1. THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AOS2 CREATING A NEW SOCIETY
How did the Bolsheviks win the Civil War?

2. Murder of the Royal Family July 18 1918
MOTIVE 1:
White soldiers were close, and the family was assassinated to avoid them being rescued
MOTIVE 2:
Saving Bolshevik family could have inspired ant-Bolshevik forces
MOTIVE 4:
Difficulties in communication led to local authorities taking matters into their own hands, rather than waiting to hear from central leadership
MOTIVE 3:
Bolsheviks demonstrating that there would be no return to Tsarism in any form

3. Recapping through facts
The Bolsheviks faced not only enemy armies wishing to overthrow their regime, but also:
These enemies had support from countries such as Britain, France, America, Japan, and Poland
Peasant ‘Green’ armies were ravaging areas of Russia, attacking both white and red armies.
At the lowest point in the war, the Bolshevik’s retained power over only one-fifth of the old Russian Empire
How, then, did the Bolsheviks win the Civil War?

4. Learning Intention: Explain how the Bolsheviks won the Civil War
Explain the role played by the Cheka
Explain the role played by the Red Army
Explain the role played by Bolshevik propaganda
Identify the role played geographic location and the sense of unity
VCAA Key Knowledge 
The challenges the new regime faced in attempting to consolidate its power, including:
the Civil War
The Polish Soviet War
the contribution of significant individuals that changed society including:
Lenin
Trotsky
Felix Dzerzhinsky
the diverse revolutionary experiences of social groups and their responses to the challenges and changes to the conditions of everyday life, including:
Peasants
Kulaks
Workers

5. EXTERNAL THREAT OF FOREIGN INTERVENTIONS
The Civil War
WHITE ARMIES
GREEN ARMIES
Bolshevik Party
THE REDS
EXTERNAL THREAT OF FOREIGN INTERVENTIONS

6. EXTERNAL THREAT OF FOREIGN INTERVENTIONS
The Civil War
WHITE ARMIES
GREEN ARMIES
Bolshevik Party
THE REDS
THE RED ARMY
THE CHEKA
UNITY OF PURPOSE
CENTRAL LOCATION
EXTERNAL THREAT OF FOREIGN INTERVENTIONS

7. The Red Army
Formed January 1918 by Sovnarkom (not the same as the Red Guard)
Conscripted workers and peasants (therefore they were ‘actively supported’ by proletariat)
Trotsky became Commissar of War in March 1918 and led the Red Army
Grew to 5 million men by 1920
50,000 tsarist military officers, who were kept under surveillance by loyal Bolsheviks

8. Fact file: The Cheka
‘Like the sound of a bolt being shot, the two syllables, Che-Ka, would stop any conversation’ (Volkogobov)
FUNCTION: Instrument of terror, committing atrocities to enforce compliance to communist government
ENEMIES: White armies and any dissident workers and peasants.
IMPACT (1918): Exposed 142 counter-revolutionary organisations, suppressed 245 separate revolts, killed 8389 suspected persons and arrested , and that’s just in 20 provinces (Fitzpatrick)
EXTIMATED LARGER IMPACT: Executed 140,000 and killed another 140,000 in eliminating peasant uprisings
ALLEDGED CRIMES: Shooting bourgeois children as they left schools, imprisoning wives of political opponents, wounding prisoners before burying them alive, tying hot tin cans full of rats to victims’ stomachs

9. The Cheka
‘Like the sound of a bolt being shot, the two syllables, Che-Ka, would stop any conversation’ (Volkogobov)

10. Unity of Purpose
1920: Red Army defending the Russian border, appeared after the Russo-Polish war and warned that enemy armies -depicted as capitalists incited by a French officer and a Ukrainian hetman -may again invade.
Patriotism: Reds defending their own soil against enemies supported by foreign forces
Consolidating the gains of the revolution
White depicted as combined forces of evil, bourgeoisie and foreign capitalists

11. Defending a central location
Lenin in Moscow 1919
Conflict with Yudenich’s troops in Petrograd1919
The Red Army retained Moscow and Petrograd
This meant that they had control of equipment, ammunition, war supplies and importantly the hub of the rail system

12. White army division of purpose and strategy
Various White armies were influenced by diverse foreign motivations and political ideologies (including socialists and conservatives)
Geographical distance, not sharing equipment, not sharing strategies to infiltrate Red Armies
Did not have common strategies and many offensives were launched at different times, meaning the Bolsheviks could handle them

13. White army lack of propaganda
Despite desperation and hunger of peasants, Whites did not use propaganda to present a more desirable alternative to the Reds
As many whites did not approach of land seizure, they had less commitment from peasants
Whites relied on support of foreign allies, meaning Lenin could accuse them being puppets of foreign allies

14. Bolshevik Civil War Propaganda
‘Have you enlisted in the army?’
‘The stake of the interventionist is overbid’
‘The enemy at the gates’
‘The deserters nightmare’
‘For a United Russia’
‘The victory of the war is the cooperation of workers and peasants’
1920

15. Create a mnemonic
Create a mnemonic that helps you retain information about the Bolsheviks were successful in the Civil War
Cheka: The Cheka helped prevent the threat of the Green Army by…
Location that was central: Because the Bolsheviks were situation in a relatively central location, it meant…
Red Army: The role of the Red Army was crucial, evident in…
Unity of purpose: The central location of the Bolsheviks meant…
Propaganda: The Bolshevik’s used propaganda to…

16. Summary
The royal family were assassinated in the Ekaterinburg on 17 July 1918 whilst being transported back to Moscow to face trial
The Bolsheviks were successful in the Civil war through the size of the Red Army and the surveillance and intimidation techniques of the Cheka
The also had a great sense of purpose than the White Armies, and held powerful and well resourced central locations
The White armies were not unified and did not use propaganda to gain support of the peasants
Dr. Zhivago provides a fictional yet poignant representation of life after the Great War in Russia