Preview

civil war

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1002 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
civil war
“Why did the Bolsheviks win the civil war?”
There were a few key reasons as to why the Bolsheviks won the civil war. The most important reason that helped them to succeed was Trotsky. Furthermore, there communication between each other, their control of the railway and their strong, direct intentions all produced a successful win. Lenin also kept structure to the Russian public which portrayed Lenin as an iconic figure. All of these reasons really proved necessary for the Bolsheviks to succeed, allowing their revolution and new style of thinking to carry on improving and ruling Russia.
Trotsky was the fundamental reason as to how and why the Bolsheviks won the civil war this is because he was a strong, direct and brutal leader, which is what the Bolsheviks really needed to win. His strategy was simple and direct; defend the red army’s internal lines of communication, deny the whites the opportunity to concentrate large forces in any one location, to prevent the whites from maintaining regular supplies and to keep control of Russia’s railways. Trotsky knew that he had to keep control of Russia’s railways, it gave them a huge advantage, and it transported troops swiftly in large numbers. It would also help them to establish an effective defence around Moscow and Petrograd then exhaust the enemy as an attacking force and drive them back to major fronts until they would scatter and surrender by using their power from the railway and communication to achieve this.Trotsky was an exceptional commander. He recruited nearly five million former Tsarist officers, workers, sailors and soldiers into the red army. He managed to occupy central Russia and the two key cities Moscow and Petrograd; they were eventually surrounded by hostile white forces. The Bolsheviks gave land to the Bolsheviks which made the peasants lean more in favour of the Bolsheviks. What was key within Trotsky’s rule over the army was that he kept everyone unified; the delivered orders quickly and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The different beliefs in the revolution, this was a big part in the struggle as they all had different beliefs on how Russia would revolt and go into a new stage for Russia. Trotsky had his belief, this was of world revolution. Meaning that Trotsky didn’t believe that Russia could have a revolution on its own, as no socialist society could survive on its own. He didn’t believe that Russia had the economic resources or technological sophistication to complete the transition to socialism on its own. This meant that Trotsky relied on Western Europe and that they would have a revolution, he believed that the communist regimes in western…

    • 1418 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    I believe that the Bolsheviks controlling more people and having access to more weapons was a key factor in them winning the war. They controlled the industrial heart of Russia, which included Petrograd and Moscow, this also meant they had control of all the factories, and the railway lines. Control of the factories meant they were able to made more supplies, and control of the railway networks meant that they could transport troops and supplies around. Petrograd and Moscow alone were home to 60 million people. Controlling one big area which was joined together made it a lot easier for the Bolsheviks to operate.…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Bolshevik victory in the civil war was down to a number of factors. The first being the role of Trotsky, the geographical advantages the Red Army had and the weaknesses of the White Army. Undoubtedly, the most significant was the geographical advantages of the Red Army because this was what secured the equipment to fight and allowed it to be transported.…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The personalities of all were all extremely different by a great margin. The most likely to win, Trotsky was intellectually gifted which greatly benefitted him. He was also a great military leader and had good organisational skills. Trotsky has a few strong disadvantages to his personality though. His late arrival to the Bolshevik party could be interpret Trotsky as an unloyal character while his arrogance due to his intelligence made him quite a few different enemies in the Bolshevik party. Trotsky’s arrogance led to his defeat as he vastly underestimated Stalin and the threat he posed, while also decreasing his inner party support. At the time Trotsky would be clear favourite to win but his poor characteristics let him down.…

    • 1061 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Although not the main reason, Lenin’s April Theses had an impact on the people of Russia. His famous saying was ‘Peace, bread, land and power to the soviets’. Not only did this statement appeal to the Peasants (who were 80% of the population) but he also stated that he would not support the Provisional government; instead he thought that the Soviets should have the power which is what they wanted. This only increased the Bolsheviks popularity, whilst support for the Provisional Government decreased. These catchy slogans and giving the people what they wanted was what made Lenin a good leader and one of the reasons for the success of the Bolsheviks.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Russian socialists and their relationship to the war played a key role in setting the stage for revolution in Russia. Lenin, the leader of the radical Bolsheviks, was an outlaw and actually lived in Galicia and Switzerland at the beginning of World War I. He carried on a lively debate with the more moderate wing of the Russian Social Democrats called Mensheviks. The key issue was the relationship of revolution to war. Unlike the other socialist, Lenin actually was in favor of war at this time, because he thought it would weaken capitalism and prepare the ground for revolution. But in two key votes on this issue within the party he lost.…

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The leaders of the Red Army were a very important factor to the Reds victory, the Bolsheviks were extremely fortunate in the quality of their leadership, particularly in Lenin and Trotsky. They used severe measures to achieve the suppression of the peasant uprisings. Whole villages were burnt to the ground and their populations executed, while the inhabitants of local villages were forced to watch as a warning not to oppose the Bolsheviks. Lenin had led the Bolsheviks to…

    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Civil War

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Prior to reading the book The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara I must say that I was extremely ignorant to the topic of the Civil War. If someone were to ask me why the Civil War took place I would say plain and simple, “slavery.” Although slavery was the main cause for the war, I didn’t understand how or why the topic of slavery was ever a debate. There are very few people in today’s society that can say without hesitation that slavery was at all ethical or moral. The mere thought of humans being treated as objects rather than people is absurd. But for the south slavery was more than that, slavery was a way of life. The south flourished and thrived off of the crops and cotton that the slaves worked on, so as you can imagine abolishing slavery was something that the south could ill afford.…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lenin's Power Essay

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages

    There are four main topics in which Lenin was able hold on to his power; Trotsky’s organisation of the Red Army, the disunity of white oppression, war communism and the leadership qualities of Lenin. The first topic to discuss is Trotsky’s organisation of the Red Army. The "Red Army" refers to the traditional colour of the communist movement. The conception was that it should be “formed from the class-conscious and best elements of the working classes.” All citizens of the Russian republic over the age of 18 were eligible. It introduced new methods and orders, one of the foremost order he issued was, “I give warning…” Trotsky was a superb leader and built it for nothing. Trotsky also had previous experience in relation to armies, he was very courageous, exactly the type of leader that was needed. This formation of the Red Army was very supportive towards Lenin as they were a formidable fighting force, and by 1921 had seen of many threats. For example, the White army, Green armies and various interventionist armies.…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Russian Civil War

    • 1226 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In 1917 Lenin and the Bolsheviks, known as the Communists or Reds, had seized control over Petrograd and Moscow quite easily. However, they controlled only part of Russia and many groups opposed them. The Mensheviks, Social Revolutionaries and supporters of the Tsar said they had no right to rule. Collectively, these opponents became known as the Whites. The Whites were opposed to the Reds for two main reasons: they seized the land, property and factories of the well off and they attacked religious beliefs. By the end of 1918 civil war had broken out in Russia between the Whites and the Reds. The Whites were supported from abroad by the Allies; Britain, France, the USA and Japan. The Allies opposed Lenin in retaliation for his Brest-Litovsk peace treaty with Germany in March 1918. They had also lost capital and property as the Reds refused to repay loans which had been made to the Tsar's government, and had nationalized foreign owned businesses' in Russia without compensation. Yet, despite a large number of anti-Bolshevik groups within Russia, who were backed by the most powerful countries in the world, the Bolsheviks did eventually win the Russian Civil War. But why?…

    • 1226 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Russian Civil War

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Shortly after the October and February revolutions, in 1917, Russia burst almost immediately into Civil War. The two parties concerned were the Bolshevik’s Red Army and the opposing White Army. The Civil War raged from the years 1917 to presently after 1920 with the eventual success of the Red Army over the White Army. This triumph is traditionally seen by historians as a result of the weaknesses within the white army rather than a merit to the red army. However, with careful analysis of the military situations and organisation of both of the armies this can be shown as false. This analysis shows the result of the Civil War as both a consequence of the weaknesses of the White Army and the strong ideologies within the Red Army. This is further reinforced by the divided leadership within the White Army, as well as single unified command structure of the Red Army, contrasted to the way in which Trotsky was able to inspire and rally men…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In order to understand the success of the Bolsheviks, one must first appreciate that they had no central role in the general revolution of March 1917. The government at the time of this Revolution was extremely weak. This was due to lack of loyalty in the army and consistent internal and foreign policy mistakes abdicated by Tsar Nicholas II, starting with the dissolution of the Duma and ending with the continued engagement in WW1 when Russia was in a state of famine, inflation, and general turmoil. It was only after this revolution that the Bolsheviks started to gain relevance in Russian politics by engaging in the new Provisional Government, and strategically taking advances of internal and foreign policy errors. An example of their lack importance during the revolution of March 1917 would be the Bolshevik’s leader, Lenin, was abroad and had given up on the Bolshevik cause in Russia at this point in time. After the March Revolution the Provisional Government consisted of not only Bolsheviks, but many military officers, Socialists, and a small amount of Conservatives who constituted a broad range of the Political Spectrum. Once the Provisional Government was in place the Bolsheviks methodically took bits and pieces of power through policy and the consistent ability to “rally the troops” of the Bolshevik cause. They continued to gain power from 1917- January of 1918 when the Constituent Assembly, ready to dissolve the Bolshevik’s dictatorship, was forcibly dismissed. During the summer of 1918 a major reform of the military took place in order to ensure the future of Bolshevism. The Bolsheviks then hung onto control, by a thread until 1920. At this point there was a more solidified grip on the political, and thus military, aspects of the country. The success of The Bolshevik revolution was due to the lack of power in the central government at the time of the revolution, the…

    • 2189 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Despite the elections, in hindsight, fundamentally leading to the civil war within Russia, the Bolsheviks did not change their methods and continued their dictatorial leadership which contributed greatly to their success in the civil war and consolidated their power. It could be argued that the fact that they won the civil war despite losing seats in the Constituent Assembly Elections consolidated their power…

    • 5252 Words
    • 22 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Leon Trotsky played a very significant role in the Bolshevik success in the period 1917-1924. According to A.J Koutsoukis , 'his contributions in the years 1917 to 1924 had been second, if not equal to that of Lenin himself. Trotsky played a significant role in establishing Bolshevik control in Russia. He was also very instrumental and one of the reasons for the Red Army winning the civil war. Trotsky was regarded by his supporters as the saviour for his country for his efforts in organising the Red Army during the Civil War. According to historian E.H Carr , 'Trotsky was a great administrator, great intellectual, and a great orator...' but at times was overbearing and lead to his eventual downfall.…

    • 2333 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lenin’s leadership was to a large extent an important cause of the Bolshevik’s success in the November 1917 revolution. This is because of Lenin’s great leadership skills, including his personality and timing, and his use of propaganda. Other factors to why the Bolsheviks succeeded included Trotsky’s role, which was debatably more important, and the problems with the Provisional Government, which made it unpopular, increasing support to the Bolsheviks and meant that any future revolution was inevitable.…

    • 1412 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays