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Civil war stages are red and white. Reds (Russian Civil War)

History of the Red Army

See main article History of the Red Army

Personnel

In general, the military ranks of junior officers (sergeants and foremen) of the Red Army correspond to the tsarist non-commissioned officers, the ranks of junior officers correspond to chief officers (the statutory address in the tsarist army is “your honor”), senior officers, from major to colonel - headquarters officers (the statutory address in the tsarist army is “your excellency”), senior officers, from major general to marshal - general (“your excellency”).

A more detailed correspondence of ranks can only be established approximately, due to the fact that the very number of military ranks varies. So, the rank of lieutenant roughly corresponds to a lieutenant, and the royal rank of captain roughly corresponds to the Soviet military rank of major.

It should also be noted that the insignia of the Red Army of the 1943 model were also not an exact copy of the royal ones, although they were created on their basis. So, the rank of colonel in the tsarist army was designated by shoulder straps with two longitudinal stripes, and without asterisks; in the Red Army - two longitudinal stripes, and three medium-sized stars arranged in a triangle.

Repressions 1937-1938

battle banner

The battle flag of one of the units of the Red Army during the Civil War:

The imperialist army is an instrument of oppression, the Red Army is an instrument of liberation.

For each unit or formation of the Red Army, its Battle Banner is sacred. It serves as the main symbol of the unit, and the embodiment of its military glory. In the event of the loss of the Battle Banner, the military unit is subject to disbandment, and those directly responsible for such disgrace - to the court. A separate guard post is established to guard the Battle Banner. Each soldier, passing by the banner, is obliged to give him a military salute. On especially solemn occasions, the troops carry out the ritual of the solemn removal of the Battle Banner. Being included in the banner group directly conducting the ritual is considered a great honor, which is awarded only to the most distinguished officers and ensigns.

Oath

Mandatory for recruits in any army in the world is to bring them to the oath. In the Red Army, this ritual is usually performed a month after the call, after completing the course of a young soldier. Before being sworn in, soldiers are forbidden to be trusted with weapons; there are a number of other restrictions. On the day of the oath, the soldier receives weapons for the first time; he breaks down, approaches the commander of his unit, and reads out a solemn oath to the formation. The oath is traditionally considered an important holiday, and is accompanied by the solemn removal of the Battle Banner.

The text of the oath has changed several times; The first option was as follows:

I, a citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, joining the ranks of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, take an oath and solemnly swear to be an honest, brave, disciplined, vigilant fighter, strictly keep military and state secrets, implicitly comply with all military regulations and orders of commanders, commissars and chiefs.

I swear to conscientiously study military affairs, to protect military property in every possible way and to my last breath to be devoted to my people, my Soviet Motherland and the workers' and peasants' government.

I am always ready, on the orders of the Workers 'and Peasants' Government, to defend my Motherland - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and, as a soldier of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, I swear to defend it courageously, skillfully, with dignity and honor, not sparing my blood and life itself to achieve complete victory over the enemy.

If, by malicious intent, I violate this solemn oath of mine, then let me suffer the severe punishment of Soviet law, the general hatred and contempt of the working people.

Late variant

I, a citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, joining the ranks of the Armed Forces, take an oath and solemnly swear to be an honest, brave, disciplined, vigilant warrior, to strictly keep military and state secrets, to unquestioningly comply with all military regulations and orders of commanders and superiors.

I swear to conscientiously study military affairs, to protect military and national property in every possible way, and to my last breath to be devoted to my people, my Soviet Motherland and the Soviet government.

I am always ready, on the orders of the Soviet government, to defend my Motherland - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and, as a soldier of the Armed Forces, I swear to defend it courageously, skillfully, with dignity and honor, not sparing my blood and life itself in order to achieve complete victory over enemy.

If, however, I break this solemn oath of mine, then let me suffer the severe punishment of Soviet law, the general hatred and contempt of the Soviet people.

Modern version

I (surname, name, patronymic) solemnly swear allegiance to my Motherland - the Russian Federation.

I swear to sacredly observe its Constitution and laws, strictly comply with the requirements of military regulations, orders of commanders and superiors.

I swear to fulfill my military duty with dignity, to courageously defend the freedom, independence and constitutional order of Russia, the people and the Fatherland.

It is very difficult to reconcile the “whites” and “reds” in our history. Every position has its own truth. After all, only 100 years ago they fought for it. The struggle was fierce, brother went to brother, father to son. For some, the heroes of Budennov will be the First Cavalry, for others, the volunteers of Kappel. Only those who, under the guise of their position on the Civil War, are wrong, are trying to erase a whole piece of Russian history from the past. Whoever draws too far-reaching conclusions about the "anti-people character" of the Bolshevik government, denies the entire Soviet era, all its accomplishments, and in the end slides into outright Russophobia.

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Civil war in Russia - armed confrontation in 1917-1922. between various political, ethnic, social groups and state formations on the territory of the former Russian Empire, which followed the coming to power of the Bolsheviks as a result of the October Revolution of 1917. The Civil War was the result of the revolutionary crisis that struck Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, which began with the revolution of 1905-1907, aggravated during the World War, economic devastation, and a deep social, national, political and ideological split in Russian society. The apogee of this split was a fierce war on a national scale between the Soviet and anti-Bolshevik armed forces. The civil war ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks.

The main struggle for power during the Civil War was carried out between the armed formations of the Bolsheviks and their supporters (Red Guard and Red Army) on the one hand and the armed formations of the White Movement (White Army) on the other, which was reflected in the stable naming of the main parties to the conflict "Red ' and 'white'.

For the Bolsheviks, who relied primarily on the organized industrial proletariat, the suppression of the resistance of their opponents was the only way to maintain power in a peasant country. For many participants in the White movement - the officers, the Cossacks, the intelligentsia, the landowners, the bourgeoisie, the bureaucracy and the clergy - the armed resistance to the Bolsheviks was aimed at returning the lost power and restoring their socio-economic rights and privileges. All these groups were the pinnacle of the counter-revolution, its organizers and inspirers. Officers and the rural bourgeoisie created the first cadres of white troops.

