Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a key event of world history and largely shaped the
twentieth century. The break-up of the USSR has again focused attention on the
foundations of the Soviet system and how it came about and whether it had to lead to
Stalinism.
Facing the "Reds" were a host of enemy forces. These ranged from the
"Imperialist" powers such as Germany, Austria, Britain, America, France, Japan
and Turkey who sent forces of various strength to strangle the Revolution at its
birth. Of even more importance were the "Whites", the anti-Bolshevik Russians,
ably led by a host of patriotic and/or scheming generals. Finally there were the
"Greens", the Nationalist forces, who were searching for home rule as the Russian
Empire collapsed in on itself. Of these the Poles, Finns and Ukrainians were the
largest groups, but it was frequently the smaller minorities such as the Caucasians
and Cossacks that were the most troublesome.
The "Reds" too were not a unified group, but were heavily split by ideological
divisions ranging from the extreme of the "Blacks", the anarchists, through the
rural Social Revolutionaries to the Bolsheviks themselves and on to the more
moderate Mensheviks.
The theater of war was massive, occupying 1/6th of the world's land surface, but due
to war weariness and poor organisation of both sides, minute forces could decide the
fate of regions as large as European states.
It is thus classic megagame material where organisation, preparation and the ability
to delegate will probably bring success, but that as befits a civil war this was very
much a war of each against all.
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