Civil War Soldiers

February Revolution, the abdication of Nicholas II was greeted by the population of Russia with jubilation. split the country. Not all citizens positively accepted the Bolsheviks’ call for a separate peace with Germany; not everyone liked the slogans about land for peasants, factories for workers and peace for peoples, and, even more so, the proclamation new government“dictatorship of the proletariat”, which she began to implement very quickly

Years of the Civil War 1917 - 1922

Beginning of the Civil War

In all honesty, one should, however, admit that the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks itself and the several months after that were a relatively peaceful time. Three or four hundred who died in the uprising in Moscow and several dozen during the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly are small things compared to the millions of victims of the “real” Civil War. So there is confusion about the start date of the Civil War. Historians call different

— 1917, October 25-26 (old style) - Ataman Kaledin announced non-recognition of Bolshevik power

On behalf of the “Don Military Government” he dispersed the councils in the Don Army Region and declared that he did not recognize the usurpers and did not submit to the Council of People’s Commissars. Many dissatisfied with the Bolsheviks rushed to the Don Army Region: civilians, cadets, high school students and students..., generals and senior officers Denikin, Lukomsky, Nezhentsev...

The call sounded “to everyone who is ready to save the Fatherland.” On November 27, Alekseev voluntarily handed over command of the Volunteer Army to Kornilov, who had experience in combat operations. Alekseev himself was a staff officer. From that time on, the “Alekseevskaya Organization” officially received the name of the Volunteer Army

The Constituent Assembly opened on January 5 (Old Art.) in the Tauride Palace in Petrograd. The Bolsheviks had only 155 votes out of 410, so on January 6 Lenin ordered not to allow the opening of the second meeting of the Assembly (the first ended on January 6 at 5 a.m.)

Since 1914, the Allies have supplied Russia with weapons, ammunition, ammunition, and equipment. Cargoes traveled the northern route by sea. The ships were unloaded into warehouses. After the October events, the warehouses required protection so that they would not be captured by the Germans. When World War ended, the British went home. However, March 9 has since been considered the beginning of the intervention - the military intervention of Western countries in the Civil War in Russia

In 1916, the Russian command formed a corps of 40,000 bayonets from captured Czechs and Slovaks, former soldiers of Austria-Hungary. In 1918, the Czechs, not wanting to participate in the Russian showdown, demanded to be returned to their homeland in order to fight for the independence of Czechoslovakia from the power of the Habsburgs. Austria-Hungary's ally Germany, with which peace had already been signed, objected. They decided to send Chekhov to Europe via Vladivostok. But the trains moved slowly, or stopped altogether (50 of them were needed). So the Czechs rebelled, dispersed the councils along their route from Penza to Irkutsk, which was immediately taken advantage of by the forces opposing the Bolsheviks

Causes of the Civil War

— Dispersal by the Bolsheviks of the Constituent Assembly, the work and decisions of which, in the opinion of the liberal-minded public, could send Russia along a democratic path of development
— Dictatorial policies of the Bolshevik Party
— Change of elite

The Bolsheviks, putting into practice the slogan of destroying the old world to the ground, willingly or unwillingly, set about destroying the elite of Russian society, which had ruled the country for 1000 years since the time of Rurik.
After all, these are fairy tales that history is made by the people. The people are brute force, a stupid, irresponsible crowd, expendable material that is used for their own benefit by certain movements.
History is made by the elite. She comes up with ideology, shapes public opinion, sets the vector of development for the state. Having encroached on the privileges and traditions of the elite, the Bolsheviks forced it to defend itself and fight

— Economic policy of the Bolsheviks: establishment of state ownership of everything, monopoly of trade and distribution, surplus appropriation
— Elimination of civil liberties proclaimed
— Terror, repression against the so-called exploiting classes

Civil War participants

: workers, peasants, soldiers, sailors, part of the intelligentsia, armed detachments of national outskirts, mercenary, mainly Latvian, regiments. Tens of thousands of officers of the tsarist army fought as part of the Red Army, some voluntarily, some mobilized. Many peasants and workers were also mobilized, that is, they were forcibly drafted into the army
: officers tsarist army, cadets, students, Cossacks, intellectuals, and other representatives of the “exploiting part of society.” The Whites also did not hesitate to establish mobilization laws on the conquered territory. Nationalists advocating the independence of their peoples
: gangs of anarchists, criminals, unprincipled lumpen people who robbed and fought in a specific territory against everyone.
: defended against surplus appropriation

The Civil War is one of the bloodiest conflicts in the history of the Russian people. For many decades, the Russian Empire demanded reforms. Seizing the moment, the Bolsheviks seized power in the country, killing the Tsar. Supporters of the monarchy did not plan to cede influence and created the White Movement, which was supposed to return the previous political system. Fighting changed on the territory of the empire further development country - it turned into a socialist state under the rule of the Communist Party.

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Civil war in Russia (Russian Republic) in 1917-1922.

In short, the Civil War is a pivotal event that changed fate forever of the Russian people: its result was the victory over tsarism and the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks.

The civil war in Russia (Russian Republic) took place from 1917 to 1922 between two warring parties: supporters of the monarchy and its opponents - the Bolsheviks.

Features of the Civil War was that many foreign countries took part in it, including France, Germany and the UK.

Important! During the Civil War, combatants - white and red - destroyed the country, putting it on the verge of a political, economic and cultural crisis.

