"White" army: goals, driving forces, fundamental ideas. How the White Army fought in the Civil War

The White Army is a military formation of one of the sides of the bloody war in Russia, which is called the civil one. Created in opposition to the Red Army after the victory of the October Revolution of 1917. The greatest tragedy of the 20th century divided Russia into two parts, as a result of which two powerful opposing forces converged, one of which defended the old ideals and values, the second called forward, to a new life.

white movement

It was formed at the very early stage of the civil war, and initially doomed, despite the fact that it was supported by the Russian army. It is difficult to say when it was formed, since there are several versions based on the memories of the participants, who, due to personal motives, attach some importance to certain events.

According to the official version, after the October Uprising, the generals of the tsarist army were arrested, including A.I. Denikin, S.L. Markov, L.G. Kornilov. After their release in the month of December, they are sent to the Don to Ataman A.M. Kaledin. It was not safe to stay in Petrograd. Independence was proclaimed on the Don. The generals openly supported the chieftain and took an active part in the creation of the Russian Volunteer Army, which was called the White Army.

Gradually, the leaders of the party of Cadets and Social Revolutionaries gather on the Don, which became the political component of the White movement, which was very heterogeneous and consisted of representatives of various parties. There were monarchists, republicans and socialists. They were united by the idea of ​​a united and indivisible Russia, fear of an unknown and incomprehensible force, whose name is the Bolsheviks.

White army, its education

According to historians, its beginning began with the creation of General V.M. Alekseev, the former chief of staff of the armies of the Southwestern Front, a military formation that received the name "Alekseevskaya organization". It was created even before the October uprising on October 7, 1917, and officers entered it only on a voluntary basis. On the basis of this organization, after the October Revolution, the Volunteer White Army began its existence.

All the officer cadres flocked here, who remained abandoned, without work and did not know at all what to do next. It is difficult to imagine the moral state of military personnel, mostly honest and decent people who took the oath to the tsar-father, went through the ups and downs of the First World War, the collapse of the army and, as a result, became enemies of the people for whom they shed blood.

Most of the military was well aware that the White Army, its creation, would cause a Civil War. Soon, under the banners of the movement were many senior officers of the Russian army, including A.M. Kaledin, L.G. Kornilov. The White movement and the army did not have unity in the goals set, so one part wanted the restoration of the monarchy, the other part set the goal of restoring the gains of the bourgeois revolution.

There was also no agreement between the senior officers, for example, those who collaborated with the Provisional Government were considered traitors and, despite this, they were united by an intolerant attitude towards the Bolsheviks, which consolidated another event, according to the majority of the military, treacherous - the signing of Brest by the Bolsheviks peace.

Meanwhile, the movement, of which the White Army was an integral part, did not have clearly defined goals, strategies and tactics, there were only ambitions, confusion, undercover intrigues and liberal chatter. In contrast to them, the Bolsheviks had clear goals, a minimum program and a maximum program, they clearly knew what they needed and what they wanted.

Behind the shoulders of the participants of the White movement was the experience of the First World War, academic military education, support for the allies - the Entente countries. Compared to the Bolsheviks, this was a huge advantage, which allowed them to win significant victories at first.

Army of the White movement

In May 1918, two armies were formed in the South of Russia - the Volunteer and the Don, under the leadership of Generals Kornilov and Kaledin. The formation of the Donskoy was carried out by the Defense Council of the Don Army.

At the beginning of the summer, on 06/08/1918, a military formation of a committee of members of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly was formed. Its commander was Colonel N.A. Galkin. This happened after the capture of Samara by the White Czechs. On June 12, the troops of V.O. Kappel is occupied by Syzran and Stavropol. In July, Kappel undertakes a raid along the banks of the Volga to the mouth of the Kama and takes Kazan. After that, the People's Army was disbanded, forming the Volga Front, command of which was entrusted to the White Czech S. Chechek.

At the same time, the Provisional Government of Siberia forms the Siberian army. In August of the same year, the Northern Army was created in Arkhangelsk under the command of A.P. Rodzianko.

Russian (White) army. An association

The most important event takes place on 10/14/1918 in Omsk. Here the proclamation of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and Supreme Ruler of Russia took place. It turned out to be General L.G. Kornilov. He is reorganizing all the troops. It unites all the armies into a single one, bearing the name Russian.

This general did not stain himself with connections with the Provisional Government and enjoyed the respect of most Russian generals and officers. Therefore, everyone, with hope, unanimously accepted him as the Supreme Commander. It is part of the GDP (Provisional All-Russian Government), formed on September 23, 1918.

Composition of the Russian (White) Army

The main backbone of the army was made up of professional soldiers. Initially, the armies were formed exclusively from volunteers: officers, students, cadets and other sympathizers. But, as you know, there are no armies without soldiers, therefore, in controlled areas, mobilization was carried out among the local population and captured Red Army soldiers.

Hope time

It should be noted that at first there was no end to volunteers. The successes of the White Army in the civil war can be divided into three stages, they had their own reasons. First, these are the months after the October Uprising until March 1918, at this time:

• The Bolsheviks had not yet formed centralized internal police agencies that would carry out work to eliminate members of the underground resistance, consisting of sympathizers of the white movement. Subsequently, the Cheka was formed.
• The Bolsheviks did not have a regular army, except for small and untrained detachments that could not resist professional military units.
• There was virtually no funding. The White movement, having assumed the obligations of the tsarist and provisional government, received economic assistance from the allies, the Entente countries.

The second stage approximately lasted from March to December 1918. The popularity of the White Army increased and its numbers increased. Let us briefly outline the most important reasons that sharply reduced confidence in the Bolsheviks among the bulk of the population - the peasantry:

Economic prerequisites for the defeat of the White movement

The period from spring to autumn 1919 was a turning point in the balance of power between the Red and White armies. The Bolsheviks took the path of war communism, there was no other option in the conditions of general devastation. The example of Germany during the World War was taken as a basis. A surplus appropriation was carried out, the nationalization of enterprises that gradually began to work, a reduction in commodity-money relations and other measures. In principle, these measures were not alien to the political essence of Bolshevism, which denied market relations and private property.

The figures of the White movement went the other way. They did not come up with anything new, except for the return of private property and freedom of trade, which, according to the ideologists of the movement, was supposed to stop the crisis in the economy, but in fact accelerated its collapse. The main demand of the people - land, was promised only on paper, and so vaguely and confusingly that it was not perceived as real.

