bolsheviks (or, more broadly, the "Socialist-Revolutionaries" in general) initially had a very good experience of working in conditions of instability and chaos. The situation when the enemies are all around, in their own ranks, agents of the secret police and in general " trust no one"- was for them an ordinary production process. With the beginning of the Civil Bolsheviks, in general, they continued what they were doing before, only in more favorable conditions, because now they themselves were becoming one of the main players. They were able maneuver in conditions of complete confusion and everyday betrayal. But for their opponents, the skill “attract an ally and betray him in time before he betrays you” was used much worse. Therefore, at the peak of the conflict, many white groups fought against a relatively unified (by the presence of one leader) camp of the Reds, and each waged its own war according to its own plans and understandings.

Actually, this discord and the sluggishness of the overall strategy deprived White of victory back in 1918. The Entente desperately needed a Russian front against the Germans and was ready to do a lot, if only to maintain at least its visibility, delaying German troops from western front. The Bolsheviks were extremely weak and disorganized, and help could be demanded at least at the expense of partial deliveries of military orders already paid for by tsarism. But ... the Whites preferred to take shells from the Germans through Krasnov for the war against the Reds - thereby creating an appropriate reputation in the eyes of the Entente. The Germans, having lost the war in the West, disappeared. The Bolsheviks steadily created an organized army instead of semi-partisan detachments, tried to establish a military industry. And in 1919, the Entente had already won its war and did not want, and could not, bear large, and most importantly, expenses that did not give visible benefits in a distant country. The forces of the interventionists left the fronts of the Civil War one after another.

White could not come to an agreement with a single limitrophe - as a result, their rear (almost all) hung in the air. And, as if this was not enough, each white leader had his own "ataman" in the rear, poisoning life with might and main. Kolchak has Semyonov, Denikin has the Kuban Rada with Kalabukhov and Mamontov, Wrangel has the Orlovshchina in the Crimea, Yudenich has Bermondt-Avalov.

Propaganda poster of the white movement
statehistory.ru

So, although outwardly the Bolsheviks seemed to be surrounded by enemies and a doomed camp, they could concentrate on selected areas, transferring at least some resources along internal transport lines - despite the collapse of the transport system. Each individual white general could beat the opponent as hard as he liked on the battlefield - and the Reds recognized these defeats - but these pogroms did not add up to a single boxing combination that would knock out the fighter in the red corner of the ring. The Bolsheviks withstood every single attack, accumulated strength and fought back.

Year 1918: Kornilov goes to Yekaterinodar, but other white detachments have already left. Then the Volunteer Army gets bogged down in battles in the North Caucasus, and Krasnov's Cossacks at the same time go to Tsaritsyn, where they receive their own from the Reds. In 1919, thanks to foreign aid (more on that below), Donbass fell, Tsaritsyn was finally taken - but Kolchak in Siberia had already been defeated. In autumn, Yudenich goes to Petrograd, having excellent chances to take it - and Denikin in the south of Russia is defeated and retreats. Wrangel, having excellent aviation and tanks, leaves the Crimea in 1920, the battles are initially successful for the Whites, but the Poles are already making peace with the Reds. And so on. Khachaturian - "Saber Dance", only much scarier.

The Whites were fully aware of the seriousness of this problem and even tried to solve it by choosing a single leader (Kolchak) and trying to coordinate actions. But by then it was already too late. Moreover, real coordination was in fact absent as a class.

“The white movement did not end in victory because the white dictatorship did not take shape. And prevented her from forming centrifugal forces, swollen by the revolution, and all the elements connected with the revolution and not breaking with it ... Against the red dictatorship, a white “concentration of power ...” was needed

N. Lvov. "White movement", 1924.

2. Organization - "the war is won in the rear"

As mentioned above again, for a long time whites had a clear superiority on the battlefield. It was so tangible that to this day it is the pride of the supporters of the white movement. Accordingly, all sorts of conspiracy explanations are invented to explain why everything ended like this and where did the victories go?.. Hence the legends about the monstrous and unparalleled "Red Terror".

And the solution is actually simple and, alas, graceless - the Whites won tactically, in battle, but lost the main battle - in their own rear.

“None of the [anti-Bolshevik] governments ... has been able to create a flexible and strong apparatus of power, capable of swiftly and quickly overtaking, forcing, acting and forcing others to act. The Bolsheviks also did not capture the soul of the people, they also did not become a national phenomenon, but they were infinitely ahead of us in the pace of their actions, in energy, mobility and ability to coerce. We, with our old methods, old psychology, old vices of the military and civil bureaucracy, with the Petrine table of ranks, did not keep up with them ... "

In the spring of 1919, the commander of Denikin's artillery had only two hundred shells a day ... For a single gun? No, for the whole army.

England, France and other powers, despite the later curses of the whites against them, provided considerable or even enormous assistance. In the same 1919, the British supplied 74 tanks, one and a half hundred aircraft, hundreds of cars and dozens of tractors, more than five hundred guns, including 6-8-inch howitzers, thousands of machine guns, more than two hundred thousand rifles, hundreds of millions of rounds of ammunition and two million shells ... These are very decent numbers, even on the scale of the just great war, it would not be a shame to cite them in the context of, say, the battles of Ypres or the Somme, describing the situation on a separate section of the front. And for a civil war, forced to be poor and ragged - this is a fabulous lot. Such an armada, concentrated in a few "fists", by itself could tear the red front like a rotten rag.

Detachment of tanks of the Shock and Fire Brigade before leaving for the front
velikoe-sorokoletie.diary.ru

However, this wealth did not unite in compact crushing groupings. Moreover, the vast majority did not reach the front at all. Because the organization of rear supplies was completely failed. And cargo (ammunition, food, uniforms, equipment ...) was either stolen or clogged remote warehouses.

The new British howitzers were spoiled by untrained white crews in three weeks, which repeatedly threw the British advisers into disarray. 1920 - at Wrangel, according to the Reds, no more than 20 shells per gun were fired on the day of the battle. Part of the batteries generally had to be taken to the rear.

On all fronts, ragged soldiers and no less ragged officers of the White armies, without food or ammunition, fought desperately against Bolshevism. And in the rear...

“Looking at these hosts of scoundrels, at these dressed-up ladies with diamonds, at these polished thugs, I felt only one thing: I prayed: “Lord, send the Bolsheviks here, at least for a week, so that even amidst the horrors of the emergency, these animals understand that they are doing."

Ivan Nazhivin, Russian writer and émigré

Lack of coordination of actions and inability to organize, in modern language, logistics and rear discipline, led to the fact that the purely military victories of the White movement were dissolved in smoke. White chronically could not "squeeze" the enemy, while slowly and irreversibly losing his fighting qualities. The White armies at the beginning and end of the Civil War differed fundamentally only in the degree of brokenness and mental breakdown - and not in the best direction towards the end. But the red ones changed ...

“Yesterday there was a public lecture by Colonel Kotomin, who fled from the Red Army; those present did not understand the bitterness of the lecturer, who pointed out that there is much more order and discipline in the commissar's army than we have, and made a grandiose scandal with an attempt to beat the lecturer, one of the most ideological workers of our national Center; they were especially offended when K. noted that a drunken officer was impossible in the Red Army, because any commissar or communist would immediately shoot him.

Baron Budberg

Budberg somewhat idealized the picture, but the essence was correctly assessed. And not only him. Evolution was going on in the nascent Red Army, the Reds fell, received painful blows, but rose and moved on, drawing conclusions from defeats. And even in tactics, more than once or twice, the efforts of the Whites were broken against the stubborn defense of the Reds - from Ekaterinodar to the Yakut villages. On the contrary, the failure of the Whites - and the front collapses for hundreds of kilometers, often - forever.

1918, summer - the Taman campaign, against the Red teams of 27,000 bayonets and 3,500 sabers - 15 guns, best case from 5 to 10 rounds per fighter. There is no food, fodder, carts and kitchens.

