Eastern Front of the Russian Civil War

Eastern Front
Part of the Russian Civil War
American soldiers marching in Vladivostok in 1918, Japanese soldiers stand at attention on the left.
Date May 14, 1918 – June 16, 1923 Location Volga, Ural, Siberia, Far East, Mongolia Result Bolshevik victory collapse of White and anti-Soviet Resistance.
Belligerents
White Movement: Russian State Priamur Government (1921–1922) Siberian Army Don Army Komuch (June-November 1918) Mongolia (May–August 1921) Right SRs Allied Powers: Japan United States United Kingdom Canada France Italy Czechoslovakia Poland Romania China Green Ukraine Buryat-Mongolia Mongolia Left SRs (After March 1918) Anarchists	Bolsheviks: Russian SFSR Far Eastern Republic Mongolian People's Party Left SRs
Commanders and leaders
Alexander Kolchak  Grigory Semyonov Mikhail Diterikhs Vladimir Kappel Vasily Boldyrev Alexander Dutov † Mikhail Pleshkov R. Ungern-Sternberg  Anatoly Pepelyayev Mikhail Korobeinikov Viktorin Molchanov Radola Gajda Stanislav Čeček Sergei Wojciechowski Jan Syrový Kikuzo Otani Yui Mitsue William S. Graves George E. Stewart Edmund Ironside Alfred Knox Maurice Janin Yuri Hlushko-Mova Boris Khreschatitsky Bogd Khan	Leon Trotsky Jukums Vācietis Sergey Kamenev Mikhail Muravyov † Mikhail Tukhachevsky Mikhail Frunze Aleksandr Samoylo Pavel Lebedev Vasily Blyukher Hayk Bzhishkyan Reingold Berzin Fyodor Raskolnikov Ivan Smirnov Yakov Tryapitsyn  Mikhail Velikanov Sergey Lazo  Vasily Chapayev † Filipp Goloshchekin Mirsaid Sultan-Galiev Ivan Strod A. Krasnoshchyokov Damdin Sükhbaatar Khorloogiin Choibalsan Dambyn Chagdarjav  Soliin Danzan Dogsomyn Bodoo
Strength
Total: 740,000 White Army: 420,000 Siberian Army: 80,000 Czechoslovak Legion: 42,000 People's Army of Komuch: 10,000 Irregulars and Bandits: 50,000 Allied Expeditionary Force: 140,000 Green Ukraine: 5,000	Total: 600,000 Red Army: 5 Field Armies
Casualties and losses
250,000-400,000	150,000-300,000

The Russian Civil War spread to the east in May 1918, with a series of revolts along the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway, on the part of the Czechoslovak Legion and officers of the Russian Army. Provisional anti-Bolshevik local governments were formed in many parts of Siberia and other eastern regions during that summer. The Red Army mounted a counter-offensive in the autumn of 1918. Throughout the winter and spring of 1918/1919, the White Army had dominance over this front. In the summer of 1919, and from then onward, the Red Army defeated the White commander Aleksandr Kolchak. The White Army collapsed in the East as well as on other fronts throughout the winter of 1919/1920. Smaller-scale conflicts in the region went on until as late as 1923.

Chronology of revolts and offensives

Main articles: Revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion, Spring offensive of the White Army, and Eastern Front counteroffensive

In May 1918, soldiers of the Czechoslovak Legion revolted against the Bolsheviks in Chelyabinsk. The revolt was triggered by Trotsky's order to local Bolshevik commanders to disarm the Czechslovaks (in violation of previous agreements) following a confrontation between the Czechslovaks traveling Eastwards and a train full of Austro-Hungarian former POWs traveling westward. The Czechslovak Legion was formed out of Czech and Slovak POWs of the Austro-Hungarian army who volunteered to fight against the empire ruling their homeland. Consequently, The Legion was trying to evacuate to the Western Front to continue the fight against the Central powers, but after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March, the Bolsheviks no longer supported this move. The revolt quickly spread across Siberia, because the Czechoslovaks used the Trans-Siberian Railway to move their troops east quickly and because they were supported by local uprisings instigated by Russian army officers. When the uprising reached Yekaterinburg, the former Tsar and his family who were being held there by the Bolsheviks were executed to prevent their release by the Whites. By the end of August, Vladivostok was in Czechoslovak hands.

On January 24, the Red 4th Army captured Uralsk.

Provisional White governments

In the power vacuum left by the departure of the Bolsheviks multiple White Movement governments were established, most importantly KOMUCH at Samara and the Provisional Siberian Government. KOMUCH quickly ordered a general mobilisation, but its troops were small and badly trained. The Czechoslovaks allied with KOMUCH and advanced to the west, taking Kazan, where they captured the tsar's gold reserves which had been moved east for safekeeping.

In Petrograd, Vladimir Lenin had called upon factory workers to be dispatched to the Eastern Front.

See also

• Far Eastern Front in the Russian Civil War

References

• Bullock, David (2008). The Russian Civil War 1918–22. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84603-271-4.