The decisive factor in the course of the Civil War was the position of the peasantry, which accounted for more than 80% of the population, which ranged from passive waiting to active armed struggle. The fluctuations of the peasantry, reacting in this way to the policy of the Bolshevik government and the dictatorships of the white generals, radically changed the balance of power and, ultimately, predetermined the outcome of the war. First of all, we are certainly talking about the middle peasantry. In some areas (the Volga region, Siberia), these fluctuations raised the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks to power, and sometimes contributed to the advancement of the White Guards deep into Soviet territory. However, with the course of the Civil War, the middle peasantry leaned towards Soviet power. The middle peasants saw from experience that the transfer of power to the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks inevitably leads to an undisguised general dictatorship, which, in turn, inevitably leads to the return of the landowners and the restoration of pre-revolutionary relations. The strength of the swings of the middle peasants in the direction of Soviet power was especially manifested in the combat readiness of the White and Red armies. White armies were essentially combat-ready only as long as they were more or less homogeneous in terms of class. When, as the front expanded and moved forward, the White Guards resorted to mobilizing the peasantry, they inevitably lost their combat capability and fell apart. And vice versa, the Red Army was constantly strengthened, and the mobilized middle peasant masses of the countryside staunchly defended Soviet power from the counter-revolution.

The basis of the counter-revolution in the countryside was the kulaks, especially after the organization of the Kombeds and the beginning of a decisive struggle for grain. The kulaks were only interested in liquidating large landlord farms as competitors in the exploitation of the poor and middle peasants, whose departure opened wide prospects for the kulaks. The struggle of the kulaks against the proletarian revolution took place both in the form of participation in the White Guard armies, and in the form of organizing their own detachments, and in the form of a broad insurrectionary movement in the rear of the revolution under various national, class, religious, up to anarchist, slogans. A characteristic feature of the Civil War was the willingness of all its participants to widely use violence to achieve their political goals (see "Red Terror" and "White Terror")

An integral part of the Civil War was the armed struggle of the national outskirts of the former Russian Empire for their independence and the insurrectionary movement of the general population against the troops of the main warring parties - the "red" and "white". Attempts to declare independence were rebuffed both by the "whites", who fought for a "united and indivisible Russia", and by the "reds", who saw the growth of nationalism as a threat to the gains of the revolution.

The civil war unfolded under conditions of foreign military intervention and was accompanied by military operations on the territory of the former Russian Empire, both by the troops of the countries of the Quadruple Alliance and the troops of the Entente countries. The motives for the active intervention of the leading Western powers were the realization of their own economic and political interests in Russia and assistance to the whites in order to eliminate the Bolshevik power. Although the possibilities of the interventionists were limited by the socio-economic crisis and political struggle in the Western countries themselves, the intervention and material assistance to the white armies significantly influenced the course of the war.

The civil war was fought not only on the territory of the former Russian Empire, but also on the territory of neighboring states - Iran (Anzelian operation), Mongolia and China.

Arrest of the emperor and his family. Nicholas II with his wife in Alexander Park. Tsarskoye Selo. May 1917

Arrest of the emperor and his family. Daughters of Nicholas II and his son Alexei. May 1917

Dinner of the Red Army at the fire. 1919

Armored train of the Red Army. 1918

Bulla Viktor Karlovich

Civil War refugees
1919

Distribution of bread for 38 wounded Red Army soldiers. 1918

Red squad. 1919

Ukrainian front.

Exhibition of trophies of the Civil War near the Kremlin, dedicated to the II Congress of the Communist International

Civil War. Eastern front. Armored train of the 6th regiment of the Czechoslovak Corps. Attack on Maryanovka. June 1918

Steinberg Yakov Vladimirovich

Red commanders of the regiment of the rural poor. 1918

Soldiers of the First Cavalry Army of Budyonny at a rally
January 1920

Otsup Petr Adolfovich

Funeral of victims of the February Revolution
March 1917

July events in Petrograd. Soldiers of the Scooter Regiment, who arrived from the front to suppress the rebellion. July 1917

Work on the site of a train wreck after an anarchist attack. January 1920

Red commander in the new office. January 1920

Commander-in-Chief Lavr Kornilov. 1917

Chairman of the Provisional Government Alexander Kerensky. 1917

Commander of the 25th Rifle Division of the Red Army Vasily Chapaev (right) and commander Sergei Zakharov. 1918

Sound recording of Vladimir Lenin's speech in the Kremlin. 1919

Vladimir Lenin in Smolny at a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars. January 1918

February Revolution. Checking documents on Nevsky Prospekt
February 1917

Fraternization of the soldiers of General Lavr Kornilov with the troops of the Provisional Government. 1 - 30 August 1917

Steinberg Yakov Vladimirovich

Military intervention in Soviet Russia. The command structure of the White Army units with representatives of foreign troops

Station in Yekaterinburg after the capture of the city by parts of the Siberian army and the Czechoslovak corps. 1918

Demolition of the monument to Alexander III near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior

Political workers at the staff car. Western front. Voronezh direction

Military portrait

Date of shooting: 1917 - 1919

In the hospital laundry. 1919

Ukrainian front.

Sisters of mercy of the Kashirin partisan detachment. Evdokia Aleksandrovna Davydova and Taisiya Petrovna Kuznetsova. 1919

Detachments of the Red Cossacks Nikolai and Ivan Kashirin in the summer of 1918 became part of the consolidated South Ural partisan detachment of Vasily Blucher, who raided the mountains of the Southern Urals. Having united near Kungur in September 1918 with units of the Red Army, the partisans fought as part of the troops of the 3rd Army of the Eastern Front. After the reorganization in January 1920, these troops became known as the Army of Labor, the purpose of which was to restore the national economy of the Chelyabinsk province.

Red commander Anton Boliznyuk, wounded thirteen times

Mikhail Tukhachevsky

Grigory Kotovsky
1919

At the entrance to the building of the Smolny Institute - the headquarters of the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution. 1917

Medical examination of workers mobilized into the Red Army. 1918

On the boat "Voronezh"

Red Army soldiers in the city liberated from the whites. 1919

Overcoats of the 1918 model, which came into use during the civil war, originally in the army of Budyonny, were preserved with minor changes until the military reform of 1939. The machine gun "Maxim" is mounted on the cart.

July events in Petrograd. The funeral of the Cossacks who died during the suppression of the rebellion. 1917

Pavel Dybenko and Nestor Makhno. November - December 1918

Employees of the supply department of the Red Army

Koba / Joseph Stalin. 1918

On May 29, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR appointed Joseph Stalin in charge in the south of Russia and sent him as an extraordinary representative of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee for the procurement of grain from the North Caucasus to industrial centers.

The defense of Tsaritsyn is a military campaign of "red" troops against "white" troops for control of the city of Tsaritsyn during the Russian Civil War.

People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the RSFSR Lev Trotsky greets soldiers near Petrograd
1919

Commander of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, General Anton Denikin and Ataman of the Great Don Army Afrikan Bogaevsky at a solemn prayer service on the occasion of the liberation of the Don from the troops of the Red Army
June - August 1919

General Radola Gaida and Admiral Alexander Kolchak (left to right) with officers of the White Army
1919

Alexander Ilyich Dutov - ataman of the Orenburg Cossack army

In 1918, Alexander Dutov (1864-1921) declared the new government criminal and illegal, organized armed Cossack squads, which became the base of the Orenburg (southwestern) army. Most of the White Cossacks were in this army. For the first time the name of Dutov became known in August 1917, when he was an active participant in the Kornilov rebellion. After that, Dutov was sent by the Provisional Government to the Orenburg province, where in the fall he fortified himself in Troitsk and Verkhneuralsk. His power lasted until April 1918.

homeless children
1920s

Soshalsky Georgy Nikolaevich

Homeless children transport the city archive. 1920s

Every Russian knows that in the Civil War of 1917-1922, two movements opposed - "red" and "white". But among historians there is still no consensus on how it began. Someone believes that the reason was Krasnov's March on the Russian capital (October 25); others believe that the war began when, in the near future, the commander of the Volunteer Army, Alekseev, arrived on the Don (November 2); there is also an opinion that the war began with the fact that Milyukov proclaimed the “Declaration of the Volunteer Army, delivering a speech at the ceremony, called the Don (December 27). Another popular opinion, which is far from unfounded, is the opinion that the Civil War began immediately after the February Revolution, when the whole society split into supporters and opponents of the Romanov monarchy.

"White" movement in Russia

Everyone knows that "whites" are adherents of the monarchy and the old order. Its beginnings were visible as early as February 1917, when the monarchy was overthrown in Russia and a total restructuring of society began. The development of the "white" movement was during the period when the Bolsheviks came to power, the formation of Soviet power. They represented a circle of dissatisfied with the Soviet government, disagreeing with its policy and principles of its conduct.
The "whites" were fans of the old monarchical system, refused to accept the new socialist order, adhered to the principles of traditional society. It is important to note that the "whites" were very often radicals, they did not believe that it was possible to agree on something with the "reds", on the contrary, they had the opinion that no negotiations and concessions were allowed.
The "Whites" chose the tricolor of the Romanovs as their banner. Admiral Denikin and Kolchak commanded the white movement, one in the South, the other in the harsh regions of Siberia.
The historical event that became the impetus for the activation of the "whites" and the transition to their side of most of the former army of the Romanov empire is the rebellion of General Kornilov, which, although it was suppressed, helped the "whites" strengthen their ranks, especially in the southern regions, where, under the command of the general Alekseev began to gather huge resources and a powerful disciplined army. Every day the army was replenished due to newcomers, it grew rapidly, developed, tempered, trained.
Separately, it must be said about the commanders of the White Guards (this was the name of the army created by the "white" movement). They were unusually talented commanders, prudent politicians, strategists, tacticians, subtle psychologists, and skillful speakers. The most famous were Lavr Kornilov, Anton Denikin, Alexander Kolchak, Pyotr Krasnov, Pyotr Wrangel, Nikolai Yudenich, Mikhail Alekseev. You can talk about each of them for a long time, their talent and merits for the "white" movement can hardly be overestimated.
In the war, the White Guards won for a long time, and even brought their troops to Moscow. But the Bolshevik army was growing stronger, besides, they were supported by a significant part of the population of Russia, especially the poorest and most numerous sections - workers and peasants. In the end, the forces of the White Guards were smashed to smithereens. For some time they continued to operate abroad, but without success, the "white" movement ceased.

"Red" movement

Like the "whites", in the ranks of the "reds" there were many talented commanders and politicians. Among them, it is important to note the most famous, namely: Leon Trotsky, Brusilov, Novitsky, Frunze. These commanders showed themselves excellently in battles against the White Guards. Trotsky was the main founder of the Red Army, which was the decisive force in the confrontation between the "whites" and the "reds" in the Civil War. The ideological leader of the "red" movement was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, known to every person. Lenin and his government were actively supported by the most massive sections of the population of the Russian State, namely, the proletariat, the poor, landless and landless peasants, and the working intelligentsia. It was these classes who quickly believed the tempting promises of the Bolsheviks, supported them and brought the "Reds" to power.
The main party in the country was the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party of the Bolsheviks, which was later turned into a communist party. In essence, it was an association of intelligentsia, adherents of the socialist revolution, whose social base was the working classes.
It was not easy for the Bolsheviks to win the Civil War - they had not yet completely strengthened their power throughout the country, the forces of their fans were dispersed throughout the vast country, plus the national outskirts began a national liberation struggle. A lot of strength went into the war with the Ukrainian People's Republic, so the Red Army during the Civil War had to fight on several fronts.
Attacks of the White Guards could come from any side of the horizon, because the White Guards surrounded the Red Army soldiers from all sides with four separate military formations. And despite all the difficulties, it was the “Reds” who won the war, mainly due to the broad social base of the Communist Party.
All representatives of the national outskirts united against the White Guards, and therefore they also became forced allies of the Red Army in the Civil War. To win over the inhabitants of the national outskirts, the Bolsheviks used loud slogans, such as the idea of ​​"one and indivisible Russia."
The Bolsheviks won the war with the support of the masses. The Soviet government played on the sense of duty and patriotism of Russian citizens. The White Guards themselves also added fuel to the fire, since their invasions were most often accompanied by mass robbery, looting, violence in its other manifestations, which could not in any way encourage people to support the "white" movement.

