The Russian Civil War (Paperback)

This is not simply the story of that collapse and the vast panorama of rebellion and marching armies which accompanied it, but of the painful and costly reconstruction of Russian power under a Soviet regime within shrunken borders. For Russia the catastrophe was terrible. The Civil War cost her between seven and ten million dead - four times her casualties in the First World War. She had lost Poland, Finland, the Baltic States and for a time seemed as if she would lose the Transcaucasia as well. She knew she was opposed by Britain, America and Japan. The result was a suspicious, aggrieved and paranoid power desperate for revenge and the return of the lost lands. Meticulously argued and powerfully written, this is not simply the story of a long-forgotten war, but the terrible warning of what happens when a great country implodes and collapses. The Russian Civil War shaped the mentality of the Soviet regime more than any other event in its history. The infant Soviet regime faced large 'White' armies of anti-Communist Russians, Anarchist mutineers, break-away nationalist minorities and invading armies from most of the major powers of the First World War. The murderous civil war with huge casualties left the Soviets with a lasting mistrust of the outside world that remained in force until the end of the regime 65 years later. The Russian Civil War has an extensive bibliography has been updated to include numerous works written since the collapse of Communism.