The Reds were fortunate in that they had a severe geographical advantage. Control over Petrograd and Moscow meant they had a huge reservoir of man power and therefore a huge army and outnumbered the Whites 10-1. Furthermore its population was ethnically homogenous containing mostly Great Russians. Control of the heartland of Russia gave the Reds other advantages such as control of the existing communications networks and strategic depth so when under attack on one front they could safely give ground until troops were transferred from other fronts to help repel the attack using the Railway network radiating from Moscow. The Reds also had control of the area in which Russia’s main engineering and armaments factories were located, which gave them the capacity to manufacture new weapons.
The Whites, however, were geographically hindered as the three main White armies were located at opposite ends of Russia. There was 10,500 kilometres voyage between Denikin’s and Kolchak’s armies. This made communication very difficult so it was impossible for the armies to co-ordinate any sort of attack. The Whites gained a large amount of their support from ethnic minorities. Support was often given in the hope of gaining some form of independence in the future. White leaders however believed in a ‘Russia, one and indivisible’. This created much internal bickering in the White organisation with ethnic groups like the Cossacks often refusing to fight, which didn’t help the already outnumbered White army. Despite having the help of no less than eleven countries during the civil war the Whites failed to co-ordinate each country’s activities and each county ended up just following their own localised objectives.
The Reds also created there own advantages. The effective leadership of the Bolsheviks by Lenin proved influential. The Red army had someone to organise them and someone to create clear objectives for them to follow. Lenin laid down the Bolsheviks purposes and made their intentions and morals clear for the population to see. This helped them to drum up increasing support, especially from the peasants who were presented with the choice of Reds or Whites. The average peasant preferred the Soviet program of peace, land reform and worker control as the lesser of the two evils. With these sentiments it is little wonder that four out of five peasants forcibly conscripted by the Whites deserted them. The Green revolts that followed drew precious White troops from the front. The Whites failure to agree to land reform lost them mass support they so desperately needed.
The Reds were also privileged with the presence of Trotsky who was a brilliant organiser and would often travel to the front to inspire and rally the troops to increase the morale before they went into battle.
The Whites had no such leader or even a figurehead. They did have some soldiers who were put in charge of certain armies such as Denikin and Kolchak but they were moderates, who lacked effective political or economic programs. Their slogan ‘A united and indivisible Russia’ alienated national minorities, and played into Bolshevik hands who would simply create an effective band of propaganda to highlight this whilst the Whites were almost oblivious to the advantages of propaganda and failed to comply with the nations wishes.
Regarding with the ‘how far’ element of the question I think that one needs to look at some of the factors leading to Red victory in particular areas and what may have happened had the Whites been more productive and organised as an army and political group during the civil war. The Reds were by no means perfect and experienced their own problems during the civil war but due to the instability and lack of opposition they were able to triumph. But what if the Whites hadn’t been defeated and outnumbered in Orel by a massive Bolshevik counter-attack? They may have been able to exploit the fact that they were only 250 miles away from Moscow and implement a successful attack right into the heart of the Bolsheviks. Luckily for the Bolsheviks however, Russia is a very large country and they were able to let the Whites gain ground until they could send in troops from other fronts and repel the attack. What if the Reds weren’t privileged with the use of the railway network? Then the troops wouldn’t have been able to get to Orel so quickly or easily and repel the attack and once again the Whites may have been able to implement an attack on Moscow. Other factors to consider are things such as the Reds having control of weapon producing factories and whether they would have been so effective in these battles without the factories or if the communications network broke down how they would co-ordinate these attacks/defences, all these advantages were gained because of the geography of Russia which is through no tactical brilliance of the Reds but just pure chance. Because of this I think its fair to say that the outcome of the civil war was as much to do with the factors leading to a Red victory as it is to do with why the Whites lost.
