White movement
White Army links here. For other uses, see White Army (disambiguation)The
White movement, whose military arm is known as the
White Army (Белая Армия) or
White Guard (Белая "вардия, белогвардейцы) and whose members are known as
Whites (Белые, or the derogatory Беляки) or
White Russians (a term which has
other meanings) comprised some of the
Russian forces, both political and military, which opposed the
Bolsheviks after the
October Revolution and fought against the
Red Army (as well as the nationalist
Green Army and the anarchist
Black Army) during the
Russian Civil War from
1918 to
1921.
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White Army armoured train's flag with "To Moscow!" slogan inscribed on it, now stored in the Moscow Red Army museum |
The designation
White has several interpretations. First, it stood in contradistinction to the
Reds—the revolutionary
Red Army who supported
the soviets and
Communism. Second, the word "white" had monarchist associations: historically each Russian
Tsar was solemnly called the
white tsar. Third, the word "white" was often associated with freedom, as in the Domostroi book where free land is called "white land".
Strictly speaking, no monolithic "White Army" existed; lacking central coordination, the White forces were never more than a loose confederation of counter-revolutionary forces. The most common goal of the white forces was the overthrow the Bolshevik government in favor of the
Russian Constituent Assembly, a democratically elected body which was to determine the future political fate of Russia.
The officers who made up the core of the armies upheld a variety of political orientations,
monarchist, republican democratic, occasionally supporters of the
social revolutionary, and any other political orientation opposed to the
October Revolution and the
Bolsheviks. A majority of them believed in a united Russia (were opposed to nationalist separatism) and tended to gravitate towards a monarchy or a conservative republican government. Those of more left wing (i.e. leftist SR,
Menshevik) or nationalistically separatist orientations were known occasionally to switch sides.
The rank-and-file troops of the White Army included both active opponents of the Bolsheviks (many
Cossacks, for example), and spanned a variety of volunteers and conscripts, from nobles to peasants.
Some leaders of the White movement, particularly
General Wrangel, formulated political concepts based on Russian
traditionalism that were taken up and developed in émigré circles after the end of the Civil War by Russian thinkers such as
Ivan Ilyin; who had many philosophical similarities with the
Slavophiles. This became known as the "White Idea".
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Emblem of Kolchak government |
Monarchist tendencies reached a peak amidst the veterans of the White movement, while republicanism became rarer. The callous liberal policies of
Alexander Kerensky and his socialist-democratic oriented provisional government were seen as largely responsible for preparing the country for Lenin's takeover. In August of 1922, two months before its defeat, the far eastern White Army of General
Mikhail Ditterix went as far as to convene the
Zemskiy Sobor of Preamursk, and elect (without his participation)
Grand Duke Nikolai Nikoaievich Romanov as
tsar of all Russia.
There was also external groups such as the
Green Army as well as the
Black Army of
Nestor Makhno, who declared themselves against both the Reds and Whites, although occasionally they sought alliances with one side or the other.
At times, the Western Allies of the
Triple Entente, the Central Powers, and other foreign forces provided assistance to several White Army units. This caused the Soviets to accuse the White Army of representing the interests of foreign powers.
The
Russian Civil War between Whites and Reds raged until
1921, with isolated pockets of resistance continuing in the Far East until
1923. The White Army, with the occasional aid of Allied (and sometimes, Central powers) forces from outside Russia (
Japanese,
British,
Canadian,
French,
American,
German,
Greek,
Czech) held sway in some areas (especially
Siberia,
Ukraine and the
Crimea) for periods of time and put considerable bodies of troops into the field. But they failed to unite or to co-operate effectively amongst themselves, and the
Bolshevik Red Army eventually gained the upper hand.