The bourgeoisie was not going to restore the enterprises, because they did not see the point in this at this stage. Free trade has adopted an unmanageable process in which merchants want to make an immediate profit by trying to move the looted capital abroad.

This led to the robbery of the peasants, from whom the harvest was bought at a penny price right on the vine. Enterprises stood. The returning landowners staged lynching of the peasants who had a hand in their property. Constant mobilizations caused protests among the local population. The people saw the whites as a threat to the return of the old order, for the change of which a lot of blood had been shed. Most of the people chose the Bolsheviks out of two evils, because they specifically promised peace and land.

The material assistance allocated by the allies could not cover the needs of the armies for their maintenance. Allied demands for democratic and economic reforms remained unfulfilled. The punitive operations against the peasants in Siberia, carried out by detachments of Kolchak's army, forced whole families to join the partisan detachments. For a long time, the word "Kolchak" in Siberian villages was abusive.

The collapse of the movement

Desertion from the White armies took on a massive character. The military victories of the Red Army in the White Army, its leadership, caused complete confusion. The lack of a program of action, a single idea, reasonable goals for the movement, all this as a whole, initially led to defeat. Temporary workers entrenched in the government and just random people who came to “rob” and profit led the white movement to complete collapse. Cadets, Social Revolutionaries, monarchists - all this once led Russia to collapse, what miracles could be expected again?

The collapse of the social base, complete devastation in the economy, the cessation of the supply of armies, the lack of a unified leadership led to its demoralization. The Bolsheviks advanced on all fronts, defeating the White formations one by one.

Another important factor was the granting of independence to Poland,

The campaign of Yudenich's army against Petrograd was stopped. The troops of the Northern Region under the command of E. Miller were defeated. The north of Russia completely came under the authority of the Soviets. The attempt of General Wrangel, the dictator of the South of Russia, to distribute land to the peasants for ransom ended in failure. It all ended with the evacuation of the armies to Turkey from Novorossiysk, the flight from the Crimea. Kolchak's army, or rather its remnants, left Omsk for Transbaikalia, under the command of Ataman Semyonov, retreated under pressure from partisans to the CER region. From there they were interned.

An unprecedented tragedy divided the camp into two parts. The flight abroad of an entire army with weapons is an unprecedented thing. Thirst for revenge, return to the Motherland, thousands of broken destinies, heartache and resentment. But all this is "veal tenderness." The people, tired of endless wars, chose the Bolsheviks, who were closer to him in spirit, and supported them, despite the surplus appropriation, complete devastation in the country, once again showing that he was not a "cattle", but the engine of history.

Because of literature and cinema, we often perceive the White Army in a romantic way, books and films about it are full of inaccuracies, and the facts are distorted by the biased author's assessment.

Community support

The White Army did not have strong popular support. The opposite point of view is rooted in the results of the elections to the Constituent Assembly, when even at the fronts the majority of votes was won not by the Bolsheviks, but by the Socialist-Revolutionaries. The social base of the Red Army was initially much stronger than the White Army. The Bolsheviks could rely on the support of the workers and the peasant poor. These categories of the population could always be mobilized for rations and a small allowance.

The middle peasants fought both against the Whites and the Reds, but they were reluctant to go to foreign provinces and easily moved from one camp to another.

After mass mobilization became the main principle of the formation of the White Army, the quality of its troops deteriorated noticeably and, in the absence of broad social support, this led to a significant decrease in combat effectiveness.

In addition, by the beginning of the Civil War, the Bolsheviks already had an underground network formed. They harassed regions controlled by whites with sabotage.

aristocrats

If you watch Soviet films about the Civil War, you can see that white officers are all intelligent people, "white bones", nobles and aristocrats.

They listen to romances, enter into officer disputes and indulge in nostalgia for the former Russia.

However, this picture is, of course, greatly embellished. The vast majority of white officers were from the so-called raznochintsy. Not all of them were even literate, which can be found today if you look at the documents of the selection committee of the Academy of the General Staff.

The officers entering it showed "poor knowledge of history and geography", "lack of clarity of thought and general indiscipline of the mind", and made many gross mistakes. And these were not just officers, but the best, since not everyone could qualify for admission to the Academy. Of course, we will not argue that all white officers were illiterate, but the fact that they all had "blue blood" is not true.

Desertion

When today they talk about the reasons for the defeat of the White Army, they like to talk about mass desertion from there. We will not deny that desertion took place, but both its causes and its scale on the opposing sides were different.

In addition to individual cases of voluntary departure from the White Army, there were also massive desertions, which was caused by a number of reasons.

Firstly, Denikin's army, despite the fact that it controlled fairly large territories, was not able to significantly increase its numbers due to the inhabitants living on them.

Secondly, in the rear of the whites, gangs of “greens” or “blacks” often operated, who fought against both the whites and the reds. Deserters were often among them. However, all the same, other things being equal, many more people deserted from the Red Army. In just one year (1919-1920), at least 2.6 million people voluntarily left the Red Army, which exceeded the total number of the White Army.

Allied Support

The role of intervention in helping the White Army is greatly exaggerated. The troops of the interventionists practically did not clash with the Red Army, with the exception of minor battles in the North, and in Siberia they even collaborated with the Bolsheviks.

Assistance to the White Army was limited, by and large, only to military supplies.

But the "allies" did not provide this assistance in vain. They had to pay for armaments with gold reserves and grain, which is why the peasants were the first to suffer.

As a result, the popularity of the movement for the restoration of the "former" Russia was steadily falling from this. Yes, and this help was insignificant. Denikin, for example, the British supplied only a few dozen tanks, although after the First World War they had thousands in service.

Despite the fact that the last military formations were ousted from the territory of the USSR (in the Far East) in 1925, in fact, the whole point of intervention for the Entente countries became obsolete after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

Captivity

The myth that white officers were very ideological and even under pain of death refused to surrender to the Bolsheviks, unfortunately, is only a myth. Only near Novorossiysk in March 1920, the Red Army captured 10,000 Denikin officers, 9,660 Kolchak officers.

Most of the prisoners were accepted into the Red Army.

Due to the large number of former whites in the Red Army, the Bolshevik military leadership even introduced a limit on the number of white officers in the Red Army - no more than 25% of the command staff. "Surplus" went to the rear, or went to teach in military schools.

ROVS

On August 31, 1924, the self-styled "guardian", Kirill Vladimirovich, declared himself Emperor of All Russia Kirill I. Thus, the army automatically passed under his command, since formally it was subordinate to the emperor.