The civil war in Russia (Russian Republic) is one of the bloodiest in the 20th century, during which more than 20 million military and civilians died.

Fragmentation Russian Empire during the Civil War. September 1918.

Causes of the Civil War

Historians still do not agree on the causes of the Civil War, which took place from 1917 to 1922. Of course, everyone is of the opinion that main reason consists of political, ethnic and social contradictions that were never resolved during the mass protests of Petrograd workers and military personnel in February 1917.

As a result, the Bolsheviks came to power and carried out a number of reforms, which are considered to be the main prerequisites for the split of the country. At this point, historians agree that the following reasons were key:

• liquidation of the Constituent Assembly;
• exit by signing something humiliating for the Russian people Treaty of Brest-Litovsk;
• pressure on the peasantry;
• the nationalization of all industrial enterprises and the liquidation of private property, which caused a storm of discontent among people who lost their real estate.

Prerequisites for the Civil War in Russia (Russian Republic) (1917-1922):

• formation of the Red and White movement;
• creation of the Red Army;
• local clashes between monarchists and Bolsheviks in 1917;
• execution royal family.

Stages of the Civil War

Attention! Most historians believe that the beginning of the Civil War should be dated to 1917. Others deny this fact, since large-scale hostilities began to occur only in 1918.

In the table generally recognized stages of the Civil War are highlighted 1917-1922:

Periods of war	Description
	During this period, anti-Bolshevik centers were formed - the White movement. Germany transfers troops to the eastern border of Russia, where small skirmishes with the Bolsheviks begin. In May 1918, there was an uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps, which was opposed by the commander-in-chief of the Red Army, General Vatsetis. During the fighting in the fall of 1918, the Czechoslovak Corps was defeated and retreated beyond the Urals.
Stage II (late November 1918 – winter 1920)	After the defeat of the Czechoslovak Corps, the Entente coalition begins military operations against the Bolsheviks, supporting the White movement. In November 1918, White Guard Admiral Kolchak launched an offensive in the East of the country. The Red Army generals are defeated and surrender the key city of Perm in December of that year. At the end of 1918, the Red Army stopped the White advance. In the spring, hostilities begin again - Kolchak launches an offensive towards the Volga, but the Reds stop him two months later. In May 1919, General Yudenich led an attack on Petrograd, but the Red Army forces once again managed to stop him and oust the whites from the country. At the same time, one of the leaders of the White movement, General Denikin, seizes the territory of Ukraine and prepares to attack the capital. The forces of Nestor Makhno begin to take part in the Civil War. In response to this, the Bolsheviks open a new front under the leadership of Yegorov. In early 1920, Denikin's forces are defeated, forcing foreign monarchs to withdraw their troops from the Russian Republic. In 1920 a radical fracture occurs in the Civil War.
III stage (May–November 1920)	In May 1920, Poland declares war on the Bolsheviks and advances on Moscow. During bloody battles, the Red Army manages to stop the offensive and launch a counterattack. The "Miracle on the Vistula" allows the Poles to sign a peace treaty on favorable terms in 1921. In the spring of 1920, General Wrangel launched an offensive on the territory of Eastern Ukraine, but in the fall he was defeated, and the Whites lost Crimea. The Red Army generals are victorious on Western Front in the Civil War - it remains to destroy the group of White Guards on the territory of Siberia.
Stage IV (late 1920 – 1922)	In the spring of 1921, the Red Army begins to advance to the East, capturing Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. White continues to suffer one defeat after another. As a result, the commander-in-chief of the White movement, Admiral Kolchak, was betrayed and handed over to the Bolsheviks. A few weeks later the Civil War ends with the victory of the Red Army.

Civil War in Russia (Russian Republic) 1917-1922: briefly

In the period from December 1918 to the summer of 1919, the Reds and Whites converged in bloody battles, however neither side gains an advantage yet.

In June 1919, the Reds seized the advantage, inflicting one defeat after another on the Whites. The Bolsheviks carry out reforms that appeal to the peasants, and therefore the Red Army receives even more recruits.

During this period, there was intervention from countries Western Europe. However, none of the foreign armies manages to win. By 1920, a huge part of the White movement's army was defeated, and all their allies left the Republic.

Over the next two years, the Reds advance to the east of the country, destroying one enemy group after another. It all ends when the admiral and supreme commander of the White movement, Kolchak, is captured and executed.

Results civil war were catastrophic for the people

Results of the Civil War 1917-1922: briefly

Periods I-IV of the war led to the complete destruction of the state. Results of the Civil War for the people were catastrophic: almost all enterprises lay in ruins, millions of people died.

In the Civil War, people died not only from bullets and bayonets - severe epidemics raged. According to the calculations of foreign historians, taking into account the reduction in the birth rate in the future, the Russian people have lost about 26 million people.

Destroyed factories and mines led to a halt in industrial activity in the country. The working class began to starve and left the cities in search of food, usually going to the countryside. The level of industrial production fell approximately 5 times compared to the pre-war level. Production volumes of grains and other agricultural crops also fell by 45-50%.

On the other hand, the war was aimed against the intelligentsia, who owned real estate and other property. As a result, about 80% of the representatives of the intelligentsia class were destroyed, a small part took the side of the Reds, and the rest fled abroad.

Separately, it should be highlighted how results of the Civil War loss by the state of the following territories:

• Poland;
• Latvia;
• Estonia;
• partly Ukraine;
• Belarus;
• Armenia;
• Bessarabia.

