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WHY DID THE REDS WIN THE CIVIL WAR (Geography (Central Area (Bolsheviks…
WHY DID THE REDS WIN THE CIVIL WAR
Geography
Central Area
Bolsheviks held this which included Petrograd and Moscow
Heavily populated so could conscript more men
Had main armament factories
Moscow
Reds moved their capital here
Hub of railway network so easier to transport men and munitions to fronts
Whites
were scattered around the edge of this central area separated by large distances
making communications difficult, especially moving men and coordinating attacks
they had no telephone links had to use officers on horseback to convey messages
Unity and Organisation
Bolsheviks
had a single unified command structure
Trotsky organised the RA into an effective fighting force, transforming it from a 'flabby, panicky mass'
Whites
made up od different groups who had entirley different aim and beliefs, e.g could not decied whther fighting fir monarchism, republicanism or the CA.
This made it hard for them cooperate and impossible to develop a political strategy, split by view on national minorities too
often White leaders wouldn't work together as disliked or mistrusted on another
for example, other generals suspicious of Kolchak's motives and intentions
Support
peasants
crucial as they supplied main body of soldiers for both sides
just as inclined to desert from Red army as White into which they had been conscripted
Lenin had legitimised land seizures while
Whites
made it clear land would be restored to former owners
Kolchak even gave estates to landlords who hadn't owned them before rev
nationalists
Whites
wanted to restore pre-1917 border which antagonised national groups (separatists)
such as Ukrainians and Georgians who wanted more autonomy or complete independence
therefore they would not support Whites when they were based in their territory
popular support
Blvks had core support group some workers and soldiers but not widespread
however urban workers and peasants wanted to protect gains of 1917 and Reds seemed to offer best chance of this
Whites
associated with the old system of government
Leadership
Trotsky
personally brave, he took his special forces to the part of the Front where fighting fiercest
able to rally and inspire men
Discipline
Red
harsh discipline, death penalty was used frquently
unwilling peasants conscripts knew that certain death lay before them if they retreated in battle, machine gunned by their own side
White
exraordinary levels of indiscipline and corruption
in
Omsk
(Kolchaks'sbase) uniforms and munitions supplied by interventionist governemnts were sold on the black market
officers lived in brothels in a haze of cocaine and vodka
units of RA sometimes ended up in English Army uniforms and and prostitutes in English nurses' uniforms
White leaders
on the whole, second rate, several were cruel and treated their emn with contempt
they reminded soldiers of the worst aspects of the Russian army and tsarist rule
thus =, little natural warmth or support for white leaders, many soldiers deserted
Other Factors
Foreign intervention
should have worked in Whites favour
did bring them supplies and weapons
but largely ineffective and and half-hearted
Propaganda
Whites
particulary Denikin did not see how valuable it was
Reds used powerful images
Whites would take land away from the peasants
foreign invaders were supporting the Whites, Reds would defend Russain soil
Reds offered a wonderful new society for workers and peasants