Why did they fail?
And why didn't we engage in a similar way in the Chinese Civil War to keep another giant nation from falling into the hands of communism?
>>1224864
>Why did they fail?
Because by and large, the Whites were composed of the same incompetent boobs that made up the government for the Czar.
>And why didn't we engage in a similar way in the Chinese Civil War to keep another giant nation from falling into the hands of communism?
If by "We" you mean various western powers, we did. It wasn't enough, like in China.
>>1224864
Reds were backed by God.
>>1224864
God is on the communist side.
Hence why at this rate Castro is going to live to Methuselah's age.
>>1224864
Disunity
Alienating non-Russians with "muh united and undivided"
Piss poor propaganda skills
No control over communications
No control over Russian core
Foreign aid (alienated Russians as they're notoriously xenophobic)
Russian Whites were a hilariously shitty bunch.
>>1224921
>Reds were backed by God.
god, a unified ideology which wasn't just reaction and possession of the economic and industrial heart of russia.
if there was a comparable american revolution, it's like the reds holding the northeast and northern industrial heartlands anchored on the appalachians, california and florida, with the whites duking it out in texas against an anarchist texan uprising and controlling the pacific northwest and a millions of square miles of forests, mountains, prairies and small towns full of commie fifth columnists.
>>1225020
So basically the civil war, only instead of reds and whites it was unionists and confederates, and instead of anarchists it was black slave uprisings.
>>1225029
kind of.
the confederates failed for the same reason the whites failed - they controlled the wrong parts of the country and they got steamrolled by a more numerous and better equipped enemy.
>>1224864
>Why did they fail?
The Reds had Moscow, which was the nexus of all the railway lines, allowing them to quickly redeploy troops where they were needed. Cf. the Reds were able to bolster the defences of Petrograd when Yudenich was just about to capture it.
Connected to it is the fact that the Whites didn't co-ordinate their attacks. When Denikin's forces were nearing Orel in September 1919, Kolchak was already losing ground quickly.
Further, the Southern (Denikin) and Siberian (Kolchak) forces didn't join when they had the only chance. Denikin's Volunteer Army should have pushed for Tsaritsyn and the mouth of Volga as soon as possible in late 1918. Instead they chose to secure the Caucasus which didn't profit them that much as the Caucasus states were pretty hostile. Only the Don Cossack host attacked Tsaritsyn in 1918, but were repulsed by the triumvirate of Stalin-Voroshilov-Budonny - which later led to the city being renamed Stalingrad. When Denikin captured Tsaritsyn in June 1919, Kolchak's forces were already falling back,
So basically, they lost because they failed to capture Stalingrad. What else is new.
Another reason, more social, was that the White leadership was mostly military. Russian tsarist officers disdained politics, and so were unable and/or unwilling to make any political decisions that would win them public support. Instead, being mostly legalist, they postponed any actual reforms until a constitutional body could convene. An agrarian reform was especially needed and could have won the Whites the support of the peasant class. It was only instituted by Wrangel in 1920 and I think Dieterichs, but it was far too late for that.
Related to that was the inability to legally recognize the independence of former protectorates. Esp. Poland and Finland had modern, well organized and equipped armies with no love for Bolsheviks - if they supported the Whites, the war could have been won easily in both the southern and north-western front.
>>1224864
Well, they were stretched along the periphery of Russia, so they were stretched and easily cutoff by the Reds.
Made for some pretty need paintings of muzzle loading cannons being rolled alongside priests holding icons of Mary.
>>1224864
>Why did they fail?
WHITES: “Fight for us, Russian people!”
RUSSIANS: “What’s in it for us?”
WHITES: “Umm…The same thing you had before.”
RUSSIANS: “But that was shit!”
WHITES: “Yeah but… God wills it!”
RUSSIANS: “Fuck that, we’re joining the Commies.”
WHITES: “…”
>>1224877
>Because by and large, the Whites were composed of the same incompetent boobs that made up the government for the Czar.
This
>>1225341
Russians were fine before
>>1224864
>peasants don't give a shit who rules either way because commies don't give them anything they don't already have
>kulaks conscript peasants who don't give a shit which makes peasants resent the kulaks even more than they had prior
>industrialized areas fight for the commies because commies propose a better future
>soldiers fight for commies because they hate the tsar for WWI
>almost everyone immediately regrets their decision in the end
That pretty much covers it.
