✦ History

Russian Civil War

November 7, 1917 – June 16, 1923

Result Bolshevik victory

Multi-party conflict in the former Russian Empire from 1917 to 1922, sparked by the Bolsheviks' overthrow of the Provisional Government in the October Revolution. The two largest combatants were the Red Army under Vladimir Lenin and the anti-Bolshevik White forces, along with nationalist and peasant movements; the Bolshevik victory led to the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922.

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Battles and events 68

November 8–13, 1917
Kerensky–Krasnov uprising Defeat of Kerensky Saint Petersburg Governorate Vladimir Lenin, Alexander Kerensky, Pyotr Krasnov
1918 – 1925
Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War Bolshevik victory Soviet Union Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, Woodrow Wilson
1918 – 1920
Georgian–Ossetian conflicts of 1918-1920 Transcaucasian/Georgian victory South Ossetia
January 27 – May 15, 1918
Finnish Civil War Finnish Whites victory Finland Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Ernst Linder
January 30, 1918
Battle of Kruty Kruty
February 1918 – May 1918
Ice Cruise of the Baltic Fleet Transfer of the Baltic Fleet to Soviet-controlled harbours. Baltic Sea
February 1918
Donbas-Don operation Donbas Lavr Kornilov, Anton Denikin, Alexander Kutepov
February 5–8, 1918
Battle of Kiev (1918) Bolshevik victory Kyiv
February 22 – May 13, 1918
Ice March Ice March Lavr Kornilov, Anton Denikin, Ivan Sorokin
February 25, 1918
Steppe March Survival of the Don Army Don Host Oblast
March 1918
Kolesov's Campaign Kizyl–Tepe Agreement
March 8 – April 6, 1918
Battle of Tampere Finnish White victory Tampere
March 11 – May 7, 1918
Iași–Don March
April 13–25, 1918
Crimea Operation (1918) Dissolution of the Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic
May 14 – September 10, 1918
Revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion Revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion Leon Trotsky, Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Mikhail Frunze
June 22 – November 20, 1918
Kuban Offensive White victory Kuban Ivan Sorokin, Alexei Ivanovich Avtonomov
July 1, 1918 – January 1, 1920
Battle of Tsaritsyn White victory in 1919; Bolshevik victory in 1920 Tsaritsyn Joseph Stalin, Kliment Voroshilov, Semyon Budyonny
July 1918
Sochi conflict Inconclusive Abkhazia Anton Denikin, Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein
July 6–21, 1918
Yaroslavl Uprising Beginning of the Red Terror in Yaroslavl Mikhail Frunze
August 16, 1918
Battle of Lake Baikal Czechoslovak victory
September 5–10, 1918
Kazan Operation Red Army victory
September 9–28, 1918
Simbirsk Operation Red Army victory Ulyanovsk
November 12, 1918
Izhevsk–Votkinsk Uprising Red Army victory
November 17, 1918 – December 1919
British campaign in the Baltic (1918–1919) Anglo-Soviet military stalemate Estonian victory Baltic Sea
November 18, 1918 – March 1919
Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919 Soviet victory in Eastern Belorussia Józef Piłsudski, Silvestras Žukauskas, Max Hoffmann
November 28, 1918 – March 21, 1920
Heimosodat Leon Trotsky, Kurt Martti Wallenius, Jukums Vācietis
December 1918
Northern Caucasus Operation (1918–1919) White Army victory
December 5, 1918 – August 11, 1920
Latvian War of Independence * Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty * West Russian Volunteer Army evacuate to East Prussia Latvia Kārlis Ulmanis
1919
Odessa Operation (1919) White Army victory
