The Reds Won the Russian Civil War Because the Were More Disciplined Than the Whites

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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’. This created fantastic discipline among the soldiers, and meant that the Red Army was always moving forward, and any cowards were eliminated. Lenin also ruthlessly commanded from the top, ensuring that supplies got to all of the soldiers, by executing peasants in villages that did not supply sufficient grain. Source D suggests the leadership was fantastic, as it says the Whites were ‘unable to match’ the ‘skill and energy’ of Lenin and Trotsky. The whites had no true leader after the death of Kornilov, and the three generals in charge often disagreed. However, there were also many other factors that could make the Discipline contrast less of a factor. Firstly, the whites were not helped very much by their foreign allies, who formed a decent chunk of the White forces. Secondly, the whites lacked a lot of unity, due to them all fighting for a different cause, which caused divides and arguments in the army, while all of the Bolsheviks had a common goal and were close to each other. The whites did not help themselves as far as gaining support from the peasants, white were brutal to peasants, as mentioned in Source C, they often whipped ‘entire male populations’, which made them unpopular. Finally, the Reds had control of the Heart of Russia, Moscow and Petrograd, as well as the railway system, which made it
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