Major Movements of the Civil War. When and why did the civil war start

At the first stage of the Civil War of 1917 - 1922/23, two powerful opposing forces took shape - "red" and "white". The first represented the Bolshevik camp, whose goal was a radical change in the existing system and the construction of a socialist regime, the second - the anti-Bolshevik camp, striving to return the order of the pre-revolutionary period.

The period between the February and October revolutions is the time of the formation and development of the Bolshevik regime, the stage of accumulation of forces. The main tasks of the Bolsheviks before the outbreak of the Civil War were: the formation of a social support, transformations in the country that would allow them to gain a foothold at the top of power in the country, and protect the achievements of the February Revolution.

The methods of the Bolsheviks in strengthening power were effective. First of all, this concerns propaganda among the population - the slogans of the Bolsheviks were relevant and helped to quickly form the social support of the "Reds".

The first armed detachments of the "Reds" began to appear on preparatory stage from March to October 1917. Home driving force such detachments were workers from industrial regions - this was the main force of the Bolsheviks, which helped them come to power during October revolution. At the time of the revolutionary events, the detachment numbered about 200,000 people.

The stage of formation of the power of the Bolsheviks required the protection of what was achieved during the revolution - for this, at the end of December 1917, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission was created, headed by F. Dzerzhinsky. On January 15, 1918, the Cheka adopted a Decree on the creation of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, and on January 29, the Red Fleet was created.

Analyzing the actions of the Bolsheviks, historians do not come to a consensus about their goals and motivations:

The most common opinion is that the “Reds” initially planned a large-scale Civil War, which would be a logical continuation of the revolution. The fighting, the purpose of which was to promote the ideas of the revolution, would consolidate the power of the Bolsheviks and spread socialism throughout the world. During the war, the Bolsheviks planned to destroy the bourgeoisie as a class. Thus, based on this, the ultimate goal of the "Reds" is a world revolution.

One of the admirers of the second concept is V. Galin. This version is fundamentally different from the first - according to historians, the Bolsheviks had no intention of turning the revolution into a Civil War. The goal of the Bolsheviks was to seize power, which they succeeded in the course of the revolution. But the continuation of hostilities was not included in the plans. The arguments of the fans of this concept: the transformations planned by the "Reds" demanded peace in the country, at the first stage of the struggle, the "Reds" were tolerant of other political forces. A turning point regarding political opponents occurred when in 1918 there was a threat to lose power in the state. By 1918, the "Reds" had a strong, professionally trained enemy - the White Army. Its backbone was wartime Russian Empire. By 1918, the fight against this enemy became purposeful, the army of the "Reds" acquired a pronounced structure.

At the first stage of the war, the actions of the Red Army were not successful. Why?

Recruitment to the army was carried out on a voluntary basis, which led to decentralization and disunity. The army was created spontaneously, without a specific structure - this led to a low level of discipline, problems in managing a large number of volunteers. The chaotic army was characterized not high level combat capability. Only since 1918, when the Bolshevik power was under threat, did the "Reds" decide to recruit troops according to the mobilization principle. From June 1918, they began to mobilize the military of the tsarist army.

The second reason is closely related to the first - against the chaotic, non-professional army of the "Reds" were organized, professional military, which at the time of the Civil War, participated in more than one battle. The "Whites" with a high level of patriotism were united not only by professionalism, but also by the idea - the White movement stood for a united and indivisible Russia, for order in the state.

Most characteristic Red Army - uniformity. First of all, it concerns the class origin. Unlike the "whites", whose army included professional soldiers, workers, and peasants, the "reds" accepted only proletarians and peasants into their ranks. The bourgeoisie was to be destroyed, so an important task was to prevent hostile elements from entering the Red Army.

In parallel with the hostilities, the Bolsheviks were implementing a political and economic program. The Bolsheviks pursued a policy of "red terror" against hostile social classes. IN economic sphere"War Communism" was introduced - a set of measures in the domestic policy of the Bolsheviks throughout the Civil War.

Biggest victories for the Reds:

• 1918 - 1919 - the establishment of Bolshevik power on the territory of Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia.
• The beginning of 1919 - the Red Army goes on the counteroffensive, defeating the "white" army of Krasnov.
• Spring-summer 1919 - Kolchak's troops fell under the blows of the "Reds".
• The beginning of 1920 - the "Reds" ousted the "Whites" from the northern cities of Russia.
• February-March 1920 - the defeat of the rest of the forces of Denikin's Volunteer Army.
• November 1920 - the "Reds" ousted the "Whites" from the Crimea.
• By the end of 1920, the "Reds" were opposed by scattered groups of the White Army. Civil War ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks.

After the October Revolution, a tense socio-political situation developed in the country. The establishment of Soviet power in the autumn of 1917 - in the spring of 1918 was accompanied by many anti-Bolshevik demonstrations in different regions of Russia, but all of them were scattered and had a local character. At first, only separate, not numerous groups of the population were drawn into them. A large-scale struggle, in which huge masses from various social strata joined on both sides, marked the development of the Civil War - a general social armed confrontation.

In historiography, there is no consensus on the time of the start of the Civil War. Some historians attribute it to October 1917, others to the spring-summer of 1918, when strong political and well-organized anti-Soviet pockets formed and foreign intervention began. Disputes among historians also raise the question of who was responsible for unleashing this fratricidal war: representatives of the classes that had lost power, property and influence; the Bolshevik leadership, which imposed its own method of transforming society on the country; or both of these socio-political forces, which the popular masses used in the struggle for power.

The overthrow of the Provisional Government and the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly, the economic and socio-political measures of the Soviet government turned against it the nobles, the bourgeoisie, the wealthy intelligentsia, the clergy, and the officers. The discrepancy between the goals of transforming society and the methods for achieving them alienated the democratic intelligentsia, the Cossacks, the kulaks and the middle peasants from the Bolsheviks. Thus, domestic politics Bolshevik leadership was one of the causes of the Civil War.

The nationalization of all the land and the confiscation of the landowner's aroused fierce resistance from its former owners. The bourgeoisie, confused by the sweep of the nationalization of industry, wanted to return factories and plants. The liquidation of commodity-money relations and the establishment of a state monopoly on the distribution of products and commodities dealt a painful blow to the property position of the middle and petty bourgeoisie. Thus, the desire of the overthrown classes to preserve private property and their privileged position was the reason for the start of the Civil War.

Creation of a one-party political system and the "dictatorship of the proletariat", in fact - the dictatorship of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), pushed away the socialist parties and democratic public organizations. With the Decrees "On the Arrest of the Leaders of the Civil War against the Revolution" (November 1917) and on the "Red Terror", the Bolshevik leadership legally substantiated the "right" to violent reprisals against their political opponents. Therefore, the Mensheviks, Right and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, anarchists refused to cooperate with new government and took part in the Civil War.

The peculiarity of the Civil War in Russia was the close interweaving of the internal political struggle with foreign intervention. Both Germany and the Entente allies incited the anti-Bolshevik forces, supplied them with weapons, ammunition, financial and political support. On the one hand, their policy was dictated by the desire to put an end to the Bolshevik regime, return the lost property of foreign citizens, and prevent the "spread" of the revolution. On the other hand, they pursued their own expansionist plans aimed at dismembering Russia, gaining new territories and spheres of influence at the expense of it.

Civil War in 1918

In 1918, the main centers of the anti-Bolshevik movement were formed, differing in their socio-political composition. In February, the "Union of the Revival of Russia" arose in Moscow and Petrograd, uniting the Cadets, Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries. In March 1918, the "Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom" was formed under the leadership of the well-known Social Revolutionary, terrorist B.V. Savinkov. A strong anti-Bolshevik movement unfolded among the Cossacks. On the Don and Kuban they were led by General P. N. Krasnov, on Southern Urals- Ataman A. I. Dutov. In the south of Russia and the North Caucasus, under the leadership of Generals M. V. Alekseev and L. I. Kornilov began to form an officer Volunteer Army. She became the basis of the White movement. After the death of L. G. Kornilov, General A. I. Denikin took command.

In the spring of 1918 foreign intervention began. German troops occupied Ukraine, Crimea and part of North Caucasus. Romania captured Bessarabia. The Entente countries signed an agreement on the non-recognition of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the future division of Russia into spheres of influence. In March, an English expeditionary force was landed in Murmansk, which was later joined by French and American troops. In April, Vladivostok was occupied by Japanese troops. Then detachments of the British, French and Americans appeared in the Far East.