Red Army in 1918.
Drawing by Boris Efimov
http://www.ageod-forum.com

1920, autumn - The strike fire brigade on Kakhovka has a battery of six-inch howitzers, two light batteries, two detachments of armored cars (another detachment of tanks, but he did not have time to take part in the battles), more than 180 machine guns for 5.5 thousand people, a flamethrower team, the fighters are dressed to the nines and amaze even the enemy with their skill, the commanders received a leather uniform.

Red Army in 1921.
Drawing by Boris Efimov
http://www.ageod-forum.com

The red cavalry of Dumenko and Budyonny forced even the enemy to study their tactics. While the whites most often "shone" with a full-length frontal attack of the infantry and bypassing the cavalry from the flank. When the white army under Wrangel, thanks to the supply of equipment, began to resemble a modern one, it was already too late.

The Reds have a place for regular officers - like Kamenev and Vatsetis, and for those who make a successful career "from the bottom" of the army - Dumenko and Budyonny, and for nuggets - Frunze.

And for the whites, with all the wealth of choice, one of Kolchak's armies is commanded by ... a former paramedic. Denikin's decisive attack on Moscow is led by Mai-Maevsky, who stands out for drinking even against the general background. Grishin-Almazov, major general, "works" as a courier between Kolchak and Denikin, where he dies. In almost every part, contempt for others flourishes.

3. Ideology - "vote with a rifle!"

What was the Civil War for an ordinary citizen, an ordinary inhabitant? To paraphrase one of the modern researchers, in essence it turned out to be grandiose democratic elections stretched over several years under the slogan “vote with a rifle!”. A person could not choose the time and place where he happened to catch amazing and terrible events. historical significance. However, he could - albeit limitedly - choose his place in the present. Or, at worst, their attitude towards him.

Recall what was already mentioned above - the opponents were in dire need of armed force and food. People and food could be obtained by force, but not always and not everywhere, multiplying enemies and haters. Ultimately, the winner was not determined by how brutal he was or how many individual battles he could win. And the fact that he will be able to offer a huge apolitical mass, insanely tired of the hopeless and protracted end of the world. Will he be able to attract new supporters, maintain the loyalty of the former, make neutrals hesitate, undermine the morale of enemies.

The Bolsheviks did it. But their opponents are not.

“What did the Reds want when they went to fight? They wanted to defeat the Whites and, having gained strength on this victory, to create from it the foundation for the solid construction of their communist statehood.

What did the whites want? They wanted to defeat the Reds. And then? Then - nothing, because only state babies could not understand that the forces that supported the building of the old statehood were destroyed to the ground, and that there were no opportunities to restore these forces.

Victory for the Reds was a means, for the Whites it was the goal, and, moreover, the only one.

Von Raupach. "Reasons for the failure of the white movement"

Ideology is a tool that is difficult to calculate mathematically, but it also has its own weight. In a country where the majority of the population could barely read from the warehouses, it was extremely important to be able to clearly explain what it was proposed to fight and die for. The Reds could. The Whites were not even able to decide among themselves in a consolidated manner what they were fighting for. On the contrary, they considered it right to postpone the ideology "until later » , conscious nonprejudice. Even among the whites themselves, the alliance between the "property classes » , officers, Cossacks and "revolutionary democracy » called unnatural - how can they convince the wavering?

« ... We have delivered a huge blood-sucking can of sick Russia ... The transfer of power from Soviet hands to our hands would not have saved Russia. We need something new, something still unconscious - then we can hope for a slow revival. And neither the Bolsheviks nor us should be in power, and that’s even better!”

A. Lampe. From the diary. 1920

A tale of losers

In essence, our forcedly brief note has become a story about the weaknesses of the Whites and, to a much lesser extent, about the Reds. This is no coincidence. In any civil war, all sides demonstrate an unimaginable, transcendent level of chaos and disorganization. Naturally, the Bolsheviks and their fellow travelers were no exception. But whites set an absolute record for what would now be called "gracelessness".

In essence, it was not the Reds who won the war, they, in general, were doing what they had done before - fighting for power and solving problems that blocked the path to their future.

It was the Whites who lost the confrontation, lost at all levels - from political declarations to tactics and organization of the supply of the army in the field.

