The Civil War in the Far East, which began against the backdrop of the coup that took place in St. Petersburg in 1717, was mainly aimed at opposing the new system of government. As soon as the revolutionaries captured the capital's regions, the counter-revolutionary movement opposing them raised its head throughout the state, but it had particular strength in the Siberian regions and further to the east. Let's consider the main historical milestones of the event.

How it all began

The Soviets took over in '17, and at the end of that year the Civil War in the Far East was already gaining momentum. In the December cold, the cadets began a rebellion in the Omsk lands and Irkutsk, and in Orenburg Dutov stood at the head of the resisters - so the Cossacks also entered the battle. From the Cossacks of Transbaikalia, troops advanced under the command of Semenov, from the Amur side they chose Gamov as the main one, from Ussuriysk - Horvat. Soon the All-Siberian Congress was convened. Then they took the first measures to combat the Bolsheviks at the regional level. The congress was held in an emergency format. Geographically, Tomsk was most suitable for him, where the opposition leaders gathered. The event was held on December 6-15.

An important step in the Civil War in the Far East was the adoption of a decision regarding the new government within the framework of the agreed congress. The participants decided that the region did not recognize the Bolsheviks and the new structure and could not entrust them with the management of the regions. Based on this, a temporary council was formed, the leadership of which went to Potanin. The council was predominantly formed by the Socialist Revolutionaries. In the future, it was planned to give his powers to the Duma of Siberia, but so far it had yet to be convened. The second half of the next month was chosen as the formation time.

Structures and authorities

Organized as part of the resistance and Civil War in the Far East, the Duma of Siberia, as originally intended, was responsible for creating a government that would be entrusted with executive powers. On a frosty January night from the 25th to the 26th, the council decided to dissolve the Duma, and its participants, who were not immediately arrested, organized a secret meeting. Here they determined who would join the Provisional Government of the new autonomous region of the country. Derber took the lead. Krakovetsky joined the government as Minister of War. He was entrusted with measures to ensure armed resistance to the Bolshevik government. At this moment, the Social Revolutionary had the rank of lieutenant colonel. Frizel was chosen as commissioners in the west, Kalashnikov in the east.

At the same time as the designated management, independent organizations of officers were formed. They were not based on any party and greatly influenced the underground work of the Siberian resistance. The events of the Civil War in the Far East in 1918-1922 were largely due to this division, since the Socialist Revolutionaries soon ceased to dominate in the military sphere. They were replaced by officers who did not belong to any particular party. In the west, responsibility for the resistance was assigned to Grishin-Almazov, in the eastern regions - to Ellerts-Usov. From sources that have survived to this day, it is known that between the Ural region and Transbaikalia there were secret underground resistance centers in no less than 38 settlements. The work brought together about six thousand people, of which about 2.2 thousand were in the east, others worked in the western part of the region. In order to effectively coordinate the work process, a headquarters was formed in Novonikolaevsk by the end of spring 1918. Its management was entrusted to Grishin-Almazov.

Spring: what happened?

The civil war in the Far East in 1918-1922, according to historians, was a serious problem for the Bolshevik government, and the leaders who captured the central regions were well aware of this. In the spring of 2018, the Special Detachment led by Semenov was regarded as the main threat. The experienced chieftain successfully chose his base area - the exclusion zone on Chinese lands. Already in April he began military operations in the direction of Chita. Presumably, the military could then advance along the Trans-Siberian Railway, capture the western zones, and establish a strong connection with the Cossacks of Orenburg, Siberia. The center, realizing such prospects, sent Red Army soldiers and Red Guards to confront the Cossacks. The forces supporting the Bolsheviks grew throughout the spring, gathering especially actively in April and May. Since Semenov diverted all the attention of the authorities to himself, the pro-Soviet garrisons of many Siberian settlements were weakened, which gave the underground greater opportunities for action.

In short, the Civil War in the Far East was largely due to the activity of the Czechoslovak Corps. This military unit literally turned things upside down. The echelons stationed in the Trans-Siberian Railway opposed the Bolshevik government. In total, the personnel at that time numbered 35 thousand people, formed into four teams.

More about the case

Since the participation of this bloc became one of the important features of the Civil War in the Far East, it is worth taking a closer look at its features. Among the four blocs, Chechek was the first to lead. This group was responsible for the Volga region and numbered eight thousand military personnel. Voitsekhovsky worked with the Chelyabinsk group. There were 8,800 troops under his command. Gaida, who was entrusted with the Siberian group, had about 4.5 thousand people. Finally, the last block is controlled by Dieterichs. It included about 14 thousand military personnel.

On May 20, 18th, a special meeting was organized to assess the need to fight the Soviet regime. It was held in Chelyabinsk. The event brought together the heads of all units and political instructors of the corps. Chechek was appointed responsible for directing real actions at the front. Gaida and Voitsekhovsky did the same. The underground leaders of the movement opposing the Bolsheviks were not invited to participate in the meeting. They learned about its results either on the eve of hostilities, or already at the moment when the uprising began.

Dates and numbers

In any lists of events briefly describing the Civil War in the Far East, May 25, 1918 is mentioned. It was on this day that the rebels defeated the Bolsheviks in Mariinsk. The next day, Novonikolaevsk was defeated, followed by adherents of the Soviets in Chelyabinsk. The last day of May brought victory in Tomsk, and by the seventh of June the corps was able to capture Omsk. A few days later the Soviets left Semipalatinsk. By June 15, the rebels captured Barnaul.

On the penultimate day of May, a special council was organized in Novonikolaevka, which was entrusted with the obligations of temporary rule of Siberia. The very first resolution of the new body ordered the organization of a commissariat, which would include control departments of various industries. The Commissariat was planned as a temporary management structure, whose functionality should quickly be transferred to the Provisional Government of the region, elected by the local Duma. In 1918, the Civil War in the Far East led to the relocation of the council to Omsk lands. Officially, this happened on June 15, and two weeks later powers were transferred to the interim government of the region. The Ministerial Council included five figures selected by the Siberian Duma.

New forces and updated means

The Civil War that engulfed Siberia and the Far East was largely explained by the strong underground. It became the foundation for the formation of government armed forces. The process took very little time. This is how the Siberian Army appeared. Her command was entrusted to Grishin-Almazov. In total, the army included three corps; in August it united more than forty thousand people. By autumn government decree it was decided to call up new ones aged 19-20 years. So the age group is up to 200 thousand. Throughout the country, this formation opposing the Bolsheviks was the largest. The operations carried out in the summer of the 18th had two fronts - in the east and west of the region.

The military marched to the east from Tomsk and Novonikolaevsk. Responsibility for these military actions was assigned to the Central Siberian Corps, which was active during the Civil War in the Far East. He teamed up with the 7th Czechoslovakian Regiment, thanks to which pro-Soviet soldiers were defeated near Mariinsk on June 16. Two days later, a victory was won over Krasnoyarsk, and by July 11, Irkutsk was captured. In the second half of August, the military approached Chita, where they won a victory on the 25th. On the last day of August we managed to connect with Semenov’s detachment. The event took place near Olovyannaya station.

Tense situation

The main cause of the Civil War in the Far East was the establishment of Bolshevik power and the organization of the Soviet state, and it was precisely this that the dissenters, who had significant fighting forces, opposed. The local committee, which supported the central regions, did not have the resources to resist, so it was abolished on its own. On August 28, a meeting of activists was organized. Urulga station was chosen as the venue for the event. The event brought together party leaders, military and workers who supported Soviet sentiments. The official result of the meeting was the decision to eliminate the fight against opponents in an organized format.

It is believed that the Far East, during the civil war, was completely freed from Soviet power in the early autumn of the 18th. On June 29, the corps controlled by Diterikhs arrived in Vladivostok, where the offensive began along the railway towards Khabarovsk. Military personnel from Japan and America were involved in the event. It was largely thanks to them that they managed to defeat the Soviet troops. Khabarovsk was taken under control on September 5, and Blagoveshchensk on the 17th. True, the political situation was still unstable, since Vladivostok formed its own government under the control of Lavrov. Back on June 9, Horvath named himself the Provisional Government, creating a business cabinet. In the first autumn month, Vologda convinced the Far Eastern regions to accept the VSP and dissolve their own management structures, but in reality by this time the region was completely controlled by the Japanese expeditionary American corps.

What was happening in the west?

In parallel with what was described earlier, the history of the civil war in the Far East on the Western Front was distinguished by its own characteristics. From Omsk and Ishim, as well as from Petropavlovsk, the military moved towards Yekaterinburg and Tyumen. The event was entrusted to the Steppe Corps. Uralsky began moving from Chelyabinsk. The military's opponents were pro-Soviet fighters from the front that united the Urals and Siberia in the northern sections. In July, a third army was created on the basis of this front. On July 20, a victory was won over Tyumen, and five days later - in Yekaterinburg. The Ural and Steppe corps headed for Kungur. The main goal of the rebels was Perm.

