Why Did the Bolsheviks Win the Russian Civil War?

From the initial seizure of power in 1917 until 1924, the Bolsheviks were confronted with a series of crises that threatened their ability to control and govern in Russia. The response and resolutions to these crises included Initial Reforms, Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Civil War, Red terror, War Communism and the NEP. Under the leadership of Lenin, the execution of these responses were made possible and the Bolsheviks were able to maintain and expand their power. The Civil War however was the direct consequence of the Bolshevik’s actions as they tried to maintain their grasp on power. The victory in the Civil War was extremely pivotal for the Bolshevik consolidation of power as it brought control and power but more importantly it eliminated

Another reason why they were able to remain in power was the weakness of the Whites. Their weakness gave the Reds a huge advantage, as it meant that the Reds could over power them. The whites were divided into two sections, lead by Kolchak and Denikin. They hated each other, and therefore didn’t communicate. This caused confusion in the Whites because they were telling everyone two different things. Overall, the Whites had no main ambition for fighting, but were deeply divided to communicate to one and other. The only thing keeping them united was their hatred for the Bolsheviks. The only thing that gave the Whites an advantage was that the British, French and Americans supported the Whites because they wanted Russia back in the war against Germany. Foreign support was sort of counter-production because it allowed the Reds to play the patriotic role and claim to be defending Russia. Although the Whites were weak, the reason they were able to keep hold of power was due to the Red’s success.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 set the country on a course that few other countries took in the 20th century. The shift from the direction of a democratic, parliamentary-style government to a one party communist rule was a drastic change that many did not and could not predict. Looking back on this key moment in Russian history, many historians ask the question ‘why did the political power in Russia shift to the Bolsheviks’? Since the revolution in 1905 Russia was becoming progressively more democratic, distributing power throughout the political sphere. This came to an abrupt halt when Vladimir Lenin was put into power by the Bolshevik takeover of the Provisional Government. Many authors have had different takes on this event. Two particularly interesting ones were Arthur Mendel and John D. Basil. Their pieces On Interpreting the Fate of Imperial Russia and Russia and the Bolshevik Revolution give various perspectives on the Russian Revolution and attempt to answer the question of the power shift. This key point in Russia’s history sets the tone for the next 100 years. Russia became a superpower, an enemy of the United States, started multiple wars directly and indirectly, and started using an economic system used by various countries around the world. Today we still see the effects of the 1917 Revolution. Looking at both Mendel’s and Basil’s attempt to answer why the power shifted to the Bolsheviks. Since both historian 's account of the events is different they cannot

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.

The opposition groups in Russia before 1914 often came across as ineffective and weak; however, they had certain strengths to them that must be acknowledged to gain the full breadth of the argument. The main opposition to the Tsar before 1914 was: the Kadets, the Social Revolutionaries, and the Bolsheviks. All of these groupings have individual strengths and limitations within their organization and leadership, their support, and their actions; but it is true that, counting all of them separately, they were weak before 1914; also, because they were so divided in ideologies and ideas about how to carry out the revolution, they were weak. However, adding all their actions against the Tsarist regime, it could be argued that they were not ineffective against the Tsarist regime, despite being individually weak and divided.

They grew rapidly in size and by the end of the civil war against the Whites, they had managed to accumulate a military five million soldiers strong. 75% of their total soldiers were peasants by birth. This created a major problem for the Bolsheviks in the social race. The peasant population was so vast that it was thought whoever could gain their vote and popularity would have the most power. In October of 1917 their support had been confined to the working-class districts associated with big industry cities. Without any support in the countryside, where most people lived, No one thought that the Bolsheviks would hold power for more than just a few weeks. Many people thought, and for good reason, that the peasants would rise up against them, because of all the power they obtained together. However, the Red Army won the civil war after many blood covered battles they fought to gain the upperhand. One main reason was because of their superior success in things they did with politics and army decisions, compared to the

In March of 1921 the Red Army stormed the naval garrison in Kronstadt eliminating what the Bolsheviks perceived as a threat. The relationship the Bolsheviks had with these fanatical men was forever severed. The sailors making up the elite unite based in Kronstadt were fanatics that declared their independence in May 1917. It was this same group that would support the Bolshevik’s attempt to overthrow the Provisional Government. This group would fight alongside Lenin in the mistaken belief they were striving for the same goals.

The Bolsheviks (lit. “one for the majority”) were a Russian political party that was founded in 1903 by Vladimir Lenin and Alexander Bogdanov, when they split away from the Menshevik (lit. “one for the minority”) faction under the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. By 1905, the Bolsheviks were no longer a minor faction, but one that had over 8,400 members. This number increased to 46,000 by 1910, a time where the Mensheviks had only 38,000. The Bolsheviks and Mensheviks continued to both gain and lose the majority in their parent party, and in 1910, they were forced to band together due to their loss of numbers and pressure from the Tzar, even though Lenin was strongly against the idea. Then, in 1912, the Bolsheviks broke away

The Russian Revolution had one core leader, Lenin, with one main goal of overthrowing the autocratic government and spreading Socialism through Russia. Their party consisted of a tightly run, secretive operation with no outsiders; all members were completely devoted to the cause. The Party structure allowed members to unite with each other naturally, as they all shared the same core beliefs. War was also used as a strategic tactic, a way of showing authority, without a differentiating in beliefs.

The Bolsheviks were experiencing many challenges. One being, their opponents formed the White Army. The White Army consisted of people from all

In March of 1921 the Red Army stormed the naval garrison in Kronstadt, eliminating what the Bolsheviks perceived as a threat. The relationship the Bolsheviks had with these fanatical men was forever severed. The sailors making up the elite unite based in Kronstadt were fanatics that declared their independence in May 1917. It was this same group that would support the Bolshevik’s attempt to overthrow the Provisional Government. This group would fight alongside Lenin in the mistaken belief they were striving for the same goals.

There are numerous reasons why the Bolshevik revolution was successful, the most important reason to why the revolution of October 1917 was successful was due to the role of Lenin, this is not to say however that he was the only cause, this essay will explain why the Bolshevik takeover succeeded. A predominant factor in the Bolshevik takeover’s victory was the weakness and poor decisions of the provisional government (PG), the provisional government was weak due to numerous defeats in the war and the fact that they did not change how the country was run after the February Revolution which removed the Tsar from power, this meant that the Provisional Government was merely seen as the Tsar with a different face. This created discontent towards

This lead to a spike in their popularity and valuable experience for the Red Guard and so put the Bolsheviks in the perfect position to revolt, which was recognised by Lenin, the Bolshevik leader, as he declared that the time was right for the Bolshevik revolution to take

On October, 1917, the Bolshevik party overthrew the Russian government and arrested him. They take control over Russia. From there, things start to not go really well because of the Bolsheviks policies. A chaos starts to begin a lot of people weren’t happy. The economy was bad, there was a great inflation. Also, they were having a lot of enemies. All these people who hated them start to come together and they formed a group which called the Whites. From there, the civil war starts, the whites start to fight with the reds. The reds were a group who support the Bolsheviks. In the book of the Red victory, the author states, “Russia’s terrible civil war. Here, sons fight against fathers, and brothers kill brothers as

This is a picture of Bolshevik forces of the red army during the Russian Civil War. The war was between the Red Army, fighting for the Bolsheviks and the White Army, fighting for anticommunism. Allied forces and even German armies intervened in the war. The war lasted from 1918-1920 in Russia, Siberia, and Ukraine. However, despite help from the allied forces, the White Army was defeated in