Li Chun Ho (Alvin Li) History Revision: The Civil War past paper questions.

Question 11 (b) Explain why the Bolsheviks were successful in the Civil War, 1918-21. [7] The Bolsheviks won the Civil war of 1918-21 in Russia over the Whites, who were all of the other enemies of the Bolsheviks because they had divided aims. The only and main aim the Reds had been to stay in power and to build a new Socialist Society. This created great unity within the group as all of them trusted each other and worked hard to succeed their goals. The whites failed because they had multiple goals; some wanted to have land, others wanted the tsar back. This created divided views on ideas within the group therefore there was lack of trust within the leaders of the Whites and they were often fighting over each other for ultimate power. The Bolsheviks had an advantage over their enemies as they controlled the central areas of Russia, such as the Central region of Western Russia which included Moscow. This was a great benefit to them because this was the region of great industry; the Reds were able to order factories to create large quantities of armaments and weapons to fight against the Whites; it served as an unlimited armory. Furthermore, they had excellent control of the transport systems and the infrastructure of Russia. They had control of the railway lines, and were able to use an armored train to transport troops to the battle zone easily. However, the whites did not have good locations; they were randomly scattered all over the place and were therefore unable to fully coordinate their attacks on their enemy. This also created many barriers to effective communication within the group. The Bolsheviks had a great leadership and had used excellent tactics; this allowed them to fight with a fervent and enthusiastic altitude. Their leader, Trotsky, was very courageous and often met with troops at the frontline of the war to support them and keep up the morale through the armored train. Trotsky, the leader of the Reds, made sure that there was strict army discipline within the group and to enforce effective communication. On the other hand, the Whites were clearly divided and the leaders failed to become role models for their soldiers to follow; they appeared drunk and were de-motivated. In order to ensure that all resources were used towards the Civil War, the Bolsheviks used the form of War Communism in which all resources were diverted to the use of war. There were great rationing, control over factories and control what to create and how much of it. This was further enforced by the use of seizing grain from the peasants. November 2006 (c) The Bolsheviks won the Civil War because of the War Communism policy. How far do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer. [8] To some extent we cannot fully agree that the Bolsheviks won the Civil War dependent on the War Communism policy. The Bolsheviks originally had great leadership styles. Their leader, Trotsky, kept up the morale of the Red Army by going around with his armored train to the warfront encouraging soldiers to continue fighting hard. He set up a good example. However the soldiers fighting for the Whites were discouraged and de-motivated because their leaders were not good role models; they appeared drunk, lazy and were often fighting against each other. Therefore in this case the Bolsheviks had greater leadership style, suggesting it is not dependent on the policy of War Communism.

Li Chun Ho (Alvin Li) History Revision: The Civil War past paper questions. Furthermore, the Bolsheviks won the war because their ideas were united. They had a common and a firm goal, which was to create a socialist society and to stay in power. This unified the Bolsheviks as they knew they were fighting for the same cause. Therefore this allowed them to be loyal to each other and fought hard. However, the Whites had dispersed, separated goals; they were not unified as some wanted the Tsar back and others wanted to regain land. Therefore many fights and disputes occurred within the Whites group alone and leaders distrusted each other. This justifies the War Communism Policy is not the concrete cause to Bolsheviks winning the Civil War. In addition, the Bolsheviks controlled the Western Region of Russia which included Moscow. This area was also the key industrial region of Russia which allowed them to control factories to create weapons for them. Furthermore they controlled the Russian railway and allowed them to get to anywhere of the Battlefield quickly along with Trotskys special armored train that improved the morale of the soldiers. However, to some other extent, it seems that War Communism policy has played a key role in the success of the Bolsheviks. The use of seizing grain by the Cheka, the secret police, and by taking over control of many other factories and demand them to produced materials for the war and in what quantities contributed to the survival of the Bolsheviks. The policy was allowed more efficient resource usage to the Bolsheviks cause. This can be further emphasized as they shot the opposition, to make sure there were no protests against them. The use of rationing also limited the amount of food the Russian citizens got. As a conclusion, we cannot fully agree by far that the War Communism policy was a key success to the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil war due to the harsh treatment of other Russians. Food shortages have caused many citizens to perish due to the installments of the food rationing including with the requisitioning of grain from peasants.