On July 6, Chechek united with Wojciechowski, Komuch tried to take power over the country and began to build the People's Army. Its fighters operated in the middle Volga lands. Under their rule were Ufa, Kazan and several other significant settlements. To count on success in the Russian Civil War in the Far East, it was necessary to achieve greater coordination between the Czechoslovaks and Russians. To do this, they organized a Chelyabinsk meeting, attracted Komuch, VSP and chose Shokorov as responsible for the army until a general commander of all the country's military was appointed. To guide the actions, they chose the Czechoslovak headquarters as a base, and also proposed to unite Komuch, the VSP, so that all-Russian bodies of state power would appear in the eastern lands.

Ufa: new actions

An important event of the Civil War in the Far East was the meeting that began on September 8 in Ufa, which was closed only on the 23rd of the same month. They decided to create a Directory that would temporarily control the entire country. The management of the authority was entrusted to Avksentyev, and the localization was determined to be Omsk. From this point on, all eastern local government organizations were to relinquish their powers and be liquidated. On November 4, a ministerial council was assembled under the command of Vologda, Boldyrev was entrusted with the position of commander-in-chief, dealing with the Czechoslovaks and Russians. Since October, all military personnel opposing the Bolsheviks have been divided into two blocs - the southwestern and western fronts.

The civil war and intervention in the Far East were not as successful as anti-Soviet leaders would have liked. Already at the time of the Ufa meeting, the front-line situation had deteriorated greatly, as the Soviets defeated Kazan, Simbirsk, and on October 4 took control of Samara. Komuch was losing lands, the Socialist Revolutionaries' political influence was declining, and right-wing groups were becoming stronger. The Directory found opponents among the military, convinced that victory was possible only with the establishment of a dictatorship. On November 18, they organized a coup, overthrew the Directory, and entrusted control to Kolchak. He officially abandoned the reactionary or party path and identified the key goal as the formation of a successful army that would help defeat Bolshevism and establish law and order in the country. Kolchak outlined his task as ensuring the rule of law and promised the people the opportunity to determine the optimal version of government. He guaranteed the audience freedom in accordance with that found in other powers. Kolchak was recognized by many eastern figures. The only exceptions were Kalmykov and Semenov, but by the end of the spring of 1919 it was possible to regulate relations with these figures.

19th year

At the beginning of this year, the Soviet power was actively advancing, showing good results, and soon took control of Ufa, Uralsk, and Orenburg. Gaida advanced on Perm, Kolchak began reorganizing the troops, forming three armies. They engaged the Soviets' Eastern Front. Managed to subdue Osa and Okhansk. The Soviet military left Votkinsk and Izhevsk. Khanzhin bypassed the Fifth Red Army and attacked Birsk. The Battle of Ufa took place on March 14th. In early April, the military came to Iku, where they planned to wait out the bad road conditions. However, the command mistakenly believed that the Soviet military had already been defeated, on the basis of which they determined the need to go towards the Volga. By the 15th, Buguruslan was captured.

Although at first it seemed that the end of the Civil War in the Far East was just around the corner, so great were the army's successes, they were replaced by numerous defeats. Khanzhin did not notice the southern pro-Soviet military group under the command of Frunze, which led to an attack from the rear and flank simultaneously. The Soviets recaptured Ufa, and after another week and a half they headed towards the Urals. The left flank of the Bolshevik opponents was in a precarious state, so the army was soon defeated. The Sarapulo-Votkinsk operation gave the Soviet government an excellent foundation for the capture of Osa and Okhansk. In the second half of June, measures began to completely defeat Kolchak with the goal of capturing Siberia and the Urals completely. The scale and preparedness of the Red Army men were greater, the difference in the number of machine guns became especially noticeable - the opponents of Bolshevism had half as many. The Siberian army was divided into two blocks and pushed back beyond the Ural Mountains. The rebels suffered another defeat in Zlatoust, captured as a result of an outflanking maneuver by the Red Army.

Autumn 1919

As Soviet leaders believed, the end of the Civil War in the Far East was just around the corner - on November 14, Omsk surrendered to their power, and the rebel management system collapsed. It seemed that the resisters no longer had any moral potential. Commanders and privates showed his absence equally. The military had no medicine, so the epidemic began. Typhus alone caused 150 thousand fighters to lose their combat capability. The majority of patients died before the end of the winter of 19-20.

The army's rear instability further worsened the situation for the opposition. Already in the summer, the partisans began to be active; by winter there were about 150 thousand in their ranks. The provinces of Irkutsk, Altai, and Yenisei were uncontrollable for whites. Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk by the end of the year were ruled by the Socialist Revolutionaries, who wanted to end the war and agree to a truce with the Bolsheviks. Anti-war agitation played a role in the possibility of a quick end to the Civil War in the Far East, since it completely disintegrated the first army controlled by Pepelyaev. The interventionists went against Kolchak, Janin decided to hand over the general to the Socialist Revolutionary Political Center. In the shortest possible time, the Bolshevik Revolutionary Committee took control of Irkutsk, and Kolchak was shot on the Angarsk shores. This famous hero of the Civil War in the Far East died on February 7, 2020.

The retreat continues

Opponents of Bolshevism retreated to the eastern Siberian regions and fought with the Red Army and partisans. Almost 25 thousand people organized the Great Siberian Ice March. Another hero of the Civil War in the Far East, Kappel, took part in it and died. The survivors chose the name “Kappelites” in order to preserve the memory of their leader. By February 20th, they managed to reach Transbaikalia and connect with Semenov, who received all power from Kolchak in early January. However, the ataman’s power concerned exclusively Transbaikalia.

Not everything is so clear

Although the Bolsheviks promoted themselves as a party whose main idea was people's happiness, the arrival of red power was not something truly pleasant for the Siberian peasantry. Unrest began over food policy, a mass movement against the central government. By 1922 he was defeated. However, the period of peasant protest has not been forgotten.

The victory over Kolchak seemed to be promising for the Soviet regime, as the Far Eastern population sympathized with the new government. The Soviets found support in the form of local Cossacks, but part of the territory was under the rule of the Japanese military, and the central apparatus did not want to conflict with the neighboring power. As a compromise, the Far Eastern Republic was formed. The country existed since April 6, 2020, and included several regions. The Soviets officially recognized the republic on May 14 of that year and helped create a local army. On July 17, the Japanese agreed to remove their military from Khabarovsk and Transbaikalia. Soon, Krasnoshchekov, who supported Soviet power, became the chairman of the new country.

Development of the situation

After some time, Merkulov came to power, but he failed to find sufficient support, and in the summer of 1922, Diterichs, who assembled the Zemsky Sobor, was chosen as the leader. The potential of statehood was very limited, so strengthening the situation did not seem realistic. The Japanese evacuated, leading to the final fall of the last territories resisting the Bolsheviks. On November 14, the Far Eastern Russian lands declared themselves under the control of the Bolsheviks. The next day, the Far Eastern Republic became part of the RSFSR.

Why did it happen so?

Historians believe that the main reason for the defeat of the Bolshevik opposition was the lack of material support and equipment that made it possible to fight at full strength. The troops had poor supply lines, did not receive the necessary weapons, and therefore could not resist the aggression of the Bolsheviks, who had all the resources of the central regions. The oppositionists counted on foreign support, but even here they found themselves in a weak position. At the same time, such requests provoked a loss of public trust. However, monuments to the Civil War in the Far East are still important and significant for our society. Many monuments have been erected in honor of the heroes who died on both sides. During the Soviet period, these were erected only in honor of Soviet leaders; later they began to highly value the heroism of their opponents. Every year, in memory of the military actions of that time, a day of remembrance is held in the Far Eastern regions. October 25th was set for its organization.

As adherents of the Bolshevik regime believed, victory in the Far Eastern regions was largely the result of negotiations, and not just battles. The fate of these regions was decided at conferences in Washington and Genoa. The Western powers opposed the strengthening of the Japanese position on the mainland, so they met the Red authorities halfway, but the Japanese had no other option other than agreement.

Civil War 1918 - 1920 (in the Far East - until 1922, in Central Asia until 1926, in the Caucasus - until 1921-1922)

Three main socio-political forces who took part in the civil war. The first is the Reds - the Bolsheviks, who relied on the workers and poor peasants. The second - whites - representatives of the overthrown classes and social groups adjacent to them (landowners, bourgeoisie, officers, most of the Cossacks, some officials, intelligentsia). The third - green - the middle peasantry, small traders, artisans. If the first two took irreconcilable positions, then the majority of the peasants showed fluctuations depending on the situation, either leaning towards the whites, then the reds, or supporting the greens, trying to protect themselves from everyone.

