After the
overthrow of the Provisional Government
on 7th November, 1917, the All-Russian Congress of Soviets met and
handed over power to the Soviet Council of People's Commissars. Vladimir
Lenin was elected chairman and other appointments included leading
Bolsheviks such as Leon Trotsky (Foreign
Affairs) Alexei Rykov (Internal Affairs),
Anatoli Lunacharsky (Education) and
Joseph Stalin (Nationalities).
Alexander
Kerensky, who had managed to escape arrest, assembled loyal troops
from the Northern Front. Led by General Krasnov, the Cossacks were
defeated by Bolshevik forces at Pulkova.
By December, 1917, central Russia and Siberia was under the control
of Lenin's government.
General
Lavr Kornilov now organized a Volunteer
Army and in January 1918 his forces numbered 3,000 men. Over the next
few months other groups who opposed the Bolshevik government joined
the struggle. Eventually these soldiers became known as the Whites.
Those that
joined the White Army included the Cadets,
who wished to continue the war against the Central
Powers. Some Mensheviks
and Socialist Revolutionaries that were opposed
to the dictatorial powers of the new regime also joined the resistance.
Others who joined included landowners who had lost their estates,
factory owners who had their property nationalized, devout members
of the Russian Orthodox Church who objected
to the government's atheism and royalists who wanted to restore the
monarchy.
The White
Army initially had success in the Ukraine where the Bolsheviks
were unpopular. The main resistance came from Nestor
Makhno, the leader of an Anarchist
army in the area. Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko,
led the Red Army and gradually pro-Bolsheviks
took control of the Ukraine. By February, 1918, the Whites held no
major areas in Russia.
The main
threat to the Bolsheviks was the German
Army that was advancing towards Petrograd. On 3rd March, 1918,
Vladimir Lenin ordered his team of negotiators
to sign the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. This
resulted in the Russians having to surrendering the Ukraine, Finland,
the Baltic provinces, the Caucasus and Poland.
This decision
increased the hostility inside Russia towards the Bolsheviks.
In May, 1918, the Czechoslovak Corps revolted after being badly treated
by local Red Guards. Over the next four months the Czech
Legion took a vast area of land east of the Volga. The White Army
also won battles at Simbirsk and Kazan.
Vladimir
Lenin appointed Leon Trotsky as commissar
of war and was sent to rally the Red Army
in the Volga. Trotsky proved to be an outstanding military commander
and Kazan and Simbirsk were recaptured in September, 1918. The following
month he took Samara but the White Army did make progress in the south
when General Anton Denikin took control
of the Kuban region and General Peter Wrangel
began to advance up the Volga.
The main
threat to the Bolshevik government came from General Nikolai
Yudenich. In October, 1918, he captured Gatchina, only 50 kilometres
from Petrograd. Leon Trotsky arrived
to direct the defence of the capital. Red
Guard units were established amongst industrial workers and the
rail network was used to bring troops from Moscow. Outnumbered, Yudenich
ordered his men to retreat and headed for Estonia.
Admiral
Alexander Kolchak also set up an anit-Bolshevik
military dictatorship at Omsk in eastern Siberia. To help the White
Army, troops from Britain, France, Japan and the United States were
sent into Russia. By December, 1918, there were 200,000 foreign soldiers
supporting the anti-Bolshevik forces.
The Red
Army continued to grow and now had over 500,000 soldiers in its
ranks. This included over 40,000 officers who had served under Nicholas
II. This was an unpopular decision with many Bolsheviks
who feared that given the opportunity, they would betray their own
troops. Trotsky tried to overcome this problem by imposing a strict
system of punishment for those who were judged to be disloyal.
In March,
1919, Alexander Kolchak captured Ufa
and was posing a threat to Kazan and Samara. Led by Mikhail
Frunze and the Red Army fought back and
in November, 1919, they entered Omsk. Kolchak fled eastwards but he
was caught by the Czechs who handed him over to the Bolsheviks.
Kolchak was shot by firing squad on 7th February, 1920.
General
Mikhail Frunze went on to clear Turkestan
of all anti-Bolshevik forces. General Anton
Denikin and his army withdrew to the Crimea. He made a brief stand
at Rostov before again retreating to Novorossiysk on the Black Sea.
In April, 1920, he decided to leave Russia and was replaced by General
Peter Wrangel.
In June,
Wrangel's forces broke out of the Crimea but he was unable to make
much impression against General Mikhail Frunze
and the Red Army and in November the remaining
members of the White Army left Russia.
(1)
Victor Serge,
Memoirs of a Revolutionary (1945)
The White
disaster was the result of two cardinal errors: their failure to have
the intelligence and courage to carry out agrarian reform in the territories
they wrested from the Revolution, and their reinstatement everywhere
of the ancient trinity of generals, high clergy, and landlords.
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