The Reds controlled high industry areas which allowed them to stop the enemy receiving supplies as well as supplying the Bolshevik army with plenty of munitions. Another key point as to why the Reds won is that the army was controlled by Trotsky who organised it in a very strict, but effective way. The Whites however, were inefficient, lacked unity within their army and therefore fought as separate detachments; they lacked a true leader and were too dependent on supplies from abroad, which rarely arrived with sufficient quantities or in the right location. In short, the Whites were unlikely to ever destroy the Reds exceptional army due to their many weaknesses in comparison to the Reds strengths. Source A would agree with the idea that the Whites were weak, which is why the Reds won the civil war.
Why did the Bolsheviks win the Civil War? It was ‘not a matter of who was the stronger but, rather, who was less weak’[1]. These were the words of Victor Shklovskii in his book Sentimental Journey. This simplistic view fails to incorporate the many factors which contributed to the ‘Reds’ victory over the ‘Whites’ but it establishes the essence of the argument. Both the Bolsheviks and the opposition White forces were ravaged by internal weaknesses and hugely influenced by external conflict and conditions.
The Reds Won the Civil War Because They Were More Disciplined Than the Whites. Throughout the War, the contrast in discipline of the two sides stood out, and certainly helped the Reds to win the war; however, there were many other factors that also contributed to the success. The leadership of the Red Army and Government was where the discipline stemmed from, particularly from Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. In the Army, Trotsky had a strict policy on shooting deserters. Source B supports this, saying that if any unit ‘retreats without orders’ they would be shot’.
Was the disunity of the Whites the main reason why the Bolsheviks won the Civil War of 1918-1921? I disagree with this statement and believe that the real reason the Bolsheviks won was through strong leadership and tactics of Trotsky and Lenin rather than the disunity of the Whites. Although the disunity of the whites wasn’t the main reason that the Bolsheviks won it was definitely a contributing factor. The Whites was a compilation of different movements all of which had aims other than to defeat the Bolsheviks. For example the Mensheviks and the supporters of the Tsar would have disagreed on many terms; this may have made it hard for them to work as an organised unit.
One of the ways how Stalin defeated the left side of the party was to make an alliance with Bukharin. This ended with Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev losing their power bases. This gave Stalin a lot more power and meant there was no real threat left. I know from my own knowledge that Trotsky formed the alliance with Zinoviev and Kamenev because Stalin was a big threat. Stalin was more popular because of Trotsky’s “political paralysis” he couldn’t be a good public speaker.
With this was the losses of lives of both the American and the Japanese. Military options were considered in the effort to conquer. Invasion could be seen as an ideal option as America were in the superior position to Japan as they had the advantage of battleships, cruisers and aircrafts. The Japanese economy could not compete with the industrial strength of America but Japan had 2,300,000 troops and America had 650,000 troops. An invasion of Japan would be a difficult task and would be incredibly
One key reason why the US became progressively involved in Vietnam was the fear of the Domino theory. The Domino theory was arguably the most significant cause for the escalation of US support in the Vietnam War. The Americans feared that if they left the corrupt South Vietnamese government alone, the whole country would collapse to communism and ultimately spread to neighboring countries such as Laos and Cambodia. The most important reason as to why the United States became increasingly involved in Vietnam was the long-term effect of the Domino Theory. The Domino Theory was the belief that once one country had fallen to communism, its neighbors would do the same.
The US intervened because of this as there was a great fear of communism around at the time. McCarthyism had just become a major issue, with many government officials being accused of being communist and as Truman had lost China, Eisenhower knew that if he ‘lost’ Vietnam, then his popularity would suffer greatly as the US public would think he was soft on communism. As a result, he would not be re-elected. The domino theory was significant because if Indochina fell to communism then there was a risk of the US losing Japan, after the effort the US put into restoring Japan after WW2 and all the trade that came from Japan, the US couldn’t afford for Japan to be threatened. Another significant reason why the US intervened in South East Asia was the power vacuum after Dien Bien Phu.
Not only for this reason did China attack the US, but also Mao Zedong wanted to strengthen his position in china and thought attacking the US would do so. This was a huge failure as it made the opposition stronger as they had China now to deal with as well as North Korea and the USSR pushing the NK’s to carry on the war. This failure made the US retreat. The Korean War has political successes within it for the US. The fact that they stopped North Korea and Kim Il Sung from
Each groups strategy was very different, the liberals went on strike, while the SR's took a more violent approach. The power each group had individually was not enough to threaten the Tsar, however these differences in aims and beliefs within the 3 main groups meant that they could not combine the groups and work together to bring down the tsar. They were unable to unite their cause and were weaker because of it. Furthermore, there was discontent within the political groups. In 1903 the SD's could no longer function as a single group and split into the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks.