1. Including War Communism & New Economic Policy (briefly)
The Civil War
Including War Communism & New Economic Policy (briefly)

2. The Civil War Lasted 3 years-ish – Winter of 1917-18 to 1921 Appalling
Initially, most serious enemy for Bolsheviks = Germans until Treaty of Brest- Litovsk (3 March 1918).
Bs had many other enemies – international & domestic.

3. Millions died in combat, from hunger, cold & disease.
Approx. 300,000 war dead + same number of executions.
Famine during & when fighting stopped = millions more RIP
Many facets – ‘Reds v Whites’, ‘Proletariat v bourgeoisie’, ‘Class war’
Fought on 3 main fronts – southern, eastern & north-western.

4. Reds, whites, greens, blacks?

5. ‘White’ forces General Iudenich General Denikin Admiral Kolchak Foreign forces

7. Reasons for the Civil War - enemies
Many enemies at home – all anxious to dislodge Bs:
Constituent Assembly
Social Revolutionaries (won election, denied power)
Landlords who lost their land
Supporters of Tsar
National groups wanting independence
Generals + troops opp. to humiliating terms of Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
Enemies abroad – Allies sent forces to support Whites because they were…
Angry re: Russia made peace with Germany
Wanted to destroy B regime in case it spread rev. in Europe.
The Czech legion…
Bs quarreled with Czech ex-POWs
Angry Czechs…took over Trans-Siberian Railway, gave protection to ‘White’ (anti-B) groups, formed Czech legion & marched to Moscow.

8. Aim of the Reds Survive & retain power at any cost
Satisfy the people & build socialism
Hold on to the Russian heartland

10. The war End of 1918 – Not going well for Reds. Mid-1919 – big test.
Trotsky organized Red Army.
Whites did not attack together – Trotsky able to deal with attacks on at a time
Mid-1919 – big test.
Lack of cooperation amongst Whites again issue.
Main threat over by 1920 – war lingered on, particularly in Poland.
Fighting was bitter & cruel. Both sides guilty of atrocities.

11. Why did the Bolsheviks win the Civil War?
Popularity – reforms, >Whites
Unity v disunity – singleness of purpose v different groups w no leader
Allied intervention
Terror – the CHEKA
Propaganda
War communism – kept Red Army supplied
Resources – Bs controlled main cities, factories & railways
Leadership
Trotsky – created ‘Red Army’, enforced strict discipline, outstanding military strategist.
Geography

12. The results of the Bolshevik victory
The survival of Bolshevik rule
The extension of Bolshevik control over a wider area
Famine, industrial collapse, and the New Economic Policy

13. War Communism Extreme form of state control Aims:
To ensure Red Army fed & equipped.
To introduce system of Communism.
Term only used later, at the time it was simply Bs attempts to introduce Communism & win Civil War.

14. War Communism How it worked: Nationalisation: Workers: Peasants:
Factories >10 workers taken over by state.
Supreme Council of National Economy decided what each factory should produce (Vesenkha, est. Dec 1917)
Workers:
Military discipline in factories.
Strikes illegal – strikers could be shot.
Peasants:
Forced to give all surplus to Govt.
No longer allowed to sell it for profit.
Rationing:
Food rationed in cities.
Money:
To meet expenses Govt printed masses of money = inflation – Govt. allowed money to lose its value.
Many money payments abolished (e.g. rents, fares).
Barter

15. War Communism Results: Govt. managed to feed & equip army (5 million).
Resentment & hardship
Peasants stopped producing surplus food, caused…
– Food shortages.
1921 – Famine – 7 million died.
Hunger, low wages & discontent. Industrial output↓.
1921 – Kronstadt mutiny.

16. Civil War propaganda

17. ‘The Red Wedge is the White’s death’ 1920

18. This 1919 Bolshevik poster shows the three White generals Denikin, Kolchak and Yudenich as three vicious dogs who are under the control of America, France and Britain.

21. Foreign Propaganda – anti-Bolshevik

23. The Red & White Terror Ferocity & sheer brutality
Atrocities by both sides
The Red Terror
Bolsheviks employed terror as deliberate choice
Cheka formed shortly after Oct Rev
Purpose = defend the revolution & destroy its enemies no matter the cost
As threats ↑, so too did justification for the terror.
At first, aimed at ‘the bourgeois class enemy’.
As civil war cont. became more indiscriminate – members of all classes targeted
The White Terror
Whites responded in kind
Atrocities:
Kharkov – prisoners scalped & skin removed like gloves
Odessa – White officers boiled
Kiev – prisoners buried alive with decomposing bodies
Vorenezh – prisoners rolled in spiked barrels
Ukraine – anti-Jewish pograms by Whites