As already mentioned, the main feature of the Civil War is intervention foreign countries . The main reason why Great Britain, France and others interfered in Russian affairs was the fear of a worldwide socialist revolution.

In addition, the following features can be noted:

• during the fighting, a confrontation unfolded between different parties who saw the future of the country differently;
• fights took place between different sectors of society;
• the national liberation nature of the war;
• anarchist movement against reds and whites;
• peasant war against both regimes.

The Tachanka was used as a method of transportation in Russia from 1917 to 1922.

Participants in the Civil War (1917-1922)

T Table of combat areas:

Generals of the Red and White Army in the Civil War:

Civil War at the end of 1918-1920

Conclusion

The Civil War took place from 1917 to 1922. The fighting caused confrontation between the Bolsheviks and supporters of the monarchy.

Results of the Civil War:

• victory of the Red Army and the Bolsheviks;
• collapse of the monarchy;
• economic devastation;
• destruction of the intelligentsia class;
• creation of the USSR;
• deterioration of relations with Western European countries;
• political instability;
• peasant uprisings.

Russian Civil War- an irreconcilable armed struggle for the possession of state power by large masses of people belonging to different classes and social groups, accompanied by military intervention of foreign states.

Chronological framework: 1917 – 1922 or 1918 – 1920, 1918 – 1922

Causes: political extremism of the Bolsheviks, dispersal of the Constituent Assembly, usurpation of power by the Bolsheviks (the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks aggravated social confrontation), the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, humiliating for Russia, the introduction of a food dictatorship, the liquidation of landownership, the nationalization of banks and enterprises.

Reds- Red Army of the Bolsheviks.

White movement- a military-political movement of politically heterogeneous forces formed with the goal of overthrowing Soviet power. It included representatives of both moderate socialists and republicans, as well as monarchists, united against Bolshevik ideology and acting on the basis of the principle of “one and indivisible Russia.” The backbone of the White movement was the officers of the old Russian army. The initial goal of the White movement: to prevent the establishment of Bolshevik power. The political program of the white movement was extremely controversial, but at the first stage of the Civil War it included the elimination of Bolshevik power, the restoration of a united Russia, and the convening of a national people's assembly on the basis of universal suffrage.

"Green" were called peasant rebels who fought against surplus appropriation in territories controlled by the Soviet regime, and against the return of landownership and requisitions in the territories of the white governments. After the division of the landowners' lands, the peasants wanted class peace, looked for an opportunity to do without a struggle, but were drawn into it by the active actions of the Whites and Reds.

Anarchists: The most significant were the actions of anarchists in Ukraine, led by anarcho-communist Nestor Makhno. The Makhnovists acted against whites, reds, nationalists and interventionists. During the fighting, the Makhnovists entered into an alliance with the Bolsheviks three times, but all three times the Bolsheviks violated the alliance, so that in the end the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (RPAU) was defeated by the many times superior forces of the Red Army, and Makhno and several comrades fled abroad.

National separatist armed forces: Simon Petlyura fought for the independence of Ukraine. On February 10, 1919, after the resignation of Vinnychenko, Petliura effectively became the sole dictator of Ukraine. In the spring of the same year, trying to stop the Red Army's seizure of the entire territory of Ukraine, he reorganized the UPR army. He tried to negotiate with the White Guard command of the VSYUR (Armed Forces of the South of Russia) on joint actions against the Bolsheviks, but was not successful.

Intervention (14 states):

December 1917 Romania in Bessarabia

March 1918 Austria-Hungary and Germany in Ukraine

April 1918 Türkiye in Georgia

May 1918 Germany in Georgia

April 1918 France, USA, England, Japan on Far East

March 1918 England, USA, France in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk

January 1919 left Odessa, Crimea, Vladivostok, northern ports

Spring 1919 left the Baltic and Black Sea

“All righteous blood that you shed will be required of you” (Luke 11.51)

95 years ago, in 1917, events took place in Russia that radically transformed the way of life and traditions of life of the peoples of our huge multinational country, changing its entire centuries-old history- February and October revolutions. As a result of these two grandiose events, Russia turned from a great power, which was reckoned with not only by Europe, but by the whole world, into a certain space with dozens of self-proclaimed states, torn apart by the enmity and ambitions of various rulers and leaders, a territory where the Civil War raged for years, and hundreds of thousands of people died in bloody battles, dying from wounds, hunger and disease.

Who started the Civil War? What are its reasons? Any revolution is a complex and lengthy process of changing sentiments in broad social strata. It was believed that the February Revolution was “bloodless.” Minister of the Provisional Government Pavel Milyukov stated: “Both revolutions stood in complete contrast to each other. The first, February, we called “bloodless” and considered it national and reasonable. But the second revolution, the October Revolution, on the contrary, divided the nation and signaled a long civil war in which the worst types of violence were used.” This assessment is only partly fair, because it is precisely as a result During the February Revolution, against the backdrop of people's fatigue from the ongoing World War, class hatred became extremely acute. And here - freedom! Many understood freedom as permissiveness - you can rob and destroy landowners' estates, kill police officers, and carry out reprisals against officials and officers. But if during the February Revolution all this was of a spontaneous, unorganized nature, then October Revolution legitimized these savage massacres by decreeing terror, mass executions, robberies, and the arrest of hostages. In addition, the usurpation of power by the Soviets was greeted, of course, with hostility by the former ruling classes. The Brest Peace Treaty especially offended the patriotic feelings of officers and most of the intelligentsia. It was after this act that voluntary detachments of the White Guard began to form en masse. Violence from the Soviet government caused retaliatory violence.

