★ Reasons for Bolshevik Victory Flashcards
★ When did the Bolsheviks win the Civil War?
★ 1920
★ What was Trotsky’s role in winning the Civil War?
★ Commissar of War, skilled organiser and propagandist, directed the war
★ Worked from a special armoured train which travelled over 65,000 miles in the war
★ Helped to boost morale by keeping soldiers well-equipped and well-fed
★ Order any deserters to be shot
★ Recruited 50,000 former Tsarist officers & also political commissars to continue to spread propaganda and morale
★ Conscription
★ What were the strengths of the Red Army?
★ Geography: Reds commanded hubs of communication such as Petrograd and Moscow, the most densely packed regions of Russia where supplies could be easily transported and also controlled factories for weaponry
★ Unity and Organisation: United in their goals for survival and the longevity of Communism, unlike the Whites who couldn’t unite for one single goal
★ Good leadership: Role of Lenin & Trotsky
★ Support from peasantry
★ Foreign intervention in the Whites allowed for the Red Army to spread the idea that the Whites were in cahoots with other foreign threats, also made National Minorities suspicious due to their slogan of “ Russia One and Indivisible “