Forms of civil war varied: military operations of regular armies, armed clashes of individual detachments; underground activities; uprisings, riots, guerrilla warfare, sabotage, terrorist operations.

An important feature of GW it was closely intertwined with the intervention of the Entente states. Her help is one of the main sources of supplying the white armies with weapons and ammunition, which delayed the Civil War. The Entente solved its problems in Russia. The first is to prevent the revolution from spreading to European countries. The second is the overthrow of the Bolshevik government. The third is the return of expropriated property, the return of capital invested in the country's economy. The fourth is the weakening of Russia. The fifth is to put various regions of Russia under your control.

Creation of the Red Army. In January (January 15 - decree) the creation of the Red Army (Workers' and Peasants' Red Army) on a voluntary basis. On June 10, 1918, the army was recruited on the basis of universal conscription. The number of the Red Army: in the fall of 1918 - 0.5 million, by the end of 1918 - 1 million. By the end of 1920 - 5.5 mil. The name of the People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs Trotsky is associated with the widespread use of repression against violators of military discipline (the execution of every tenth soldier of a unit that retreated without orders). To improve professionalism in the army, officers from the old regime were brought in. To exercise party control over them, an institute was created military commissars. Without the signature of the commissars, the orders of the commanders were not valid. The families of former officers were turned into hostages. Many officers sincerely accepted Soviet power and collaborated with it. – 75 thousand former tsarist officers.

Mobilization of management and concentration of resources.

In September 1918, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic - RVSR - was created. He led the army and navy. Its chairman is Trotsky. On November 30, 1918, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense was formed under the chairmanship of Lenin: ensuring the unity of the front and rear.

A system of military and repressive-terrorist bodies was created: the Cheka, the police, internal security troops, special forces, and a food army operating in the rear. The Cheka received the right to create armed detachments.

The Bolsheviks already in the summer of 1918 began a harsh suppression of all opposition political forces. After the attempt on Lenin’s life and the murder of the main Petrograd security officer, Uritsky, on September 5, 1918, a Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars was issued: to shoot on the spot all persons associated with the White Guards - the beginning of the “Red Terror.” Hostage-taking became a mass phenomenon. In September-October alone, 15 thousand people were shot. Concentration camps were created, the contingent of which numbered in the dozens. Human.

The Bolsheviks created a strict system of confiscation of food from peasants to supply the army and partly the urban population - the policy of surplus appropriation.

The work of military factories was established.

The Bolsheviks carried out propaganda work among workers and peasants: leaflets, posters, brochures, newspapers, propaganda trains, propaganda ships. The intervention gave the Bolsheviks the opportunity to intercept the slogan of defending the freedom of the Fatherland.

Stages of front-line military warfare. 4 stages.

1. from the end of May 1918 to November 1918

At the first stage leading role in consolidation of anti-Bolshevik forces played Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries - “democratic counter-revolution”. As a result of the rebellion of the Czechoslovak corps, Soviet power was overthrown in the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East. In these areas there was a large proportion of wealthy peasants who were dissatisfied with the policy of the food dictatorship. All this led to the fact that in the summer and autumn of 1918, up to 30 socialist governments were formed in these areas. Among them are KOMUCH in Samara and the Siberian Coalition Government (first in Ufa - the Ufa Directory, and then it moved to Omsk). These governments stated that they intended to convene a Constituent Assembly, restore the rights of all citizens, free trade, and denationalize industry and banks. To fight the armies of socialist governments, the Soviet Republic created the Eastern Front under the command of Vatsetis and Kamenev. At the cost of colossal efforts, the Red Army (KA) managed to achieve a turning point and launch an offensive from the Middle Volga to the Urals.

The Omsk government invited Admiral A.V. to the post of Minister of War. Kolchak, popular among the army. However, the officers had a negative attitude towards the socialists. November 18, 1918 Kolchak dispersed the Directory and was proclaimed Supreme Ruler of Russia.

Features of the second stage of GA. They are largely related to the change in the international situation in the fall of 1918. In November 1918, Germany and its allies admitted defeat in the war. German troops left the occupied territories. In Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic states, bourgeois governments were created, which reoriented towards the Entente. On November 13, 1918, Soviet Russia annulled the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The Entente countries considered the moment appropriate to intervene in Russian affairs. In November 1918, French troops landed in Odessa and Sevastopol, and British troops landed in Batum and Novorossiysk. In total, by February 1919, there were approx. 130 thousand interventionists. Multinational military contingents were also significant in other regions: in the north - 20 thousand; in the Far East and Siberia - 150 thousand, in Transcaucasia - 30 thousand people. However, the negative attitude of the local population, the military operations of the spacecraft, and the revolutionary propaganda of the Bolsheviks in enemy units led to the fact that the combat effectiveness of the occupation forces was far from expected. In April 1920, the evacuation of Entente troops from Russian territory was completed. Japanese detachments were in Primorye until 1922.

At the end of 1918 - beginning of 1919, White failed to achieve significant results. The spacecraft repelled attacks by Kolchak’s troops in the North-East and Krasnov’s in the Tsaritsyn area.

The third stage of GW. March 1919 – March 1920. By March 1919 to Kolchak managed to create 400 thousand. army. Denikin united his Volunteer Army and Don Army of Krasnov, his army numbered 100 thousand.

The third stage was the most difficult in GW. The main opponents of the Soviet Republic were the white armies of Kolchak and Denikin. The intervention continued during this time.

In March, Kolchak’s army began an offensive from the east.. One of its goals is to unite with Denikin and attack Moscow. However, at the end of April, the offensive of Kolchak’s troops was stopped by the spacecraft, which went on the offensive. In August 1919, Kolchak’s units suffered a crushing defeat and were thrown back beyond the Urals, and by the beginning of 1920 they were completely defeated. On January 4, Kolchak renounced the title of “Supreme Ruler of the Russian State” and Commander-in-Chief. Then he was captured and executed on February 7, 1920.

In July 1920, the center of the struggle against Soviet Russia moved to the south of Russia, where Denikin’s armies went on the offensive. He sought to take control of Moscow. His troops were opposed by parts of the Southern Front of the KA. In October 1919, the initiative on the Southern Front passed to the spacecraft. By the spring of 1920, Denikin’s troops were driven out of Ukraine and the North Caucasus, and the general himself with the remnants of the army moved to the Crimea, surrendered command to General Wrangel and emigrated to Turkey.

In the north-west, the Bolsheviks repelled the attack on Petrograd by 18 thousand. Yudenich's army.

The fourth stage of the GW. (spring-autumn 1920) - the war against Poland and the defeat of Wrangel’s army in the Crimea - the last white group.

War with Poland. Polish Army in April 1920, it began to seize Ukrainian lands. The Polish government of Pilsudski sought to create a “Greater Poland” that included not Polish, but also Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Lithuanian lands. In mid-May, the troops of Tukhachevsky and Egorov went on the offensive. In July they reached the “Curzon Line” - the officially recognized border of Poland in the West. The Soviet leadership decided to launch a campaign against Warsaw. It believed that Polish workers would support the KA, and that the “red intervention” could push a revolution in Poland and then in Germany. However, the Polish population greeted the spacecraft with hostility. The spacecraft was defeated by Polish troops. The Poles again invaded Soviet territory. In October 1920, a truce was concluded, and in March 1921, a peace treaty was signed, according to which part of Ukraine and Belarus went to Poland, and Russia paid an indemnity.

The defeat of Wrangel's army. In June 1920, Wrangel’s troops went on the offensive in southern Russia, who rejected Pilsudski’s proposal for joint action against the Soviet Republic. At the end of October 1920, the spacecraft troops under the command Frunze went on the offensive and captured Crimea. Wrangel managed to organize a mass evacuation of military and civilian refugees by sea. The Soviet army shot 8 thousand white officers who did not have time or did not want to emigrate. The white movement was crushed. The liquidation of individual pockets of anti-Bolshevik resistance continued for several more years.

Completion of the Civil War in the Far East. After the defeat of the remnants of Kolchak’s troops in the Irkutsk region in March, there was a threat of a collision between the spacecraft and Japanese troops. The Bolsheviks, realizing that the war with Japan was beyond their strength, decided to create a Far Eastern Republic–DDA, it became a “buffer formation”, its policy was dictated from Moscow. In 1922, units of the spacecraft defeated units of the White Atamans. Japan was forced to evacuate its troops from Primorye. On November 15, 1922, the Far Eastern Republic was liquidated, and its territory was declared an integral part of the RSFSR.

