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Essay on Trotsky in Civil War
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Exam of 3 pages for the course Revolution and dictatorship at AQA (Essay.)
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“The reds won the Russian Civil war because of the role ofTrotsky”
Assess the validity of this view.
Question is asking; Trotsky was the reason why the reds won in the civil
war.
The Russian Civil war broke out shortly after the October Revolution
because of discontent with the Bolsheviks. The white army was formed
which consisted of anti-Bolsheviks such as Tsarists, supporters of the PG
and SRs who opposed the Bolsheviks (red army). This essay will discuss
how the role of Trotsky was the reason for victory for red army in the civil
war. It can also be argued that the white army’s weaknesses and the
division of the army play a part in why the reds won however it is
important to remember how Trotsky created such a strong army which
defeated the whites. This was mostly down to Trotsky’s leadership which
is as follows.
Trotsky’s leadership skills were the reason that the red army defeated the
white army. Trotsky was intelligent in the ways in which he was able to
create such a strong army. Trotsky used conscription to gain troops- this
in fact did help the red army as in 1918 the reds only had 360,000 men
but by 1920, they had 5 million men. Trotsky also brought in 50,000 old
Tsarist officers who had experience to help control the armies- he was
able to do this by keeping their families hostage so they had to do it. This
proved to be beneficial as the officers trained and gave orders to the
soldiers. Trotsky’s leadership capabilities meant that the army remained
motivated, empowered and allowed them to fight united by a common
cause. Trotsky travelled by train to each battlefront in order to inspire his
troops and gave them determination to carry on. It demonstrated how
Trotsky played a key part because his involvement boosted the morale
which made the soldiers passionate about fighting which created a strong
army. Trotsky also used punishments as a way of maintaining loyalty, the
red army also had a great deal of desertions so Trotsky brought in the
death penalty so that the soldiers would have to fight. It is evident in the
numbers at how Trotsky was able to maintain soldiers and being in more
to fight for the reds- by having more men it meant that the armies could
be strategically placed to defeated the white armies on two fronts.
Without Trotsky, the army would not have been so effective and defeated
the whites. Trotsky united the soldiers giving them hope for a better
future, inspiring them and devoting them to the Bolsheviks. Trotsky
concocted a strong army with his military tactics and his motivational
personality- victory comes down to a strong army and Trotsky definitely
produced one of these which is why the reds won in the Russian Civil war.
Geographical factors were very beneficial for Trotsky and he used them
efficiently to enable success for the Bolsheviks. The red army found
themselves in a better position than the white army as they were focused
on industrial centres and cities such as St. Petersburg and Moscow. The
Bolsheviks took over the factories in Moscow and also Petrograd, this was
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