Essay Question answered "By 1921 the Bolsheviks had successfully overcome the problems confronting them after taking power in 1917" Explain why you agree or disagree this view (25marks). I received an A for this question.
By 1921 the Bolsheviks had successfully overcome the problems confronting them after taking
power in 1917. Explain why you agree or disagree with this view. (25 mark)
There is evidence to agree with the view “By 1921 the Bolsheviks had successfully overcome the
problems confronting them after taking power in 1917” such as they had won the civil war and had
ended their involvement in WW1. However, there is also evidence to disagree with this view such as
they had to introduced the NEP because they faced economic collapse and widespread rebellion,
there was still opposition and they didn’t have full control over the country.
By 1921, Russia had basically spent the last 7 years at war whether it was WW1, Russo-Polish War or
the Civil War and the people of Russia wanted peace at last. Evidence to agree with the statement
“By 1921 the Bolsheviks had successfully overcome the problems confronting them after taking
power in 1917” is they ended their involvement in WW1. Lenin knew there was no army to fight the
Germans, who began to advance into the Ukraine, and so he sent Trotsky to meet the Germans to
negotiate a peace treaty which resulted in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in march 1918. Lenin knew
that the soldiers had no desire to fight and so made it one of his promises during his campaign to
end the involvement in the war and so he had to follow through with it. This gained masses of
support from the people however, not everyone agreed with Lenin’s decision such as patriotic
Russians who were horrified that Lenin would give away large chunks of land causing them to join
anti-Bolshevik forces also it caused splits in the Bolshevik party. All opposition to the Treaty of Brest-
Litovsk made the Civil War inevitable. However, with that being said the Bolsheviks did successfully
overcome the problem to do with WW1 after taking power in 1917 as they followed through with
their promise and done what was best from the people.
Another piece of evidence that agrees with the statement “by 1921 the Bolsheviks had successfully
overcome the problems confronting them after taking power in 1917” is the fact they won the Civil
War in 1921. The Bolsheviks were the main group involved in the Civil War, they were known as the
reds, their opposition were the whites which was made up of different groups of people with
different aims. By the end of 1918 the civil war wasn’t going well for the reds as they suffered a
series of defeats however, in 1919 they attacked ferociously and by 1920 the main threat from the
whites were over. The Bolsheviks had successfully overcome this problem as they had a number of
factors that helped them win the Civil War. For example; geographical factors, they had good
organisation and communication as they all had the same aim – to stay in power to build the new
socialist society – and they had good leadership as they had a superb leader, Trotsky. They also had
support from the peasants which was crucial as they supplied the main body of soldiers for both
sides and the reds offered them what they wanted. Even though the civil war lead to the Russo-
Polish War 1919-1921, the Bolsheviks were still able to “successfully overcome the problems
confronting them after taking power in 1917”.
However, there is also evidence to disagree with the view “by 1921 the Bolsheviks had successfully
overcome the problems confronting them after taking power in 1917”. For example; the Bolsheviks
still faced opposition from many directions however, the main threat to the Communist government
came from the peasants. The most serious revolt was within the Tambov region which began in 1920
and didn’t end until June 1921. For almost a year the red army were unable to deal with the peasant
army which was led by Alexander Antonov. Even though they had overcome the Civil War it is clear
that not all peasants supported them. Another opposition group was the Kronstadt sailors who were
the heroes of the 1917 revolution. They were now in close contact with the workers and no longer
supported the Bolsheviks and in march 1921 they mutinied in hope of starting general revolt against
the Bolsheviks. Trotsky had to use troops to crush them, overall 20,000 men were killed or wounded
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