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6.The birth of the Soviet Union, image - Coggle Diagram
6.The birth of the Soviet Union
The Russian civil war and foreign intervention
After years of war and months of revolutionary upheaval, the economic situation in Russia was chaotic
Likewise, the opposition of certain political sectors to the revolutionary decrees and the growing power of the Bolsheviks
This led to the emergence of counterrevolutionary armed groups
As early as 1918, these groups came to control large outlying and rural regions of Russia
Foreign powers saw the October Revolution as a serious threat
In the long term, it aspired to create a communist society without social classes
More immediately, Russia’s exit from the war and the announcement that the debts contracted by the tsar would not be paid, were detrimental to the Triple Entente allies
Soviets made no secret of their intention to extend the revolution to the whole world
Lenin understood that his success could only be guaranteed in this way
All these factors led several countries to intervene militarily in Russia to end the revolution
The British, Americans, French and Japanese, among others, sent troops to support the Russian counterrevolutionaries in a civil war
It was fought by two groups:
White Army
Made up of counterrevolutionaries that had the backing of foreign powers
Red Army
organised by the revolutionary government
The Soviet state
From a political point of view, the civil war helped to consolidate the regime that emerged from the October Revolution
On the one hand, the counterrevolutionary forces were led by former aristocrats and landowners who wished to regain power and wealth
This alienated them from the people
On the other hand, the presence of foreign armies was still perceived as an aggression
Despite chaos and enormous hardship, revolutionary institutions were consolidated and the Soviet Union (USSR) was formed in 1922
On an economic level, the response to the war situation was a policy called War Communism
The state militarised industry, seized food and imposed forced labour
Although it meant that troops always had supplies and could win on the battlefield, this model was disastrous for the people
Most people went hungry and protests spread even among members of the Communist Party
To control the situation, the government consolidated a one-party dictatorship
At the end of the civil war, the economic situation was critical
The solution was the New Economic Policy (NEP), which was a mixed system combining elements of capitalism and socialism
There was a remarkable economic recovery, which resulted in a considerable increase
Agricultural production
The emergence of wealthy agricultural owners known as kulaks
