CIVIL WAR IN RUSSIA. David Footman The Russian Civil War broke out in late I9I7 shortly after the Bolsheviks had established their then precarious hold on the main centers of Runsia. For the next three years it was fought savagely and confusedly over huge areas of the exhausted empire, The result was to confirm and consolidate Bolshevik power and to make possible the Russia of Stalin and the Russia of Krushchev* At the time of the struggle information coming out from the various fronts was patchy and often misleading; and much of what has since been written is colored by propaganda, self-justifica tion and myth* CMl War in Russia, based on first hand contemporary sources* gives an account of the war as a whole and goes on to describe in detail some of the more significant aspects and episodes. It is in attempt to set out what actually happened; to show how the war was fought and who were the men that fought it; and to provide! out of the welter of idealism, frustration, brutality! self-interest and blunders, a coherent picture of a struggle whose outcome has had so great an influence upon the future of the world* THB AUTHOR: David Footman, a Fellow of 31 Antony's College* Oxford, served in the British Foreign Service for many years, traveling as far east as Hongkong, as far west as California, The author of several books, Mr. Footman is also a regular contributor to many periodicals* P68c 63-07^31 Footman Civil var in Russia 9^7.085 F68c 63-07^31 Footman $7*5 Civil var in Russia '^IC LIBRARY Civil War in Russia Civil War in Russia DAVID FOOTMAN H --^A FREDERICK A. PRAEGER, Publisher NEW YORK BOOKS THAT MATTER Published in the United States ofAmerica in 1962 by Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., Publisher 64 University Place, Mew Tork$, JVT. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain by Ebenezer Baylis and Son, Ltd. Worcester and London Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 62-17560 This book is Number 114 in the series of Praeger Publications in Russian History and World Communism David Footman 1961 TO THE WARDEN AND FELLOWS OF ST. ANTONY'S COLLEGE OXFORD Contents INTRODUCTION page 15 I. THE DON AND THE VOLUNTEER ARMY 33 II. THE VOLGA AND URALS 85 III. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE RED ARMY 135 IV. MURMANSK AND ARCHANGEL 167 V. KOLCHAK: THE LAST PHASE 211 VI. MAKHNO 245 CONCLUSION 303 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 307 RELEVANT DATES 311 INDEX 319 Acknowledgments That this book was undertaken and completed has been largely due to the encouragement of the Warden and Fellows of St. Antony's College; and, apart from St. Antony's, I have had advice and help from more friends in this country and in America than can be listed here. I am especially indebted to Dr. George Katkov, Mr. Leonard Schapiro and Dr. S. V. Utechin and Mrs. Valerie has valuable technical ; Jensen given assistance. The sole responsibility remains of course my own* Shortened versions of a number of the episodes here described have in and the on Nestor appeared History Today', chapter Makhno first came out in St. Antony*s Papers Number VI. These passages are now republished by courtesy of the editors of History Today and of Messrs. Chatto and Windus Ltd. Acknowledgments are also due to the Department of Slavic Studies, Indiana University, which printed an article of mine in Indiana Slavic Studies (Vol. II, Bloomington, 1958) based on much of the material here used for the chapter on Kolchak. ii KEY TO MAPS THE TEXT Introduction (i) Russian Civil War was, more than once, like the c Battle of Waterloo, a damned near thing'. But in the Theend the victory of the Reds was complete, and the Bolshevik regime established absolute control over all European and Asiatic Russia. The experience of the Civil War had a profound influence on the regime and on its driving force, the Bolshevik Party; and thus may be said to have played a substantial part in the shaping of the Party-dominated Russia of today. Little has been written in the West on the actual course of the war. There are several books on the diplomatic history. But admirable and important as many of them are, it must be ^remembered that the decisions of statesmen in the Western were capitals, often profoundly influencing world history, mostly taken with very imperfect knowledge of what was were actually happening in Russia : indeed, Lenin and Trotsky at times ignorant of developments in front line areas. The Civil War was seldom what world leaders of the time imagined it to be, and for lesser beings was obscured in a fog of ignorance, a that to some partisanship, self-justification and myth fog extent still persists. This book makes no claim to be anything like a full history of the Civil War. For one thing, as explained in the