But the next day the army was gone - it was dissolved by Wrangel himself, and in its place appeared the Russian All-Military Union, which the same Wrangel headed. Oddly enough, but the ROVS exists, to this day, following the same principles of 1924.

Wrangel and Blumkin

The Wrangel formations caused serious concern among the Soviet command. Several assassination attempts were even organized on Wrangel. One of them ended before it even started.

In the fall of 1923, Yakov Blumkin, the murderer of the German ambassador Mirbach, knocked on Wrangel's door.

The Chekists posed as French cameramen, whom Wrangel had previously agreed to pose for. The box imitating the camera was filled to the brim with weapons, an additional one - a Lewis machine gun was hidden in a case from a tripod. But the conspirators immediately made a serious mistake - they knocked on the door, which was completely unacceptable both in Serbia, where the action took place, and in France, where they switched to doorbells a long time ago. The guards rightly considered that only people who had come from Soviet Russia could knock, and, just in case, they did not open the gate.

National politics

The big mistake of the White Army was that it lost the "national question". Denikin's concept of "one and indivisible Russia" did not even allow discussion of the issue of self-determination of the national territories that were part of Russia.

During the capture of Kyiv, Denikin, who denied the independence of Ukraine, could not agree with the leadership of the UNR and the Galician army. This led to an armed confrontation, which, although it ended in the victory of Denikin, might not have taken place at all.

This deprived the white movement of the support of national minorities, many of which were opposed to the Bolsheviks.

General's honor

Was in the history of the White Army and his "Judas". They became the French General Janin. He promised to ensure, if possible, Kolchak's safe passage to wherever he wanted. Kolchak took the general at his word, but he did not keep him. Upon arrival in Irkutsk, Kolchak was detained by the Czechs and first handed over to the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik Political Center, and then ended up in the hands of the Bolsheviks and was shot on February 7, 1920. Janin received the nickname "general without honor" for his betrayal.

Annenkov

As we have already said, the whites were not entirely aristocrats with an impeccable sense of tact, there were real "outlaws" among them. The most famous of them can be called General Annenkov. His cruelty was legendary. A participant in World War I became famous as a commander of a raid detachment, he had awards. He raised an uprising in Siberia in 1918. He brutally suppressed the Bolshevik uprising in the Slavogorsk and Pavlodar districts. Having seized the congress of peasants, he cut down 87 people. He tortured many people who were not involved in the uprising. Men were cut down by villages, women were raped and cut down.

There were many mercenaries in Annenkov's detachment: Afghans, Uighurs, Chinese. The victims numbered in the thousands. After the defeat of Kolchak, Annenkov withdrew to Semirechie, crossed the border with China. He spent three years in a Chinese prison. In 1926 he was extradited to the Bolsheviks and shot a year later.

Alexey Mirsky

Almost a century later, the events that unfolded shortly after the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks and resulted in a four-year fratricidal slaughter receive a new assessment. The war between the Red and White armies, presented by the Soviet ideology as a heroic page in our history for many years, is today regarded as a national tragedy, and it is the duty of every true patriot to prevent its repetition.

Beginning of the Way of the Cross

Historians disagree on the specific date of the start of the Civil War, but it is traditionally customary to call the last decade of 1917. This view is based mainly on three events that took place during this period.

Among them, it should be noted the performance of the forces of General P.N. Red in order to suppress the Bolshevik uprising in Petrograd on October 25, then on November 2 - the beginning of the formation on the Don by General M.V. Alekseev of the Volunteer Army, and, finally, the publication of P.N. Milyukov, which essentially became a declaration of war.

Speaking about the social class structure of the officers who became the head of the White movement, one should immediately point out the fallacy of the ingrained idea that it was formed exclusively from representatives of the highest aristocracy.

A similar picture became a thing of the past after the military reform of Alexander II, carried out in the period of the 60-70s of the XIX century and opened the way to army command posts for representatives of all classes. For example, one of the main figures of the White movement, General A.I. Denikin was the son of a serf, and L.G. Kornilov grew up in the family of a cornet Cossack army.

The social composition of the Russian officers

The stereotype developed during the years of Soviet power, according to which the White army was led exclusively by people who called themselves "white bones", is fundamentally wrong. In fact, they were representatives of all social strata of society.

In this regard, it would be appropriate to cite the following data: the graduation of infantry schools in the last two pre-revolutionary years consisted of 65% of former peasants, in connection with which, out of every 1000 ensigns of the tsarist army, about 700 were, as they say, “from the plow”. In addition, it is known that for the same number of officers, 250 people came from the bourgeois, merchant, and working environment, and only 50 from the nobility. What kind of “white bone” could we talk about in this case?

White army at the beginning of the war

The beginning of the White movement in Russia looked rather modest. According to reports, in January 1918, only 700 Cossacks, led by General A.M., joined him. Kaledin. This was explained by the complete demoralization of the tsarist army by the end of the First World War and the general unwillingness to fight.

The vast majority of servicemen, including officers, defiantly ignored the order to mobilize. Only with great difficulty, by the beginning of full-scale hostilities, the White Volunteer Army was able to replenish its ranks to 8 thousand people, of which about 1 thousand were staffed by officers.

The symbolism of the White Army was quite traditional. In contrast to the red banners of the Bolsheviks, the defenders of the former world order chose a white-blue-red banner, which was the official state flag of Russia, approved at one time by Alexander III. In addition, the well-known double-headed eagle was also a symbol of their struggle.

Siberian rebel army

It is known that the response to the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks in Siberia was the creation of underground combat centers in many of its large cities, headed by former officers of the tsarist army. The signal for their open action was the uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps, formed in September 1917 from among the captured Slovaks and Czechs, who then expressed a desire to take part in the struggle against Austria-Hungary and Germany.

Their rebellion, which broke out against the backdrop of general dissatisfaction with the Soviet authorities, served as the detonator of a social explosion that swept the Urals, the Volga region, the Far East and Siberia. On the basis of disparate combat groups, the West Siberian Army was formed in a short time, headed by an experienced military leader, General A.N. Grishin-Almazov. Its ranks were rapidly replenished with volunteers and soon reached the number of 23 thousand people.

Very soon, the White army, united with parts of Yesaul G.M. Semyonov, got the opportunity to control the territory stretching from Baikal to the Urals. It was a huge force, consisting of 71 thousand soldiers, supported by 115 thousand local volunteers.

Army that fought on the Northern Front

During the years of the Civil War, hostilities were conducted almost throughout the entire territory of the country, and, in addition to the Siberian Front, the future of Russia was also decided in the South, North-West and North. It was on it, as historians testify, that the concentration of the most professionally trained military personnel who went through the First World War took place.