Green movement. The peasants fought against food requisitions, conscription into the army, and the arbitrariness of the Red authorities. In terms of scale and numbers, the “green” movement surpassed the White one. The “Greens” did not have regular armies and united in small detachments. The rebels operated primarily in their areas of residence, but the movement itself covered the entire territory of Russia. The development of this mass protest of peasants took place in the summer - autumn of 1918. The reasons for the protest of the peasants: food supply. An attack on the kulaks, the creation of poor committees, the dispersal of rural Soviets, the forcible establishment of communes. The forced confiscation of food and forced mobilizations in the Kaliningrad Region caused protests from the peasants. As a result, the bulk of the peasants stopped supporting Soviet power. In 1918, the number of peasant uprisings amounted to 400. To suppress them, punitive detachments, hostage-taking, artillery shelling and storming of villages were used. All this strengthened the anti-Bolshevik sentiments of the peasants. This forced the Bolsheviks to make some concessions. In December 1918, the Bolsheviks formed a committee of the poor. In January 1919, instead of a food dictatorship, food appropriation was introduced (its main purpose was to regulate food purchases). In March 1919, a course towards an alliance with the middle peasants, who had previously been united with the kulaks in one category, was proclaimed.

The peak of resistance of the “greens” in the rear of the reds was the spring-summer of 1919. The most significant movement of the greens was Makhno’s movement. At the end of 1919 - beginning of 1920. The peasant movement flared up with renewed vigor - the period of the “green flood”.

The peasants opposed the policy of war communism: surplus appropriation, military, horse, horse-drawn and other duties, failure to comply with which resulted in arrest, confiscation of property, taking hostages, and execution on the spot. Desertion became widespread, reaching 20–35% of military units in some units. Most of the deserters joined the “green” movement. In each province there were groups of rebels who hid in the forests, attacked food detachments, took hostages and shot them.

Reasons for White's failures.

Failed to consolidate all anti-Bolshevik forces

Organize the replenishment of troops, arrange supplies for troops. Initially, the peasants and urban population greeted the whites as liberators from the dictatorship and terror of the Reds.

The Whites took a position of “non-decision”: the choice of the form of government and socio-economic order would be made after the victory over the Soviets.

The Whites established a military dictatorship on their territory: they carried out mobilizations in the army, etc.

They postponed the solution to the agrarian question until later and brutally suppressed land seizures by peasants; returned lands to previous owners

Enterprises confiscated by the Bolsheviks were returned to their former owners.

The position of “united and indivisible Russia” alienated the whites from national movements

They did not want to meet the Cossacks halfway and recognize their rights to autonomy and self-government

White terror: punitive expeditions dealt with peasants dissatisfied with their policies, shot and brutally killed

Robbery of the local population - “self-supply”, since money for the maintenance of the army was stolen

The population's attitude towards whites was negatively affected by their connections with the West

White armies and governments were not united, the non-simultaneity of their offensive military operations

The White Terror was as merciless as the Red Terror. The only difference between them was that the tern terror was organized and directed against the enemies of the Bolsheviks, and the white terror was spontaneous

Being honest officers and sincere patriots, the White Guard generals turned out to be bad politicians.

Reasons for the Reds' victory:

Millions of disenfranchised oppressed masses, who believed in equality and justice, came to the defense of Soviet power. The whites' attempt to restore old relations, landownership pushed the peasants away from the white movement

The Bolsheviks controlled the center of Russia. This allowed them to use the industrial potential of the CPR

We quickly maneuvered our forces and quickly transferred them to dangerous areas

The Bolsheviks created a strictly centralized state that was able to effectively suppress the opposition, concentrate resources, and conduct mass mobilizations

The Bolsheviks were able to concentrate and use human and material resources: surplus appropriation policy, universal conscription, universal labor conscription

The Bolsheviks had generally recognized leaders - Lenin, Trotsky, a united Bolshevik elite that provided military-political leadership

Created a regular army of 5 million

National movements supported the Bolsheviks, who proclaimed the right of nations to self-determination

The system of war communism played a major role; a system of supply, control, and counter-revolution bodies has been created

The Bolsheviks relied on fanaticism, fortitude, and heroism in their ideology

Red terror against all opponents of Soviet power

Propaganda of socialist ideals

The meaning and consequences of GW

GW is a terrible disaster for Russia. Material damage amounted to 50 million rubles. gold. Irreversible losses in the Civil War - 15 million people, another 2 million emigrated. Among them are representatives of the intelligentsia, cultural and scientific figures. The dictatorship of the Bolsheviks was established in political life, and the formation of a totalitarian system began.

The war that the working people of the young Soviet Republic had to wage here against numerous enemies unfolded in an extremely difficult international and domestic situation.

The Soviet state was then attacked from all sides. Together with the forces of internal counter-revolution, all the largest imperialist states came out against the Land of Soviets. While defending its existence and creating its Armed Forces during the struggle, the Soviet Republic could not at first allocate any large forces for the defense of the Far Eastern Territory. But it was precisely the territory of the Far East that became one of the first targets of intervention by the imperialists, who sent huge forces here. Nowhere on the outskirts of the Soviet country were there so many interventionist troops as in the Far East, and nowhere did the interventionists linger for so long as here. These circumstances determined the exceptional duration and intensity of the struggle.

Almost all more or less large imperialist states took part in the intervention in the Far East. But the leading role belonged to the imperialists of the United States of America and Japan.

From the very first days of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the American imperialists launched preparations for an attack on the Soviet Republic. They then acted as one of the main organizers and inspirers of the attack on our country, mobilizing all reactionary forces for this purpose, together with the British and French imperialists. Moreover, counting on the economic weakness of the still fragile Country of Soviets and covering up their aggressive plans with false declarations and statements about a “friendly attitude” towards the Russian people, the ruling circles of the United States took direct part in the intervention against our Motherland, thereby opening up, as V.I. . Lenin, “a particularly tragic page in the bloody history of bloody imperialism...”

The main goal of the American imperialists, who greeted the Great October Socialist Revolution with hatred, was the overthrow of Soviet power. At the same time, US monopolists have long dreamed of turning the Russian Far East and Siberia into a colony of American capital. It was here that they aimed their main blow, believing that here they could use the army of imperialist Japan and the relatively numerous cadres of the internal counter-revolution to realize their plans.

The Japanese imperialists also sought to strangle Soviet power in Russia, as they feared its revolutionaryizing influence on the peoples of East Asia. In addition, they have long sought to take advantage of the countless natural resources of the Far Eastern region and make it the object of their exploitation.

Even during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. Japan set itself the task of tearing away its entire Far East from Russia. Taking advantage of the weakness of Tsarist Russia, Japan captured Southern Sakhalin and established itself in the Kuril Islands, closing our country’s access to the Pacific Ocean. In 1910, the Japanese imperialists captured Korea, turning it into their colony and a springboard for aggression against the Russian Far East. At the beginning of 1918, the Japanese interventionists, encouraged by the American ruling circles, were the first to land their troops together with the British in the Soviet Far East. Following them, American troops landed here in the summer of the same year.

Having occupied Soviet territory, the interventionists began to commit atrocities against Soviet people, plunder and ruin the region.

Despite the fact that the American and Japanese imperialists competed for dominance in the Far East and the Pacific, their differences did not interfere with their interventionist policies towards the Soviet Republic. They were united by a common hatred of Soviet power, the desire to destroy the fatherland of the working people of the whole world at any cost. But in joint actions against the Soviet state, each of them also pursued their own aggressive goals and sought not to strengthen, but to weaken their partner. This could not but affect the general course of the struggle.

Foreign military intervention in the Soviet Far East had two stages. At the first stage (1918-1919) it was carried out by several capitalist states - Japan, the United States of America, England, France and others. At the second stage (from January 1920 to October 1922), the Japanese imperialists, taking advantage of the fact that the remaining interventionists were forced to leave Soviet soil, sought to become the sole and absolute masters of the Far East.

The workers of the Far Eastern region, under the leadership of the Communist Party, launched a truly people's, patriotic war against foreign invaders and waged it with the courage, heroism and perseverance characteristic of the Soviet people until the last soldier of the interventionist troops was expelled from the territory of the Soviet Far East. This struggle against strong and treacherous enemies, who had extensive military experience and numerous, well-armed troops, was not easy. It took place under incredibly difficult conditions of blockade, economic devastation and enormous superiority of enemy forces. But, despite all the trials and difficulties, the Soviet people won a complete victory.

The Soviet Far East, like the entire Soviet Republic, did not have ready armed forces at the time of the attack by the imperialists. They developed, acquired combat training and experience during the war.

The nature of the struggle and the methods of its conduct were significantly influenced by such factors as:
- the remoteness of the Far Eastern region, which made communication with the main proletarian centers of the country difficult;
- vast expanses of the region with extremely poor development of communication routes;
- low population density.

