Russian Civil War (1 jan 1918 ano – 1 jan 1921 ano)

Descrição:

At first, Russia was united under patriotic enthusiasm. Many supported the tsar and the Duma supported war. This soon waned as better-equipped German armies inflicted terrible losses. Russian soldiers were sent out being told to find arms among the dead. They still fought, and Russia moved towards full mobilization. Defense, industry, transportation, and agriculture were coordinated and better managed, but Russia still mobilized less effectively.

Being excluded from power under the constitution, the Duma, middle class, and the masses became increasingly critical of the tsar. The Progressive bloc, which called for a completely new government responsible to the Duma, was formed. Nicholas then temporarily adjourned the Duma and left Russia to travel to the front. Tsarina Alexandra arbitrarily dismissed loyal political advisors and favored the unpopular Rasputin. In an attempt to right the situation, three members of the high aristocracy murdered Rasputin. The scandal further undermined support for the tsarist government.

Tens of thousands of soldiers had deserted. Russian cities were plagued by food and fuel shortages as well as a poor economy. In the February Revolution in March, violent street demonstrations broke out in St. Petersburg. Nicholas ordered the army to open fire, but soldiers refused and joined the revolution. The Duma declared a provisional government. Nicholas abdicated.

The provisional government established equality before the law and granted freedoms of religion, speech, assembly, and to organize unions and strike. However, leaders like prime minister Alexander Kerensky failed to take the nation out of the war. Kerensky refused to confiscate large landholdings and give them to peasants, fearing it would collapse the peasant army. Suffering and war-weariness grew.

The government had to share power with the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies. . The Soviet was a proclaimed grassroots product of revolutionary democracy that acted as a parallel government and was comprised of two to three thousand Russians. It issued its own radical orders, most notably Army Order No. 1, which stripped officers of their authority and placed power in the hands of elected committees of common soldiers. It collapsed army discipline.

The provisional government led a failed offensive against the Germans. Peasant soldiers deserted and returned home to help their families get a share of the land that peasants were seizing in a grassroots agrarian revolt. By summer 1917, Russia was descending into anarchy.

As the provisional government faltered, Vladimir Lenin rose to power. He turned against imperial Russia after his brother was executed for plotting to kill Alexander III. He studied Marxist socialism and modernized Marx’s revolutionary philosophy. He believed only violent revolution could destroy capitalism and denounced revisionism. He thought a Communist revolution was possible even in an agrarian country like Russia and that peasants could take the place of the working class. He believed that the possibility of revolution was determined more by human leadership than by historical laws and thus called for a highly disciplined workers’ party strictly controlled by a small, dedicated elite of intellectuals and professional revolutionaries that would not stop until revolution brought it to power. His ideas changed the way future revolutionaries engaged in radical revolt worldwide.

Contrary to most other Marxists, Lenin wanted a small party dedicated to revolution. Russian Marxists split into Lenin’s Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. Lenin lived in neutral Switzerland until Germany granted him a safe passage into Russia hoping that he would undermine the war effort of the provisional government. He promoted radical ideas and gained Bolsheviks popular support. The Bolsheviks faced a temporary setback in which they failed at taking power and Lenin went into hiding. The army’s commander in chief Kornilov led a coup against Kerensky’s government and the Bolsheviks reemerged. Kornilov’s forces disintegrated but Kerensky lost all credit with the army.

After Bolshevik support increased, Lenin’s supporter Leon Trotsky emerged. He convinced the Petrograd Soviet in October to form a special military-revolutionary committee and make him its leader. In November, militants from the committee joined with Bolshevik soldiers to seize government buildings in Petrograd and arrest members of the provisional government. A Bolshevik majority of the Congress of Soviets declared all power had passed to the soviets and named Lenin head of the new government. Bolsheviks had superior leadership and appealed to the hopes of the people after a time of anarchy.

Lenin made it seem as if the Bolsheviks were directing events they had little control over, as was the case when he mandated land reform when peasants were revolting and taking land and when he ratified the actions of urban workers who demanded direct control of individual factories. They claimed to be for provisional workers and peasants. When they garnered a minority in elections, Lenin moved to establish a one-party state by disbanding the Constituent Assembly.

Lenin acknowledged they had basically lost the war with Germany and just tried to keep peace. Germany demanded they give up all western territories. Most opposed, but when Germany resumed their march into Russia, Lenin had his way and signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

The actions of the Bolsheviks caused armed opposition, called the Whites, as opposed to the Bolsheviks’ Reds. The Whites came from diverse backgrounds and were united by their hatred of communism and Bolsheviks. By summer of 1918, Russia was in a civil war. Eighteen self-proclaimed regional governments challenged Lenin. The White armies closed in on central Russia, but the Reds were able to hold them back for several reasons.

Trotsky became war commissar of the Red Army and built up a superior force with strict discipline and the draft. Western Allies sent troops to support the Whites in order to prevent the spread of communism, yet they never sent enough. Foreign intervention attracted former tsarist army officers to the Reds.

The Whites also had poor military coordination and political unity. Bolsheviks promised ethnic minorities in Russian-controlled territories substantial autonomy while the Whites sought to preserve the tsarist empire.

Bolsheviks mobilized the home front by establishing War Communism. They nationalized banks and industries, outlawed private enterprise, introduced rationing, seized grain from peasants to feed cities, and maintained strict workplace discipline. This harsh system of centralized controls broke down normal economic activity but kept the Red Army supplied.

Bolsheviks also established a secret police force called the Cehka that suppressed counter-revolutionaries. It imprisoned and executed tens of thousands without trial, including Nicholas, Alexandra, and their children in secret. The “Red Terror” established the secret police as a central tool of the emerging Communist government and led to their victory.

By spring of 1920, White armies were almost completely defeated and the Bolsheviks had gained much of their lost territory. A defeat to the Polish prevented further spread of communism. They then overran the Caucasus. The civil war was over.

Adicionado na linha do tempo:

Data: