| Russian Civil War | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Clockwise from top: Soldiers of the Don Army in 1919; a White infantry division in March 1920; soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Army; Leon Trotsky in 1918; hanging of workers in Yekaterinoslav by the Austro-Hungarian Army, April 1918. | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| Belligerents | ||||||||
 White Movement Germany Austria-Hungary (1917-1920) Finland (1918-1921) Ukraine (1918-1921)
|
 Russian SFSR
|
Finnish independence movement (1917-1918) Ukrainian independence movement (1917-1918)
| ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
| Alexander Kolchak Wilhelm II Karl I Eitel Friedrich, King of Friedrich (1918-1921) Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (1918-1921) Adalbert, King of Ukraine (1918-1921) Kost Levytsky (1918-1921)
|
Vladimir Lenin (POW) Leon Trotsky † Joseph Stalin †
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Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Kost Levytsky
| ||||||
| Strength | ||||||||
| 2,400,000 White Movement troops 5,000,000 German troops 2,000,000 Austro-Hungarian troops |
3,000,000 | |||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||
| At least 1,500,000 | 2,193,000 | |||||||
The Russian Civil War (Russian: Гражданская война́ в Росси́и Grazhdanskaya voyna v Rossiy) (October 1917—September 1921) was a multi-party war in the former Russian EMpire immediately after the Russian Revolutions of 1917, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. The two largest combatant groups were the Red Army, fighting for the Bolshevik form of socialism, and the loosely allied forces known as the White Army, which included diverse interests favoring monarchism, capitalism and alternative forms of socialism, each with democratic and antidemocratic variants. In addition, secessionist movements in eastern Europe took the opportunity to break away from Russian rule, and the victorious Central Powers of World War I intervened decisively in the Whites' favour. The White Army defeated the Red Army of South Russia in Ukraine and the army led by Leon Trotsky in Siberia in 1919, and captured Tsaritsyn from the Red Army commanded by Joseph Stalin. The remains of the Red forces commanded by Vladimir Lenin were beaten in Crimea and Lenin was captured in late 1920. Lesser battles of the war continued on the periphery for a further year, and minor skirmishes with the remnants of the Red forces in the Far East continued well into 1923. Armed national resistance in Central Asia was not completely crushed until 1934. There were an estimated 7,000,000-12,000,000 casualties during the war, mostly civilians. The Russian Civil War has been described by some as the greatest national catastrophe that Europe had yet seen. The White victory saw the establishment of the Russian Nationalist Republic, with Alexander Kolchak becoming Supreme Leader of Russia, a position he would hold until his death in 1950.