It is known that many officers and generals of the White Army who fought on the Northern Front got there from Ukraine, where they escaped the terror unleashed by the Bolsheviks only thanks to the help of German troops. This largely explained their subsequent sympathy for the Entente and partly even Germanophilia, which often caused conflicts with other military personnel. In general, it should be noted that the White army that fought in the north was relatively small.

White forces on the Northwestern Front

The White Army, which opposed the Bolsheviks in the northwestern regions of the country, was mainly formed thanks to the support of the Germans and, after their departure, consisted of about 7 thousand bayonets. Despite the fact that, according to experts, among other fronts, this one was distinguished by a low level of training, the White Guard units were lucky on it for a long time. In many ways, this was facilitated by a large number of volunteers who joined the ranks of the army.

Among them, two contingents of persons were distinguished by increased combat readiness: the sailors of the flotilla, created in 1915 on Lake Peipsi, who were disillusioned with the Bolsheviks, as well as former Red Army soldiers who went over to the side of the Whites - cavalrymen of the detachments of Permykin and Balakhovich. Significantly replenished the growing army of local peasants, as well as high school students who were subject to mobilization.

Military contingent in southern Russia

And, finally, the main front of the Civil War, on which the fate of the whole country was decided, was the South. The hostilities that unfolded on it covered a territory equal in area to two average European states and had a population of more than 34 million people. It is important to note that, thanks to the developed industry and multifaceted agriculture, this part of Russia could exist independently of the rest of the country.

The generals of the White Army who fought on this front under the command of A.I. Denikin, were all, without exception, highly educated military specialists who already had the experience of the First World War behind them. At their disposal was also a developed transport infrastructure, which included railways and seaports.

All this was a prerequisite for future victories, but the general unwillingness to fight, as well as the lack of a single ideological base, eventually led to defeat. The entire politically motley contingent of troops, consisting of liberals, monarchists, democrats, etc., was united only by hatred of the Bolsheviks, which, unfortunately, did not become a sufficiently strong link.

An army far from ideal

It can be said with confidence that the White Army in the Civil War failed to fully realize its potential, and among many reasons, one of the main reasons was the unwillingness to let the peasants, who made up the majority of the population of Russia, into its ranks. Those of them who could not avoid mobilization soon became deserters, greatly weakening the combat capability of their units.

It is also important to take into account that the white army was an extremely heterogeneous composition of people both socially and spiritually and morally. Along with the true heroes, ready to sacrifice themselves in the fight against the impending chaos, she was joined by many scum who took advantage of the fratricidal war to commit violence, robbery and looting. It also deprived the army of universal support.

It must be admitted that the White Army of Russia was far from always being the "holy army" so sonorously sung by Marina Tsvetaeva. By the way, her husband, Sergei Efron, an active participant in the volunteer movement, also wrote about this in his memoirs.

The hardships suffered by the white officers

For almost a century that has passed since those dramatic times, a certain stereotype of the image of the White Guard officer has been developed by mass art in the minds of most Russians. He appears, as a rule, as a nobleman, dressed in a uniform with golden shoulder straps, whose favorite pastime is drunkenness and singing sentimental romances.

In reality, things were different. As the memoirs of participants in those events testify, the White Army faced extraordinary difficulties in the Civil War, and officers had to fulfill their duty with a constant shortage of not only weapons and ammunition, but even the most necessary things for life - food and uniforms.

The assistance provided by the Entente was not always timely and sufficient in scope. In addition, the general morale of the officers was depressingly influenced by the consciousness of the need to wage war against their own people.

bloody lesson

In the years that followed perestroika, there was a rethinking of most of the events of Russian history related to the revolution and the Civil War. The attitude towards many participants in that great tragedy, who were previously considered enemies of their own Fatherland, has changed radically. Nowadays, not only the commanders of the White Army, such as A.V. Kolchak, A.I. Denikin, P.N. Wrangel and the like, but also all those who went into battle under the Russian tricolor, took a worthy place in people's memory. Today, it is important that that fratricidal nightmare become a worthy lesson, and the current generation has made every effort to ensure that it never happens again, no matter how political passions boil in the country.

Where did the terms "red" and "white" come from? The Civil War also knew the "greens", "cadets", "SRs" and other formations. What is their fundamental difference?

In this article, we will answer not only these questions, but also get acquainted briefly with the history of formation in the country. Let's talk about the confrontation between the White Guard and the Red Army.

Origin of the terms "red" and "white"

Today, the history of the Fatherland is less and less concerned with young people. According to polls, many do not even have an idea, what can we say about the Patriotic War of 1812...

However, such words and phrases as "red" and "white", "Civil War" and "October Revolution" are still well known. Most, however, do not know the details, but they have heard the terms.

Let's take a closer look at this issue. We should start with where the two opposing camps came from - "white" and "red" in the Civil War. In principle, it was just an ideological move by Soviet propagandists and nothing more. Now you will understand this riddle yourself.

If you turn to the textbooks and reference books of the Soviet Union, it explains that the “whites” are the White Guards, supporters of the tsar and enemies of the “reds”, the Bolsheviks.

It seems that everything was like that. But in fact, this is another enemy that the Soviets fought.

After all, the country has lived for seventy years in opposition to fictitious opponents. These were the "whites", the kulaks, the decaying West, the capitalists. Very often, such a vague definition of the enemy served as the foundation for slander and terror.

Next, we will discuss the causes of the Civil War. The "Whites", according to the Bolshevik ideology, were monarchists. But here's the catch, there were practically no monarchists in the war. They had no one to fight for, and honor did not suffer from this. Nicholas II abdicated the throne, but his brother did not accept the crown. Thus, all the royal officers were free from the oath.

Where, then, did this “color” difference come from? If the Bolsheviks did have a red flag, then their opponents never had a white one. The answer lies in the history of a century and a half ago.

The Great French Revolution gave the world two opposing camps. The royal troops wore a white banner, a sign of the dynasty of the French rulers. Their opponents, after the seizure of power, hung a red canvas in the window of the city hall as a sign of the introduction of wartime. On such days, any gathering of people was dispersed by soldiers.

The Bolsheviks were opposed not by monarchists, but by supporters of the convocation of the Constituent Assembly (Constitutional Democrats, Cadets), anarchists (Makhnovists), "Green Army" (fought against the "Reds", "Whites", interventionists) and those who wanted to separate their territory into a free state .