Results of the Civil War

As has been said several times, the victory in this fratricidal war went to the "Reds". The fratricidal civil war became a real tragedy for the Russian people. The material damage caused to the country by the war, according to estimates, amounted to about 50 billion rubles - unimaginable money at that time, several times higher than the amount of Russia's external debt. Because of this, the level of industry decreased by 14%, and agriculture - by 50%. Human losses, according to various sources, ranged from 12 to 15 million. Most of these people died from starvation, repression, and disease. During the hostilities, more than 800 thousand soldiers from both sides gave their lives. Also, during the Civil War, the balance of migration dropped sharply - about 2 million Russians left the country and went abroad.

Ivanov Sergey

"Red" movement of the civil war 1917-1922

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1 slide. "Red" movement of the civil war 1917 - 1921.

2 slide V.I. Lenin is the leader of the "red" movement.

The ideological leader of the "red" movement was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, known to every person.

V.I Ulyanov (Lenin) - Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician and statesman, founder of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks), main organizer and leader of the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia, first chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (government) of the RSFSR, creator the first socialist state in world history.

Lenin created the Bolshevik faction of the Social Democratic Party of Russia. It was determined to seize power in Russia by force, through revolution.

3 slide. RSDP (b) - the party of the "Red" movement.

Russian Social Democratic Labor Party of the Bolsheviks RSDLP (b),in October 1917, during the October Revolution, it seized power and became the main party in the country. It was an association of intelligentsia, adherents of the socialist revolution, whose social base was the working classes, the urban and rural poor.

In different years of its activity in the Russian Empire, the Russian Republic and the Soviet Union, the party had different names:

  1. Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) RSDP(b)
  2. Russian Communist Party of Bolsheviks RCP(b)
  3. All-Union Communistparty (Bolsheviks) VKP(b)
  4. Communist Party of the Soviet Union CPSU

4 slide. Program goals of the "Red" movement.

The main goal of the red movement was:

  • Preservation and establishment of Soviet power throughout Russia,
  • suppression of anti-Soviet forces,
  • strengthening the dictatorship of the proletariat
  • world revolution.

5 slide. The first events of the "Red" movement

  1. On October 26, the “Decree on Peace” was adopted , who called on the warring countries to conclude a democratic peace without annexations and indemnities.
  2. 27 October adopted "Land Decree"which took into account peasant demands. The abolition of private ownership of land was proclaimed, the land passed into the public domain. The use of hired labor and the lease of land were prohibited. Equalized land use was introduced.
  3. 27 October adopted "Decree on the Establishment of the Council of People's Commissars"Chairman - V.I. Lenin. The composition of the Council of People's Commissars was Bolshevik in composition.
  4. January 7 The Central Executive Committee decided todissolution of the Constituent Assembly. The Bolsheviks demanded the approval of the "Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People", the assembly refused to approve it. Dissolution of the constituent assemblymeant the loss of the possibility of establishing a multi-party political democratic system.
  5. November 2, 1917 adopted "Declaration of the rights of the peoples of Russia", which gave:
  • equality and sovereignty of all nations;
  • the right of peoples to self-determination up to secession and formation of independent states;
  • free development of the peoples that make up Soviet Russia.
  1. July 10, 1918 adopted Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.It determined the foundations of the political system of the Soviet state:
  • dictatorship of the proletariat;
  • public ownership of the means of production;
  • federal structure of the state;
  • the class character of the right to vote: the landowners and the bourgeoisie, priests, officers, policemen were deprived of it; workers compared with peasants had advantages in the norms of representation (1 vote of the worker was equal to 5 vote of the peasants);
  • election order: multistage, indirect, open;
  1. Economic policywas aimed at the complete destruction of private property, the creation of a centralized government of the country.
  • nationalization of private banks, large enterprises nationalization of all types of transport and means of communication;
  • introduction of a monopoly of foreign trade;
  • introduction of workers' control in private enterprises;
  • the introduction of a food dictatorship - the prohibition of the grain trade,
  • the creation of food detachments (food detachments) to seize "grain surpluses" from wealthy peasants.
  1. December 20, 1917 created All-Russian Extraordinary Commission - VChK.

The tasks of this political organization were formulated as follows: to persecute and liquidate all counter-revolutionary and sabotage attempts and actions throughout Russia. As punitive measures, it was proposed to apply to enemies such as: confiscation of property, eviction, deprivation of food cards, publication of lists of counter-revolutionaries, etc.

  1. September 5, 1918 accepted "Decree on Red Terror",which contributed to the deployment of repressions: arrests, the creation of concentration camps, labor camps, in which about 60 thousand people were forcibly kept.

The dictatorial political transformations of the Soviet state became the causes of the Civil War

6 slide. Agitation propaganda of the "Red" movement.

The Reds have always paid great attention to agitational propaganda, and immediately after the revolution they began intensive preparations for the information war. We created a powerful propaganda network (political literacy courses, propaganda trains, posters, movies, leaflets). the slogans of the Bolsheviks were relevant and helped to quickly form the social support of the "Reds".

From December 1918 to the end of 1920, 5 specially equipped propaganda trains operated in the country. For example, the propaganda train "Krasny Vostok" served the territory of Central Asia throughout 1920, and the train "Named after V. I. Lenin" launched work in Ukraine. The steamship "October Revolution", "Red Star" sailed along the Volga. They and other agitation trains and agitation. about 1,800 rallies were organized by paratroopers.

The duties of the collective of agitation trains and agitation steamships included not only holding rallies, meetings, talks, but also distributing literature, publishing newspapers and leaflets, and showing films.