It should also be noted that the majority of the population of the Far Eastern Territory were peasants, distinguished by a peculiar stratification into the indigenous strong wealthy peasantry, who did not directly experience the oppression of the landowners, and a minority of newcomers, migrant elements - “new settlers”, who were politically the most reliable ally of Soviet power. In addition, there was a fairly significant layer of privileged Cossacks, the top of which, together with the rural kulaks, the urban trading bourgeoisie, the officers of the old army and tsarist officials, supplied the main cadres of the counter-revolution.

The Far Eastern theater of military operations was distinguished by an underdeveloped road network, sparsely populated areas and the absence, with the exception of Vladivostok, of large industrial centers. The fighting on it developed mainly in the zone of the Great Siberian Railway. In winter conditions, the beds of such large rivers as the Amur and Ussuri became important, along which good sleigh tracks were laid. The railway and these rivers determined the main operational directions of the regular troops' combat operations.

The vast expanses of the region, taiga wilds and inaccessible mountain hills contributed to the widespread deployment of partisan actions. The partisan movement in the Far East, due to specific social, political and natural conditions, acquired the significance of an important strategic factor. The partisans of the Far East provided great assistance to the Soviet Armed Forces in their fight against the interventionists and White Guards and provided a wealth of experience in people's war against a numerous and well-armed enemy.

Based on the content of the unfolding events, the entire struggle against the invaders in the Far East can be divided into five periods.

The first period is from the establishment of Soviet power on the territory of the Far Eastern Territory (December 1917-March 1918) to the fall of the first Soviets under the onslaught of the combined forces of interventionists and counter-revolution (August-September 1918).

The second period is from the fall of the first Soviets (August-September 1918) to the victory of the Far Eastern partisans over the interventionists and White Guards, which led to the end of the first stage of the intervention (January-February 1920).

The third period is from the beginning of the second stage of intervention and the formation of the Far Eastern Republic (March-April 1920) until the defeat of the Semyonovites by the People's Revolutionary Army and the liquidation of the “Chita traffic jam” (October-November 1920). (The third period also included the liquidation of Ungern’s gangs in Mongolia, which was connected with the struggle for the liberation of Transbaikalia. The fighting against Ungern began in the summer of 1921 and ended in August 1921.)

far eastern republic attitude russia

The events described in the course work are largely due to the fact that the Far East was remote from the economically developed regions of the Russian Empire, which means it was also isolated from the political centers of the country. The only industrial center was VLADIVOSTOK. With such industrial development, there was a small number of workers - the main support of Soviet power. The main part of the population was the peasantry: indigenous and migrant. There was also a privileged Cossacks who fully retained their military organization and used their lands as a source of enrichment, renting them out. There was also a significant layer of the urban trading bourgeoisie, tsarist officials and officers of the imperial army. Wealthy peasants, Cossacks, the urban trading bourgeoisie, officers of the imperial army, and tsarist officials later formed a significant part of the forces of reaction. Civil war in the Far East. (1918 - 1922). - M.: Science, 1973.p.30

The February Revolution of 1917 sharply aggravated the situation in the country. After the abdication of Nicholas II, wide sections of the population began to be drawn into political confrontation, and the established dual power led to the disintegration of remote regions of Russia. The revolutionary events of 1917 created chaos in power in the Far East. The overthrow of the Provisional Government during the October Revolution contributed to an even greater aggravation of the internal political struggle. Russia was gradually sliding into civil war. Russian anti-Bolshevik forces contributed to the outbreak of foreign intervention, hoping to overthrow Soviet power with the help of foreign troops

Siberia and the Far East occupied a special place in the plans of the interventionists. The remoteness of the region from the proletarian centers of the country gave a chance for success. Here it was possible to rely on a significant layer of Cossacks and kulaks and the forces of counter-revolution that began to operate in the East of the country. Tsypkin, S. October Revolution and Civil War in the Far East. - Khabarovsk, M., 1933.p.70

In January 1918, the White Guard detachment of Ataman G. M. Semenov invaded Transbaikalia from Manchuria. He was hostile to the October Revolution and the Bolsheviks' rise to power. January 29, 1918, occupied its eastern part, Dauria. This is how one of the first fronts of the civil war was formed - Daursky. However, under the pressure of Red Guard detachments under the command of S. Lazo, on March 1, 1918, he was forced to retreat to Manchuria. However, in early April they again invaded Transbaikalia. Civil war in the Far East. (1918 - 1922). - M.: Science, 1973.p.10

At the same time, on April 5, 1918, the British and Japanese troops landed in Vladivostok. On the same day, the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Siberia protested against the landing and declared Siberia under martial law. A military revolutionary headquarters was created, which was approved by V.I. Lenin. V. I. Lenin. Full Collection Op. T. 36 p. 216

For armed struggle in Siberia and the Far East, the interventionists decided to use the Czechoslovak corps, formed in the summer of 1917 with the permission of the Provisional Government from prisoners of war of the Austro-Hungarian army. The Soviet government allowed the evacuation of the corps from the country. It was decided to evacuate the corps through Vladivostok. The drama of the situation was that the first echelons arrived there on April 25, 1918, while the rest stretched along the entire length of the Trans-Siberian Railway, from Penza to Vladivostok, the number of corps exceeded 30-40 thousand people. Yakimov, A.T. The Far East is in the fire of the fight against interventionists and White Guards (1920 - 1922). - M.: Nauka, 1979. - p. 33 In May - June 1918, corps troops, with the support of underground anti-Bolshevik organizations, overthrew Soviet power in Siberia. As a result of this performance of the White Czechs, Irkutsk and the entire Far East found themselves cut off from the center of Russia. The Nizhneudinsky Front on the river was hastily organized. White. Under enemy pressure, the Red Guards abandoned one station after another. On July 11, 1918 they were forced to leave Irkutsk. Okladnikov A.P. History of Siberia from ancient times to the present day. - L.: Nauka, 1968. - p.96

On the night of June 29, a mutiny of the Czechoslovak corps occurred in Vladivostok. The Czechs quickly occupied the council building with gunfire and began to forcibly disarm the units of the city's Red Guard. Almost the entire composition of the Vladivostok Council was arrested. Mityurin, D.V. Civil War: Whites and Reds. - M.: Polygon, 2004. - p.52 On July 5, the Czechs took Ussuriysk. The Ussuri Front was formed under the command of M. M. Sakovich. And at the beginning of August 1918, numerous intervention forces landed in Vladivostok, and the Allied command declared the city “under international control.” The purpose of the intervention was to assist the Czechs in their struggle against German and Austrian prisoners in Russia, as well as to assist the Czechoslovak Corps in its advance from the Far East to France, and then to their homeland. The Russian Far East during the revolutions of 1917 and the civil war. - Vladivostok, 1998. - p.64 Soviet troops were forced, after stubborn fighting, to retreat to Khabarovsk.

On August 25-28, 1918, the 5th Congress of Soviets of the Far East took place in Khabarovsk. In connection with the breakthrough of the Ussuri Front, the issue of further tactics of struggle was discussed at the congress. By a majority vote, it was decided to stop the front-line struggle and disband the Red Guard detachments in order to then organize a partisan struggle. The functions of Soviet authorities began to be carried out by the headquarters of partisan detachments. Shishkin, S.N. Civil war in the Far East. 1918 - 1922 - M.: Military Publishing House, 1957. - p.39

Relying on the bayonets of the interventionists, the temporarily victorious anti-Bolshevik forces settled in the cities of the region. In Khabarovsk, power was transferred to Ataman Kalmykov. In VLADIVOSTOK, a “Derber government was formed. Siberia." Blagoveshchensk - government of the Amur region.gen. Alekseevsky. Later, General Horvat Kuzmin, G.V. was appointed High Commissioner for the Far East. Civil war and military intervention in the USSR. - M.: Military Publishing House, 1958. - p. 146.

These political entities, being under the control of the interventionists, became conductors of militant anti-Bolshevism. Since September 1918, the communists of the Far East have been creating a network of underground organizations along the railway line and, with its help, uniting scattered partisan detachments into powerful military formations that begin to carry out subversive activities throughout the region. Thus, the partisan army of N.N. operated in Transbaikalia. Zhuravleva, which, having gained a foothold in the taiga zone, cut off enemy communications and paralyzed water and railway transport. In the Amur region. The partisans, having united in the “Amur Military Field Collective of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Army” under the leadership of S.S. Shilov, carried out a series of sabotage activities, during which railway bridges were burned, and workers from 10 stations joined the partisans. By the end of August 1919, the number of all partisan formations in the Amur region exceeded 10 thousand people. Okladnikov A.P. History of Siberia from ancient times to the present day. - L.: Nauka, 1968 p. 126-127

By January 1920, the partisan insurgent movement throughout the Far East had acquired enormous scope. The power of the interventionists and the White Guards actually extended only to the large cities of the region and a narrow strip along the railway line, a significant part of which was completely paralyzed. Shishkin, S.N. Civil war in the Far East. 1918 - 1922 - M.: Voenizdat, 1957. - p. 105

Meanwhile, the underground organizations of the Communist Party, relying on the success of the resistance that swept the entire region, launched active preparations for the overthrow of the White Guard authorities. The military revolutionary headquarters of the communists, led by S. Lazo, developed a plan for an armed uprising in Vladivostok, which began on January 31, 1920. Thanks to careful preparation, it was crowned with success and the city fell into the hands of partisans. Ibid. 122.