1919
Southern Front counteroffensive White victory
February 14, 1919 – March 18, 1921
Polish–Soviet War Polish victory Poland and Ukraine Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, Kliment Voroshilov
March 1919 – April 1919
Spring offensive of the White Army White victory Ural Mikhail Frunze, Alexander Kolchak, Radola Gajda
May 1919
Battle for the Donbas (1919) Russian White victory Anton Denikin, Nestor Makhno, Pyotr Krasnov
May 27, 1919
Bender Uprising Romanian–French victory Ferdinand I of Romania
June 5–23, 1919
Battle of Cēsis (1919) Estonian-Latvian victory Cēsis
June 8, 1919
Vyoshenskaya Uprising Insurgent victory
June 16, 1919
1919 Soviet invasion of Ukraine Anton Denikin, Nestor Makhno, Pyotr Krasnov
August 18, 1919
Capture of Kiev by the White Army White Army victory
September 25 – October 19, 1919
Battle of Bogdat White victory Grigory Semyonov
September 26, 1919
Battle of Peregonovka Makhnovists victory Perehonivka Nestor Makhno
September 28 – November 14, 1919
Battle of Petrograd Soviet victory Battle of Petrograd Leon Trotsky, Nikolai Yudenich
October 11 – November 18, 1919
Orel–Kursk operation Red victory Orel–Kursk operation Anton Denikin
November 18, 1919
Advance on Moscow (1919) Beginning of the catastrophic retreat of the AFSR Don Host Oblast Leon Trotsky, Semyon Budyonny, Anton Denikin
December 10–16, 1919
Battle of Kiev (December 1919) Bolshevik victory Kyiv
December 12, 1919
Kharkiv Operation (December 1919) Soviet victory Kharkiv Oblast Semyon Budyonny, Anton Denikin
December 31, 1919
Donbas operation (1919) Red Army victory Donbas
1920
Soviet invasion of Azerbaijan Soviet victory South Caucasus Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Anastas Mikoyan, Mikhail Grigoryevich Yefremov
1920
Pitchfork uprising Red Army victory Ufa Governorate
January 3–25, 1920
Battle of Daugavpils Polish–Latvian victory Daugavpils Edward Rydz-Śmigły
January 17 – April 7, 1920
North Caucasus Operation (1920) Bolshevik victory Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Anton Denikin
February 8, 1920
Odessa Operation (1920) Red Army victory
March 1920
Nikolayevsk incident Nikolayevsk-on-Amur
April 24 – June 13, 1920
Kiev offensive (1920) Red Army victory Kiev offensive (1920) Józef Piłsudski, Semyon Budyonny, Edward Rydz-Śmigły
May 1920
1920 Georgian coup attempt
May 18, 1920
Anzali Operation Eventual establishment of the Persian Socialist Soviet Republic Bandar-e Anzali
August 12–25, 1920
Battle of Warsaw (1920) Polish victory Warsaw Józef Piłsudski, Władysław Sikorski, Mikhail Tukhachevsky
August 19, 1920
Tambov Rebellion Tambov Mikhail Tukhachevsky
August 28 – September 2, 1920
Bukhara operation (1920) Communist victory Bukhara Mikhail Frunze
September 24 – November 29, 1920
Soviet invasion of Armenia Soviet victory First Republic of Armenia
November 3, 1920
Northern Taurida Operation Soviet-Makhnovist victory
November 7–17, 1920
Siege of Perekop (1920) Soviet–Makhnovist victory Perekop Semyon Budyonny, Mikhail Frunze, Pyotr Wrangel
December 31, 1920
Slutsk uprising Soviet victory
1921 – 1922
Russian famine of 1921–1922 Volga Region
March 1–18, 1921
Kronstadt rebellion Kronstadt Leon Trotsky, Mikhail Tukhachevsky
May 1921 – December 1921
Svaneti uprising Uprising crushed Lavrentiy Beria
May 1921 – December 1921
Kakhet–Khevsureti rebellion Rebellion defeated
August 1921
Soviet intervention in Mongolia Red Army victory Khorloogiin Choibalsan, Ivan Nikitich Smirnov, Mikhail Matiyasevich
September 1921 – June 1923
1921 Yakut revolt Vladivostok

Key commanders

Reds 23

Joseph Stalin Member of the Revolutionary Military Council, Bolshevik leader; political commissar at Tsaritsyn and on the Southern and Western Fronts Vladimir Lenin Leader of the Bolsheviks, Head of the Soviet government; directed the Red war effort Semyon Timoshenko Red Army cavalry commander Kliment Voroshilov Red Army commander, Defended Tsaritsyn; political leader of the 1st Cavalry Army Leon Trotsky People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, Founder and supreme commander of the Red Army Yakov Sverdlov Chairman of the VTsIK, Soviet head of state; organized the party and state apparatus, 1917-1919 Felix Dzerzhinsky Chairman of the Cheka, Directed the Red Terror and the suppression of counter-revolution Mikhail Tukhachevsky Red Army commander, Commanded the 5th Army in the recapture of Siberia from Kolchak Semyon Budyonny Commander of the 1st Cavalry Army, Led the Red cavalry against Denikin and Wrangel Mikhail Frunze Red Army commander, Defeated Kolchak on the Eastern Front and Wrangel in Crimea Nestor Makhno Otaman of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine, Anarchist leader; allied with the Reds against the Whites at times and fought the Reds at others Viktor Chernov military commander Sergey Kamenev military commander Jukums Vācietis military commander Andreï Snesarev military commander Vasily Blyukher military commander Mironov, Filipp Kuzmich military commander August Kork military commander Aleksandr Shuvayev military commander Ivan Sorokin military commander Alexei Ivanovich Avtonomov military commander Rudolf Sivers military commander Lavrentiy Beria military commander

Whites 16

Lavr Kornilov Commander of the Volunteer Army, Co-founded the Volunteer Army; killed at Ekaterinodar, April 1918 Anton Denikin Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of South Russia, Led the 1919 advance on Moscow Alexander Kolchak Supreme Ruler of Russia, Headed the White government at Omsk, November 1918 - January 1920 Pyotr Wrangel Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Last White commander in South Russia; evacuated Crimea in November 1920 Nikolai Yudenich Commander of the Northwestern Army, Led the October 1919 offensive on Petrograd Pyotr Krasnov military commander Alexander Kutepov military commander Vladimir Vitkovski military commander Mikhail Alekseyev military commander Woodrow Wilson belligerent leader Grigory Semyonov military commander Robert L. Eichelberger military commander Radola Gajda military commander Jan Syrový military commander Mikhail Diterikhs military commander Wacław Iwaszkiewicz-Rudoszański military commander

Soviet Russia 6

Joseph Stalin belligerent leader Vladimir Lenin belligerent leader Leon Trotsky military commander Mikhail Tukhachevsky military commander Semyon Budyonny military commander Sergey Kamenev military commander

Poland and Ukraine 6

Józef Piłsudski belligerent leader Władysław Sikorski belligerent leader Edward Rydz-Śmigły military commander Józef Haller belligerent leader Franciszek Latinik belligerent leader Tadeusz Jordan-Rozwadowski military commander

Poland 7

Józef Piłsudski Commander-in-Chief of Polish forces, Directed the 16 August counteroffensive that decided the battle Władysław Sikorski belligerent leader Edward Rydz-Śmigły belligerent leader Józef Haller belligerent leader Franciszek Latinik belligerent leader Tadeusz Jordan-Rozwadowski military commander Symon Petliura military commander

Russian SFSR 9

Mikhail Frunze military commander Khorloogiin Choibalsan military commander Ivan Nikitich Smirnov military commander Mikhail Matiyasevich military commander Konstantin Neumann military commander Mikhail Tukhachevsky military commander Anastas Mikoyan military commander Mikhail Grigoryevich Yefremov military commander Mikhail Levandovsky military commander

Central Powers 6

Pehr Evind Svinhufvud belligerent leader Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim participant Ernst Linder military commander Ali-Agha Shikhlinski military commander Samad bey Mehmandarov military commander Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein military commander

Russia 2

Leon Trotsky military commander Jukums Vācietis military commander

Estonia 1

Kurt Martti Wallenius military commander

Russian Provisional Government 6

Alexander Kerensky military commander Pyotr Krasnov military commander Lavr Kornilov military commander Anton Denikin military commander Alexander Kutepov military commander Mikhail Alekseyev military commander

Latvia and allies 4

Józef Piłsudski military commander Silvestras Žukauskas military commander Max Hoffmann military commander Kārlis Ulmanis belligerent leader

Bolsheviks 1

Mikhail Frunze military commander

Kingdom of Romania and allies 1

Ferdinand I of Romania military commander

Makhnovshchina 1

Nestor Makhno military commander

Poland and allies 1

Edward Rydz-Śmigły military commander

South Russia 4

Anton Denikin military commander Pyotr Krasnov military commander Pyotr Wrangel military commander Alexander Kutepov military commander

Japan 1

Grigory Semyonov military commander