Russian Civil War

Table of Contents

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

For Students

Russian Civil War summary

Read Next

Iraqi Army Soldiers from the 9th Mechanized Division learning to operate and maintain M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks at Besmaya Combat Training Center, Baghdad, Iraq, 2011. Military training. Iraq war. U.S. Army

8 Deadliest Wars of the 21st Century

The Assassination of Leon Trotsky

American troops at the front in Italy. American soldiers on the Piave (river) front hurling a shower of hand grenades into the Austrian trenches, Varage, Italy; September 16, 1918. (World War I)

Leaders of World War I

Red Army (Soviet) soldiers in the Russian Revolution.

Russian Revolution Timeline

Communism - mosaic hammer and sickle with star on the Pavilion of Ukraine at the All Russia Exhibition Centre (also known as VDNKh) in Moscow. Communist symbol of the former Soviet Union. USSR

Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse?

Discover

Person paying with a credit card using a credit card terminal. Cashless payment, credit card reader

What Is a Cashless Society and How Does It Work?

Vietnam War. U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson awards the Distinguished Service Cross to First Lieutenant Marty A. Hammer, during a visit to military personnel, Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, October 26, 1966. President Johnson

Vietnam War Timeline

VAN, TURKEY - OCTOBER 25: A building and car ruined during the earthquake of Van-Ercis on October 25, 2011 in Van, Turkey. It is 604 killed and 4152 injured in Van-Ercis Earthquake.

What Is an Aftershock?

solar eclipse, sun, moon, astronomy, space

How Do You Tell the Difference Between Total, Annular, Solar, and Lunar Eclipses?

Albert Einstein in Washington, D.C. c. 1921-1923. Physicist

The Solar Eclipse That Made Albert Einstein a Science Celebrity

Julius Caesar in full Gaius Julius Caesar (100? BCE-44 BCE) statue in Rimini, Italy. Roman general and statesman and dictator

The Time Julius Caesar Was Captured by Pirates

African Americans demonstrating for voting rights in front of the White House as police and others watch, March 12, 1965. One sign reads, "We demand the right to vote everywhere." Voting Rights Act, civil rights.

Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement

History & Society

Russian Civil War

Russian history

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Mar 2, 2024 • Article History

Vladimir Lenin

See all media

Category: History & Society

Date:: June 1918 - 1920

Location:: Russia

Participants:: Bolshevik; France; Japan; Socialist Revolutionary Party; United Kingdom; United States; White Army

Key People:: Anton Ivanovich Denikin; Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze; Aleksey Maksimovich Kaledin; Vladimir Lenin; Boris Viktorovich Savinkov

See all related content →

Russian Civil War, (1918–20), conflict in which the Red Army successfully defended the newly formed Bolshevik government led by Vladimir I. Lenin against various Russian and interventionist anti-Bolshevik armies. Russia’s disastrous performance in World War I was one of the primary causes of the Russian Revolution of 1917, which swept aside the Romanov dynasty and installed a government that was eager to end the fighting. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918) whereby Russia yielded large portions of its territory to Germany caused a breach between the Bolsheviks (Communists) and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, who thereupon left the coalition. In the next ...(100 of 2113 words)

Access the full article

Help support true facts by becoming a member.