The civil war when the Czech Legion seized control of a large section of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Bolsheviks stronghold was mainly in the west and much of that had been taken over by Germany as part of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. Soon three separate White armies were marching towards the Bolshevik controlled region. Generals Yudenich and Denikin marched to Petrograd and Moscow, while Admiral Kolchak marched on Moscow from central Southern Russia. The Whites were also supported for part of the war from foreign troops from the USA, Japan, France and Britain. They were sent by their governments to force Russia back into war against Germany. The British attacked from north towards Petrograd alongside the French and Americans. The French and British attack from the south and west through Crimea and towards the Bolshevik’s stronghold.
Despite the amount of force used by the Whites and foreign armies, the Bolsheviks eventually won the war. Their reaction to the situation was ruthless, swift and determined. Leon Trotsky rapidly created a Red Army of over 300,000 men. They were led by former Tsarist officers. The troops stayed loyal to the cause as their families were usually being held hostage. The Cheka made sure that nobody in Bolshevik territories co-operated with the Whites. The red terror ensued and there were many beatings, hangings and shootings of opponents or even suspects by the Cheka. Even the Tsar was killed. Lenin could not risk the Tsar being rescued and returned as the leader of the Whites. The people who suffered the most were the ordinary peasants.
The war ensued for a further 2 years. The Whites had gained a major advantage over the Bolsheviks in strength and in timing. They had also gained major support in the west. Despite the Cheka’s forceful resistance, the Whites were still the clear favourites. However, as the war progressed, the favour seemed to tilt toward the Bolsheviks through harsh discipline and brilliant leadership by Leon Trotsky. By the end of 1919 Admiral Kolchak’s forces were destroyed and the armies of intervention soon withdrew. Scattered outbreaks of fighting continued but by 1921, the Bolsheviks were in firm control of the nation. The Whites had been crushed on what seemed to be a comfortable takeover. However, the Bolsheviks possessed a number key advantages and the Whites a significant amount of weaknesses.
The strength and comeback of the Bolsheviks has to be admired but from the outset, they possessed a number of strategic advantages. For example, they had a stronghold in the west which included nearly all of the major cities. From there, they controlled the factories and were able to give ammunition to armies from Petrograd and Moscow. The Red Army of 300,000 soldiers, hastily put together by Trotsky outnumbered the White’s forces by 10-1. As the war developed the Bolsheviks were able to move troops as well as supplies securely across the vast country through the effective use of trains. Trotsky also campaigned himself on a train giving orders, rallying the troops, raised fears about the Whites and generally gathered more support. The Cheka’s brutal efficiency kept the people scared and They also managed to keep the towns and armies fed by forcing peasants to hand over food and then rationing it.
The Whites themselves had a number of weaknesses as a group. They firstly failed to enlist mass support for their cause whereas Trotsky had by the use of his war train. The peasants preferred the Bolsheviks over the Whites as they knew if they came into power, the landlords would return. The major weakness amongst the Whites was the fact that they were not unified as a group; they were a number of groups with different aims and ideas. This meant they were widely spread across the country and were unable to carefully and precisely coordinate their campaign. This meant that Trotsky was easily able to crush them one by one.
The Bolsheviks had faced their first large threat of power in Russia. Their reaction and destruction of the Whites proved to the public and historians today of the party’s brilliant leadership and overall effectiveness, an underlying reason to why Lenin’s values and ideas had been upheld for so long. The strengths of the Bolsheviks that enabled them to comeback from the onset of defeat were admirable. There was of course an element of luck, and the Bolsheviks were lucky that the Whites were faced with such disadvantages such as their poor organisation and failure to enlist support. In the end however, it was the ordinary people who suffered in the war. Both sides committed terrible atrocities and the peasants were the most hardly hit. Still, the Civil War was over and the Bolsheviks retained control, this time they focused mainly of the economical growth of Russia.