Thus, the term "whites" has been cleverly used by ideologues to define a common enemy. His winning position turned out to be that any Red Army soldier could explain in a nutshell what he was fighting for, unlike all the other rebels. This attracted ordinary people to the side of the Bolsheviks and made it possible for the latter to win the Civil War.

Background of the war

When the Civil War is studied in the classroom, the table is simply necessary for a good assimilation of the material. Below are the stages of this military conflict, which will help you better navigate not only in the article, but also in this period of the history of the Fatherland.

Now that we have decided who the “reds” and “whites” are, the Civil War, or rather its stages, will be more understandable. You can proceed to a deeper study of them. Let's start with the prerequisites.

So, the main reason for such a heat of passion, which subsequently resulted in a five-year Civil War, was the accumulated contradictions and problems.

First, the participation of the Russian Empire in the First World War destroyed the economy and drained resources in the country. The bulk of the male population was in the army, agriculture and urban industry fell into decline. The soldiers were tired of fighting for other people's ideals when there were hungry families at home.

The second reason was agrarian and industrial issues. There were too many peasants and workers who lived below the poverty line and destitution. The Bolsheviks took full advantage of this.

In order to turn participation in the world war into an interclass struggle, certain steps were taken.

First, the first wave of nationalization of enterprises, banks, and lands took place. Then the Brest Treaty was signed, which plunged Russia into the abyss of complete ruin. Against the background of the general devastation, the Red Army men staged a terror in order to stay in power.

To justify their behavior, they built an ideology of struggle against the White Guards and interventionists.

background

Let's take a closer look at why the Civil War began. The table we cited earlier illustrates the stages of conflict. But we will start with the events that took place before the Great October Revolution.

Weakened by participation in the First World War, the Russian Empire is in decline. Nicholas II abdicates the throne. More importantly, he does not have a successor. In the light of such events, two new forces are being formed simultaneously - the Provisional Government and the Soviet of Workers' Deputies.

The former begin to deal with the social and political spheres of the crisis, while the Bolsheviks concentrated on increasing their influence in the army. This path led them subsequently to the opportunity to become the only ruling force in the country.
It was the confusion in the administration of the state that led to the formation of "red" and "white". The civil war was only the apotheosis of their differences. Which is to be expected.

October Revolution

In fact, the tragedy of the Civil War begins with the October Revolution. The Bolsheviks were gaining strength and more confidently went to power. In mid-October 1917, a very tense situation began to develop in Petrograd.

October 25 Alexander Kerensky, head of the Provisional Government, leaves Petrograd for Pskov for help. He personally assesses the events in the city as an uprising.

In Pskov, he asks to help him with troops. Kerensky seems to be getting support from the Cossacks, but suddenly the Cadets leave the regular army. Now the Constitutional Democrats refuse to support the head of government.

Not finding proper support in Pskov, Alexander Fedorovich travels to the city of Ostrov, where he meets with General Krasnov. At the same time, the Winter Palace was stormed in Petrograd. In Soviet history, this event is presented as a key one. But in fact, it happened without resistance from the deputies.

After a blank shot from the Aurora cruiser, the sailors, soldiers and workers approached the palace and arrested all the members of the Provisional Government who were present there. In addition, the Second Congress of Soviets took place, where a number of basic declarations were adopted and executions at the front were abolished.

In view of the coup, Krasnov decides to help Alexander Kerensky. On October 26, a cavalry detachment of seven hundred people leaves in the direction of Petrograd. It was assumed that in the city itself they would be supported by the uprising of the Junkers. But it was suppressed by the Bolsheviks.

In the current situation, it became clear that the Provisional Government no longer had power. Kerensky fled, General Krasnov bargained with the Bolsheviks for the opportunity to return to Ostrov with the detachment without hindrance.

Meanwhile, the Socialist-Revolutionaries begin a radical struggle against the Bolsheviks, who, in their opinion, have gained more power. The answer to the murders of some "red" leaders was the terror of the Bolsheviks, and the Civil War began (1917-1922). We now consider further developments.

Establishment of "red" power

As we said above, the tragedy of the Civil War began long before the October Revolution. The common people, soldiers, workers and peasants were dissatisfied with the current situation. If in the central regions many paramilitary detachments were under the tight control of the Headquarters, then completely different moods reigned in the eastern detachments.

It was the presence of a large number of reserve troops and their unwillingness to enter the war with Germany that helped the Bolsheviks quickly and bloodlessly gain the support of almost two-thirds of the army. Only 15 large cities resisted the "red" government, while 84, on their own initiative, passed into their hands.

An unexpected surprise for the Bolsheviks in the form of amazing support from the confused and tired soldiers was announced by the "Reds" as a "triumphal march of the Soviets."

The civil war (1917-1922) only worsened after the signing of the devastating for Russia Under the terms of the agreement, the former empire was losing more than a million square kilometers of territory. These included: the Baltic States, Belarus, Ukraine, the Caucasus, Romania, the Don territories. In addition, they had to pay Germany six billion marks indemnity.

This decision provoked protest both within the country and from the side of the Entente. Simultaneously with the intensification of various local conflicts, the military intervention of Western states on the territory of Russia begins.

The entry of the Entente troops in Siberia was reinforced by a revolt of the Kuban Cossacks led by General Krasnov. The defeated detachments of the White Guards and some interventionists went to Central Asia and continued the struggle against Soviet power for many more years.

Second period of the Civil War

It was at this stage that the White Guard Heroes of the Civil War were the most active. History has preserved such names as Kolchak, Yudenich, Denikin, Yuzefovich, Miller and others.

Each of these commanders had his own vision of the future for the state. Some tried to interact with the troops of the Entente in order to overthrow the Bolshevik government and still convene the Constituent Assembly. Others wanted to become local princelings. This includes such as Makhno, Grigoriev and others.

The complexity of this period lies in the fact that as soon as the First World War was completed, the German troops had to leave the territory of Russia only after the arrival of the Entente. But according to a secret agreement, they left earlier, handing over the cities to the Bolsheviks.

As history shows us, it is after such a turn of events that the Civil War enters a phase of particular cruelty and bloodshed. The failure of the commanders, who were guided by Western governments, was aggravated by the fact that they were sorely lacking in qualified officers. So, the armies of Miller, Yudenich and some other formations disintegrated only because, with a lack of middle-level commanders, the main influx of forces came from captured Red Army soldiers.

Newspaper reports of this period are characterized by headlines of this type: "Two thousand servicemen with three guns went over to the side of the Red Army."