Red's goals were clearly outlined in the “Internationale” - the Bolshevik anthem “...we will destroy the whole world of violence to its foundations, and then we will build ours, we will build a new world...”, and for this it was necessary:

Seize and maintain power at any cost, including force of arms;

Destroy the old state system: legislative and executive powers, local governments, armed forces, police, courts, prosecutors, lawyers;

- “Turn the imperialist war into a civil war!” (V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin), and through the Civil War, establish the dictatorship of the proletariat (in fact, the Bolshevik Party), abandon governing the country by democratic methods; suppress the resistance of the overthrown classes by force;

Eliminate private ownership of land, tools and means of production;

Overcoming the natural inequality of people, impose on people a “new consciousness” - the dangerous utopia of socialism, communism, i.e. "levelling".

White's goals were diametrically opposed to the Reds' goals. In the program of General L.G. Kornilov dated January 18, 1918: it was planned: “Restoration of citizenship rights: all citizens are equal before the law without distinction of gender and nationality. Abolition of class privileges, preservation of the inviolability of personality and home, freedom of movement, residence, etc. Full restoration of freedom of speech and press; restoration of freedom of industry and trade, abolition of the nationalization of private enterprises. Restoration of the Russian army on the basis of genuine military discipline. The army should be formed on a voluntary basis, without committees, commissioners and elected positions; full fulfillment by Russia of its allied obligations and international treaties. The war must be brought to an end in close unity with our allies. Peace must be concluded as a universal and honorable peace on the democratic principle, that is, with the right to self-determination of oppressed peoples. Introduction in Russia of universal compulsory primary education with broad school autonomy. Convening the Constituent Assembly, thwarted by the Bolsheviks, to which all the fullness of state-legal power should be transferred. It must develop the basic laws of the Constitution and finally construct the political system of Russia. Restoring the integrity of the Russian Empire, violated by the shameful conditions of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, concluded between the Bolsheviks and the Germans; restoration of order in the country destroyed by the October coup. Restoring the foundations of private ownership of land, tools and means of production. The Church obtains full autonomy in religious affairs, the elimination of state guardianship over religious affairs, and freedom of religion is fully realized. A complex agrarian question is presented to the Constituent Assembly for resolution. Until the latter develops the land question in its final form and publishes the corresponding laws, all kinds of anarchistic actions of citizens are recognized as unacceptable. Equality of all citizens before the court. The death penalty remains in force, but is applied only in cases of the most serious state crimes. Preservation for the workers of all the political and economic gains of the revolution in the field of labor regulation, freedom of workers' unions, meetings and strikes, with the exception of the forced socialization of enterprises and workers' control, leading to the death of domestic industry. Recognition of the rights of individual peoples that are part of Russia to broad local autonomy, subject, however, to maintaining state unity. Poland, Ukraine and Finland, formed into separate national-state units, should be widely supported by the Russian Government in their aspirations for state revival, in order to further weld together the eternal and inviolable union of fraternal peoples.”

The programs of other leaders of the White movement were approximately the same: generals A.I. Denikin, P.N. Wrangel, A.V. Kolchak. None of them set as their goal the restoration of the monarchy, the liquidation of the gains of the February Democratic Revolution, the dismemberment of Russia or its transfer to foreign interventionists. Here, for example, is the program of General A.I. Denikin: “Unity of all forces in the fight against the Bolsheviks. Unity of the country and government. The broadest autonomy of the outskirts. Loyalty to agreements with war allies. Preservation of United and Indivisible Russia."

What did the Bolshevik policy lead to? Representatives of the ruling circles - nobles, bourgeois, officials, officers, merchants were expelled from all state and local authorities, they were all deprived of their previous rights and privileges. Their lack of rights and discrimination were reinforced by decrees of the Soviet government. The attitude towards them and their families was mostly mocking; they were treated as parasites and parasites. There was distrust even of those of them who collaborated with the Soviet government. For this reason, many representatives of the old governmentNaturally, they strove with all their might to restore their previous position.

In addition, the RCP(b) did not want to share power with anyone. The activities and publication of newspapers of parties other than the Left Socialist Revolutionary Party were banned, but after July 6, 1918, this party was banned as well. All civil rights and human freedoms, which were guaranteed by the Tsar’s manifesto on October 17, 1905, were eliminated, namely: inviolability of person and home, freedom of assembly, speech, press, general, equal and direct elections by secret ballot. For the period from 1905 to 1913. elections were held to the State Duma!, 2nd, 3rd and 4th convocations from various parties, including opposition ones. The Bolsheviks were also elected to the 4th Duma: A.E. Badaev, G.I. Petrovsky, M.K. Muralov, N.R. Shagov, F.N. Samoilov, R.V. Malinovsky (who turned out to be a provocateur and removed in 1915 from the Duma). The newspaper Pravda, published since 1912, was banned several times for anti-government articles, but after some time it was published under a new name. So Emperor Nicholas II was not as “bloody” as the Bolshevik press portrayed him. And if we talk about the “bloody” regime, then over the last 50 years of tsarist rule - from 1863 to 1913, about 7,000 people were executed. (including criminals), and in the first years of Soviet power the number of executed people was tens and hundreds of thousands of people.