biblio is still not graphical note, much of the essential material available. For another, the complexity of the struggle on all the 15 INTRODUCTION many fronts the wide variety of personality, motivation and circumstance would need an inordinately long book to explain what was happening and why it was happening. What is here attempted is merely to state briefly the main established facts of the Civil War, and within that framework to give a more detailed account of some of the more important phases. It is written in the belief that the main concern of history is what happens to human beings. Certain milestones in the revolutions of 1917 had bearing on 1 the Civil War that followed them. Ever-growing demonstra tions and disorders in Petrograd in the second week of March led to a breakdown of the local administration. On March isth members of the State Duma present in the capital set up a committee; and leaders of the revolutionary parties the Socialist Revolutionaries (S.R.s), the Mensheviks and the then less numerous Bolsheviks brought into being the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies, including deputies from the factories and units of the Petrograd garrison. At midnight, March 1 4th- 1 5th, the Emperor Nicholas abdicated in favour of his brother, the Grand Duke Michael. On the i6th Michael also abdicated, and the monarchy in Russia thus came to an end. The liberal members of the Duma set up a Provisional Government the leaders of the Soviet refusing to participate except for the Socialist Kerensky, who came in as Minister of Justice. There then ensued the so-called period of Dual Power, an uneasy partnership or rivalry between the 'bourgeois liberals' of the Provisional Government as representing parliamentary 1 See the table of dates on pp. 311-317. Dates are given in New Style throughout. (Russia adopted the New Style calendar, to come into line with the rest of the world, early in 1918. The Old Style calendar previously in use was thirteen days behind e.g. January ist Old Style is January I4th New Style. Both revolutions of 1917 came towards the end of the month, so that the Revolution' took 'February place, according to the New Style, in March, and the 'October Revolution* in November.) 16 INTRODUCTION legality, and the 'revolutionary democrats' of the Soviet as representing the popular will, with neither side willing to recognize the supreme authority of the other. The famous Order No. i issued by the Soviet on March I4th, whatever the motives of its originators, had the effect of undermining disci pline and embittering the breach between the officers and the rank and file. In the surge of liberal optimism the old police powers were swept away. At the end of March the Soviet appealed to the peoples of the world for a peace without annexations or indemnities. Lenin returned from abroad in mid-April and four days later issued his April Theses. At this period defeatism, as preached by Lenin, had no very wide appeal. To the Right, the continuanc^ of the war was bound up with Russia's honour; to the moderate Left, the new democratic Russia must be defended against German imperialism. But in early May a note to the Western Allies from Milyukov, Minister of Foreign Affairs, reaffirming Russia's treaty obligations and claims, provoked strong opposi tion from the Left. There were large-scale demonstrations; Milyukov resigned and the cabinet was reorganized to include moderate Socialists, Kerensky, now Minister of War, emerging as its most prominent personality. EarlyJuly saw the opening of the so-called Kerensky offensive against the Central Powers. Later that month there were more troubles in Petrograd: sailors from Kronstadt and Petrograd soldiers and workers (with Bolshevik backing) attempted a rising. But public opinion was on the side of the Government. The disorders were suppressed, and official accusations of 1 Bolshevik complicity with Russia's enemies brought the Party loss of influence and prestige. Lenin and Zinoviev went into hiding and Trotsky (in late July) was arrested. On July 2ist the cabinet was again reorganized with Keren- sky as Prime Minister. But, at the front, the July offensive had 1 German relations with the Bolsheviks and other Russian revolutionary parties have yet to be finally elucidated. See G. Katkov in International Affairs of April 1956, and Z. A. B. Zeman, The Germans and the Russian Revolution (Oxford, 1957). 17 B PETROGRAD Ckeruigov Orenburg Kursk CChkalov) Sl^fe w 100 200 300 400 INTRODUCTION by now been halted and turned into an increasingly disordered retreat. In view of the urgent need for discipline General L. Kornilov was appointed Commander-in- Chief. The Kornilov- Kerensky negotiations and the subsequent fiasco of the Kornilov 'revolt' are briefly touched on in Chapter I.