Russia: Difference between revisions

For the first month of its existence, the new Republic was stuck in a deadlock between the two major factions in government, the liberal republicans and the nationalist republicans (more commonly known as the Vosstanists (from Russian восстановление, vosstanovlenie) . Additionally, after the Tsar fled, many non-Russian regions of the empire declared independence, while the Russian military acted mostly autonomously from the Republics congress. In February of 1926, after the first wave of elections was marred with controversy. The Nationalist RepublicansVosstanists walked out of congress and started to conspire to overthrow the liberal-republican-dominated congress. The following week after a series of negotiations with the military (led by General Mikhail Orlov) and the leaders of the Cossacks, the newly reformed Nationalist Republican / Vosstanist faction now known as the 'Russian National Congress' declared the Russian Republican Congress illegitimate.

The Russian Republican Congress reacted harshly to the National Congresses declaration and raised militias from loyalist cities and regions. By March of 1926, the Liberal Russian Republic relied only on a decentralized system of militias with dubious loyalties and often recruited from rebellious national interest groups who feared that the Russian NationalistsVosstanists would destroy the local autonomy given to them by the Tsar's Viceroy system. This faction was often known collectively on the battlefield as the Tricolor Army due to their use of the Russian white, blue & red tricolor flag. Initially, the Tricolor Army was able to hold on to land in southern Russian, the Baltics and regions in Northern Russia.

In contrast, the NationalistsVosstanists were able to rapidly take control of the core of Russian ethnic and industrial land in the Muscovite region. They consolidated their rule with a variety of social and work programs, which alleviated the worst of the effects of the famines and economic crisis and the use of harsh authoritarian crackdowns on dissenters. The Russian NationalistsVosstanists were able to push the Tricolor Republic Army out of North Russia by the summer of 1926. They then slowly turned their attention to their core region of support in south Russia. Throughout 1927, opponents from the Liberal Republic would try desperately to gain a foreign backer, first from the British and then the Ottomans, but as the European Economic Crisis raged, there was little desire from the other powers of Europe to get involved in a civil war that seemed to be already lost. However, they were able to find an ally in the Finnish Nationalist Republican insurgents that launched the Finnish revolution a year prior (1925).

By the winter of 1927, the Liberals realized their plight was doomed and so used their resources to provide an exodus route for the leaders, military, and businesspeople of the ill-fated republic. By February of 1928, there were only pockets of isolated fighting as the NationalistsVosstanists swept into Southern Russia and gained control. By March, the last battle of the Russian Civil War was over.