Under the slogan “Expropriate the expropriators!” The Bolsheviks destroyed the centuries-old foundations of property, plundered and destroyed landowners' estates and cultural objects. In practice, mass robbery began, and not only of the “landowners and bourgeoisie”, but also - mainly - of ordinary peasants - the breadwinners of the Russian land. Just two days after the October Revolution, on November 9, the first food detachments took bread and other agricultural products from the peasants.

In the Cossack regions, in accordance with the letter of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) dated January 24, 1919, signed by Sverdlov, the policy of “de-Cossackization” was carried out with cruel methods: mass terror, even execution, in relation to the Cossacks who fought against Soviet power, confiscation bread and other agricultural products. The Cossacks were deprived of all rights and privileges and were equalized with newcomers from other cities.

Traditional concepts of religion and faith were destroyed, religion was declared “opium for the people,” “priestly nonsense,” hundreds of churches and monasteries were looted and destroyed, shrines were desecrated, and clergy, especially the Russian Orthodox Church, were persecuted, declared reactionaries, counter-revolutionaries; they were arrested and imprisoned in prisons and concentration camps, tens of thousands of them were executed. The most amazing thing is that all these destructions, arrests and executions were carried out by the hands of the same Russian people who yesterday visited churches, baptized and married their children, and prayed to God. Where was their faith in God? In the cross and icons? But Orthodoxy should be not only and not so much in icons and the cross, but in the minds and hearts of people, in their observance of Christ’s ten commandments. Did those who destroyed churches, mocked shrines and shot priests have genuine Faith?!

The traditional views of the Russian people on culture and spiritual values ​​were destroyed; the concepts of “socialist culture”, “socialist morality and ethics” were imposed on the people, “Everything that helps build a communist society is moral,” Lenin proclaimed. Everything else was declared “bourgeois”. Freedom of creativity was prohibited. Sexual promiscuity was encouraged, and even the movement “Down with shame and disgrace!” arose. In some provinces it came to decrees on the socialization of women. The internal policy of the Bolsheviks and their disdainful attitude towards the intelligentsia pushed most of them away from cooperation with the “people’s” government. The result is a massive forced emigration from Russia of scientists, engineers, doctors, teachers, writers, and artists.

The cruel, anti-democratic policies of the Soviet government led to the outbreak of the Civil War.

About terror. They write and talk a lot about white terror and red terror. Whose terror was more cruel? The truth is that there was cruelty on both sides. Some, propagated and led by the Bolsheviks, strove for a general redistribution: of the whole world, and of the neighbor’s possessions, his land and livestock. Others did not agree that they were being robbed, deprived of property, land, and homes that their great-grandfathers had owned. Old grievances and complaints flared up. The villainous murder by the Bolsheviks - contrary to all human and state laws - of the royal family, including children - opened the floodgates of general mistrust, despair, bestial hatred, unprecedented cruelty, fear, meanness and betrayal. All human and religious values ​​were trampled upon, the sacred was mixed with dirt, everything spiritual was forgotten, everything material was turned into a bogeyman. "Rob and kill!" The war was not only between Whites and Reds, it was between city and countryside, between nations and classes, between good and evil, the war entered every home, every family. War without borders and without mercy.

The writer Vladimir Nikolaev characterizes this period well in his novel “Sivtsev Vrazhek”: “Two fraternal armies stand against the wall, and each had its own truth and its own honor. There were heroes here and there, and happiness of the heart too, andvictims, and exploits, and lofty, out-of-the-book humanity, and animal brutality, and fear, and disappointment, and strength, and weakness, and dull despair. It would be too simple both for people and for history if there was only one truth and they fought only with lies; but there were two truths and two honors fighting among themselves, and the battlefield was littered with the corpses of the best and most honest.”

Soviet power gave terror mass character and the force of law. A special apparatus was created to destroy the “class enemy”. In January 1918, at the Third Congress of Soviets, the leader of the Bolsheviks, V. Ulyanov (Lenin), stated: “not a single issue of the class struggle has ever been resolved in history except by violence. Violence, when it occurs on the part of the working people, the exploited masses against the exploiters - yes, we are for such violence.” Following the instructions of the leader, the Soviet government created the “All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for the Fight against Counter-Revolution and Sabotage” (VChK) headed by F. Dzerzhinsky. This punitive body mercilessly and cruelly dealt with those who did not agree with the policies of the Bolsheviks. On the mere suspicion of hostile actions or statements, people were seized, imprisoned, executed - without trial or investigation. The court, the prosecutor's office, and the legal profession were recognized as “bourgeois relics.” One should be guided only by “revolutionary expediency.” The main criterion for the accusation is not specific guilt, but class affiliation; the leaders of the Cheka, Peters, Latsis, Atarbekov, and others, also called for this. The number of repressions especially increased in connection with the murder of Volodarsky in Petrograd and the attempt on Lenin. The order of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs No. 15 of September 4, 1918 stated: “Significant numbers of hostages must be taken from the bourgeoisie and officers. At the slightest attempt at resistance or the slightest movement among the White Guards, mass execution must be used unconditionally.” And in response to the murder of Uritsky, 900 people were shot. And after the assassination attempt on Lenin, more than 6 thousand people were shot, about 15 thousand people were imprisoned, more than 6 thousand people were sent to concentration camps (that’s when and where they appeared!), about 4 thousand people were taken hostage . It was a triumph of Bolshevik “democracy”! The “work” of the Cheka was actually a war of the “Reds” against their own people. Terror against the people.

