The Russian Civil War

Revolution is never simple. Lenin and the Bolsheviks quickly found that not everyone in Russia or outside of it approved of their new radical agenda. Russia was plunged into a civil war of devastating circumstances. How would its new leader manage and how much were the needs of the people at the front of his mind?

In this film Dr Lara Douds (Northumbria University) looks at the origins and development of the Russian Civil War, and asks how the Bolsheviks were able to win. Historians often focus on military strategy and strategic geography, but Dr Douds suggests we need to take into consideration the significance of Lenin’s policy of ‘War Communism’ into the economy, and his pragmatism and willingness to adapt theory to circumstances. Often, at key points, where victory and defeat were in the balance, it was Lenin’s offer to the peasants that led them to believe that they would be better off under the Bolsheviks than the Whites.

Dr Douds talks about the importance of the 10th Party Congress and the New Economic Policy and Lenin’s calls for party unity to stabilise the country during his final years and decline.