7 slide. Propaganda posters of the "Red" movement.

Propaganda materials were published in large quantities. These included posters, appeals, leaflets, cartoons, and a newspaper was published. The most popular among the Bolsheviks were humorous postcards, especially with caricatures of the Whites.

8 slide Creation of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA)

January 15, 1918 . Decree SNK was createdWorkers' and Peasants' Red Army, January 29 - Workers 'and Peasants' Red Fleet. The army was built on the principles of voluntariness and a class approach only from workers. But the voluntary principle of manning did not contribute to the strengthening of combat capability and the strengthening of discipline. In July 1918, a Decree was issued on the general military service of men aged 18 to 40 years.

The size of the Red Army grew rapidly. In the autumn of 1918, there were 300 thousand fighters in its ranks, in the spring - 1.5 million, in the autumn of 1919 - already 3 million. And in 1920, about 5 million people served in the Red Army.

Much attention was paid to the formation of command personnel. In 1917–1919 short-term courses and schools were opened to train the middle command level from distinguished Red Army soldiers, higher military educational institutions.

In March 1918, a notice was published in the Soviet press about the recruitment of military specialists from the old army to serve in the Red Army. By January 1, 1919, about 165,000 former tsarist officers had joined the ranks of the Red Army.

9 slide. Biggest wins for the Reds

  • 1918 - 1919 - the establishment of Bolshevik power on the territory of Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia.
  • The beginning of 1919 - the Red Army goes on the counteroffensive, defeating the "white" army of Krasnov.
  • Spring-summer 1919 - Kolchak's troops fell under the blows of the "Reds".
  • The beginning of 1920 - the "Reds" ousted the "Whites" from the northern cities of Russia.
  • February-March 1920 - the defeat of the rest of the forces of Denikin's Volunteer Army.
  • November 1920 - the "Reds" ousted the "Whites" from the Crimea.
  • By the end of 1920, the "Reds" were opposed by scattered groups of the White Army. The Civil War ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks.

10 slide Commanders of the Red Movement.

Like the "whites", in the ranks of the "reds" there were many talented commanders and politicians. Among them, it is important to note the most famous, namely: Lev Trotsky, Budeny, Voroshilov, Tukhachevsky, Chapaev, Frunze. These commanders showed themselves excellently in battles against the White Guards.

Trotsky Lev Davidovich was the main founder of the Red Army, which was the decisive force in the confrontation between the "whites" and "reds" in the Civil War.In August 1918, Trotsky formed a carefully organized "train of the Pre-Revolutionary Military Council", in which, from that moment, he basically lives for two and a half years, continuously driving around the fronts of the Civil War.As the "military leader" of Bolshevism, Trotsky shows undoubted propaganda skills, personal courage and obvious cruelty. Trotsky's personal contribution was the defense of Petrograd in 1919.

Frunze Mikhail Vasilievich.one of the largest commanders of the Red Army during the Civil War.

Under his command, the Reds carried out successful operations against the White Guard troops of Kolchak, defeated the Wrangel army in the territory of Northern Tavria and Crimea;

Tukhachevsky Mikhail Nikolaevich. He was the commander of the troops of the Eastern and Caucasian Fronts, with his army he cleared the Urals and Siberia from the White Guards;

Voroshilov Kliment Efremovich. He was one of the first marshals of the Soviet Union. During the Civil War - Commander of the Tsaritsyno Group of Forces, Deputy Commander and member of the Military Council of the Southern Front, Commander of the 10th Army, Commander of the Kharkov Military District, Commander of the 14th Army and the Internal Ukrainian Front. With his troops, he liquidated the Kronstadt rebellion;

Chapaev Vasily Ivanovich. He commanded the second Nikolaev division, which liberated Uralsk. When the whites suddenly attacked the reds, they fought courageously. And, having spent all the cartridges, the wounded Chapaev started running across the Ural River, but was killed;

Budyonny Semyon Mikhailovich. In February 1918, Budyonny created a revolutionary cavalry detachment that acted against the White Guards on the Don. The First Cavalry Army, which he led until October 1923, played an important role in a number of major operations of the Civil War to defeat the troops of Denikin and Wrangel in Northern Tavria and the Crimea.

11 slide. Red Terror 1918-1923

On September 5, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars issued a decree on the beginning of the Red Terror. Harsh measures to retain power, mass executions and arrests, hostage-taking.

The Soviet government spread the myth that the Red Terror was a response to the so-called "White Terror". The decree that initiated the mass executions was a response to the murder of Volodarsky and Uritsky, a response to the assassination attempt on Lenin.

  • Shooting in Petrograd. Immediately after the assassination attempt on Lenin, 512 people were shot in Petrograd, there were not enough prisons for everyone, and a system of concentration camps appeared.
  • The execution of the royal family. The execution of the royal family was carried out in the basement of the Ipatiev house in Yekaterinburg on the night of July 16-17, 1918, in pursuance of the decision of the executive committee of the Ural Regional Soviet of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies, headed by the Bolsheviks. Together with the royal family, members of her retinue were also shot.
  • Pyatigorsk massacre. On November 13 (October 31), 1918, the Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, at a meeting chaired by Atarbekov, issued a decision to shoot 47 more people from among the counter-revolutionaries and counterfeiters. In fact, most of the hostages in Pyatigorsk were not shot, but hacked to death with swords or daggers. These events were called the "Pyatigorsk massacre."
  • "Human slaughter" in Kyiv. In August 1919, the presence in Kyiv of the so-called "human slaughterhouses" of the provincial and district Extraordinary Commissions was reported: ".