The final stage

Historians tend to associate the beginning of the last period of the war of 1917-1922 with the Polish War. With the help of his western neighbors, Piłsudski wanted to create a confederation with territory from the Baltic to the Black Sea. But his aspirations were not destined to come true. The armies of the Civil War, led by Yegorov and Tukhachevsky, fought their way deep into Western Ukraine and reached the Polish border.

The victory over this enemy was to rouse the workers in Europe to the struggle. But all the plans of the Red Army leaders failed after a devastating defeat in the battle, which has been preserved under the name "Miracle on the Vistula."

After the conclusion of a peace treaty between the Soviets and Poland, disagreements begin in the Entente camp. As a result, the financing of the "white" movement decreased, and the Civil War in Russia began to decline.

In the early 1920s, similar changes in the foreign policy of Western states led to the fact that the Soviet Union was recognized by most countries.

The heroes of the Civil War of the final period fought against Wrangel in Ukraine, the interventionists in the Caucasus and Central Asia, in Siberia. Among the particularly distinguished commanders, Tukhachevsky, Blucher, Frunze and some others should be noted.

Thus, as a result of five years of bloody battles, a new state was formed on the territory of the Russian Empire. Subsequently, it became the second superpower, the only rival of which was the United States.

Reasons for victory

Let's see why the "whites" were defeated in the Civil War. We will compare the assessments of the opposing camps and try to come to a common conclusion.

Soviet historians saw the main reason for their victory in the fact that they received massive support from the oppressed sections of society. Particular emphasis was placed on those who suffered as a result of the 1905 revolution. Because they unconditionally went over to the side of the Bolsheviks.

"Whites", on the contrary, complained about the lack of human and material resources. In the occupied territories with a million people, they could not even carry out a minimal mobilization to replenish the ranks.

Of particular interest are the statistics provided by the Civil War. The "Reds", "Whites" (table below) suffered particularly from desertion. Unbearable living conditions, as well as the lack of clear goals, made themselves felt. The data relates only to the Bolshevik forces, since the White Guard records did not save intelligible figures.

The main point noted by modern historians was the conflict.

The White Guards, firstly, did not have a centralized command and minimal cooperation between units. They fought locally, each for their own interests. The second feature was the absence of political workers and a clear program. These moments were often assigned to officers who only knew how to fight, but not to conduct diplomatic negotiations.

The Red Army soldiers created a powerful ideological network. A clear system of concepts was developed, which were hammered into the heads of workers and soldiers. The slogans made it possible for even the most downtrodden peasant to understand what he was going to fight for.

It was this policy that allowed the Bolsheviks to get the maximum support of the population.

Consequences

The victory of the "Reds" in the Civil War was given to the state very dearly. The economy was completely destroyed. The country has lost territories with a population of more than 135 million people.

Agriculture and productivity, food production have decreased by 40-50 percent. Prodrazverstka and "red-white" terror in different regions led to the death of a huge number of people from starvation, torture and execution.

Industry, according to experts, has sunk to the level of the Russian Empire during the reign of Peter the Great. According to the researchers, production figures have fallen to 20 percent of the volume in 1913, and in some areas up to 4 percent.

As a result, a mass exodus of workers from cities to villages began. Since there was at least some hope not to die of hunger.

The "whites" in the Civil War reflected the desire of the nobility and higher ranks to return to their former living conditions. But their isolation from the real moods that prevailed among the common people led to the total defeat of the old order.

Reflection in culture

The leaders of the Civil War have been immortalized in thousands of different works - from cinema to paintings, from stories to sculptures and songs.

For example, such productions as "Days of the Turbins", "Running", "Optimistic Tragedy" immersed people in the tense atmosphere of wartime.

The films "Chapaev", "Red Devils", "We are from Kronstadt" showed the efforts that the "Reds" made in the Civil War to win their ideals.

The literary work of Babel, Bulgakov, Gaidar, Pasternak, Ostrovsky illustrates the life of representatives of different strata of society in those difficult days.

You can give examples almost endlessly, because the social catastrophe that resulted in the Civil War found a powerful response in the hearts of hundreds of artists.

Thus, today we have learned not only the origin of the concepts of "white" and "red", but also briefly got acquainted with the course of events of the Civil War.

Remember that any crisis contains the seed of future changes for the better.

1. Anatoly Pepelyaev


Anatoly Pepelyaev became the youngest general in Siberia - at the age of 27. Prior to this, the White Guards under his command took Tomsk, Novonikolaevsk (Novosibirsk), Krasnoyarsk, Verkhneudinsk and Chita. When Pepelyaev’s troops occupied Perm abandoned by the Bolsheviks, about 20,000 Red Army soldiers were captured by the young general, who, on his orders, were released home. Perm was liberated from the Reds on the day of the 128th anniversary of the capture of Ishmael, and the soldiers began to call Pepelyaev "Siberian Suvorov."

2. Sergey Ulagai


Sergei Ulagay, a Kuban Cossack of Circassian origin, was one of the most prominent cavalry commanders of the White Army. He made a serious contribution to the defeat of the North Caucasian front of the Reds, but especially the 2nd Kuban Corps Ulagay distinguished himself during the capture of the "Russian Verdun" - Tsaritsyn - in June 1919.

General Ulagay went down in history as the commander of the special forces group of the Russian Volunteer Army, General Wrangel, who landed troops from the Crimea to the Kuban in August 1920. To command the landing force, Wrangel chose Ulagay "as a popular Kuban general, it seems, the only one of the famous who did not stain himself with robbery."

3. Alexander Dolgorukov


The hero of the First World War, who for his exploits was awarded admission to the retinue of His Imperial Majesty, Alexander Dolgorukov proved himself in the Civil War. On September 30, 1919, his 4th Rifle Division in a bayonet battle forced the Soviet troops to retreat; Dolgorukov captured the crossing over the Plyussa River, which soon made it possible to occupy Struga Beliye.

Dolgorukov got into literature. In the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov "The White Guard" he is bred under the name of General Belorukov, and is also mentioned in the first volume of the trilogy of Alexei Tolstoy "Walking through the torments" (attack of the cavalry guards in the battle of Kaushen).

4. Vladimir Kappel


The episode from the film "Chapaev", where the Kappelites go on a "psychic attack", is fictional - Chapaev and Kappel never crossed paths on the battlefield. But Kappel was a legend without cinema. During the capture of Kazan on August 7, 1918, he lost only 25 people. In his reports on successful operations, Kappel did not mention himself, explaining the victory by the heroism of his subordinates, up to the sisters of mercy.

