Editing Russian Civil War

{{Infobox military conflict
|date = November 7th, 1917
|result = [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolshevik]] victory
|combatant1 = {{icon|Red flag.svg}} [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolsheviks]]
|combatant2 = {{icon|Flag of Russia.svg}} [[Russian Republic]]<br>{{icon|Flag of Russia.svg}} [[White Movement|Anti-communists]]
|combatant2a = <b>Supported by:</b><br>[[Triple Entente (World War 1)|Entente]]<br>[[Triple Alliance (World War 1)|Central Powers]]
|combatant3 = [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]], [[Poland|Polish]], [[Finland|Finnish]] and other secessionists
|support
|type=Socialist revolution
|image=File:Lenin proclaims Soviet power.jpeg|image_size=250px}}
The '''Russian Civil War''' (Russian: Гражданская война в России) was a war in parts of the former [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian Empire]] between the [[Red Army]] and counter-revolutionary [[White Army]]. [[Imperialism|Imperialists]] from 14 foreign countries including the [[United States of America|United States]] also intervened in the war to help the Whites. During the war, [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] served as the President of the Southern War Front Council and [[Leon Trotsky|Trotsky]] served as the [[People's Commissar for War]]. Both received the [[Order of the Red Banner]] for their military service.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|author=Ludo Martens|year=1996|title=Another View of Stalin|chapter=The young Stalin forges his arms|page=19–20|pdf=https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaceab64vxtxpqt2cdl4zsrsftmedqidn4foq74gr25qkd35z5nwogdi?filename=Ludo%20Martens%20-%20Another%20View%20of%20Stalin-Editions%20EPO%20%281996%29.pdf|publisher=Editions EPO|isbn=9782872620814}}</ref>

== Background ==
{{Main article|October Revolution}}
On 7 November [O.S. 25 October], the [[Bolsheviks]] overthrew the [[Russian Republic (1917–1918)|Russian Republic]] led by [[Alexander Kerensky]], and Kerensky fled from the Winter Palace in [[Saint Petersburg|Petrograd]] to [[Pskov]]. The [[Mensheviks|Menshevik]] Voitinsky had proposed sending troops to aid the provisional government in Petrograd but was removed in a no-confidence vote. [[Nikolai Kishkin]] from the [[Constitutional Democratic Party]] was then appointed as dictator and refrained from sending troops to Petrograd.<ref>{{Citation|author=E. Yaroslavsky, et al.|year=1946|title=The History of the Civil War in the U.S.S.R|chapter=The Suppression of the Anti-Soviet Mutiny|pdf=http://ciml.250x.com/archive/ussr/english/1946_the_civil_war_in_the_ussr_volume2.pdf}}</ref>

== War by region ==

=== Caucasus ===
[[Pyotr Krasnov|Krasnov]] threatened to capture the North Caucasus in June 1918, but Stalin successfully defended Tsaritsyn. Stalin opposed the former Tsarist officials Sytin and [[Jukums Vācietis|Vācietis]], who had been appointed by Trotsky.<ref name=":1" />

[[Anton Denikin]] began an offensive against the Bolsheviks in the summer of 1920 in southern Russia.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=[[Joseph Stalin]]|year=1939|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|title-url=http://marx2mao.com/Other/HCPSU39ii.html#c8s1|chapter=The Bolshevik Party in the Period of Foreign Military Intervention and Civil War|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch08.htm|pdf=http://marx2mao.com/PDFs/HCPSU39.pdf|city=[[New York City]]|publisher=International Publishers|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/index.htm}}</ref> He was defeated, but [[Pyotr Wrangel]] advanced towards [[Crimea]] before being defeated in late 1920.<ref name=":1" />

=== Northwest Russia ===
In May 1919, Stalin was assigned with defending Petrograd from [[Nikolai Yudenich]].<ref name=":1" />

=== Siberia ===
White General [[Alexander Kolchak]] in Omsk was declared Supreme Ruler of Russia. He advanced towards the Volga in the spring of 1919 but was defeated in April by the Red Army and retreated into [[Siberia]].<ref name=":0" /> The Bolsheviks captured and executed Kolchak at the end of 1919 with the help of 2,000 Bashkir soldiers who had defected from the White Army.<ref>{{Citation|author=Albert Szymanski|year=1984|title=Human Rights in the Soviet Union|chapter=The Asian Nationalities in the USSR|isbn=0862320186|city=London|publisher=Zed Books Ltd.|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=C597B1232D9EA6B0F3DCB438D7E15A81|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzaceazdmtb2y3qq27fve5ib3gk7uv2unt6ae2xss74xmfpur7k5uhl5m?filename=Albert%20Szymanski%20-%20Human%20Rights%20in%20the%20Soviet%20Union_%20Including%20Comparisons%20with%20the%20U.S.A.-Zed%20Books%20Ltd.%20%281984%29.pdf|page=35}}</ref>

