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How far do you agree with the view that the weaknesses and mistakes of their opponents, rather than the Red strengths, which caused victory for the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War? [20]$8.08
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How far do you agree with the view that the weaknesses and mistakes of their opponents, rather than the Red strengths, which caused victory for the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War? [20]
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Course
Unit 2C.2 - Russia in revolution, 1894-1924
Institution
PEARSON (PEARSON)
How far do you agree with the view that the weaknesses and mistakes of their opponents, rather than the Red strengths, which caused victory for the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War? [20]
Marked A*, 17/20 by Head of Department History teacher
How far do you agree with the view that the weaknesses and mistakes of their opponents, rather than the Red
strengths, which caused victory for the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War? [20]
From the 7th of November 1917 to the 25th of October 1922, the Russian Civil War played out to be an
important event that laid the foundations for the USSR, which followed. The Red Army, led by Trotsky,
believed in much of what Karl Marx believed, where the proletariat should run the country. On the other hand,
the White Army, made up of several different sects were far more conservative, some even wanting a similar
style of government that was present during Nicholas' rule and others wishing a military dictatorship. At first
glance, the victory for the Red was due to their opponent's weaknesses. Still, after closer inspection, much
evidence suggests that the Red army's strength and leadership led them to victory rather than their opponents'
failings. The topic at hand is a debate, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the Red's job in winning the
civil war was made more accessible by the extent of the weakness of their opponents, whilst there is also plenty
of evidence to suggest that the Red's strength in their leadership, organization and geographical position made
their victory inevitable. In this essay, I will first look at the unity & organization of both the reds & their
opponents, before then looking at the leadership and discipline of the two sides before finally looking at the
geographical factors that made the Red's win due to its weaknesses of their opposition. Although I agree with
the question I will still set out the entire argument; after all, there are several factors I have come to this decision
by, many of which will be mentioned.
Firstly, looking at the unity and organization of the two sides will indicate whether it was the Red's strengths
that won them the civil war or whether the Red's opponents' weaknesses and strengths won them the civil war.
The white army, who made up over 60% of the Red's opposition, had several pitfalls regarding their unity and
organization, which held them back from being any proper threat to the Red. First of all, the Whites were made
up of different groups who had entirely different aims and beliefs, they struggled to agree on believing in
republicanism or whether they believe in the constituent assembly; this from the start created the problem. It
made their job as an army to hold back the Bolsheviks increasingly hard, struggling to cooperate and impossible
to develop a political strategy. As well as this, the Red's opposition, made up of mainly the white armies, had
divisive & differing views on national minorities. Moreover, the leaders of the White's; Yudenich, Kolchak,
Denikin & Wrangel, often did not work together to come up with a strong and united military strategy; they
often did not trust one another, leading to single companies of soldiers working individually instead of as a team
against a far more militant, populant army that was led by a strong leader Trotsky. One of the main sects of
opposition against the Red's led by Kolchak had no support from the other white army generals; they did not
trust his motives and intentions. This showed signs that the opposition, although they had a united goal of
destroying Bolshevism, could not agree with fighting with one another because of bad intentions or motives,
showing a severe weakness of the Reds' opponents, Red's being powerful. Moreover, during their campaign,
Kolchak made a colossal mistake, which could be argued to be detrimental to the level of a threat they posed on
the Red Army, Kulchak proceeded to, during campaign, to arrested hundreds of SR's, many of whom were
fighting for him and no longer are because they strike up several revolts against his leadership and treatment of
them. These huge internal divisions created by Kolchak's cocaine & vodka influenced decisions to mistreat his
soldiers made his army weaker but also made the opposition to the Red's more inadequate, showing that it can
definitely be argued that it was the weaknesses and mistakes of the opposition to the Red's that made the Red's
win.
However, on the other hand, the Bolsheviks did have an army and organization that any military leader could
ask for, how Trotsky designed its structure made for a single, unified command structure. In doing so, Trotsky
organized the Red Army into an effective fighting force; he turned it from a 'flabby, panicky mass' into a
dangerous, organized and unified army to fight against a disorganized, divided, weak army. They were putting
things into context. Trotsky created the environment within the Red Army, and the fact that the army was united
& an effective fighting force accentuates the fact that their opposition, divided and weak, had no chance of
winning the Russian Civil War. Although the red army, more specifically Trotsky, had transformed the army
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