Why Did The Bolsheviks Win The Civil War?

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the strengths of Soviet organization, as well as the weakness of the Whites, who were backed by western intervention. The paper looks at measures taken, such as "War Communism" used to supply food to the army and the ruthless structure of communist forces, which lead to the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War.

From the Paper:

"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. Could they hang on to power? 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?"

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