How significant was Trotskys contribution to the Bolsheviks victory in the Civil War?

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Alix Parrish

How significant was Trotsky’s contribution to the Bolshevik’s victory in the Civil War?

After the Russian Civil War broke out in January 1918, when the Constituent Assembly was violently dissolved by the Bolsheviks, Trotsky as the People’s Commissar of War reorganised the Bolsheviks’ Red Guard into the Red Army in order to defend the area loyal to the Bolsheviks from the Whites, intent on forcefully removing them from power.

Trusted into the position of People’s Commissar of War by Lenin, Trotsky had great managerial and organization skills that were necessary in order to make the Red Army effective enough to win the war for the Bolsheviks. As well as this Trotsky was a huge inspiration to the troops throughout the war, travelling by armoured train to the front lines to inspect and talk to the troops personally inevitably encouraging their loyalty and effectiveness and preventing desertion.

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In June 1918 it became apparent that an army made up of industrial workers would be far too small to fight off the joint forces of the white armies and so Trotsky instituted conscription of the rural peasantry into the Red Army. In order to make up for the lack of experienced officers Trotsky hired or forced, through blackmail or the hostage of their families, many Ex-Tsarist officers into the Red Army to utilise their military expertise. As a precaution Political Commissars (Bolsheviks) were appointed to each unit of the army to maintain morale and to ensure the Loyalty ...

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