Why the Bolsheviks Won the Russian Civil War

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There are several important reasons for the Bolsheviks' success in the Civil War. One of the greatest advantages enjoyed by the Reds was strategic: their possession of a centrally located and compact territory. The Reds was also in a great geographical position with the Petrograd and the capital city-Moscow at the central of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The Bolsheviks also gained from the disunity of the Whites where theirs armies were thousands of miles apart. Trotsky acted as an important figure throughout the civil war, he was a remarkable leader who helped and leaded the communists to win the war. Trotsky introduced war communism at the right time to insure the winning of the Bolsheviks. Furthermore the Cheka was a terror united all the Bolsheviks and made them keen to win the war. The Civil War was fought between the Reds and the Whites with many different factions, groups and nations involved. One of the reasons the reds won is because their army was so much stronger than the whites. In 29th May 1918, the Communists introduced conscription because only 360000 men volunteered for the new red army. However, by 1920 it was 5 million strong. In comparison to the lack of support of the whites, it was a lost cause because they had only 65600 men. In the southern volunteer army, they could not gain any support of the Don Cossacks in the South, as they were only interested in gaining independence for themselves. The identification with the Tsarists isolated both workers and peasants also created a drawback to the whites. Not only the reds have great numbers, they reintroduced ranks and military discipline into the Red Army in order to grow the army in a much stronger shape. Trotsky recruited 50000 former Tsarist officers to combat with the plenty experience owed by the Whites. Enough supplies for the military force creates a huge advantage for the Reds compared to
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