Southern Front of the Russian Civil War
Southern Front | ||
---|---|---|
Part of the | ||
Result | Bolshevik victory |
Don Republic
Crimea
Kuban Republic
Russian SFSR
Ukrainian SSR
Red Estonia[1]
Ankara Government
Georgia
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Mikhail Tukhachevsky
Semyon Budyonny
Mikhail Frunze
Kliment Voroshilov
Joseph Stalin
Kâzım Karabekir
- Volunteer Army
- Don Army
- Caucasus Army
- Wrangel's Forces
Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine
Turkish Land Forces
Georgian People's Guard
Armenian National Corps
National Army of the Azerbaijani DR
Armed Forces of South Russia 150,000
Ukrainian People's Army 100,000 (at its peak in 1918) Georgian People's Guard 27,000 (active) 87.000 (potential conscripts) Armenian National Corps 40,000 (1920) National Army of the ADR
40,000 (1920)The Southern Front was a military theatre of the Russian Civil War.
Don revolts and formation of the Volunteer Army
In the aftermath of the
Militarily, the White forces remained weak into the spring of 1918. The ranks of the
During the months of March and April 1918, the Volunteer Army incorporated anticommunist Kuban Cossacks into its ranks and made an abortive attempt to capture the Kuban capital of
The anticommunist insurrection in the Don began in early April 1918 amid Cossack and peasant furor against Bolshevik food-requisitioning detachments. As ordinary Don Cossacks eagerly took up arms that spring, a Don Cossack Army was formed and a new elected ataman, General Pyotr N. Krasnov, took office. Krasnov established cordial relations with the German army of occupation in neighboring Ukraine, and through them he received arms and munitions, some of which he forwarded to the Volunteer Army.[6]
During the summer and fall of 1918, the Don Cossacks under Krasnov continued to the campaign to liberate their homeland from the Red Army while Denikin’s Volunteer Army cleared the Kuban Cossack Host and other areas of the North Caucasus of Red forces. In the winter of 1918 – 19, after the Volunteer Army had shattered the main Red forces in the North Caucasus, it redirected its efforts to the north in the Donbas region as the Don Cossacks again lost heart and began to give ground to their Red opponents.[7]
The Armed Forces of South Russia
On 8 January 1919, as the
In the spring of 1919, anticommunist revolts again erupted among Don Cossacks behind the Red Army front in the upper Don region. Despite considerable Soviet efforts to crush the rebellion, the Don Cossack insurgents managed to hold out until the Don Cossack Army was able to go over to the offensive and relieve them in early June. Meanwhile, the Volunteer Army in the Donbas region was also able to go over the offensive, managing to take Kharkiv on 25 June, Kursk on 20 September and Oryol on 13 October. On the eastern end of the AFSR’s front, the Caucasian Army under Baron Pyotr Wrangel captured Tsaritsyn on 30 June.[8]
Despite the AFSR’s successes in the summer and autumn of 1919, its rear was beset by rampant corruption among administrators, anti-White revolts among various ethnic groups, anarchist uprisings,
After reaching the Crimea in early April 1920 Denikin, the Commander-in-chief of the AFSR, passed all his powers to General Wrangel, who re-formed these units into his
Wrangel's Russian Army
The formation of
The final assault on the Crimea by the Bolshevik re-constituted Southern Front (early November, 1920) under the command of Mikhail Frunze proved successful in defeating the last great White threat to the Reds. Entente vessels evacuated the last survivors of the White armies to Istanbul (16 November 1920). In 1921 they transferred to Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, where they finally disbanded.
