Discuss the following reasons why Lenin and the Bolsheviks were able to hold onto power during the Civil War.

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C) The following were equally important reasons why Lenin and the Bolsheviks were able to hold onto power during the Civil War:

          Trotsky's organisation of the Red Army

          The disunity of the White opposition

          War Communism

          The Leadership qualities of Lenin

 Explain how far you agree with this statement.

  The four reasons why Lenin and the Bolsheviks were able to hold onto power during the Civil war are all relevant and important reasons, I am going to look into whether or not they are all as important as each other.

   Leon Trotsky was a superb leader, who built up the red army from next to nothing. He introduced conscription, for men over eighteen years old. Trotsky bought in around 50,000 former Tsarist officers with experience, and he appointed political Commissars (fanatical bolsheviks) to each unit, to make sure that orders were carried out.  As well as introducing new methods and orders, he had experience in armies, and was very courageous - exactly the type of leader that was needed for a Red Army victory.

The order which Trotsky issued to the Red Army during the Civil War:

'I give warning that if any unit retreats without orders, the first to be shot down will be the commissary of the unit, and next the commander. Brave and gallant soldiers will be appointed in their places. Cowards, dastards and traitors will not escape the bullet. This I solemnly promise in the presence of the entire Red Army.'

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  This shows the lengths which Trotsky was prepared to go to, to achieve a victory for the red army. He was ruthless, and knew that he needed to be, to achieve a victory for the Red Army, the Bolsheviks, and the second revolution.

 

  I think that, based on what I know about Trotsky, and his leadership skills, he was an excellent, and very powerful leader, and that his organisation of the Red Army is a very important reason as to why the Bolsheviks were able to hold onto power during the Civil war.

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