The whites did not have such directives, but had orders for reprisals against traitors. For example, the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Volunteer Army dated November 14, 1918 read: “... To the shame and disgrace of the Russian officers, many officers, even in high ranks, serve in the ranks of the Red Army. I declare that no motive will serve as a justification for this action. Conducting a mortal battle with Bolshevism, we do not need provocateurs. Everyone who did not immediately leave the ranks of the Red Army will face the people's curse and the field trial of the Russian Army - harsh and merciless. Lieutenant General Denikin." As already mentioned, the Whites also used mass brutal reprisals against those whom they considered an enemy, but these reprisals were rather spontaneous expressions of hatred and were not decreed from above.

The Reds won the Civil War because the White leaders made serious mistakes: they failed to avoid moral degeneration and internal disunity; They also failed to create an effective power structure, resolve the land issue and convince the national outskirts that the slogan of “United and Indivisible Russia” does not contradict their interests. A curious confession by A.I. Denikin, made in 1925: “Not one of the governments (anti-Bolshevik - Z.F.) was able to create a flexible and strong apparatus that could quickly and quickly overtake, coerce, act and force others to act. The Bolsheviks also did not capture the people’s soul, 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 techniques, old psychology, old vices of the civil and military bureaucracy, with Peter’s table of ranks, could not keep up with them...”

The inability or unwillingness of the leaders of the White movement to win over the people, the peasantry, weak, even naive propaganda, and the lack of clearly defined programs and goals also played a role. Supporters of the White movement often had a poor understanding of the life of the common people, their needs and aspirations, and treated workers and peasants with distrust. Even such “good” words of the Whites as democracy, constitution, universal suffrage, the right to vote, press, assembly, etc. - did not find a response in the soul of the Russian peasant or worker - yesterday's peasant. His thinking did not go beyond protecting his village, his home.

The Reds had more active, more sophisticated propaganda. Their slogans are “Peace to the huts, war to the palaces!”, “Land to the peasants!”, “Factory workers!”, “Whites are bringing us the return of the tsarist autocracy, the power of the landowners and capitalists,” “We will build a new, happy future,” “We are on the mountain.” We will fan the world fire to all the bourgeois!” - these slogans attracted the masses, although they carried colossal destructive force. The peasantry for the most part believed the Bolsheviks and took their side. And when I became disillusioned with their policies, saw the lies in the Bolshevik slogans, and began to actively advocate for my rights and a “better life.” One of the indicators of this was the mass desertion from the Red Army in 1919 - the year of the most severe tests for Soviet power: in February - 26,115 people, in March - 54,696, in April - 28,326, in June 146,453, in July - 270,737, in August - 299839, in September - 228850, in October - 190801, in November 263671, in December - 172831. And in total - 1761165 people! Often captured Red Army soldiers fought, and quite successfully, in the ranks of the White armies. But it was already too late. Strength, and considerable strength, was on the side of the Soviet government.

Another reason. The leaders of the White movement rejected any concessions to supporters of national independence. At the same time, the Bolsheviks promised unlimited national self-determination - this gave Lenin a win. (It is only known that the Bolsheviks did not fulfill this promise either then or later. This was the price of their other promises)..

The territorial disunity of the White armed forces also played a significant role, while the Reds, located in the center of the European part of the country, had an advantage in replenishing the army, maneuvering troops and supplying them with weapons, ammunition, and provisions. The numerical advantage of the Red Army over the Whites was also important - 1.5 - 2.5 times.

We must not forget about this factor: about 700 generals (!) and 50 thousand officers of the old army served on the Red side, voluntarily or by force, who not only developed plans for combat operations against the White armies, but also professionally led the Red detachments. “Without these officers we would not have created the Red Army,” Lenin admitted.

And assistance to the Whites from the Entente countries became increasingly limited until it stopped altogether.

Consequences of the Civil War. The peoples of Russia suffered colossal human losses. In total, 950 thousand people were killed and died from wounds in the Red Army, in the White and national armies - 650 thousand people, in partisan detachments - 900 thousand people. 1.2 million people died from red terror, 300 thousand people from white terror, and 500 thousand people from partisan terror. Died from hunger and disease - 6 million people. Total deaths10, 5 million people

There is devastation in the country. Industrial production fell to 4–20% of 1913 levels, Agriculture- by 40%. In most provinces, hunger and disease reigned: typhus, Spanish flu. Peasant farms are ruined. The Bolsheviks were afraid of the peasantry, which then made up 83% of the population of Russia, but, treating the peasant owners as reactionaries, they demanded from them: “Bread, bread!” And they beat out bread with the help of food detachments and kombeds (committees of the poor), dooming those robbed to hunger and death. Leon Trotsky’s dismissive statement is typical: “The peasantry constitutes the historical manure from which the working class grows.” Due to the dissatisfaction of the peasantry with the Soviet government, which tried to introduce “fixed prices,” and because of robbery by food detachments, a wave of peasant unrest and uprisings swept across Russia, covering 118 counties. A particularly fierce struggle was waged in the Volga region, which was helped by the mutiny of the Czechoslovak corps, on the Don, Kuban, in Western Siberia, in Primorye. In the Tambov region, by order of M. Tukhachevsky No. 0116 of June 12, 1921, the Red troops brought down brutal repressions on the peasants, including executions and the use of asphyxiating gases. (The movie “Once Upon a Time There Was a Woman” tells about this period well). In 1921, sailors rebelled in Kronstadt, demanding re-election of the Soviets, but without commissars and communists. IN Central Asia until 1928 the Basmachi movement continued.

In connection with these events, it is impossible not to recall the angry words of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Tikhon (1865 - 1925) from the letter with which he addressed the Council of People's Commissars on October 13 (26), 1918: “... Seizing power and calling on the people to trust you, what promises did you make to them and how did you fulfill these promises? In truth you gave him a stone instead of bread and a snake instead of a fish (Matt.-7.9.10). To the people exhausted by a bloody war, you promised to give peace “without annexations and indemnities.” Instead of annexations and indemnities, our great homeland was conquered, dismembered, and in payment of the tribute imposed on it, you secretly export to Germany the accumulated gold that was not yours... You divided the entire people into hostile camps and plunged them into fratricide of unprecedented cruelty... You replaced the love of Christ with hatred and, instead of peace, you artificially incited class enmity. And there is no end in sight to the war you have created, since you are striving, with the help of Russian workers and peasants, to bring triumph to the specter of the world revolution... No one feels safe, everyone lives under constant fear of search, robbery, eviction, arrest, execution... Executed bishops, priests, monks and nuns, innocent of anything, but simply based on sweeping accusations of some vague and indefinite counter-revolutionism... Having seduced the dark and ignorant people with the possibility of easy and unpunished profit, you have clouded their conscience and drowned out the consciousness of sin in them , but no matter what names the atrocities are covered up, murder, violence, robbery will always remain grave and crying to heaven for vengeance with sins and crimes... Celebrate the anniversary of your stay in power by releasing prisoners, ending the bloodshed, violence, ruin, oppression of faith, convert not to destruction, but to the establishment of order and legality, give the people the desired and well-deserved rest from internecine warfare. Otherwise, “all righteous blood that you shed will be required of you” (Luke 11:51), “you who have taken the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew 25:52).”

The response of the Council of People's Commissars was silence and increased repression against the clergy and the people.

One of the most significant consequences of the Civil War was the flight and forced evacuation of representatives of the former ruling classes and intelligentsia. In addition to the soldiers and officers of the White armies, tens of thousands of people left Russia - voluntarily or under duress. Of the most famous, several hundred people left the country in 1917-1931, especially in 1920-1921, including world-famous people: electronics inventor Vladimir Zvorykin, aircraft designers Igor Sikorsky and Mikhail Grigorashvili, aviation engineer and pilot -tester Boris Sergievsky, economist Vasily Leontyev, chemist Alexey Chichibabin, historians Georgy Vernadsky, Pavel Milyukov, writers Leonid Andreev, Sasha Cherny, Alexander Kuprin, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Vladimir Nabokov, Arkady Averchenko, Ivan Bunin, Zinaida Gippius, Nadezhda Teffi, Marina Tsvetaeva , Ivan Shmelev, Evgeny Zamyatin, writer and historian Fyodor Stepun; famous doctors: pathologist Alexander Pavlovsky, immunologist Pyotr Grabar, surgeon Alexander Aleksinsky, embryologist Konstantin Davydov, therapist Kazimir Buinevich, physiologist Boris Babkin, neuropathologist Grigory Troshin; world famous chess player Alexander Alekhine; painter and graphic artist Grigory Kandinsky, painters Leonid Pasternak and Marc Chagall; sculptors Sergei Konenkov, Stepan Nefedov (Erzya) and Osip Zadkine; film actors Ivan Mozzhukhin and Mikhail Chekhov; legendary singer Fyodor Chaliapin; popular pop singers Pyotr Leshchenko, Alexander Vertinsky and famous performer of Russian folk songs Nadezhda Plevitskaya; composers Sergei Rachmaninov and Alexander Grechaninov; director Fyodor Komissarzhevsky; famous musicians: violinist Jascha Heifetz, pianists Vladimir Horowitz and Alexander Ziloti, cellist Grigory Pyatigorsky; choreographers and teachers Mikhail Fokin, Serge Lifar, George Balanchine, ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya and many, many others...

In 1922 - 1923, about 200 people were expelled from the RSFSR on the so-called philosophical ships. including philosophers Ivan Ilyin, Nikolai Lossky, Sergei Bulgakov, Semyon Frank, historians Lev Karsavin and Sergei Melgunov, sociologist Pitirim Sorokin, historiographer Fyodor Stepun and many others.

As one of the Bolshevik leaders, Leon Trotsky, cynically admitted: “We expelled these people because there was no reason to shoot them, and it was impossible to tolerate them.” It also had an effect that during these years the Soviet government sought to establish normal relations with foreign states, and such a “loyal” policy towards the intelligentsia contributed to this goal.

Total emigrated2 million people And all Russia lost12.5 million your sons and daughters!

What can we say at the end?

1. The February Revolution in Russia was a forced and necessary action, because The autocratic system has outlived its usefulness, slowing down not only the development of military operations of the Russian army in the war, but also the further development of Russia along the path of democracy and progress.

2. The Provisional Government, which replaced the monarchy, also failed to rally society around itself, did not have a clear program of action, often acted contrary to the will of the people and the voice of reason, allowing in many cases softness, shortsightedness and inability to see problems and prospects, and, moreover, inability organize the implementation of vital tasks for the people. It is appropriate to quote here the words of the famous philosopher Pitirim Sorokin: “The fall of the regime is the result not so much of the efforts of the revolutionaries as of the decrepitude, impotence and inability of the regime itself to do creative work.”