The irony of fate - the majority of whites did not defend the tsarist regime, or even accepted Active participation in his overthrow. They perfectly knew and criticized all the ulcers of tsarism. However, at the same time, they scrupulously repeated all the main mistakes of the previous government, which led to its collapse. Only in a more explicit, even caricatured form.

In conclusion, I would like to cite the words that were originally written in relation to the civil war in England, but are also perfectly suited to those terrible and great events that shook Russia almost a hundred years ago ...

“They say that these people were swirled by a whirlwind of events, but the point is different. No one dragged them anywhere, and there were no inexplicable forces and invisible hands. It’s just that every time they faced a choice, they made the right decisions, from their point of view, but in the end, the chain of individually correct intentions led to a dark forest ... All that remained was to stray in the evil thickets, until, finally, the survivors came out into the light , looking with horror at the road with corpses left behind. Many have gone through this, but blessed are those who understood their enemy and then did not curse him."

A. V. Tomsinov "The Blind Children of Kronos".

Literature:

1. Budberg A. Diary of a White Guard. - Mn.: Harvest, M.: AST, 2001
2. Gul R. B. Ice campaign (with Kornilov). http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/gul_rb/index.html
3. Drozdovsky M. G. Diary. - Berlin: Otto Kirchner and Ko, 1923.
4. Zaitsov A. A. 1918. Essays on the history of the Russian civil war. Paris, 1934.
5. Kakurin N. E., Vatsetis I. I. Civil war. 1918–1921 - St. Petersburg: Polygon, 2002.
6. Kakurin N.E. How the revolution fought. 1917–1918 M., Politizdat, 1990.
7. Kovtyukh E. I. "Iron Stream" in a military presentation. Moscow: Gosvoenizdat, 1935
8. Kornatovsky N. A. The struggle for Red Petrograd. - M: ACT, 2004.
9. Essays by E. I. Dostovalov.
10. http://feb-web.ru/feb/rosarc/ra6/ra6–637-.htm
11. Reden. Through the hell of the Russian revolution. Memoirs of a midshipman. 1914–1919 Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf, 2007
12. Wilmson Huddleston. Farewell to Don. The Russian Civil War in the Diaries of a British Officer. Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf, 2007
13. LiveJournal by Evgeny Durnev http://eugend.livejournal.com - it contains various educational materials, incl. some issues of red and white terror in relation to the Tambov region and Siberia are considered.

Initially, the Soviet Red Army, the creation of which took place against the backdrop of the beginning civil war, had utopian features. The Bolsheviks believed that under the socialist system, the army should be built on a voluntary basis. This project was in line with Marxist ideology. Such an army was opposed to the regular armies of Western countries. According to the theoretical doctrine, in society there could only be "universal armament of the people."

Creation of the Red Army

The first steps of the Bolsheviks showed that they really wanted to abandon the former royal system. On December 16, 1917, a decree was adopted abolishing officer ranks. Commanders were now elected by their own subordinates. According to the party's plan, on the day of the creation of the Red Army, the new army was to become truly democratic. Time has shown that these plans could not survive the trials of a bloody era.

The Bolsheviks managed to seize power in Petrograd with the help of a small Red Guard and separate revolutionary detachments of sailors and soldiers. The provisional government was paralyzed, which obscenely made the task easier for Lenin and his supporters. But outside the capital there was a huge country, most of which was not at all happy with the party of radicals, whose leaders arrived in Russia in a sealed wagon from enemy Germany.

By the beginning of a full-scale civil war, the Bolshevik armed forces were distinguished by poor military training and the absence of centralized effective control. Those who served in the Red Guard were guided by revolutionary chaos and their own political convictions, which could change at any moment. The position of the newly proclaimed Soviet power was more than precarious. She needed a fundamentally new Red Army. The creation of the armed forces became a matter of life and death for the people who were in Smolny.