In May 1918, the soldiers of the Czechoslovak Corps rebelled. Slavic prisoners of war from the Austro-Hungarian army were gathered there, who expressed a desire to participate in the war against Germany on the side of the Entente. The corps was sent by the Soviet government along the Trans-Siberian Railway to Far East. It was assumed that he would then be delivered to France. The uprising led to the overthrow of Soviet power in the Volga region and Siberia. In Samara, Ufa and Omsk, governments were created from the Cadets, Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. Their activity was based on the idea of ​​the revival of the Constituent Assembly, expressed in opposition to both the Bolsheviks and the extreme right-wing monarchists. These governments did not last long and were swept away during the Civil War.

In the summer of 1918, the anti-Bolshevik movement led by the Socialist-Revolutionaries assumed enormous proportions. They organized performances in many cities of Central Russia (Yaroslavl, Rybinsk, etc.). On July 6-7, the Left SRs attempted to overthrow the Soviet government in Moscow. It ended in complete failure. As a result, many of their leaders were arrested. Representatives of the Left SRs who opposed the policies of the Bolsheviks were expelled from the Soviets of all levels and state bodies.

The complication of the military-political situation in the country affected the fate of the imperial family. In the spring of 1918, Nicholas II with his wife and children, under the pretext of activating the monarchists, was transferred from Tobolsk to Yekaterinburg. Having coordinated their actions with the center, the Ural Regional Council on July 16, 1918 shot the tsar and his family. In the same days, the tsar's brother Michael and 18 other members of the imperial family were killed.

The Soviet government launched active actions to protect its power. The Red Army was reorganized on new military-political principles. A transition was made to universal military service, and extensive mobilization was launched. Strict discipline was established in the army, the institution of military commissars was introduced. Organizational measures to strengthen the Red Army were completed by the creation of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (RVSR) and the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense.

In June 1918, the Eastern Front was formed against the rebellious Czechoslovak corps and the anti-Soviet forces of the Urals and Siberia under the command of I. I. Vatsetis (since July 1919 - S. S. Kamenev). At the beginning of September 1918, the Red Army went on the offensive and during October-November drove the enemy beyond the Urals. The restoration of Soviet power in the Urals and the Volga region ended the first stage of the Civil War.

Escalation of the Civil War

In late 1918 - early 1919, the white movement reached its maximum scope. In Siberia, Admiral A.V. Kolchak, who was declared the "Supreme Ruler of Russia", seized power. In the Kuban and the North Caucasus, A.I. Denikin united the Don and Volunteer armies into the Armed Forces of the South of Russia. In the north, with the help of the Entente, General E. K. Miller formed his army. In the Baltic states, General N. N. Yudenich was preparing for a campaign against Petrograd. From November 1918, after the end of World War I, the Allies stepped up aid White movement, supplying it with ammunition, uniforms, tanks, aircraft. The scale of intervention has expanded. The British occupied Baku, landed in Batum and Novorossiysk, the French - in Odessa and Sevastopol.

In November 1918, A.V. Kolchak launched an offensive in the Urals with the aim of connecting with the detachments of General E.K. Miller and organizing a joint attack on Moscow. Again, the Eastern Front became the main one. On December 25, the troops of A. V. Kolchak took Perm, but already on December 31, their offensive was stopped by the Red Army. In the east, the front temporarily stabilized.

In 1919, a plan was created for a simultaneous attack on Soviet power: from the east (A. V. Kolchak), the south (A. I. Denikin) and the west (N. N. Yudenich). However, it was not possible to carry out a combined performance.

In March 1919, A.V. Kolchak launched a new offensive from the Urals towards the Volga. In April, the troops of S. S. Kamenev and M. V. Frunze stopped him, and in the summer they drove him to Siberia. Powerful peasant uprising and partisan movement against the government of A. V. Kolchak helped the Red Army to establish Soviet power in Siberia. In February 1920, by the verdict of the Irkutsk Revolutionary Committee, Admiral A.V. Kolchak was shot.

In May 1919, when the Red Army was winning decisive victories in the east, N. N. Yudenich moved to Petrograd. In June, he was stopped and his troops driven back to Estonia, where the bourgeoisie came to power. The second offensive of N. N. Yudenich on Petrograd in October 1919 also ended in defeat. His troops were disarmed and interned by the Estonian government, which did not want to come into conflict with Soviet Russia who proposed to recognize the independence of Estonia.