Ukraine in the Southern Front
At the Same time, the Reds were also fighting against the Ukrainians, as well as the Poles. With the defeat of Germany in the First World War, the pro-German Government, The
Georgia in the Civil War
With the defeat of the Whites in 1920, the Georgian Democratic Republic was under threat from the Red Army moving ever closer to her borders. The Reds offered an alliance with Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in order to defeat the Whites in the Caucasus etc. The Georgians refused, going for a policy of neutrality; they also hoped they could negotiate their official independence with the Bolsheviks. Several attempts by Russians and Soviets to take over Georgia failed. In April 1920, the Soviets managed to place a Bolshevik regime in Azerbaijan, mainly due to the help of the
The peace with Georgia, though initially supported strongly by Lenin, finally ended on February 11 when the Armenian and Georgian Bolsheviks organized a revolt in Lorri. The Armenia-based 11th Red Army marched on Tbilisi, while other Russian forces invaded from various directions. By February 25, the desperate resistance of the poorly organized Georgian military was broken at the capital and the Georgian Bolsheviks proclaimed the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. Almost simultaneously, Turkish troops took control over Ardahan Province, Artvin and Batumi. On March 17, the Menshevik and Soviet representatives agreed to a ceasefire and joined their efforts to recover Batumi. On March 18, the leadership of the DRG left Georgia by the French ship Ernest Renan. By the Moscow-dictated Treaty of Kars with Turkey (October 13, 1921), Georgia had to abandon its claims on Artvin and Ardahan provinces in return for Batumi granted autonomous status within Soviet Georgia. Abkhazia and South Ossetia also gained autonomy.
Armenia
Since 1918, the Armenian Republic had been at odds with almost all of her neighbours, several wars were fought with her fellow newly formed Caucasian nations, as well as a hard-fought war with the Turks in 1920. With enemies all around, the Armenians were weak and unable to defend themselves against an invasion by the Bolsheviks.
Azerbaijan
By March 1920, it was obvious that Soviet Russia would attack the much-needed Baku. Vladimir Lenin said that the invasion was justified by the fact that Soviet Russia couldn't survive without Baku oil. According to prevailing opinion in Moscow, Russian Bolsheviks were to assist Baku proletariat in overthrowing the "counter-revolutionary nationalists."
After major political crisis, the Fifth Cabinet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic gave its resignations on April 1, 1920. On April 25, 1920, the Russian XI Red Army crossed into Azerbaijan and entered Baku on April 27. They demanded the dissolution of Azerbaijani Parliament (Majlis) and set up their own Bolshevik government headed by Nariman Narimanov. The deputies obliged to do so to avoid bloodshed, and on April 28, 1920, the ADR officially ceased to exist. The Red Army met very little resistance from Azerbaijani forces in Baku, which were tied up on Karabakh front.
In May 1920, there was a major uprising against the occupying Russian XI Army in Ganja, intent on restoring Musavatists in power. The uprising was crushed by the Bolsheviks by May 31. Leaders of the ADR either fled to Menshevik Georgia, Turkey and Iran, or were captured by Bolsheviks, like Mammed Amin Rasulzade (who was later allowed to emigrate) and executed (like Gen. Selimov, Gen. Sulkevich, Gen. Agalarov, a total of over 20 generals), or assassinated by Armenian militants like Fatali Khan Khoyski and Behbudagha Javanshir. Most students and citizens travelling abroad remained in those countries never to return again to their country.
See also
References
- ^ a b Thomas & Boltowsky (2019), p. 8.
- ^ Kenez, Peter, Civil War in South Russia, 1918: The First Year of the Volunteer Army (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971) 59.
- ^ Kenez, 68
- ^ Mueggenberg, Brent, The Cossack Struggle Against Communism, 1917 – 1945 (Jefferson: McFarland, 2019) 51 - 55
- ^ Mawdsley, Evan, The Russian Civil War (New York: Pegasus, 2007) 21 - 22
- ^ Mueggenberg, 59 – 62, 66 – 71
- ^ Mawdsley, 85 - 98
- ^ Mawdsley, 161 - 177
- ^ Mueggenberg, 161 - 177
- ^ Mawdsley, 224 - 225
Works cited
- Thomas, Nigel; Boltowsky, Toomas (2019). Armies of the Baltic Independence Wars 1918–20. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781472830777.
Further reading
- Peter Kenez. Civil War in South Russia, 1918: The First Year of the Volunteer Army, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1971.
- Peter Kenez. Civil War in South Russia, 1919-1920: The Defeat of the Whites, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1977.
- Brent Mueggenberg. The Cossack Struggle Against Communism, 1917 - 1945, Jefferson: McFarland, 2019, ISBN 978-1-4766-7948-8
- Evan Mawdsley. The Russian Civil War, New York: Pegasus, 2005, ISBN 978-1-933648-15-6
- Ukrainian Armies 1914-55. P.Abbot and E.Pinak, Osprey Publishing
- The Russian Civil War (1), (2), Mikhail Khvostov, Opsrey Publishing
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