3. The October coup was illegal and unnecessary. A Constituent Assembly elected by the people of Russia could resolve many state issues on a democratic basis. But it was dispersed by the Bolsheviks, who saw themselves in the minority among the chosen ones. The Bolsheviks usurped power. And the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly and the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty stimulated the start of a bloody, large-scale, fratricidal Civil War.

4. The moral and ethical aspect of the mass terror of the warring parties - “all against all” - turned out to be possible due to the general savagery of the warring parties, their extreme bitterness and categorical reluctance to heed the voice of reason.

5. Having believed the Whites, believing the Reds, rising to the Civil War, people finally received, some - life in a foreign land, often in poverty and lawlessness, and others - the construction of socialism, i.e. destruction of Temples and desecration of the Faith, endless five-year plans in four years, collective farm slavery, famine of the 30s, the omnipotence of the Cheka-OGPU-NKVD-KGB and fabricated trials, mass repressions and the Gulag, elections without choice, constant need for food, housing, work and everywhere lies, lies, lies...

Unfortunately, we feel the echoes of these phenomena even now, almost a century later! Yes, it’s easier to invent and create something material - a new device, a car, atomic bomb, TV, computer, how to change human consciousness, which during the twentieth century was subjected to such a destructive impact of two World Wars and revolutions.

6. We, living now, must understand that the path of revolution is a dead end. Never and nowhere in the world, in any country over the past almost 100 years, has a revolution led to the happiness and prosperity of people, but only to the degradation of society, the destruction of a thousand-year-old culture, spiritual and material impoverishment of people, to murders and wars in the name of an illusory “happy future.” As Patriarch Kirill rightly noted: “Not a single revolution has realized the slogans it called for. Not a single revolution has resolved the contradictions of society.”

Anyone who calls for war is a criminal!

The one who calls for revolution and civil war is a hundred times greater criminal! God save us from these criminals!

Now decide for yourself who won the Civil War.

Drawings by artist Pavel Ryzhenko

The Civil War is one of the bloodiest pages in the history of our country in the twentieth century. The front line in this war did not pass through fields and forests, but in the souls and minds of people, forcing brother to shoot brother, and son to raise a saber against father.

Beginning of the Russian Civil War 1917-1922

In October 1917, the Bolsheviks came to power in Petrograd. The period of establishment of Soviet power was distinguished by the swiftness and speed with which the Bolsheviks established control over military warehouses, infrastructure and created new armed units.

The Bolsheviks had extensive social support thanks to the decrees on peace and land. This massive support compensated for the weak organization and combat training of the Bolshevik detachments.

At the same time, mainly among the educated part of the population, which was based on the nobility and the middle class, there was a mature understanding that the Bolsheviks came to power illegitimately, and, therefore, they should be fought against. The political struggle was lost, only the armed one remained.

Causes of the Civil War

Any move by the Bolsheviks gave them new army supporters and opponents alike. Therefore, the citizens of the Russian Republic had grounds to organize armed resistance to the Bolsheviks.

The Bolsheviks destroyed the front, seized power, and unleashed terror. This could not help but force those on whom they were used as a bargaining chip in the future construction of socialism to take up the rifle.

The nationalization of land caused discontent among those who owned it. This immediately turned the bourgeoisie and landowners against the Bolsheviks.

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The “dictatorship of the proletariat” promised by V.I. Lenin turned out to be the dictatorship of the Central Committee. The publication of the decree “On the arrest of the leaders of the Civil War” in November 1917 and on the “Red Terror” allowed the Bolsheviks to calmly exterminate their opposition. This caused retaliatory aggression from the Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and anarchists.

Rice. 1. Lenin in October.

The government's methods did not correspond to the slogans that the Bolshevik Party put forward when it came to power, which forced the kulaks, the Cossacks and the bourgeoisie to turn away from them.

And finally, seeing how the empire was collapsing, neighboring states actively tried to gain personal benefit from the political processes taking place on Russian territory.

Start date of the Russian Civil War

There is no consensus on the exact date. Some historians believe that the conflict began immediately after the October Revolution, others call the beginning of the war in the spring of 1918, when foreign intervention occurred and opposition to Soviet power was formed.
There is also no single point of view on the question of who is to blame for the beginning of the Civil War: the Bolsheviks or those who began to resist them.

First stage of the war

After the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks, among the dispersed representatives there were those who did not agree with this and were ready to fight. They fled from Petrograd to territories not controlled by the Bolsheviks - to Samara. There they formed the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch) and declared themselves the only legitimate power and set themselves the task of overthrowing the power of the Bolsheviks. The Komuch of the first convocation included five Socialist Revolutionaries.

Rice. 2. Members of the Komuch of the first convocation.

Forces opposing Soviet power were also formed in many regions of the former empire. Let's display them in the table:

In the spring of 1918, Germany occupied Ukraine, Crimea and part of the North Caucasus; Romania - Bessarabia; England, France and the USA landed in Murmansk, and Japan stationed its troops in the Far East. In May 1918 there was also an uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps. So Soviet power was overthrown in Siberia, and in the south the Volunteer Army, having laid the foundation of the White Army “Armed Forces of the South of Russia”, went on the famous Ice March, liberating the Don steppes from the Bolsheviks. Thus ended the first stage of the Civil War.