On the eastern front, a struggle developed between the commanders [[Sergey Kamenev]] and Jukums Vācietis. The Central Committee decided in favor of Kamenev and arrested Vācietis.<ref name=":1" />

=== Ukraine ===
In October 1918, Stalin was appointed to the Military Council of the Ukrainian Front to overthrow the [[German Empire (1871–1918)|German]]-backed ruler [[Pavlo Skoropadskyi]].<ref name=":1" />

== Foreign invasions ==

=== Britain and France ===
In the first half of 1918, [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922)|British]] and [[French Republic (1870–1940)|French]] forces invaded northwest Russia and occupied Arkhangelsk and Murmansk, overthrew the [[Soviet (governmental body)|Soviets]] in the area, and established the counterrevolutionary Government of North Russia. The British and French also supported White generals [[Lavr Kornilov|Kornilov]], [[Mikhail Alekseyev|Alexeyev]], and Denikin in the North Caucasus. In the Volga region and Siberia, they organized a revolt of [[Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938)|Czechoslovak]] prisoners of war who had recently been released by the Soviet government.<ref name=":0" />

=== Germany ===
Germany invaded [[Ukrainian National Republic (1917–1920)|Ukraine]] in February 1918.<ref name=":1" /> It supported Generals Krasnov and [[Konstantin Mamontov|Mamontov]] in organizing a revolt of the Don Cossacks and occupied the Don region and Ukraine.<ref name=":0" />

=== Japan ===
In January 1918, [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] forces on the cruiser ''Iwami'' invaded [[Vladivostok]]. They were followed by a British vessel, a Statesian cruiser, and another Japanese cruiser.<ref>{{Citation|author=V. Parfenov|year=1941|title=The Intervention in Siberia (1918–1922)|chapter=Preparation for Intervention|page=8|pdf=http://ciml.250x.com/archive/ussr/english/1941_the_intervention_in_siberia.pdf|city=[[New York City]]|publisher=Workers Literary Publishers, Inc.}}</ref> Japanese intervention in the Far East continued until 1922.<ref name=":0" />

=== Poland ===
{{Main article|Polish–Soviet War}}
In April 1920, [[Republic of Poland (1918–1939)|Poland]] under the right-wing nationalist [[Józef Piłsudski]] invaded [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919–1991)|Soviet Ukraine]] and occupied Kiev.<ref name=":0" /> [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky]] counterattacked, and [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] formed a temporary [[Soviet (governmental body)|Soviet]] Polish government as the Red Army approached Warsaw. The Polish later counterattacked and forced the Bolsheviks to retreat.<ref name=":1" />

=== United States ===
In December 1917, the United States authorized aid to [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] forces in southern Russia and the Caucasus.<ref>{{Citation|author=David S. Foglesong|year=1995|title=America's Secret War against Bolshevism|title-url=https://b-ok.cc/book/5475068/86442c|chapter=The British Connection|page=76|pdf=https://bunker2.zlibcdn.com/dtoken/16089e3f7980a233801443d893d96559/Americas%20Secret%20War%20Against%20Bolshevism%20U.S.%20Intervention%20in%20the%20Russian%20Civil%20War%2C%201917-1920%20%28David%20S.%20Foglesong%29%20%28z-lib.org%29.pdf|publisher=University of North Carolina Press}}</ref> At the end of the [[First World War]], [[Woodrow Wilson]] sent 15,000 troops to western and eastern Russia to fight the Bolsheviks and limit the power of Japan. The USA occupied Vladivostok from August 1918 to April 1920.<ref name=":0222">{{Citation|author=David Vine|year=2020|title=The United States of War|chapter=The Military Opens Doors|page=218|city=Oakland|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520972070|lg=http://library.lol/main/191568BFAC73F009132DB00ECD0F0F05}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:History of Russia]]
[[Category:History of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Civil wars]]