During the Great Siberian Ice Campaign, Kappel got frostbite on the feet of both legs - they had to be amputated without anesthesia. He continued to lead the troops and refused a place on the hospital train. The last words of the general were: "Let the troops know that I was devoted to them, that I loved them and proved it with my death among them."

5. Mikhail Drozdovsky


Mikhail Drozdovsky with a volunteer detachment of 1,000 people walked 1,700 km from Yassy to Rostov, freed him from the Bolsheviks, then helped the Cossacks defend Novocherkassk. Drozdovsky's detachment participated in the liberation of both the Kuban and the North Caucasus. Drozdovsky was called "the crusader of the crucified Motherland."

Here is his description from Kravchenko's book “Drozdovites from Iasi to Gallipoli”: “Nervous, thin, Colonel Drozdovsky was a type of ascetic warrior: he did not drink, did not smoke and did not pay attention to the blessings of life; always - from Jassy until death - in the same worn jacket, with a worn St. George ribbon in his buttonhole; out of modesty, he did not wear the order itself.

6. Alexander Kutepov


A colleague of Kutepov’s on the fronts of the First World War wrote about him: “Kutepov’s name has become a household name. It means fidelity to duty, calm determination, intense sacrificial impulse, cold, sometimes cruel will and ... clean hands - and all this is brought and given to the service of the Motherland.

In January 1918, Kutepov twice defeated the Red troops under the command of Sievers near Matveev Kurgan. According to Anton Denikin, “this was the first serious battle in which the art and enthusiasm of the officer detachments were opposed to the furious pressure of the unorganized and badly managed Bolsheviks, mostly sailors.”

7. Sergey Markov


The White Guards called Sergei Markov the "White Knight", "the sword of General Kornilov", the "God of War", and after the battle at the village of Medvedovskaya - the "Guardian Angel". In this battle, Markov managed to save the remnants of the Volunteer Army retreating from Ekaterinograd, destroy and capture the armored train of the Reds, and get a lot of weapons and ammunition. When Markov died, Anton Denikin wrote on his wreath: "Both life and death - for the happiness of the Motherland."

8. Mikhail Zhebrak-Rusanovich


For the White Guards, Colonel Zhebrak-Rusanovich was a cult figure. For personal prowess, his name was sung in the military folklore of the Volunteer Army. He firmly believed that "there will be no Bolshevism, but there will be only one United Great Indivisible Russia." It was Zhebrak who brought the Andreevsky flag with his detachment to the headquarters of the Volunteer Army, and soon he became the battle flag of the Drozdovsky brigade. He died heroically, personally leading the attack of two battalions on the superior forces of the Red Army.

9. Viktor Molchanov


The Izhevsk division of Viktor Molchanov was awarded Kolchak's special attention - he handed her the St. George banner, and attached the St. George crosses to the banners of a number of regiments. During the Great Siberian Ice Campaign, Molchanov commanded the rearguard of the 3rd Army and covered the retreat of the main forces of General Kappel. After his death, he led the vanguard of the white troops. At the head of the Insurrectionary Army, Molchanov occupied almost all of Primorye and Khabarovsk.

10. Innokenty Smolin


In the summer and autumn of 1918, at the head of the partisan detachment of his own name, Innokenty Smolin successfully operated in the rear of the Reds, captured two armored trains. Smolin's partisans played an important role in the capture of Tobolsk. Mikhail Smolin participated in the Great Siberian Ice Campaign, commanded a group of troops of the 4th Siberian Rifle Division, which, numbering more than 1,800 fighters, came to Chita on March 4, 1920. Smolin died in Tahiti. In the last years of his life he wrote memoirs.

11. Sergei Voitsekhovsky

General Voitsekhovsky accomplished many feats, performing the seemingly impossible tasks of the command of the White Army. A faithful “Kolchakist”, after the death of the admiral, he abandoned the assault on Irkutsk and led the remnants of the Kolchak army to Transbaikalia on the ice of Baikal. In 1939, in exile, being one of the highest Czechoslovak generals, Wojciechowski advocated resistance to the Germans and created the underground organization Obrana národa ("Protection of the People"). Arrested by SMERSH in 1945. Repressed, died in a camp near Taishet.

12. Erast Hyacinths


Erast Hyacinths in the First World War became the owner of a full set of orders available to the chief officer of the Russian Imperial Army. After the revolution, he was obsessed with the idea of ​​overthrowing the Bolsheviks and even occupied with friends a number of houses around the Kremlin in order to start resistance from there, but in time he realized the futility of such tactics and joined the White Army, becoming one of the most productive intelligence officers.

In exile, on the eve of and during the Second World War, he took an open anti-Nazi position and miraculously avoided being sent to a concentration camp. After the war, he resisted the forced repatriation of "displaced persons" to the USSR.

13. Mikhail Yaroslavtsev(Archimandrite Mitrofan)


During the Civil War, Mikhail Yaroslavtsev showed himself to be an energetic commander and distinguished himself by personal prowess in several battles. Yaroslavtsev embarked on the path of spiritual service already in exile, after the death of his wife on December 31, 1932. In May 1949, hegumen Mitrofan was elevated to the rank of archimandrite by Metropolitan Seraphim (Lukyanov).

Contemporaries wrote about him: "Always impeccable in the performance of his duty, richly gifted with excellent spiritual qualities, he was a true consolation for very many of his flock ...". He was rector of the Church of the Resurrection in Rabat and defended the unity of the Russian Orthodox community in Morocco with the Moscow Patriarchate.

14. Mikhail Khanzhin


General Khanzhin became a movie hero. He is one of the characters in the 1968 feature film Storm over Belaya. The role of the general was played by Yefim Kopelyan. A documentary film "The Return of General Khanzhin" was also filmed about his fate. For the successful command of the Western Army of the Western Front, Mikhail Khanzhin was promoted by Kolchak to the rank of general from artillery - the highest distinction of this kind, which was awarded by Kolchak when he was his Supreme Ruler.

15. Pavel Shatilov


A. V. Krivoshein, P. N. Wrangel and P. N. Shatilov. Crimea. 1920

Pavel Shatilov is a hereditary general, both his father and his grandfather were generals. He especially distinguished himself in the spring of 1919, when, in an operation in the area of ​​the Manych River, he defeated a 30,000-strong group of Reds. Pyotr Wrangel, whose chief of staff was later Shatilov, spoke of him as follows: "a brilliant mind, outstanding abilities, having great military experience and knowledge, with great capacity for work, he knew how to work with a minimum expenditure of time." In the autumn of 1920, it was Shatilov who led the emigration of whites from the Crimea.