The overthrow of the White Guards in Vladivostok greatly contributed to the success of the movement in other cities of the region. On February 16, the partisans, together with an expeditionary detachment sent from Vladivostok, occupied Khabarovsk. Power in Khabarovsk passed into the hands of the city zemstvo government. Ataman Kalmykov fled with his detachment to Chinese territory. Ibid p.126 On February 28, partisan detachments entered Nikolaevsk-on-Amur. In the Amur region, the White Guards and interventionists by the end of January 1920 found themselves pushed back to the railway and stayed only in cities and at the largest stations. Krushanov, A.I. Civil war in Siberia and the Far East (1918 - 1920). The defeat of the united armed forces of the imperialist powers and the Russian counter-revolution in Siberia and the Far East. - 1984. - p.62

Seeing that defeat was inevitable, the commander of the Japanese forces, General Shiroodzu (commander of the 14th Japanese Infantry Division) was forced to request neutrality, which was declared on February 4, 1920.

In March 1920, the Far Eastern Party Committee united all armed forces into the Far Eastern, Amur and Transbaikal armies under the command of Sergei Lazo, and the partisan formations were reorganized into 9 divisions and 3 brigades. Shishkin, S.N. Civil war in the Far East. 1918 - 1922 - M.: Military Publishing House, 1957. - p. 137

The Japanese government was preparing a major provocation to organize a pretext for open military aggression. Such a provocation was the performance of the Japanese interventionists in Nikolaevsk-on-Amur on March 12 - 15, 1920. Before this, the local command of the Japanese troops assured the partisans of their sympathies for Soviet Russia. They managed to gain the trust of the partisan command and achieve the right to perform guard duty at the location of their troops and institutions (a right that the Japanese were deprived of under the armistice agreement).

On March 11, the regional Congress of Soviets opened in Nikolaevsk-on-Amur. On the night of March 12, significant detachments of Japanese troops unexpectedly appeared in front of the partisan headquarters, in front of the building where revolutionary units and artillery were located. The headquarters immediately found itself surrounded by three chains. The sentries were killed. Japanese troops opened machine-gun fire, began throwing hand grenades through the windows, and set the building on fire. At the same time, other premises occupied by partisan units were shelled and set on fire. The plan of the Japanese command was to destroy the entire command staff of the partisan units with a surprise attack. Reichberg, G.E. Japanese intervention in the Far East. 1918 - 1922 - M.: Sotsekgiz, 1935. - p.78

The Japanese calculations did not materialize; despite the surprise of the attack, the partisans managed to organize, unite and resist. During the two-day battles, the Japanese suffered significant losses and were forced to request a truce. Shishkin, S.N. Civil war in the Far East. 1918 - 1922 - M.: Voenizdat, 1957.-p.123 This is how the “Nicholas Incident” was carried out and used by the Japanese ruling circles, which for several years was presented by them as an official justification for intervention and cover for aggressive goals.

Japan continued to build up its armed forces in the Far East. The newly arrived units surrounded Vladivostok, occupied commanding heights, set up checkpoints, and deployed radio stations. Kuzmin, G.V. Civil war and military intervention in the USSR. - M.: Military Publishing House, 1958. - p. 201 Then, the commander of the Japanese expeditionary forces, General Ooi, presented an ultimatum to the Provisional Government of the Primorsky Zemstvo Council with a number of obviously impossible demands. Shishkin, S.N. Civil war in the Far East. 1918 - 1922 - M.: Military Publishing House, 1957.-p.157

The Primorye government protested and began negotiations. But the forces were not equal; about 70 thousand Japanese opposed 19 thousand partisans. Yakimov, A.T. The Far East is in the fire of the fight against interventionists and White Guards (1920 - 1922). - M.: Nauka, 1979. - p. 92 Despite the agreement reached, on April 5, 1920, the Japanese opened machine gun and cannon fire in Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Nikolaevsk-on-Amur and other cities. The coastal units were unable to provide organized resistance; in addition, they had instructions to avoid armed clashes. The performance of Japanese troops was accompanied everywhere by reprisals against civilians. The Japanese interventionists dealt the main blow to the governing bodies in order to immediately eliminate the possibility of organizing counteraction. They had special instructions on this matter. First of all, members of the Military Council were captured - S. Lazo, A. Lutsky and V. Sibirtsev, whom they then handed over to the White Guard armed formation of Yesaul Bochkarev, who operated in the Iman area. The White Guards, on the instructions of the interventionists, dealt with the leaders of the revolutionary army of Primorye. They burned them in the locomotive firebox at the station. Muravyevo-Amurskaya Ussuri Railway (now Lazo station). Shishkin, S.N. Civil war in the Far East. 1918 - 1922 - M.: Military Publishing House, 1957 .-p.160

Through mass murder and the destruction of state, party, trade union and military organizations in Primorye, the Japanese imperialists wanted to wipe out the “Red Danger” from the face of the earth and establish their own order in the Far East. For this purpose, they intended to install the Semyonov administration in Primorye. Kuzmin, G.V. Civil war and military intervention in the USSR. - M.: Military Publishing House, 1958. - p.298

Under pressure from public opinion, the Japanese command, having not found support in any of the political groups, was forced to again allow the Provisional Government of the Primorsky Zemstvo Administration to govern and negotiate with it. Krushanov, A.I. Civil war in Siberia and the Far East (1918 - 1920). The defeat of the united armed forces of the imperialist powers and the Russian counter-revolution in Siberia and the Far East. - 1984. - p.178

The new situation that arose in connection with the development of the war with Poland and Wrangel and the intransigence of Japan forced us to temporarily refrain from Sovietizing the region. The Central Committee of the Communist Party decided to create a buffer republic in the Far East, which, being bourgeois-democratic in form, would paralyze the aggressive encroachments of imperialist Japan and other states. At the end of March 1920, directives from the Central Committee of the RCP (b) were received on this issue. Yakimov, A.T. The Far East is in the fire of the fight against interventionists and White Guards (1920 - 1922). - M.: Nauka, 1979. - p.151

On April 6, 1920, the congress declared the formation of a new state - an independent democratic Far Eastern Republic." Japanese intervention 1918 - 1922 in documents / Central Archive. Mass historical library. - M., 1934. - p. 185

The government of the Far Eastern Region was faced with the task of uniting all regions of the Far Eastern Territory into a single state. To do this, first of all, it was necessary to eliminate the “Chita traffic jam” created by the Japanese interventionists from Semyonov’s and Kappel’s troops. They cut off the Far Eastern region from Western Transbaikalia and Siberia Shishkin, S.N. Civil war in the Far East. 1918 - 1922 - M.: Military Publishing House, 1957.-p.150.

Together with the organization of the Far Eastern Republic, and even somewhat earlier, its armed forces began to be created - the People's Revolutionary Army. At first, the cadres of this army were East Siberian and Baikal partisans, as well as some Kolchak units who went over to the side of the Bolsheviks. The attacks on Chita began. The first was supposed to begin on April 8, but failed due to a counterattack by Semyonov and Japanese troops. The second offensive (April 25-May 5) also failed due to inconsistency in the actions of the NRA units, and only the third offensive, launched in October 1920, prepared very carefully, taking into account all previous mistakes, was successful. Chita was released. There with. 178.

Leaving Transbaikalia, the Japanese concentrated in Primorye. The fighting continued for another two years. The interventionists provided support to local anti-Bolshevik forces. Thus, on May 26, 1921, the White Guards overthrew the Primorsky Zemstvo government and established the power of representatives of the so-called “bureau of non-socialist organizations” led by monarchists and speculators - the Merkulov brothers. So the Japanese and imperialists, with the help of the White Guards, created in Primorye, as opposed to the Far East, the notorious “black buffer” Ibid., p.189.

The Merkulov government began to carry out terror against all revolutionary and public organizations that existed in Primorye and mass plunder of Russian property. Shishkin, S.N. Civil war in the Far East. 1918 - 1922 - M.: Military Publishing House, 1957 .-p.215-216

At this time, the Japanese imperialists are again attempting to carry out another provocation. On the eve of the Washington Conference on the Far Eastern Question (November 1921), the interventionists convened a conference in Dairen in August, inviting representatives of the Far Eastern Republic there. But delaying the negotiations, they began to prepare for an attack, supplying the White Guard units in Primorye with money, weapons and ammunition. There with. 219

The fighting of the “White rebel army” began on November 5, 1921. Having pushed the partisans into the mountains, the White Guards, under the cover of Japanese garrisons, began to concentrate to the southern border of the “neutral zone” in the area of ​​Art. Shmakovka, and from there they launched an attack on Khabarovsk. Ibid. 220.

The NRA was at the stage of reorganization and therefore, at the first stage of the battle, it was forced to leave the city on December 22, 1921. However, in the battles near Art. The White Guards were defeated and began to retreat. They gained a foothold in the Volochaev bridgehead. In February 1922, the Reds launched a counter-offensive. As a result of stubborn battles, they managed to take Volochaev positions and return Khabarovsk. And continue pursuing the enemy within the “neutral zone”, while avoiding clashes with Japanese troops. Civil war in the Far East. (1918 - 1922). - M.: Science, 1973.p.320

In mid-1922, the last stage of the fight against the invaders in the Far East began. The defeat of the White Guards near Volochaevka greatly shook the position of the Japanese interventionists in Primorye. In Japan itself, the political situation in the summer of 1922 was also unfavorable for the militant clique and supporters of intervention. There has been a change in the ruling cabinet in the country. The new cabinet issued a statement calling for an end to the war in the Far East, and for the resumption of diplomatic negotiations interrupted in Dairen Shishkin, S.N. Civil war in the Far East. 1918 - 1922 - M.: Military Publishing House, 1957.-p.228-230.

In September 1922, a new conference opened in Changchun, which was attended by a joint delegation of the RSFSR and the Far Eastern Republic, on the one hand, and a delegation of Japan, on the other. The main requirement of the negotiations is to immediately clear all areas of the Far East from Japanese troops. The interventionists tried to bargain for preferences to continue the occupation of Sakhalin as compensation for the “Nikolaev incident.” The negotiations were again disrupted. Ibid p.231

On September 26, they resumed, Russia offered to investigate the events in Nikolaev, but Japan again disrupted the negotiations, refusing to recognize the RSFSR and the Far Eastern Republic as independent states. Popova, E.I. US policy in the Far East. - M., 1967. - p. 321-323

The Japanese delegation was clearly waiting for the results of a new, prepared attack on the Far Eastern Republic. The destructive force this time was supposed to be the so-called. "Zemsky Sobor" Gen. Deterixsa. Shishkin, S.N. Civil war in the Far East. 1918 - 1922 - M.: Military Publishing House, 1957.-p.234-235 But the forces of the “Zemstvo Army” were small and they had to go on the defensive. And the NRA launched the “Coastal Operation,” which ended in a brilliant victory and the capture of Vladivostok. The interventionists had to begin the evacuation from Primorye, which was completed on June 2, 1923. Senyavskaya, E.S. Opponents of Russia in the wars of the 20th century. - M., "Russian Political Encyclopedia" (ROSSPEN), 2006. - p.40

All attempts by Japan to stay in the Far East were unsuccessful.

Leaving Transbaikalia, the Japanese concentrated in Primorye. The fighting continued for another two years. The interventionists provided support to local anti-Bolshevik forces. In mid-April 1921, a meeting of representatives of the White Guard detachments (Semyonov, Verzhbitsky, Ungern, Annenkov, Bakich, Savelyev, etc.), organized by Japanese militarists, took place in Beijing. The meeting had the goal of uniting the White Guard detachments under the overall command of Ataman Semenov and outlined a specific plan for the performance. According to this plan, Verzhbitsky and Savelyev were supposed to act in Primorye against the Primorsky zemstvo regional government; Glebov - lead an offensive from Sakhalyan (from Chinese territory) to the Amur region; Ungern - advance through Manchuria and Mongolia to Verkhneudinsk; Kazantsev - to Minusinsk and Krasnoyarsk; Kaygorodov - to Biysk and Barnaul; Bakich - to Semipalatinsk and Omsk. All these performances by the White Guards did not find any support among the population and were quickly liquidated by Soviet troops.

Only in Primorye, where the People's Revolutionary Army did not have the right of access under the terms of the agreement of April 29, 1920 on the “neutral zone,” was the performance of the Semenovites and Kappelites, relying on Japanese bayonets, successful. On May 26, 1921, the White Guards overthrew the Primorsky Zemstvo government and established the power of representatives of the so-called “bureau of non-socialist organizations” led by monarchists and speculators - the Merkulov brothers. American Consul McGown and special representatives of the US government - Smith and Clark - took an active part in preparing the coup, along with the Japanese interventionists. Thus, the Japanese and American imperialists, with the help of the White Guards, created the notorious “black buffer” in Primorye, as a counterweight to the Far Eastern Republic.

The Japanese interventionists initially hoped to put Ataman Semenov in power and brought him to Vladivostok. But even the consular corps, who feared popular outrage, spoke out against this executioner and Japanese spy. The Kappelites were also against Semenov coming to power. The latter, having received about half a million rubles in gold “compensation” from the Merkulovs, left for Japan. After this, he left the political arena.

The Merkulov government began to carry out terror against all revolutionary and public organizations that existed in Primorye under the zemstvo regional government. The terror was accompanied by the massive looting of Russian property. An example of such robbery was the so-called “sale” of seven Russian destroyers to the Japanese for 40 thousand yen. The response was to expand the partisan struggle of the local population against the White Guards and interventionists.

The determined struggle of the population of the Far East against foreign invaders, growing dissatisfaction with the policy of intervention within Japan itself, worsening contradictions in relations with the United States of America (which, despite Japan’s active participation in all activities preparing an attack on the Soviet Republic, refused to recognize its right to independent occupation Russian Far East) - all this forced the Japanese ruling circles to look for new ways to retain the occupied territory. In addition, the Japanese imperialists wanted to prevent discussion of the Far Eastern issue at the Washington Conference convened by the United States in November 1921 and to show that this issue was being resolved peacefully by the countries concerned themselves. To this end, in August 1921, they convened a conference in Dairen of representatives of the Far Eastern Republic and the Japanese government, promising to discuss the issue of evacuating their troops from Primorye and to regulate the relationship between Japan and the Far Eastern Republic [Ibid., p. 217].

The Dairen Conference opened on August 26, 1921. At the very first meetings, the delegation of the Far Eastern Republic clearly formulated its main proposals. She stated that all issues could be resolved only subject to the immediate evacuation of Japanese troops and the unconditional participation of representatives of the RSFSR in the negotiations. The Japanese delegation, delaying the negotiations in every possible way, insisted not to link the issue of the evacuation of its troops with the ongoing conference, and rejected the proposal for representatives of the Soviet state to participate in the conference.

On September 6, the delegation of the Far Eastern Republic presented a specific plan for the agreement, according to which it was proposed to evacuate Japanese troops from the Far East within a month. Representatives of the Japanese government responded that the evacuation of Japanese troops could be carried out only after the liquidation of the “Nikolaev incident” and, moreover, within the time frame that Japan itself found necessary. This clause alone excluded virtually any possibility of a positive resolution of the issue, and the negotiations themselves led to a dead end. After a significant break, in October, Japan presented its counter-draft agreement, consisting of 17 points and three secret articles. This counter-project fully revealed the imperialist plans of Japan, which sought to turn the Far Eastern region into its colony. The negotiations ended unsuccessfully.

Meanwhile, under the cover of protracted negotiations in Dairen, intensive preparations were made for an attack on the Far Eastern Republic. The White Guard troops settled in Primorye were supplied with money, weapons, and ammunition. Agitation was carried out among the soldiers and the population, depicting the campaign against the Far Eastern Republic as a struggle “for the holy Orthodox faith, for the churches of God and for the Russian state, for the homeland, for the fatherland and for our homes.”

A campaign to recruit volunteers into the army began, but ended in failure. The White Guards did not receive any significant support. They were forced to launch an offensive with the forces they had.

Having landed troops in the Vostok and Amerika gulfs on November 5, the Whites, with the support of naval artillery, pushed the partisans up the Suchan River. To strengthen the Suchansky detachment, the command of the partisan detachments withdrew its forces from Yakovlevka and Anuchino. Taking advantage of this, on November 10 the Whites launched an offensive from Nikolsk-Ussuriysky and Spassk to Anuchino and Yakovlevka, cutting off the partisans’ escape routes to the north from the rear to join the People’s Revolutionary Army. The partisans, covered from the sea and the northwest, were forced to disperse along the hills of the Sikhote-Alin ridge. Having pushed the partisans into the mountains, the White Guards, under the cover of Japanese garrisons, began to concentrate to the southern border of the “neutral zone” in the area of ​​Art. Shmakovka, with the goal of launching an attack on Khabarovsk [Ibid., p.220].

