To what extent was Lenin’s victory in the Civil War due to the weakness of his opposition? Lenin and the Bolsheviks’ victory in the Civil War cannot be given one main reason. A combination of the weakness of the whites and the strengths of the reds eventually led to the victory of Lenin and the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks were provided with strong leadership, ruthlessness, the Red Army fighting for them and most importantly: the geography of Russia. Whereas, the White army was faced with: a divided leadership, low moral, corruption and brutality within the army and the downside of the vast geography of Russia.
Lenin’s skilled use of propaganda and the importance of the cause of ‘mother Russia’ harnessed the support of the peasants and working class in the face of another revolution. Trotsky’s inspirational oratory skills and successful reorganisation of the Red army ensured an effective, unified fighting force that was kept loyal and strong by Trotsky’s firm and ruthless discipline. However another factor responsible for the success of the Bolshevik’s in the Civil War was the ineffective organisation and leadership of the White Army which was the result of various personal and political rivalries between the parties which made unity and coordination impossible to achieve and victory on the side of the Whites incredibly difficult. It is to a critical extent that the leadership of the Bolsheviks was the reason for their victory in the Civil War from 1918-1921 in Russia as Lenin’s introduction of the sever policies under war communism dealt with the disastrous economic and military situation that the Bolsheviks were facing. The onset of Civil War required new and firmer policies for efficient industrial production and
Additionally there were developments that occurred without war, which illustrates that involvement in war was not the only cause for change. Therefore war was an important catalyst and factor to significant changes but was not the sole cause of change. The war that caused most change was Word War One due to its role in the February revolution in 1917 and the fall of the provisional government in the October revolution. The defeats of the war dwindled support from liberals and Octobrists for the Tsarist regime, which was further worsened by criticism from organisations including the Central War Industries committee and the union of Zemstva. This formed support and reason for the Progressive Bloc.
Firstly, the Whites treated the peasant class harshly, they did not see the advantage of gaining the support of the larger lower class as about 82% and they did not take full advantage of that. Furthermore their acceptance of allied support, allowed the Bolsheviks to portray themselves as patriotic, fighting for the rights and desires of society, they were seen a not only fighting for the respect of the people but fighting for the people .The Red Army was fighting with a new sense of patriotism, and support for the Bolsheviks increased. Peasant support
Another ideological method that was central to his success of emerging as the leader of the Soviet Union by 1929 was accusations of Trotskyism . This was due to Stalin defending himself by accusing Bukharin of Trotskyism because Trotsky had been the first to make the claim about bureaucracy . This can be viewed as a weakness of Trotsky because this accusation of Trotskyism attempts to show that Trotsky’s ideology was far from Leninist . This greatly caused decline in Trotsky’s support because many wanted a leader who was close to Lenin and followed Lenin . Therefore , this is one of Stalin’s strengths because he was
Finally the failures of the Provisional Government made them vulnerable which coincidentally worked to advantage the Bolsheviks. Personally, I believe that the vulnerable position of the Provisional Government, timing of the governments mistakes, discontent of the soldiers as well as the workers and the occasional guidance from other Bolshevik leaders, was exploited by Lenin, alongside his popular policies and leadership skills he catalyzed the revolution that was inevitable, planning it in such a way that it would benefit long term and not short-term as it had done in 1905 and February 1917. In disagreement, the failures of the provisional government to make the correct decisions led to the Bolsheviks’ success because the Bolsheviks were efficient in using this time to take control of the vulnerability of the Provisional Government which had caused this upon itself. The first mistake was allowing Lenin return from Germany in April as a part of democracy terms, since Lenin, despite being
These views are expressed in his two key works, A Concise History of the Russian Revolution (published in 1995) and Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime 1919-1924 (published in 1994). Pipe’s believes that Lenin was primarily responsible for the success of the uprising, even though Pipe’s recognizes Lenin’s role as the most important, he still hypocritically called Lenin’s April Theses “totally out of touch with reality, if not positively mad” despite the fact that this theses played a huge role in the Lenin and Bolshevik uprising. Pipe’s also believes that Trotsky just carried out Lenin’s commands. However the role or Trotsky and his actions before the October revolution were very evidently done on his own accord, with Lenin accompanying Trotsky in his decisions. In early October, 1917, Trotsky was elected
To what extent was the collapse of the Tsarist autocracy by 1917 due to social and economic rather than military factors? The Russian revolution of February 1917 was a momentous event in the course of Russian history. The 1917 Revolution destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The February Revolution was a revolution focused around Petrograd. During the revolution, members of the imperial parliament gained control of the country.The army leadership felt they did not have the means to suppress the revolution and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
“Why did the Bolsheviks win the Civil War?” Bolsheviks were one of the oppositions of the Tsar who were led by Lenin. They were one of the minor groups who were against the Tsar but then their supporters and followers had increased making them stronger and invulnerable. They’ve fought for what they thought was right and this led them to the success they’ve always wanted – taking over Russia. But at the end of the year 1918, a civil war occurred between the Red Army who were mainly the Bolsheviks, and the White Army who were consisted of the Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, supporters of the Tsar, workers and capitalists, and the Americans, British and French. The White Armies had outnumbered the Red Armies but the Red Army still managed to win the Civil war.
It would push Russia further onwards in terms of a state free from private trade and ownership. However ideology is often seen as Stalin’s weak point however, since he is often thought of as frequently changing policies to further his political aspirations. The leadership challenge of 1925 – 1928 showed how Stalin changed his policies to decimate both the left and right wing of the party and strengthen his position over the party, by varying his beliefs in order to outmanoeuvre his political opponents. On the other hand, some historians (such as Viola) argue that the NEP was causing extensive discontent within the party, and that rather than being as capricious as is often presumed, he can be seen as a pragmatist in the face of the will of the party. His “Great Turn” can be seen as a realistic and attractive policy, suited to the rank and file of the party, that he did not adopt earlier in the 20’s since it was not a fitting policy at the time.