« The whole ... the floor of the large garage was already covered with ... several inches of blood, mixed into a terrifying mass with brains, skull bones, tufts of hair and other human remains .... the walls were spattered with blood, brain particles and pieces of head skin stuck to them next to thousands of bullet holes ... a chute a quarter of a meter wide and deep and about 10 meters long ... was filled with blood all the way to the top ... Next to this place of horrors in 127 corpses of the last massacre were hastily buried in the garden of the same house ... all the corpses had their skulls crushed, many even had their heads completely flattened ... Some were completely headless, but their heads were not cut off, but ... came off ... we came across another older a grave containing about 80 corpses…there were corpses with their bellies torn open, others had no limbs, some were completely chopped off. Some had their eyes gouged out… their heads, faces, necks and torsos were covered with stab wounds… A few had no tongues… There were old people, men, women and children.”

« In turn, the Kharkiv Cheka under the leadership of Saenko reportedly used scalping and “removing the gloves from the hands”, the Voronezh Cheka used to skate naked in a barrel studded with nails. In Tsaritsyn and Kamyshin "bones were sawn". In Poltava and Kremenchug, the clergy were impaled. In Yekaterinoslav, crucifixion and stoning were used, in Odessa, officers were tied with chains to boards, inserted into the furnace and roasted, or torn in half by winch wheels, or lowered in turn into a cauldron of boiling water and into the sea. In Armavir, in turn, “mortal whisks” were used: a person’s head on the frontal bone is girded with a belt, the ends of which have iron screws and a nut, which, when screwed, squeezes the head with a belt. In the Oryol province, freezing of people by dousing them with cold water at low temperatures is widely used.

  • Suppression of anti-Bolshevik uprisings.Anti-Bolshevik uprisings, especially uprisings of peasants who resisted surplus appraisal, were brutally suppressed by special forces of the Cheka and internal troops.
  • Shootings in Crimea. Terror in Crimea concerned the widest social and public groups of the population: officers and military officials, soldiers, doctors and employeesRed Cross , sisters of mercy, veterinarians, teachers, officials, zemstvo figures, journalists, engineers, former nobles, priests, peasants, even the sick and wounded were killed in hospitals. The exact number of those killed and tortured is unknown, according to official data, from 56,000 to 120,000 people were shot.
  • Narrative. On January 24, 1919, at a meeting of the Orgburo of the Central Committee, a directive was adopted that marked the beginning of mass terror and repression against the wealthy Cossacks, as well as "towards all Cossacks in general who took any direct or indirect part in the fight against Soviet power." In the autumn of 1920, about 9 thousand families (or approximately 45 thousand people) of the Terek Cossacks were evicted from a number of villages and deported to the Arkhangelsk province. The unauthorized return of the evicted Cossacks was suppressed.
  • Repressions against the Orthodox Church.According to some historians, from 1918 to the end of the 1930s, during the repressions against the clergy, about 42,000 clergymen were shot or died in prison.

Some of the killings were carried out in public, combined with various demonstrative humiliations. In particular, the clergyman elder Zolotovsky was previously dressed in a woman's dress and then hanged.

On November 8, 1917, Archpriest Ioann Kochurov of Tsarskoe Selo was subjected to prolonged beatings, then he was killed by dragging the railroad tracks along the sleepers.

In 1918, three Orthodox priests in the city of Kherson were crucified on a cross.

In December 1918, Bishop Feofan (Ilmensky) of Solikamsk was publicly executed by periodically dipping into an ice hole and freezing, being hung up by his hair.

In Samara, the former Bishop of St. Michael Isidor (Kolokolov) was put on a stake, as a result of which he died.

Bishop Andronik (Nikolsky) of Perm was buried alive in the ground.

Archbishop Joachim (Levitsky) of Nizhny Novgorod was executed by public hanging upside down in the Sevastopol Cathedral.

Bishop of Serapul Ambrose (Gudko) was executed by tying a horse to the tail.

In Voronezh in 1919, 160 priests were simultaneously killed, led by Archbishop Tikhon (Nikanorov), who was hanged on the Royal Gates in the church of the Mitrofanov Monastery.

According to information published personally by M. Latsis (chekist), in 1918-1919, 8,389 people were shot, 9,496 people were imprisoned in concentration camps, 34,334 in prisons; 13,111 people were taken hostage and 86,893 people were arrested.

12 slide. Reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War

1. The main difference between the "Reds" and "Whites" was that from the very beginning of the war, the Communists were able to create a centralized government, to which the entire territory they had conquered was subordinate.

2. The Bolsheviks skillfully used propaganda. It was this tool that made it possible to inspire the people that the "Reds" are the defenders of the Motherland and Fatherland, and the "Whites" are supporters of the imperialists and foreign invaders.

3. Thanks to the policy of “war communism”, they were able to mobilize resources and create a strong army, attracting a huge number of military specialists who made the army professional.

4. Finding in the hands of the Bolsheviks the industrial base of the country and a significant part of the reserves.

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"Red" movement 1917 - 1922 Completed by a student of 11 "B" class MBOU "Secondary School No. 9" Ivanov Sergey.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, leader of the Bolsheviks and founder of the Soviet state (1870–1924) "We fully recognize the legitimacy, progressiveness and necessity of civil wars"

RSDP (b) - the party of the "Red" movement. Period Transformation of the party Numbers Social composition. 1917-1918 RSDLP(b) Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) 240,000 Bolsheviks. Revolutionary intelligentsia, workers, urban and rural poor middle strata, peasants. 1918 -1925 RCP(b) Russian Communist Party of Bolsheviks From 350,000 to 1,236,000 Communists 1925-1952 VKP(b) All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) 1,453,828 communists Working class, peasantry, working intelligentsia. 1952 -1991 CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union as of January 1, 1991 16,516,066 communists 40.7% factory workers, 14.7% collective farmers.

The goals of the "Red" movement: the preservation and establishment of Soviet power throughout Russia; suppression of anti-Soviet forces; strengthening the dictatorship of the proletariat; World revolution.

The first events of the "Red" movement Democratic Dictator October 26, 1917. adopted "Decree on Peace" Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly. October 27, 1917 The Decree on Land was adopted. In November 1917, a Decree on the prohibition of the Kadet Party was adopted. October 27, 1917 adopted the "Decree on the establishment of the Council of People's Commissars" Introduction of food dictatorship. November 2, 1917 The Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia was adopted on December 20, 1917. All-Russian Extraordinary Commission of the All-Russian Cheka was created. On July 10, 1918, the Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was adopted Nationalization of land and enterprises. "Red Terror".