10 short facts about the White Army

Because of literature and cinema, we often perceive the White Army in a romantic way, books and films about it are full of inaccuracies, and the facts are distorted by the biased author's assessment.

The Bolsheviks could rely on the support of the workers and the peasant poor. These categories of the population could always be mobilized for rations and a small allowance. The middle peasants fought both against the Whites and the Reds, but they were reluctant to go to foreign provinces and easily moved from one camp to another. After mass mobilization became the main principle of the formation of the White Army, the quality of its troops deteriorated noticeably and, in the absence of broad social support, this led to a significant decrease in combat effectiveness.

In addition, by the beginning of the Civil War, the Bolsheviks had already formed a terrorist network, in which yesterday's criminals, raiders and blatari were involved. They harassed regions controlled by whites with sabotage.

aristocrats

If you watch Soviet films about the Civil War, you can see that white officers are all intelligent people, "white bones", nobles and aristocrats. They listen to romances, enter into officer disputes and indulge in nostalgia for the former Russia. However, this picture is, of course, greatly embellished.

The vast majority of white officers were from the so-called raznochintsy. Not all of them were even literate, which can be found today if you look at the documents of the selection committee of the Academy of the General Staff. The officers entering it showed "poor knowledge of history and geography", "lack of clarity of thought and general indiscipline of the mind", and made many gross mistakes.

And these were not just officers, but the best, since not everyone could qualify for admission to the Academy. Of course, we will not argue that all white officers were illiterate, but the fact that they all had "blue blood" is not true.

Desertion


When today they talk about the reasons for the defeat of the White Army, they like to talk about mass desertion from there. We will not deny that desertion took place, but both its causes and its scale on the opposing sides were different. In addition to individual cases of voluntary departure from the White Army, there were also massive desertions, which was caused by a number of reasons.

Firstly, Denikin's army, despite the fact that it controlled fairly large territories, was not able to significantly increase its numbers due to the inhabitants living on them. Secondly, in the rear of the whites, gangs of “greens” or “blacks” often operated, who fought against both the whites and the reds. Deserters were often among them.

However, all the same, other things being equal, many more people deserted from the Red Army. In just one year (1919-1920), at least 2.6 million people voluntarily left the Red Army, which exceeded the total number of the White Army.

Allied Support

The role of intervention in helping the White Army is greatly exaggerated. The troops of the interventionists practically did not clash with the Red Army, with the exception of minor battles in the North, and in Siberia they even collaborated with the Bolsheviks. Assistance to the White Army was limited, by and large, only to military supplies.

But the "allies" provided this assistance far from being in vain. They had to pay for armaments with gold reserves and grain, which is why the peasants were the first to suffer. As a result, the popularity of the movement for the restoration of the "former" Russia was steadily declining. Yes, and this help was insignificant.

Denikin, for example, the British supplied only a few dozen tanks, although after the First World War they had thousands in service. Despite the fact that the last military formations were ousted from the territory of the USSR (in the Far East) in 1925, in fact, the whole point of intervention for the Entente countries became obsolete after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

Captivity


The myth that white officers were very ideological and even under pain of death refused to surrender to the Bolsheviks, unfortunately, is only a myth. Only near Novorossiysk in March 1920, the Red Army captured 10,000 Denikin officers, 9,660 Kolchak officers. Most of the prisoners were accepted into the Red Army.

Due to the large number of former whites in the Red Army, the Bolshevik military leadership even introduced a limit on the number of white officers in the Red Army - no more than 25% of the command staff. "Surplus" went to the rear, or went to teach in military schools.

ROVS

On August 31, 1924, the self-named "guardian", Kirill Vladimirovich, declared himself the All-Russian Emperor Kirill I. Thus, the army automatically passed under his command, since formally it was subordinate to the emperor. But the next day the army was gone - it was dissolved by Wrangel himself, and in its place appeared the Russian All-Military Union, which the same Wrangel headed.

Oddly enough, but the ROVS exists, to this day, following the same principles of 1924.

Wrangel and Blumkin

The Wrangel formations caused serious concern among the Soviet command. Several assassination attempts were even organized on Wrangel. One of them ended before it even started. In the fall of 1923, Yakov Blumkin, the murderer of the German ambassador Mirbach, knocked on Wrangel's door.

The Chekists posed as French cameramen, whom Wrangel had previously agreed to pose for. The box imitating the camera was filled to the brim with weapons, an additional one - a Lewis machine gun was hidden in a case from a tripod. But the conspirators immediately made a serious mistake - they knocked on the door, which was completely unacceptable both in Serbia, where the action took place, and in France, where they switched to doorbells a long time ago.

The guards rightly considered that only people who had come from Soviet Russia could knock, and, just in case, they did not open the gate.

National politics


The big mistake of the White Army was that it lost the "national question". Denikin's concept of "one and indivisible Russia" did not even allow discussion of the issue of self-determination of the national territories that were part of Russia. During the capture of Kyiv, Denikin, who denied the independence of Ukraine, could not agree with the leadership of the UNR and the Galician army. This led to an armed confrontation, which, although it ended in the victory of Denikin, might not have taken place at all. This deprived the white movement of the support of national minorities, many of which were opposed to the Bolsheviks.

General's honor

Was in the history of the White Army and his "Judas". They became the French General Janin. He promised to ensure, if possible, Kolchak's safe passage to wherever he wanted. Kolchak took the general at his word, but he did not keep him. Upon arrival in Irkutsk, Kolchak was detained by the Czechs and first handed over to the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik Political Center, and then ended up in the hands of the Bolsheviks and was shot on February 7, 1920. Janin received the nickname "general without honor" for his betrayal.

Annenkov


As we have already said, the whites were not entirely aristocrats with an impeccable sense of tact, there were real "outlaws" among them. The most famous of them can be called General Annenkov. His cruelty was legendary. A participant in World War I became famous as a commander of a raid detachment, he had awards. He raised an uprising in Siberia in 1918. He brutally suppressed the Bolshevik uprising in the Slavogorsk and Pavlodar districts.

Having seized the congress of peasants, he cut down 87 people. He tortured many people who were not involved in the uprising. Men were cut down by villages, women were raped and cut down. There were many mercenaries in Annenkov's detachment: Afghans, Uighurs, Chinese. The victims numbered in the thousands. After the defeat of Kolchak, Annenkov withdrew to Semirechie, crossed the border with China. He spent three years in a Chinese prison. In 1926 he was extradited to the Bolsheviks and shot a year later.