War and Revolution in Russia 1914 - 1921 - waughfamily.ca

BBC - History - World Wars: War and Revolution in Russia 1914 - 1921http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/eastern_front_01.shtml4 of 6 2/7/2012 12:02 PMcontinued to obey their officers), the Bolsheviks were forced to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 3 March 1918.This punitive treaty effectively handed over Finland, Poland, the Baltic provinces, Ukraine and Transcaucasia to theCentral Powers, together with one-third of the old empire's population, one-third of its agricultural land and threequartersof its industries.Outraged by this, the anti-Bolshevik Russians who had remained loyal to the Allies now took up arms in earnest againstthe Bolsheviks. They were actively assisted by Allied forces in Russia, who hoped to rebuild the Eastern Front. Notablein this regard was the Czechoslovak Legion, a 40,000-strong army made up of former POWs, who in 1918 seized theentire Trans-Siberian Railway, from the Volga to Vladivostok.Civil War: Whites v RedsDuring the civil war thus unleashedby the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk theBolsheviks (Reds), who controlledPetrograd, Moscow and the centralRussian heartland, soon foundthemselves surrounded by hostileforces (Whites) - made up of themore conservative elements inRussia - who launched a series ofcampaigns in 1919 that threatenedto crush the revolution.Leon Trotsky saluting in the street, October, 1917 ©During these campaigns Admiral Kolchak, the 'Supreme Ruler' of the Whites, attacked across the Urals from Siberia;General Denikin advanced on a broad front up the Volga, into Ukraine and to the town of Orel (within 250 miles ofMoscow); and General Iudenich's North West Russian Army, based in Estonia, twice reached the outskirts of Petrograd.they managed to arm, man and manoeuvre an army that by 1921 had grown to almost five millionsoldiersThe Reds, however, rebuffed these attacks, and survived, and by late 1920 had driven the Whites back into the BlackSea, the Baltic and the Pacific - causing hundreds of thousands of White soldiers and civilians to emigrate.The Reds were able to take advantage of internal lines of communication and could utilise the railways, arsenals andthe economy of the most populous provinces of the former empire. In this way they managed to arm, man andmanoeuvre an army that by 1921 had grown to almost five million soldiers.The Whites, in contrast, never commanded forces totalling more than 250,000 men at one time, were separated fromeach other by huge distances, and were based around the less developed peripheries of Russia. Also, crucially, theWhites underestimated the Bolsheviks' capacity to resist.The White armies, in contrast, exhibited only brutality, venality, disorder...It still seems surprising that Trotsky was able to fashion a Red Army more effective than that of the experienced Whitegenerals ranged against him. He, however, enjoyed the material advantages mentioned, and he also introduced somerevolutionary innovations: notably the network of Political Commissars - devout Bolsheviks who offered politicalguidance to the Red Army and who watched over the loyalty of the 50,000 imperial army officers the Reds employed tohelp command their forces. He also used terror most ruthlessly.The White armies, in contrast, exhibited only brutality, venality, disorder and a lack of political and military direction.Even their most effective fighters, the Cossacks, were more interested in booty and in securing their own regionalautonomy than in driving Lenin from the Kremlin.Allied intervention