Agitation propaganda of the "Red" movement. "Power to the Soviets!" "Long live the world revolution." "Peace to the nations!" "Death to World Capital". "Land to the peasants!" "Peace to the huts, war to the palaces." "Factories for workers!" "The Socialist Fatherland in Danger". Agitation train "Red Cossack". Agitation steamer "Red Star".

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Propaganda posters of the "Red" movement.

Creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) On January 20, 1918, a decree on the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was published in the official organ of the Bolshevik government. On February 23, 1918, the appeal of the Council of People's Commissars of February 21 “The socialist fatherland is in danger” was published, as well as the “Appeal of the Military Commander-in-Chief” N. Krylenko.

The biggest victories of the "Reds": 1918 - 1919 - the establishment of Bolshevik power in the territory of Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia. The beginning of 1919 - the Red Army goes on the counteroffensive, defeating the "white" army of Krasnov. Spring-summer 1919 - Kolchak's troops fell under the blows of the "Reds". The beginning of 1920 - the "Reds" ousted the "Whites" from the northern cities of Russia. February-March 1920 - the defeat of the rest of the forces of Denikin's Volunteer Army. November 1920 - the "Reds" ousted the "Whites" from the Crimea. By the end of 1920, the "Reds" were opposed by scattered groups of the White Army. The civil war ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks.

Budyonny Frunze Tukhachevsky Chapaev Voroshilov Trotsky Commanders of the "Red" movement

The Red Terror of 1918-1923 The shooting of the elite in Petrograd. September 1918 The execution of the royal family. On the night of July 16-17, 1918. Pyatigorsk massacre. 47 counter-revolutionaries were hacked to death with swords. "Human massacres" in Kyiv. Suppression of anti-Bolshevik uprisings. Shootings in the Crimea. 1920 Cossackization. Repressions against the Orthodox Church. September 5, 1918 The Council of People's Commissars adopted a resolution on the Red Terror.

Reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War. Creation of a powerful state apparatus by the Bolsheviks. Agitation and propaganda work among the masses. Powerful ideology. Creation of a powerful, regular army. Finding in the hands of the Bolsheviks the industrial base of the country and a significant part of the reserves.

The First World War laid bare the enormous internal problems of the Russian Empire. The consequence of these problems was a series of revolutions and the Civil War, in the main conflict of which the “reds” and “whites” clashed. In a mini-cycle of two articles, we will try to remember how this confrontation began and why the Bolsheviks managed to win.

The centennial anniversaries of the February and October revolutions, as well as the events that followed them, are just around the corner. In the mass consciousness, despite the many films and books about 1917 and the Civil War, and perhaps thanks to them, there is still no single picture of the unfolding confrontation. Or vice versa, it boils down to "there was a revolution, and then the Reds propagandized everyone and kicked the whites in a mob." And you can’t argue - everything was about the same. However, anyone who tries to delve a little deeper into the situation will have a number of fair questions.

Why, in a matter of years, or rather even months, did a single country turn into a battlefield and civil unrest? Why do some people win and others lose?

And finally, where did it all begin?

Lesson learned

By the beginning of the twentieth century, Russia seemed (and in many ways was) one of the leading countries in the world. Without her weighty word, issues of war and peace were not resolved, her army and navy were taken into account when planning future clashes, all the great powers. Some feared the Russian "steam roller", others hoped for it as the last argument in the battles of the peoples.

The first alarm bell rang in 1904–1905, with the start of the Russo-Japanese War. A huge, strong world-class empire actually lost its fleet in one day and with great difficulty was able not to lose to smithereens on land. And to whom? Tiny Japan, despised by all Asians, who from the point of view of cultural Europeans were not considered people at all and half a century before these events lived under natural feudalism, with swords and bows. This was the first wake-up call, which (as viewed from the future) actually painted the contours of future military operations. But then no one began to listen to the formidable warning (as well as to the forecasts of Ivan Bliokh, to which a separate article will be devoted). The first Russian revolution clearly showed to everyone the vulnerability of the political system of the empire. And the "wishers" drew conclusions.

"Breakfast of a Cossack" - a cartoon from the time of the Russo-Japanese War

In fact, fate gave Russia almost a whole decade to prepare for future trials, relying on the Japanese "test of the pen." And it cannot be said that absolutely nothing has been done. It was done, but ... too slowly and fragmentarily, too inconsistently. Too slow.

The year 1914 was approaching...

too long war

As repeatedly described in a variety of sources, none of the participants in the First World War did not expect that the confrontation would be long - many probably remember the famous phrase about returning "before autumn leaf fall." As is usually the case, military and political thought was far behind developing economic and technological possibilities. And for all the participants, it turned out to be a shock that the conflict dragged on, the escalation of "gentleman's" military operations into a high-tech industry of turning people into dead people. One of the most important consequences of this was the notorious "shell hunger" or, if we cover the problem more broadly, a catastrophic shortage of everything and everything that is necessary for the conduct of hostilities. Huge fronts and millions of fighters with many thousands of guns, like Moloch, demanded a total economic sacrifice. And each participant had to solve the grandiose problem of mobilization.

The shock hit everyone, but Russia was especially hard. It turned out that behind the façade of the world empire there is a not so attractive underside - an industry that cannot master the mass production of engines, cars and tanks. Everything was not as bad as categorical opponents of "rotten tsarism" often draw (for example, the need for three-inch rifles and rifles was more or less met), but on the whole, the imperial industry was not able to satisfy the needs of the army in most vital positions - light machine guns, heavy artillery, modern aviation, vehicles and so on.


British tanks from World War IMark IVat the Oldbury Carriage Works
photosofwar.net

A more or less adequate production of aviation on its own industrial base, the Russian Empire could deploy at best by the end of 1917, with the commissioning of new defense plants. The same goes for light machine guns. Copies of French tanks were expected at best in 1918. In France alone, already in December 1914, hundreds of aircraft engines were produced, in January 1916 the monthly output exceeded a thousand - and in Russia in the same year it reached 50 pieces.

