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Bolshevik consolidation and the Civil War, 1917 to 21
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Seizing Petrograd was one thing. Keeping power across all of Russia meant removing rivals, leaving the war and winning a brutal civil war.
Early decrees and removing opposition
Decree on Land: land taken from the nobles and church for the peasants.
Decree on Peace: a call to end the war. Other decrees brought workers' control of factories and set up the Cheka (secret police, December 1917).
The Constituent Assembly was elected in November 1917, but the Socialist Revolutionaries won the most seats, so Lenin closed it in January 1918 after one day.
The Tsar and his family were executed in July 1918.
Decree on Peace: a call to end the war. Other decrees brought workers' control of factories and set up the Cheka (secret police, December 1917).
The Constituent Assembly was elected in November 1917, but the Socialist Revolutionaries won the most seats, so Lenin closed it in January 1918 after one day.
The Tsar and his family were executed in July 1918.
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, March 1918
Lenin made peace with Germany at almost any price.
Russia lost huge areas in the west, including Poland, the Baltic lands, Finland and Ukraine, with much of its farmland, coal and industry.
Many Russians were furious, and opponents of the Bolsheviks were pushed towards civil war.
Russia lost huge areas in the west, including Poland, the Baltic lands, Finland and Ukraine, with much of its farmland, coal and industry.
Many Russians were furious, and opponents of the Bolsheviks were pushed towards civil war.
The Civil War, 1918 to 21
Reds (Bolsheviks) fought Whites (tsarists, liberals and others) and foreign forces, including Britain, France, the USA and Japan.
Why the Reds won: they held the central area with Moscow and Petrograd and the railways; Trotsky built a disciplined Red Army; propaganda used foreign intervention to rally support; the Whites were divided, spread out, and had no shared aims.
Why the Reds won: they held the central area with Moscow and Petrograd and the railways; Trotsky built a disciplined Red Army; propaganda used foreign intervention to rally support; the Whites were divided, spread out, and had no shared aims.
Why did Lenin close the Constituent Assembly in January 1918?
- The elections gave most seats to the Socialist Revolutionaries, not the Bolsheviks.
- Allowing it to govern would have ended Bolshevik rule.
- So Lenin used Red Guards to shut it down after one day.
Answer: Because the Bolsheviks had lost the election to it.
Decrees on Land and Peace won support; the Cheka, closing the Constituent Assembly and executing the Tsar removed opposition. Brest-Litovsk (1918) cost huge territory. The Reds won the Civil War through geography, Trotsky's Red Army, propaganda and White divisions.
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