What difficulties faced the Bolsheviks? The party could not form its own army on the old apparatus. The best cadres of the period of the monarchy and the Provisional Government hardly wanted to cooperate with the radical left. The second problem was that Russia had been waging war against Germany and its allies for several years. The soldiers were tired - they were demoralized. In order to replenish the ranks of the Red Army, its founders had to come up with a nationwide incentive that would be a good reason to take up arms again.

The Bolsheviks did not have to go far for this. They made the principle of class struggle the main driving force of their troops. With the coming to power of the RSDLP (b) issued many decrees. According to the slogans, the peasants received land, and the workers - factories. Now they had to defend these gains of the revolution. Hatred for the old system (landlords, capitalists, etc.) was the foundation on which the Red Army was held. The creation of the Red Army took place on January 28, 1918. On this day, the new government, represented by the Council of People's Commissars, adopted a corresponding decree.

First successes

Vsevobuch was also established. This system was intended for universal military training of the inhabitants of the RSFSR, and then the USSR. Vsevobuch appeared on April 22, 1918, after the decision to create it was made at the VII Congress of the RCP (b) in March. The Bolsheviks hoped that the new system would help them quickly replenish the ranks of the Red Army.

The soviets at the local level were directly involved in the formation of armed detachments. In addition, for this purpose, they were established. At first, they enjoyed considerable independence from central government. Who was the then Red Army? The creation of this armed structure led to an influx of various personnel. These were people who served in the old tsarist army, peasant militias, soldiers and sailors from among the Red Guards. The heterogeneity of the composition had a negative effect on the combat readiness of this army. In addition, the detachments often acted inconsistently due to the election of commanders, collective and rally management.

Despite all the shortcomings, the Red Army in the first months of the civil war was able to achieve important successes that became the key to its future unconditional victory. The Bolsheviks managed to keep Moscow and Yekaterinodar. Local uprisings were suppressed due to a noticeable numerical advantage, as well as wide popular support. The populist decrees of the Soviet government (especially in 1917-1918) did their job.

Trotsky at the head of the army

It was this man who stood at the origins of the October Revolution in Petrograd. The revolutionary led the capture of city communications and the Winter Palace from Smolny, where the headquarters of the Bolsheviks was located. At the first stage of the Civil War, the figure of Trotsky in terms of scale and importance of the decisions made was in no way inferior to the figure of Vladimir Lenin. Therefore, it is not surprising that Lev Davidovich was elected People's Commissar for Military Affairs. His organizational talent in all its glory manifested itself in this post. At the origins of the creation of the Red Army were the very first two people's commissars.

Tsarist officers in the Red Army

Theoretically, the Bolsheviks saw their army as meeting strict class requirements. However, the lack of experience among the majority of workers and peasants could be the reason for the defeat of the party. Therefore, the history of the creation of the Red Army took another turn when Trotsky proposed to staff its ranks with former tsarist officers. These professionals have considerable experience. All of them went through the First World War, and some remembered the Russo-Japanese War. Many of them were nobles by origin.

On the day the Red Army was created, the Bolsheviks proclaimed that it would be purged of landlords and other enemies of the proletariat. However, practical necessity gradually corrected the course of the Soviet government. In times of danger, she was quite flexible in her decisions. Lenin was a pragmatist much more than a dogmatist. Therefore, he agreed to a compromise on the issue with the royal officers.

The presence of a "counter-revolutionary contingent" in the Red Army has long been a headache for the Bolsheviks. Former tsarist officers raised uprisings more than once. One of these was the rebellion led by Mikhail Muravyov in July 1918. This Left Socialist-Revolutionary and former tsarist officer was appointed by the Bolsheviks as commander Eastern Front when the two parties still formed a single coalition. He tried to seize power in Simbirsk, which at that time was located near the theater of operations. The rebellion was suppressed by Joseph Vareikis and Mikhail Tukhachevsky. The uprisings in the Red Army, as a rule, took place due to the harsh repressive measures of the command.