A separate problem was the transport collapse. The road network, covering a huge country, was forced to be poor. It turned out to be only half the task to produce or receive strategic cargo from the allies: then it was still necessary to distribute them with epic labors and deliver them to the addressees. The transport system did not cope with this.

Thus, Russia turned out to be the weak link of the Entente and the great powers of the world as a whole. She could not rely on a brilliant industry and skilled workers, like Germany, on the resources of the colonies, like Britain, on a powerful industry untouched by war and capable of gigantic growth, like the States.

As a result of all the aforementioned ugliness and many other reasons that were forced to remain outside the scope of the narrative, Russia suffered disproportionate losses in people. The soldiers simply did not understand what they were fighting and dying for, the government was losing prestige (and then just elementary trust) within the country. The death of most of the trained personnel - and, according to the grenadier captain Popov, by 1917 we had "armed people" instead of the army. Almost all contemporaries, regardless of beliefs, shared this point of view.

And the political "climate" was a real disaster film. The murder of Rasputin (more precisely, his impunity), for all the odiousness of the character, clearly shows the paralysis that has overtaken the entire state system of Russia. And in few places the authorities were so openly, seriously and, most importantly, accused with impunity of treason and helping the enemy.

It cannot be said that these were specifically Russian problems - the same processes were going on in all the warring countries. Britain received the Easter Rising of 1916 in Dublin and another aggravation of the "Irish question", France - mass riots in parts after the failure of the Nivelle offensive in 1917. The Italian front in the same year was generally on the verge of a total collapse, and it was saved only by emergency "infusions" of British and French units. Nevertheless, these states had a margin of safety of the public administration system and some kind of "credibility" among their population. They were able to hold on - or rather hold out - long enough to make it to the end of the war - and win.


A Dublin street after the 1916 uprising.The People's War Book and Pictorial Atlas of the World. USA & Canada, 1920

And in Russia, the year 1917 came, in which two revolutions fell at once.

Chaos and anarchy

“Everything turned right upside down. The formidable authorities turned into timid - confused, yesterday's monarchists - into orthodox socialists, people who were afraid to say an extra word for fear of badly connecting it with the previous ones, felt the gift of eloquence in themselves, and the deepening and expansion of the revolution in all directions began ... The confusion was complete. The overwhelming majority reacted to the revolution with confidence and joy; for some reason, everyone believed that she would bring with her, along with other benefits, an early end to the war, since the “old regime system” played into the hands of the Germans. And now everyone will decide the public and talents ... and everyone began to feel the hidden talents in himself and try them in relation to the orders of the new system. How heavy these first months of our revolution are remembered. Every day, somewhere deep in the heart, something was torn off with pain, what seemed unshakable collapsed, what was considered sacred was desecrated.

Konstantin Sergeevich Popov "Memoirs of a Caucasian grenadier, 1914-1920".

The civil war in Russia began far from immediately and grew out of the flames of general anarchy and chaos. Weak industrialization has already brought a lot of troubles to the country, and continued to bring further. This time - in the form of a predominantly agrarian population, "peizan" with their specific view of the world. Hundreds of thousands of peasant soldiers returned arbitrarily, without obeying anyone, from the collapsing army. Thanks to the "black redistribution" and the multiplication by zero of landowners with fists, the Russian peasant finally literally ate, and also managed to satisfy the eternal craving for the "land". And thanks to some kind of military experience and weapons brought from the front, he could now defend himself.

Against the background of this boundless sea of ​​peasant life, extremely apolitical and alien to the color of power, political opponents, trying to turn the country in their own direction, were at first lost like pitfalls. They simply had nothing to offer the people.


Demonstration in Petrograd
sovetclub.ru

The peasant was indifferent to any power, and only one thing was required of her - if only "the peasant was not touched." They bring kerosene from the city - good. And if they don’t bring it, we’ll live like that, all the same, the city’s citizens will start to starve, so they themselves will crawl. The village knew too well what hunger was. And she knew that only she had the main value - bread.

And in the cities a real hell was really going on - only in Petrograd the mortality rate increased more than four times. With the paralysis of the transport system, the task of "simply" bringing already collected grain from the Volga region or Siberia to Moscow and Petrograd was an act worthy of the exploits of Hercules.

In the absence of any single authoritative and strong center capable of bringing everyone to a common denominator, the country was rapidly sliding into a terrible and all-encompassing anarchy. In fact, in the first quarter of the new, industrial twentieth century, the times of the Thirty Years' War were revived, when gangs of marauders raged amidst chaos and general misfortune, changing the faith and color of the banners with the ease of changing socks - if not more.

Two enemies

However, as is known, two main opponents crystallized out of the variety of motley participants in the great turmoil. Two camps that unite most of the extremely heterogeneous currents.

White and Red.


Psychic attack - frame from the film "Chapaev"

Usually they are presented in the form of a scene from the movie "Chapaev": well-trained monarchist officers dressed to the nines against workers and peasants in tatters. However, one must understand that initially both the “whites” and the “reds” were essentially just declarations. Both of them were very amorphous formations, tiny groups that seemed big only against the background of absolutely wild gangs. At first, a couple of hundred people under a red, white or any other banner already represented a significant force capable of capturing a large city or changing the situation on a regional scale. Moreover, all participants actively changed sides. And yet, there was already some kind of organization behind them.

The Red Army in 1917 - drawing by Boris Efimov

http://www.ageod-forum.com/

It would seem that the Bolsheviks in this confrontation were doomed from the very beginning. The Whites surrounded a relatively small piece of “red” land in a dense ring, took control of the grain-growing regions, enlisted the support and help of the Entente. Finally, the whites outnumbered the red opponents on the battlefield, and regardless of the balance of power.

It seemed that the Bolsheviks were doomed...

What happened? Why were memoirs in exile written mostly by "gentlemen" and not "comrades"?

We will try to answer these questions in the continuation of the article.

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