The lack of unity especially in the high command of the white army was the reason why many of the generals such as Denikin and Yudenich refused to combine their forces for an all-out assault, and this then resulted in the total defeat of the white forces. Although the lack of unity in the whites was an important aspect for the Bolsheviks victory, we cannot forget about several other factors which were also important to the success of the reds. The most significant advantage that the Bolsheviks had during the civil war was Trotsky’s role as war commissar, without a doubt if it wasn't for Trotsky the reds might have lost the civil war. Trotsky had good management and organisation skills which he put to good use trying to turn the red army from a gang of inexperienced men into an effective fighting machine. The main he done this was using 50,000 ex tsarist officers to train and lead the red army, this proved unpopular with many Bolsheviks party members however.
Before the PG came into power, the already dire economic, agrarian and social problems were getting worse and worse as the war continued and as a result, the majority of Russians opposed the war effort. This meant that from the beginning of their reign, the PGs decision to carry on with the war made them unpopular as food shortages and the economy got worse and worse. For example, by 1917, the price of bread had doubled while the rations halved from their original figures in 1914. This discontent was proven as early as April the 20th as a riot broke onto the streets demanding that Milyukov, the head of Russian foreign affairs and key war minister, was sacked. This was significant as it meant that in the times of potential danger for the PG, they couldn’t rely on the people to support them.
How important were the actions of officers rather than conditions in causing a high death toll in WW1. In World War One the amount of deaths were staggeringly high, this came down to many different reasons. Over the four years many men died from diseases, the conditions of the trenches and ‘no mans land’. However the most deaths came from within the army itself, it usually came from the poor actions that the officers made. Firstly, a main point that their actions were to blame would be that repetitive tactics and how they would refuse to change them.
To what extent did the reforms of Alexander II modernise Russia between 1861 and 1881? Russia was extremely backwards and the need for reform was evident well before the reign of Alexander II. Alexander implemented a number of reforms such as emancipation, military, economy and judicial reforms. Russia did change as a consequence of his reforms. However, they never lead to the considerable improvements he expected as they were somewhat incomplete and many were not satisfied with them.
Possibly the greatest vulnerability was 'the weakness within' - the constitution gave the President, the states and the military too much control, whilst proportional voting meant that the Reichstag was separated and weak. There was no single party in complete control and parties had to join together to form a government. However, each party had different goals which caused in-fighting and instability making it difficult for the Reichstag, with its many changes in power, to govern effectively. This was reflected in 376 political assassinations up to 1923. From the start there was economic instability because of the cost of World War One and there was widespread disillusion within the German people.
If this was not the case, when the Germans attacked there could have been a much better chance of defeating them. The low level of morale was mostly due to Stalin’s purges of the 1930s which led to a huge loss of talent from the Red Army as well as its organisation and structure. Leadership of the army was specifically targeted resulting in the murder or removal of three to five marshals, 13 of 15 army commanders, eight of nine admirals, 50 of 57 army corps commanders, 154 out of 186 division commanders, 16 of 16 army commissars, and 25 of 28 army corps commanders. In total, 30,000 members of the armed Red Army forces were executed. This was a heavy blow for the Russians when the Germans attacked, leaving them without leadership or well-planned strategies.
Trotsky’s last major mistakes were that he was more often than not “ill” during important meetings; this caused a large amount of hostility towards Trotsky as others such as Bukharin deemed Trotsky to not take the Bolsheviks as seriously as other key members. The final straw which effectively removed Trotsky from running for leader was his failure to attend Lenin’s funeral. In late January 1924 approximately one million people came to mourn the death of their beloved leader, all Bolsheviks attended except for Trotsky. This lead to public outrage at the ruler of the red army “Trotsky through his lack of presence earned himself only the bitterness of Russia’s population” The reason not attending factored Trotsky so badly was that Lenin was hugely respected, so for who many
Nicholas II was faced with various issues during his reign from 1894-1917. His ineffectual personality was partly to blame for his ineffectual ruling. He was not able to listen to the needs of his public, and so violent uprisings such as Bloody Sunday occurred. His response was to initiate the October Manifest and the instigation of the Russian Duma, but neither of these pleased the public and so the February revolution of 1917 occurred, which ultimately created the fall of Tsar Nicholas II. Nicholas II attempted to rule Russia as an autocrat as he believed that autocracy was the only was to save Russia from anarchy.
The crushing of Russian’s military added movement to the 1905 Revolution, as it made the people of Russia aware of the weakness of their military, making many people become un-patriotic. They were losing to a nation very few had heard of and it was humiliating. However, many of the defeats to the Russian military occurred after the Revolution had started, not causing its outbreak, but merely adding to the opposition to autocratic rule by the Tsar and prolonging the Revolution. The Russo-Japanese War also brought about economic problems for Russia, and this therefore meant there was a significant lack of money to solve any other problems present Russia, hence partly being responsible for
The months before and during the Bolshevik revolution, as well as the signing of the peace treaty at Brest-Litovsk cause turmoil among the socialists and brought Russia into civil war. The Provisional Government of Russia treated the middle and lower class citizens of Russia very poorly, ignoring their needs, as well as dragging them into World War I and two civil wars in a little over two decades. The workers of Russia wanted a democratic republic, or any government that would have allowed them to make a difference, and one that would help them as much as their current government was against them (Wade 27). In 1917, Russia was at war in World War I and was suffering economically because of it, as well as loosing the lives of many of their young men in battle. The people of Russia desired to leave World War I as smoothly and as quickly as possible (Wade 29).