Results of the Civil War

The largest historical drama of the 20th century is the Civil War.

In Russia in 1917, a fierce enmity between the Reds and Whites broke out. People sacrificed themselves for the sake of the triumph of their principles and ideas.

The results of the Civil War consisted in the defeat of anti-Bolshevik forces. The White Army and the troops of the interventionists were defeated.

Most of the territory of Russia as a result of military operations was preserved, and attempts of some regions to separate from the Soviet Republic were suppressed with the help of weapons. Thus, the results of the Civil War consisted in overthrowing the national governments in Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Transcaucasia (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia), in the North Caucasus, Central Asia, and then in the Far East and Siberia. Soviet power was established in all these territories. All this created the prerequisites for the formation in 1922 of a single state of the USSR.

The results of the Civil War created ideological, political, social, geopolitical conditions for the subsequent strengthening of the Bolshevik regime. According to historians, this not only meant the victory of the ideology of the Communists, the state form of property and the dictatorship of the proletariat. The results of the Civil War are the elimination of tendencies that led the country along the western direction of development.

In the conditions of national confrontation, any army exists at the expense of what it manages to take away from the peasants. The main people in the war were people, horses and bread. Of course, the peasants did not give all this voluntarily (neither red nor white). However, the peasants resisted the Red Army's resistance less than White. This was due to several reasons. The main reason was the mutual hatred of the peasantry and the administrative apparatus of the Whites. In some cases, it almost reached racial dislike. Another was the attitude towards the peasants of the Reds.

The results of the Civil War in Russia showed the failure of the monarchical idea. The White movement did not have a strong social basis inside the country. The generals focused on military force, excluding other methods of struggle. This was one of the main reasons for the defeat of the White movement.

A more strict discipline was established in the Red Army (in comparison with what was available in the White Army). Various methods were used to train the soldiers, great importance was due to mutual responsibility (common responsibility for violations of one soldier and the whole unit).

The Bolsheviks pursued a policy that in all ways contributed to the victory of the Red Army, which everyone perceived as a multinational army of working people throughout the country.

At the same time, the results of the Civil War of 1917 formed the preconditions for further catastrophes in the country. According to historians, the Bolsheviks transferred from the "battlefield" all their military ideas to a peaceful life. Subsequently, terror became the necessary element of power. Extraordinary methods of managing the administrative apparatus were used to suppress the most insignificant dissent.

The civil war ended in huge human and material losses. The total damage was estimated at 50 billion gold rubles. The pace of industrial production fell seven-fold, the country's transport was in utter decay, at the level of the end of the last century (19th) , oil and coal were mined, and the sown areas were sharply reduced. People lived half-starving, there was not enough medicine, shoes, clothes. In the cities, many enterprises were closed (due to a lack of raw materials). Childhood homelessness was the main disaster after the Civil War.

According to some estimates, the population decreased by more than 10 million people due to military actions, of which about two million emigrated, more than three million civilians died of disease and hunger.