In July 1919, A. I. Denikin captured Ukraine and, having carried out a mobilization, launched an offensive against Moscow (Moscow Directive) In September, Kursk, Orel and Voronezh occupied his troops. In this regard, the Soviet government concentrated all its forces on I. Denikin. The Southern Front was formed under the command of A.I. Egorov. In October, the Red Army went on the offensive. She was supported by the insurgent peasant movement led by N. I. Makhno, who deployed a “second front” in the rear of the Volunteer Army. In December 1919 - early 1920, the troops of A.I. Denikin were defeated. Soviet power was restored in southern Russia, Ukraine and the North Caucasus. The remnants of the Volunteer Army took refuge on the Crimean Peninsula, the command of which A. I. Denikin transferred to General P. N. Wrangel.

In 1919, revolutionary fermentation began in the occupying units of the Allies, intensified by Bolshevik propaganda. The interventionists were forced to withdraw their troops. This was facilitated by a powerful social movement in Europe and the USA under the slogan "Hands off Soviet Russia!".

The final stage of the Civil War

In 1920, the main events were the Soviet-Polish war and the fight against P. N. Wrangel. Having recognized the independence of Poland, the Soviet government began negotiations with it on territorial delimitation and the establishment of a state border. They reached a dead end, as the Polish government, headed by Marshal Yu. Pilsudski, presented exorbitant territorial claims. To restore "Greater Poland", Polish troops invaded Belarus and Ukraine in May, captured Kyiv. The Red Army under the command of M. N. Tukhachevsky and A. I. Yegorov in July 1920 defeated the Polish grouping in Ukraine and Belarus. The attack on Warsaw began. It was perceived by the Polish people as an intervention. In this regard, all the forces of the Poles, financially supported Western countries, were sent to the resistance of the Red Army. In August, the offensive of M. N. Tukhachevsky bogged down. The Soviet-Polish war was ended by a peace signed in Riga in March 1921. According to it, Poland received the lands of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. In Eastern Belarus, the power of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic remained.

Since April 1920, the anti-Soviet struggle was led by General P. N. Wrangel, who was elected "ruler of the south of Russia." He formed the “Russian Army” in Crimea, which launched an offensive against the Donbass in June. To repel it, the Southern Front was formed under the command of M.V. Frunze. At the end of October, the troops of P. I. Wrangel were defeated in Northern Tavria and pushed back to the Crimea. In November, units of the Red Army stormed the fortifications of the Perekop Isthmus, crossed Lake Sivash and broke into the Crimea. The defeat of P. N. Wrangel marked the end of the Civil War. The remnants of his troops and part of the civilian population opposed to the Soviet regime were evacuated with the help of the allies to Turkey. In November 1920, the Civil War actually ended. Only isolated pockets of resistance to Soviet power remained on the outskirts of Russia.

In 1920, with the support of the troops of the Turkestan Front (under the command of M.V. Frunze), the power of the Emir of Bukhara and the Khan of Khiva was overthrown. In the territory Central Asia Bukhara and Khorezm People's Soviet Republics were formed. In Transcaucasia, Soviet power was established as a result of military intervention by the government of the RSFSR, material and moral and political assistance from the Central Committee of the RCP (b). In April 1920, the Musavatist government was overthrown and the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic was formed. In November 1920, after the liquidation of the power of the Dashnaks, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic was created. In February 1921 Soviet troops, violating the peace treaty with the government of Georgia (May 1920), captured Tiflis, where the creation of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed. In April 1920, by decision of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) and the government of the RSFSR, a buffer Far Eastern Republic was created, and in 1922 the Far East was finally liberated from the Japanese invaders. Thus, on the territory of the former Russian Empire (with the exception of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Finland), the Soviet government won.

The Bolsheviks won the Civil War and repelled foreign intervention. They managed to keep the main part of the territory of the former Russian Empire. At the same time, Poland, Finland, and the Baltic states separated from Russia and gained independence. Western Ukraine, Western Belarus and Bessarabia were lost.

Reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks

The defeat of the anti-Soviet forces was due to a number of reasons. Their leaders canceled the Decree on Land and returned the land to its former owners. This turned the peasants against them. The slogan of preserving "one and indivisible Russia" contradicted the hopes of many peoples for independence. The unwillingness of the leaders of the white movement to cooperate with the liberal and socialist parties narrowed its socio-political base. Punitive expeditions, pogroms, mass executions of prisoners, widespread violation of legal regulations- all this caused discontent of the population, up to armed resistance. During the Civil War, the opponents of the Bolsheviks failed to agree on a single program and a single leader of the movement. Their actions were poorly coordinated.

The Bolsheviks won the Civil War because they managed to mobilize all the resources of the country and turn it into a single military camp. The Central Committee of the RCP(b) and the Council of People's Commissars created a politicized Red Army, ready to defend Soviet power. Various social groups were attracted by loud revolutionary slogans, the promise of social and national justice. The Bolshevik leadership was able to present itself as the defender of the Fatherland and accuse their opponents of betraying national interests. Great importance had international solidarity, the help of the proletariat of Europe and the USA.

The civil war was a terrible disaster for Russia. It led to a further deterioration of the economic situation in the country, to complete economic ruin. Material damage amounted to more than 50 billion rubles. gold. industrial production decreased by 7 times. The transport system was completely paralyzed. Many segments of the population, forcibly drawn into the war by the opposing sides, became its innocent victims. In battles, from hunger, disease and terror, 8 million people died, 2 million people were forced to emigrate. Among them were many representatives intellectual elite. Irreplaceable moral and ethical losses had profound sociocultural consequences, for a long time affecting the history of the Soviet country.

The chronological framework of this historical event are still controversial. The battles in Petrograd, which became the beginning, that is, October 1917, are officially considered the beginning of the war. There are also versions relating the beginning of the war to. or by May 1918. There is also no unanimous opinion about the end of the war: some scientists (and most of them) consider the capture of Vladivostok, that is, October 1922, to be the end of the war, but there are those who claim that the war ended in November 1920 or in 1923

Causes of the war

The most obvious reasons for the outbreak of hostilities are the most acute political, social and national-ethnic contradictions, which not only persisted, but also aggravated after the February Revolution. The most pressing of them is considered to be the protracted participation of Russia in and the unresolved agrarian question.

Many researchers see a direct connection between the coming to power of the Bolsheviks and the beginning of the Civil War, and believe that this was one of their main tasks. Nationalization production means, the Brest Peace, ruinous for Russia, the aggravation of relations with the peasantry due to the activities of the commanders and food detachments, as well as the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly - all these actions of the Soviet government, coupled with its desire to retain power and establish its own dictatorship at any cost, could not but cause discontent among the population.

The course of the war

It took place in 3 stages, differing in the composition of the participants in the hostilities and the intensity of the fighting. October 1917 - November 1918 - the formation of the armed forces of opponents and the formation of the main fronts. actively began the fight against the Bolshevik regime, but the intervention of third forces, primarily the Entente and the Quadruple Alliance, did not allow either side to gain advantages that would decide the outcome of the war.

November 1918 - March 1920 - the stage in which the radical turning point of the war came. The fighting of the interventionists was reduced, and their troops were withdrawn from the territory of Russia. At the very beginning of the stage, success was on the side of the White movement, but then the Red Army gained control over most of the territory of the state.

March 1920 - October 1922 - the final stage, during which fighting moved to the border regions of the state and, in fact, did not pose a threat to the Bolshevik government. After October 1922, only the Siberian Volunteer Squad in Yakutia, commanded by A.N. Petlyaev, as well as a Cossack detachment under the command of Bologov near Nikolsk-Ussuriysk.

The results of the war

The power of the Bolsheviks was established throughout Russia, as well as in most of the national regions. Over 15 million people were killed or died due to disease and starvation. Over 2.5 million people have emigrated from the country. The state and society were in a state of economic decline, entire social groups were actually destroyed (first of all, this concerned the officers, the intelligentsia, the Cossacks, the clergy and the nobility).

Reasons for the defeat of the White Army

Today, many historians openly admit that during the war years several times more soldiers deserted from the Red Army than served in the White Army. At the same time, the leaders of the White movement (for example,) in their memoirs emphasized that the population of the territories they occupied not only supported the troops, supplying them with food, but also replenished the ranks of the White Army.

Nevertheless, the propaganda work of the Bolsheviks was of a massive and more aggressive nature, which made it possible to attract wider sections of the population to their side. In addition, almost all production capacities, huge human resources (after all, they controlled most of the territory), as well as material resources, were under their control, while the regions that supported the White movement were depleted, and their population (primarily workers and peasants) waited, showing no obvious support for either side.

