Why did the Reds win the Civil War
Why did the Reds win the Civil War?
Communications and Geography – Control of Railways, Good supply lines, Control of Petrograd and Moscow
The Reds made sure their armies and towns were fed, by forcing peasants to hand over food and by rationing supplies
Took over factories in Moscow and Petrograd so that they could supply their armies with ammunition and weapons more efficiently
Good use of propaganda made atrocities by the Whites raise fears for the population and began speculation of possible return of the Tsar and Landlords
Trotsky used Russia’s railways like that of the cavalry in former times as a means of transporting troops swiftly in large numbers to critical areas of defence or attack
Divided opponents
Made up of many different groups, all with different aims.
Also widely spread so unable to coordinate their campaigns against the reds
Limited support from the Russian population, peasants didn’t necessarily like the Bolsheviks, but they preferred them to the Whites. If the Whites won, the peasants knew the landlords would return.
Importance of Trotsky
Trotsky’s role as the Reds’ Comissar for War was to defend the red army’s internatl lines of communication to deny the whites the opportunity to concentrate large forces in any one location
Also he was to prevent the Whites from maintaining regular supplies
Trotsky’s use of the railways was successful and once the Reds had established effective defence of their main region around Petrograd and Moscow, they were able to exhaust the Whites an attacking force, driving them back on the major fronts until they scattered or surrendered
Red Brutality
The Reds gained recruits by offering defeated enemy troops and neutral civilians the stark choice of enlistment or execution
Whatever initial peasant sympathy the Reds had gained had been lost by the severity of their grain requisitioning methods.
Communications and Geography – Control of Railways, Good supply lines, Control of Petrograd and Moscow
The Reds made sure their armies and towns were fed, by forcing peasants to hand over food and by rationing supplies
Took over factories in Moscow and Petrograd so that they could supply their armies with ammunition and weapons more efficiently
Good use of propaganda made atrocities by the Whites raise fears for the population and began speculation of possible return of the Tsar and Landlords
Trotsky used Russia’s railways like that of the cavalry in former times as a means of transporting troops swiftly in large numbers to critical areas of defence or attack
Divided opponents
Made up of many different groups, all with different aims.
Also widely spread so unable to coordinate their campaigns against the reds
Limited support from the Russian population, peasants didn’t necessarily like the Bolsheviks, but they preferred them to the Whites. If the Whites won, the peasants knew the landlords would return.
Importance of Trotsky
Trotsky’s role as the Reds’ Comissar for War was to defend the red army’s internatl lines of communication to deny the whites the opportunity to concentrate large forces in any one location
Also he was to prevent the Whites from maintaining regular supplies
Trotsky’s use of the railways was successful and once the Reds had established effective defence of their main region around Petrograd and Moscow, they were able to exhaust the Whites an attacking force, driving them back on the major fronts until they scattered or surrendered
Red Brutality
The Reds gained recruits by offering defeated enemy troops and neutral civilians the stark choice of enlistment or execution
Whatever initial peasant sympathy the Reds had gained had been lost by the severity of their grain requisitioning methods.