As a result of the three-year rule of interventionists and White Guards in the Far Eastern Territory, the Far Eastern People's Republic received a completely destroyed economy in the liberated regions. Suffice it to say that by 1921, the cultivated area in Transbaikalia, the Amur region and the Amur region decreased by 20% compared to 1916. Coal production, even compared to 1917, fell by 70 - 80%. The railways (Transbaikal and Amur) were completely destroyed. Their carrying capacity barely reached 1 - 2 pairs of trains per day. Of the available 470 steam locomotives, 55% required major repairs and of the 12 thousand freight cars, 25% were unsuitable for operation [Ibid., p. 221].

The enormous depletion of the region's economic resources forced the government of the Far Eastern Republic to sharply reduce the number of the People's Revolutionary Army, which reached 90 thousand people by the summer of 1921, and to reorganize it.

The reorganization of the units of the People's Revolutionary Army was not yet completely completed at the beginning of the offensive of the "White Rebel Army". In addition, the White offensive coincided with a period when older People's Army soldiers were demobilized and new recruits had not yet arrived.

Therefore, at the first stage of hostilities, the People's Revolutionary Army was forced to leave Khabarovsk. This happened on December 22, 1921. However, in the battles near Art. The White Guards were defeated and began to retreat. They gained a foothold in the Volochaev bridgehead. Meanwhile, the government of the Far Eastern Republic took measures to increase the combat capability of the People's Revolutionary Army. In January 1922, hostilities resumed. The White Guards again suffered a series of defeats. In February 1922, the Reds launched a counter-offensive. As a result of stubborn battles, they managed to occupy the Volochaev positions and Khabarovsk. The White Guards tried to gain a foothold in positions near the station. Bikin, but to no avail. As a result, they retreated to the northern border of the “neutral zone” in the area of ​​Iman. However, the Reds continued to pursue the enemy within the “neutral zone”, while avoiding clashes with Japanese troops.

On April 1-2, the Chita brigade occupied the village. Aleksandrovskaya, Annenskaya, Konstantinovka, with the task of continuing the offensive to the south.

To avoid an armed clash with the Japanese, the Military Council of the Eastern Front sent its representative to Spassk, who was supposed to coordinate with the Japanese command the issue of allowing units of the People's Revolutionary Army to liquidate the rebels calling themselves "White rebels." During the negotiations that began, Japanese troops on April 2 suddenly opened fire from 52 guns concentrated in the Spassk area on the Chita brigade and launched an offensive in two columns from Spassk and Khvalynka, trying to encircle parts of the People's Revolutionary Army.

Retaliatory military action by the People's Revolutionary Army would mean open war with Japan. This is precisely what the foreign imperialists sought by encouraging the Japanese command to carry out provocative attacks on the Far Eastern Republic. In order not to succumb to provocation and avoid war, the command of the Eastern Front gave the order to the Chita brigade to retreat beyond the Iman River and take up defensive positions in the area of ​​the station in case of a Japanese attack on Khabarovsk. Gondatievka. The combined brigade, which by that time had reached level. Anuchino, was also recalled to the northern border of the “neutral zone”.

In mid-1922, the last stage of the fight against the invaders in the Far East began. It proceeded in a more favorable environment for the Far Eastern Republic and ended with the complete expulsion of the enemy.

The defeat of the White Guards near Volochaevka greatly shook the position of the Japanese interventionists in Primorye. Now there was not even a formal pretext left for leaving Japanese troops there. The US government, trying to soften the impression of the failure of its own military adventure in the Far East and convinced of the unreality of its policy of continuing military intervention at the hands of Japanese militarists, began to put pressure on Japan in order to force it to withdraw its troops from Primorye. The American monopolists sought to shift the center of gravity of their aggression to the economic field in order to enslave the Soviet people economically. Japanese troops in this matter could only serve as a hindrance. In addition, the United States did not want the strengthening of Japan, its competitor in establishing control over the Asia-Pacific region.

In Japan itself, the political situation in the summer of 1922 was also unfavorable for the militant clique and supporters of intervention. The economic crisis, the huge but fruitless expenditure of funds on the intervention, reaching one and a half billion yen, the large losses of people - all this aroused dissatisfaction with the ongoing intervention not only on the part of the general population, but also on the part of the petty bourgeoisie of Japan.

The strengthening of the Soviet Republic as a result of the victorious end of the civil war and the increasingly increasing importance of the Soviet state on the world stage had a particularly strong influence on the revision of the policy of the Japanese imperialists towards the Russian Far East. 1922 was marked by a turning point in the relations of a number of capitalist countries towards Soviet Russia. A period of diplomatic and economic negotiations began [Ibid., p.229].

There has been a change in the ruling cabinet in Japan. The new cabinet headed by Admiral Kato, a representative of maritime circles who were inclined to shift the center of gravity of expansion from the shores of the Far East to the Pacific Ocean, issued a statement on ending the war in the Far East. Under such conditions, the Japanese government was forced to recognize the need to evacuate troops from Primorye and resume the diplomatic negotiations interrupted in Dairen.

On September 4, 1922, a new conference opened in Changchun, which was attended by a joint delegation of the RSFSR and the Far Eastern Republic on the one hand and a delegation of Japan on the other.

Representatives of the Soviet Republic and the Far East presented to the Japanese, as a necessary condition for further negotiations, the main demand - to immediately clear all areas of the Far East from Japanese troops. The Japanese representative, Matsudaira, avoided answering this demand directly. And only after the Soviet delegation, seeing the futility of further negotiations, wanted to leave the conference, he announced that the evacuation of Japanese troops from Primorye was a resolved issue. But, agreeing to the evacuation of its troops from Primorye, the Japanese delegation stated that Japanese troops would continue to occupy Northern Sakhalin as compensation for the “Nikolaev Incident.” This demand was rejected by the RSFSR delegation. The negotiations reached a dead end and were interrupted on September 19 [Ibid., p.231].

After the resumption of negotiations, the Japanese delegation continued to insist on its statement about the continuation of the occupation of northern Sakhalin. Then the delegation of the Far Eastern Republic proposed to investigate the “Nikolaev events” and discuss them on their merits. Finding himself in a difficult situation, the head of the Japanese delegation could not think of anything else but to declare that “Japan cannot go into the details of the “Nikolaev events”: the fact is that the governments of the RSFSR and the Far Eastern Republic are not recognized by Japan.” Due to the obvious inconsistency of this statement, negotiations were stopped again on September 26.

By starting diplomatic negotiations in Changchun and delaying them in every possible way, the Japanese imperialists wanted to divert attention, gain time and cover up the activities that they were simultaneously carrying out in Southern Primorye. The Japanese delegation was clearly waiting for the results of a new attack on the Far Eastern Republic, being prepared by the Japanese invaders.

On June 28, at the direction of the Japanese interventionists, the so-called “Zemsky Sobor” was assembled, consisting of extreme monarchists, White Guard military personnel and reactionary clergy. The Zemsky Sobor elected Diterichs, a former Kappel officer, as temporary ruler of the region instead of the Merkulov brothers. Once in power, Diterikhs began by declaring himself a “zemstvo governor” and began to reorganize public administration in Southern Primorye on the basis of medieval Rus'. Trying to play on the religious feelings of the population, he established a church parish as the main administrative unit. With the help of Japanese interventionists, Dieterichs began collecting and reorganizing all White Guard detachments, renaming them the “Zemstvo army.” By September 1922, the reorganization and arming of the “Zemstvo army” was completed, and Dieterichs announced a campaign against the Far Eastern Republic under the slogan “For the Faith, Tsar Michael and Holy Rus'.”

However, the Whites did not have the strength to develop the offensive. Therefore, they soon went on the defensive. Dieterichs issued a decree on general mobilization and imposed a large emergency tax on the commercial and industrial sectors of the population for military needs. All educational institutions were closed, and student youth were sent to the “zemstvo army.” In order to provide the rear of his troops, Diterikhs ordered the Siberian Cossack group of General Borodin to launch a decisive attack on the Anuchinsky partisan region with the task of defeating and pushing the partisans to the north. However, none of these activities yielded results [Ibid., p. 235].

On October 4, 1922, the People's Revolutionary Army launched the Primorye Operation. It developed successfully and continued until October 25. As a result, units of the People's Revolutionary Army occupied the last major city in the Far East - Vladivostok.

The coastal operation, which was the last major operation of the People's Revolutionary Army, ended in a brilliant victory over the enemy. Only a small part of the White Guards managed to escape from Vladivostok on Japanese ships. The defeat of the "Zemstvo army" dealt the final and decisive blow to the interventionists. After this, they had no choice but to evacuate their troops from Southern Primorye.

In November 1922, the American cruiser Sacramento with a detachment of Americans located on Russian Island was forced to leave the port of Vladivostok. Seven months after the completion of the Primorye Operation, on June 2, 1923, the last Japanese ship, the battleship Nissin, left the Golden Horn Bay.