THE BIRTH OF THE SOVIET UNION
THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR AND FOREIGN INTERVENTION
THE SOVIET STATE
years of war and months of revolutionary upheaval, the economic situation in Russia was chaotic
the growing power of the Bolsheviks led to the emergence of counterrevolutionary armed groups
1918, these groups came to control large outlying and rural regions of Russia.
the October Revolution as a serious threat
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.
civil war (1918–1923). It was fought by two groups:
the Red Army
the White Army
On the one hand, the counterrevolutionary forces were led by former aristocrats and landowners who wished to regain power and wealth.
alienated them from the people
presence of foreign armies was still perceived as an aggression
despite chaos and enormous hardship, revolutionary institutions were consolidated and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) or the Soviet Union was formed in 1922.
the response to the war situation was a policy called War Communism
state militarised industry, seized food and imposed forced labour.
state militarised industry, seized food and imposed forced labour.
government consolidated a one-party dictatorship
Congress of Soviets was controlled by the Bolsheviks and the Secret Police, the Cheka, persecuted dissidents, critics and counterrevolutionaries
