Civil War in Siberia
The Anti-Bolshevik Government of Admiral Kolchak, 1918–1920

This book traces the clash between the 'Reds' of the Moscow-based Soviet regime and the 'Whites', the militaristic, counter-revolutionary governments.

Jonathan D. Smele (Author)

9780521029070, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 November 2006

788 pages, 5 maps
23.5 x 15.8 x 4.3 cm, 1.107 kg

"This is the fullest account to date of the rise of the White movement in Siberia." Vladimir Brovkin, The Historian

The Russian Civil War of 1917–1921, a cataclysmic series of overlapping conflicts, was a pivotal event in modern history. It was the Bolshevik victory in this bloody struggle, not the skirmishes on the streets of Petrograd and Moscow in October 1917, which secured the victory of Soviet Communism and provided its legitimacy for seventy years of rule. This book traces the clash between the 'Reds' of the Moscow-based Soviet regime and the 'Whites', the militaristic, counter-revolutionary governments which were established around the periphery of Russia and aided by Allied interventionists. In particular, it details the epic history of the White movement in Siberia, and the fortunes of its leader, Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak. Using a wide range of contemporary sources, Jonathan Smele examines Kolchak's political and military record, and concludes that the White defeat resulted as much from the harsh facts of Siberian economy and geography as from failures of White policy and leadership.

List of maps
Preface
Glossary and abbreviations
Introduction
1. The triumphal march of reaction
2. The establishment of the Kolchak government
3. 'What Kolchak wants!': military versus polity in White Siberia
4. Inside Kolchakia: from 'a land of milk and honey' to 'the dictatorship of the whip'
5. White débâcle
6. White agony
Conclusion
Appendix
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], European history [HBJD]