The major theaters of the White armies can be grouped as follows:
*
The Southern front: Started in December of 1917 by General Laurus Kornilov and General Mikhail Alekseev, then headed by General Denikin and named the "Armed Forces of the South of Russia". This front had the most massive scale operations and overall posed the most serious threat to the Bolsheviks. In the beginning, it based itself entirely on volunteer support, a significant amount of it coming from the
cossacks who were amidst the first to protest against Bolshevik rule. In 1919, after the Denikin offense on Moscow collapsed, the army was forced into a massive retreat. General Wrangel reorganized the army in Crimea, formed a provisional government (recognized by France), and began a new advance. It quickly failed when Polish premiere
Józef Piłsudski made a separate peace with the Soviets and withdrew Poland from the war.
* The Eastern (Siberian) front: Started in the spring of 1918 as an underground movement amidst army officers and right leaning socialist forces. The front began a major offensive in collaboration with Czech troops who were stuck in Siberia (the Bolsheviks would not permit them to leave Soviet Russia). Admiral Kolchak headed the resistance and a provisional Russian government. The army made significant advances in 1919, but was pushed back to the far east where it continued to resist up to October of 1922.
* The Northern and North-Western fronts: Started immediately after the Bolshevik takeover by
Pyotr Krasnov, then headed by General Udenich, General Miller, Prince Liven, and others. These fronts had less coordination than the Southern Army of Denikin, including a few problematic adventurists such as General Bermont Avalov and General Bulakh Bulakhovich (the former declared war on neighboring
Estonia). The most notable achievement was the attack on
Petrograd, then the capital of Soviet Russia.
White activity re-concentrated in
émigré circles. Considerable numbers of anti-Soviet Russians clustered in
Belgrade,
Berlin,
Paris,
Harbin,
Istanbul, and
Shanghai, setting up military and cultural networks which lasted through
World War II. There was also a sizable community of
Harbin Russians in China. Thereafter White Russian activity found a new principal home in the
United States.
Many "white" organizations were formed for the purpose of liberating Russia from the Soviet regime, such as the
Russian All-Military Union, the
Brotherhood of Russian Truth, and the
National Alliance of Russian Solidarists. This made them the targets of terrorism and infiltration by the Soviet secret police.
Russian cadet corps were founded in several countries in order to prepare the next generation for the "spring campaign" (a term coined by white emigres meaning a hoped for renewal of their campaign against the Bolsheviks). A significant amount of these cadets volunteered for service in the
Russian Corps during
World War II.
Soviet historiography has tended to paint the Civil War as primarily a war of foreign intervention, White generals were stereotyped as monarchists who were bankrolled by foreign governments and business tycoons, wealthy Russian land owners, and the
Russian Orthodox Church. The White army was portrayed as an army formed of people from the upper classes (the nobility) as well as forced peasant conscripts.
*
Mikhail Vasilevich Alekseev *
Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz*
Pavel Bermondt-Avalov*
Anton Ivanovich Denikin*
Mikhail Gordeevich Drozdovsky*
Alexander Ilyich Dutov *
Ivan Aleksandrovich Ilyin*
Aleksei Maksimovich Kaledin*
Aleksandr Vasilevich Kolchak*
Lavr Georgevich Kornilov*
Pyotr Nikolayevich Krasnov*
Alexander Pavlovich Kutepov*
Viacheslav Grigorevich Naumenko [
1][
2][
3]
*
Sergey Leonidovich Markov*
Vladimir Zinovyevich May-Mayevsky*
Evgenii Karlovich Miller *
Grand Duke Nicholas*
Viktor Leonidovich Pokrovsky *
Grigory Mikhailovich Semenov*
Andrei Grigoriyevich Shkuro*
Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg*
Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams*
Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel*
Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich*
Volunteer Army*
Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War*
Russian All-Military Union*
Russian Corps*
Russian Liberation Army and the
Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia*
Operation Keelhaul*
The Betrayal of Cossacks*
Latvian Riflemen*
White-*
Anti-Bolshevik Russia in pictures*
Museum and Archives of the White Movement*
Memory and Honour Association*
History of the White Movement*
The Tarasov Saga*
White Russian Emigre Interview*
White Emigre Radio Documentary