Soldiers of the Civil War

February Revolution, the abdication of Nicholas II were greeted by the population of Russia with rejoicing. split the country. Not all citizens positively accepted the Bolsheviks' call for a separate peace with Germany, not everyone liked the slogans about the land - to the peasants, factories - to the workers and peace - to the peoples, and, moreover, the proclamation by the new government of the "dictatorship of the proletariat", which she began to carry out in life very briskly

Years of the Civil War 1917 - 1922

Beginning of the Civil War

Hand on heart, however, it should be recognized that the very seizure of power by the Bolsheviks and a few months after that were relatively peaceful times. Three or four hundred who died in the uprising in Moscow and several dozen during the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly are trifles compared to the millions of victims of the "real" Civil War. So there is confusion with the date of the start of the Civil War. Historians name different

— 1917, October 25-26 (O.S.) - Ataman Kaledin announced the non-recognition of the power of the Bolsheviks

On behalf of the "Don Military Government", he dispersed the soviets in the Don Cossack Region and declared that he did not recognize usurpers and did not submit to the Council of People's Commissars. A lot of people dissatisfied with the Bolsheviks rushed to the Region of the Don Cossacks: civilians, cadets, high school students and students ..., generals and senior officers Denikin, Lukomsky, Nezhentsev ...

The call was "to all who are ready to save the Fatherland." On November 27, Alekseev voluntarily handed over command of the Volunteer Army to Kornilov, who had combat experience. Alekseev himself was a staff officer. Since that time, the Alekseevskaya Organization has officially received the name of the Volunteer Army.

The Constituent Assembly opened on January 5 (O.S.) in the Tauride Palace in Petrograd. The Bolsheviks had only 155 votes out of 410 in it, therefore, on January 6, Lenin ordered not to allow the opening of the second meeting of the Assembly (the first ended on January 6 at 5 o'clock in the morning)

Since 1914, the Allies have been supplying Russia with weapons, ammunition, ammunition, and equipment. Cargoes went along the northern route by sea. The ships were unloaded into warehouses. After the October events, the warehouses required protection so that the Germans would not capture them. When World War ended, the British went home. However, March 9 has since been considered the beginning of the intervention - the military intervention of Western countries in the Civil War in Russia.

In 1916, the Russian command formed a corps of 40,000 bayonets from captured Czechs and Slovaks, former servicemen of Austria-Hungary. In 1918, the Czechs, not wanting to participate in the Russian showdown, demanded that they be returned to their homeland in order to fight for the independence of Czechoslovakia from the rule of the Habsburgs. Austria-Hungary's ally Germany, with which peace had already been signed, opposed. They decided to send Chekhov to Europe via Vladivostok. But the echelons moved slowly, or stopped at all (they needed 50 pieces). So the Czechs rebelled, dispersed the soviets along their line of march from Penza to Irkutsk, which was immediately used by the opposition forces to the Bolsheviks

Causes of the Civil War

— The dispersal of the Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks, the work and decisions of which, in the opinion of the liberal-minded public, could direct Russia along the democratic path of development
— The dictatorial policy of the Bolshevik Party
— Change of elite

The Bolsheviks, implementing the slogan of destroying the old world to the ground, voluntarily or unwittingly, took up the destruction of the elite of Russian society, which had ruled the country for 1000 years since the time of Rurik.
After all, these are fairy tales that people make history. The people are a brute force, a stupid, irresponsible crowd, expendable material, which is used for their own benefit by certain movements.
History is made by the elite. She comes up with an ideology, forms public opinion, sets the development vector for the state. Having encroached on the privileges and traditions of the elite, the Bolsheviks forced it to defend itself, to fight

— The economic policy of the Bolsheviks: the establishment of state ownership of everything, the monopoly of trade and distribution, surplus appropriation
— Elimination of civil liberties proclaimed
— Terror, repression against the so-called exploiting classes

Members of the Civil War

: workers, peasants, soldiers, sailors, part of the intelligentsia, armed detachments of the national outskirts, hired, mostly Latvian, regiments. As part of the Red Army, tens of thousands of officers of the tsarist army fought, some voluntarily, some mobilized. Many peasants and workers were also mobilized, that is, drafted into the army by force.
: officers of the tsarist army, cadets, students, Cossacks, intellectuals, other representatives of the "exploiting part of society." The Whites also did not disdain to establish mobilization laws in the conquered territory. Nationalists who stand for the independence of their peoples
: gangs of anarchists, criminals, unprincipled lumpen, robbed, fought in a specific territory against everyone.
: protected from surplus appropriation