The emergence of commissioners

Actually, the date of the creation of the Red Army is not the only important mark on the calendar for the history of the formation of Soviet power in the expanses of the former Russian Empire. Since the composition of the armed forces gradually became more and more heterogeneous, and the propaganda of opponents became stronger, the Council of People's Commissars decided to establish the position of military commissars. They were supposed to carry out party propaganda among the soldiers and old specialists. The commissars made it possible to smooth out contradictions in the rank and file, which was diverse in terms of political views. Having received significant powers, these representatives of the party not only enlightened and educated the Red Army soldiers, but also reported to the top about the unreliability of individuals, discontent, etc.

Thus, the Bolsheviks planted dual power in the military units. On one side were the commanders, and on the other, the commissars. The history of the creation of the Red Army would have been completely different if not for their appearance. IN emergency the commissar could become the sole leader, leaving the commander in the background. Military councils were created to manage divisions and larger formations. Each such body included one commander and two commissars. Only the most ideologically hardened Bolsheviks became them (as a rule, people who joined the party before the revolution). With the increase in the army, and hence the commissars, the authorities had to create a new educational infrastructure necessary for the operational training of propagandists and agitators.

Propaganda

In May 1918, the All-Russian Main Headquarters, and in September - the Revolutionary Military Council. These dates and the date of the creation of the Red Army became key to the spread and strengthening of the power of the Bolsheviks. Right after October revolution the party took a course on the radicalization of the situation in the country. After the unsuccessful elections for the RSDLP(b), this institution (necessary to determine the Russian future on an elective basis) was dispersed. Now the opponents of the Bolsheviks were left without legal tools to defend their position. The white movement quickly sprang up in different regions of the country. It was possible to fight him only by military means - it was for this that the creation of the Red Army was needed.

Photos of the defenders of the communist future began to be published in a huge pile of propaganda newspapers. The Bolsheviks at first tried to secure an influx of recruits with catchy slogans: "The socialist fatherland is in danger!" etc. These measures had an effect, but it was not enough. By April, the size of the army had risen to 200,000, but that would not have been enough to subjugate the entire territory of the former Russian Empire to the party. We should not forget that Lenin dreamed of a world revolution. Russia for him was only the initial springboard for the offensive of the international proletariat. To strengthen propaganda in the Red Army, the Political Directorate was established.

In the year of the creation of the Red Army, they joined it not only for ideological reasons. In the country, exhausted by a long war with the Germans, there was a shortage of food for a long time. The danger of starvation was especially acute in the cities. In such bleak conditions, the poor sought to be in the service at any cost (regular rations were guaranteed there).

Introduction of universal conscription

Although the creation of the Red Army began in accordance with the decree of the Council of People's Commissars as early as January 1918, the accelerated pace of the organization of new armed forces came in May, when the Czechoslovak Corps revolted. These soldiers, captured during the First World War, took the side of the white movement and opposed the Bolsheviks. In a paralyzed and fragmented country, a relatively small 40,000-strong corps became the most combat-ready and professional army.

The news of the uprising excited Lenin and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The Bolsheviks decided to go ahead of the curve. On May 29, 1918, a decree was issued, according to which forced recruitment into the army was introduced. It took the form of mobilization. In domestic policy, the Soviet government adopted the course of war communism. The peasants not only lost their crops, which went to the state, but also massively climbed into the troops. Party mobilizations to the front became commonplace. By the end of the Civil War, half of the members of the RSDLP (b) ended up in the army. At the same time, almost all Bolsheviks became commissars and political workers.

In the summer, Trotsky became the initiator The history of the creation of the Red Army, in short, overcame another important milestone. On July 29, 1918, all eligible men, who were between 18 and 40 years old, were registered. Even representatives of the enemy bourgeois class (former merchants, industrialists, etc.) were included in the rear militia. Such drastic measures have borne fruit. The creation of the Red Army by September 1918 made it possible to send more than 450 thousand people to the front (about 100 thousand more remained in the rear troops).

Trotsky, like Lenin, temporarily brushed aside Marxist ideology in order to increase the combat effectiveness of the armed forces. It was he, as People's Commissar, who initiated important reforms and transformations at the front. The army reinstated the death penalty for desertion and failure to follow orders. The insignia, the single uniform, the sole authority of the leadership, and many other signs of the tsarist era returned. On May 1, 1918, the first parade of the Red Army took place on the Khodynka field in Moscow. The Vsevobuch system has been operating at full capacity.

In September, Trotsky headed the newly formed Revolutionary Military Council. This state body became the top of the administrative pyramid that led the army. Trotsky's right hand was Joachim Vatsetis. He was the first under Soviet rule to receive the post of commander in chief. In the same autumn, the fronts were formed - the Southern, Eastern and Northern. Each of them had its own headquarters. The first month of the creation of the Red Army was a time of uncertainty - the Bolsheviks were torn between ideology and practice. Now the course towards pragmatism has become the main one, and the Red Army began to take the forms that turned out to be its foundation over the next decades.

war communism

Without a doubt, the reasons for the creation of the Red Army were to protect the Bolshevik power. At first, she controlled a very small part of European Russia. At the same time, the RSFSR was under pressure from opponents from all sides. After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed with Imperial Germany, the Entente forces invaded Russia. The intervention was insignificant (it covered only the north of the country). The European powers supported the whites mainly with the supply of weapons and money. For the Red Army, the attack by the French and British was only an additional reason for consolidating and strengthening propaganda among the rank and file. Now the creation of the Red Army could be briefly and intelligibly explained by the defense of Russia from foreign invasion. Such slogans allowed to increase the influx of recruits.

At the same time, throughout the Civil War, there was the problem of supplying the armed forces with all sorts of resources. The economy was paralyzed, strikes broke out frequently at factories, and famine became the norm in the countryside. It was against this background that the Soviet government began to pursue a policy of war communism.

Its essence was simple. The economy became radically centralized. The state took full control of the distribution of resources in the country. Industrial enterprises were nationalized immediately after the October Revolution. Now the Bolsheviks had to squeeze all the juice out of the countryside. Requisitioning, harvest taxes, individual terror of the peasants who did not want to share their grain with the state - all this was used in order to feed and finance the Red Army.

The fight against desertion

Trotsky personally went to the front in order to control the execution of his orders. On August 10, 1918, he arrived in Sviyazhsk, when battles for Kazan were going on not far from him. In a stubborn battle, one of the Red Army regiments faltered and fled. Then Trotsky publicly shot every tenth soldier in this formation. Such a massacre, more like a ritual, resembled the ancient Roman tradition - decimation.

By decision of the People's Commissar, they began to shoot not only deserters, but also simulators who asked for leave from the front due to an imaginary illness. The apogee of the fight against the fugitives was the creation of foreign detachments. During the offensive, specially selected military men stood up behind the main army, who shot the cowards right in the course of the battle. Thus, with the help of draconian measures and incredible cruelty, the Red Army became exemplarily disciplined. The Bolsheviks had the courage and pragmatic cynicism to do something that the commanders of Trotsky did not dare to do, who did not disdain any methods to spread Soviet power, they soon began to call the "demon of the revolution."

Unification of the armed forces

Gradually, the appearance of the Red Army also changed. At first, the Red Army did not provide for a uniform uniform. Soldiers, as a rule, wore out their old military uniforms or civilian clothes. Due to the huge influx of peasants shod in bast shoes, there were much more than those shod in familiar boots. Such anarchy lasted until the end of the unification of the armed forces.

At the beginning of 1919, according to the decision of the Revolutionary Military Council, sleeve insignia were introduced. At the same time, the Red Army soldiers received their own headdress, which became known among the people as Budyonovka. Tunics and overcoats got colored flaps. A recognizable symbol was a red star sewn onto a headdress.

The introduction into the Red Army of some characteristic features the former army led to the fact that an opposition faction arose in the party. Its members advocated the rejection of ideological compromise. Lenin and Trotsky, having joined forces, in March 1919 at the VIII Congress were able to defend their course.

The fragmentation of the white movement, the powerful propaganda of the Bolsheviks, their determination to carry out repressions to rally their own ranks, and many other circumstances led to the fact that Soviet power was established on the territory of almost the entire former Russian Empire, except for Poland and Finland. The Red Army won the Civil War. At the final stage of the conflict, its number was already 5.5 million people.