The historical dictionaries present essential information on a broad range of subjects, including American and world history, art, business, cities, countries, cultures, customs, film, global conflicts, international relations, literature, music, philosophy, religion, sports, and theater. Written by experts, all contain highly informative introductory essays on the topic and detailed chronologies that, in some cases, cover vast historical time periods but still manage to heavily feature more recent events.
Brief A–Z entries describe the main people, events, politics, social issues, institutions, and policies that make the topic unique, and entries are cross-referenced for ease of browsing. Extensive bibliographies are divided into several general subject areas, providing excellent access points for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more. Additionally, maps, photographs, and appendixes of supplemental information aid high school and college students doing term papers or introductory research projects. In short, the historical dictionaries are the perfect starting point for anyone looking to research in these fields.
HISTORICAL DICTIONARIESOF WAR, REVOLUTION, AND CIVIL UNREST
Jon Woronoff, Series Editor
The United States–Mexican War, by Edward H. Moseley and Paul C. Clark Jr. 1997.
World War I, by Ian V. Hogg. 1998.
The United States Marine Corps, by Harry A. Gailey. 1998.
The Wars of the French Revolution, by Steven T. Ross. 1998.
The Spanish-American War, by Brad K. Berner. 1998.
The Persian Gulf War, by Clayton R. Newell. 1998.
The United States Air Force and Its Antecedents, by Michael Robert Terry. 1999.
World War II: The War Against Japan, by Anne Sharp Wells. 1999.
British and Irish Civil Wars, by Martyn Bennett. 2000.
The Cold War, by Joseph Smith and Simon Davis. 2000.
Ancient Greek Warfare, by Iain Spence. 2002.
The Crimean War, by Guy Arnold. 2002.
The United States Army: A Historical Dictionary, by Clayton R. Newell. 2002.
Ancient Egyptian Warfare, by Robert G. Morkot. 2003.
Arms Control and Disarmament, by Jeffrey A. Larsen and James M. Smith. 2005.
The Russo-Japanese War, by Rotem Kowner. 2005.
Afghan Wars, Revolutions, and Insurgencies, Second Edition, by Ludwig W. Adamec. 2005.
The War of 1812, by Robert Malcomson. 2006.
Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Warfare, by Benjamin C. Garrett and John Hart. 2007.
Civil Wars in Africa, Second Edition, by Guy Arnold. 2008.
The Northern Ireland Conflict, by Gordon Gillespie. 2008.
The Anglo-Boer War, by Fransjohan Pretorius. 2009.
The Zulu Wars, by John Laband. 2009.
Terrorism, Third Edition, by Sean K. Anderson with Stephen Sloan. 2009.
American Revolution, Second Edition, by Terry M. Mays. 2010.
“Dirty Wars,” Second Edition, by David Kohut and Olga Vilella. 2010.
Korean War, Second Edition, by Paul M. Edwards. 2010.
Holocaust, Second Edition, by Jack R. Fischel. 2010.
United States Navy, Second Edition, by James M. Morris and Patricia M. Kearns. 2011.
War in Vietnam, by Ronald B. Frankum Jr. 2011.
The Civil War, Second Edition, by Terry L. Jones. 2011.
Spanish Civil War, by Francisco J. Romero Salvadó. 2013.
The Crusades, Second Edition, by Corliss K. Slack. 2013.
The Chinese Civil War, Second Edition, by Christopher R. Lew and Edwin Pak-wah Leung. 2013.
World War II: The War against Germany and Italy, by Anne Sharp Wells. 2014.
The French Revolution, Second Edition, by Paul R. Hanson. 2015.
Chechen Conflict, by Ali Askerov. 2015.
Chinese Cultural Revolution, Second Edition, by Guo Jian, Yongyi Song, and Yuan Zhou. 2015.
Russian Civil Wars, 1916–1926, by Jonathan Smele. 2015.
The Arab–Israeli Conflict, Second Edition, by P. R. Kumaraswamy. 2015.
Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916–1926
Jonathan D. Smele
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
Published by Rowman & Littlefield
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowman.com
Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB
Copyright © 2015 by Jonathan D. Smele
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Smele, Jon.
Historical dictionary of the Russian civil wars, 1916–1926 / Jonathan D. Smele.
pages cm. — (Historical dictionaries of war, revolution, and civil unrest)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4422-5280-6 (hardcover : alkaline paper) — ISBN 978-1-4422-5281-3 (ebook)
1. Soviet Union—History—Revolution, 1917–1921—Dictionaries. 2. Soviet Union—History—1917–1936—Dictionaries. 3. Civil war—Soviet Union—History—Dictionaries. I. Title.
DK265.S526 2015
947.084'103—dc23
2015011566
Printed in the United States of America
For Grace
Contents
Contents
Editor’s Foreword
Acknowledgments
Reader’s Note
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Chronology
Introduction
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Appendix 1: Red Governing Institutions
Appendix 2: Anti-Bolshevik Governing Institutions
Appendix 3: Nationalist Governing Institutions
Glossary
Bibliography
About the Author
Editor’s Foreword
Wars—especially civil wars—are bloody and messy, and few were as bloody and messy as those that raged in and around Russia before, during, and after the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917. Not easily defined or confined, these conflicts extended well beyond the borders of today’s Russia (or even the collapsing Russian Empire of that time), spilling over into what are now several other independent countries and stretching across territories of 7,000 miles from west to east (from Poland to the Pacific) and half that distance from north to south (from the Arctic Ocean to—and beyond—the borders of China and Persia). The contenders were not just the Reds and the Whites of popular renown, as our author here makes clear, but a host of other political and national formations, as well as the interventionist forces of the Allies (chiefly Britain, France, Japan, and the United States) and the Central Powers (chiefly Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey). But while the Whites, various non-Russian nationalist forces, anarchists, and popular socialists were active in diverse regions, the Reds had to stretch in every possible direction, and it is almost miraculous that they emerged (for the most part) victorious—although many of the Soviet leaders responsible for Red victories in the civil wars eventually ended up in jail, exile, or unmarked graves. The number of casualties, not surprisingly, was in the millions—most of them a result not of the actual warfare but rather of the accompanying waves of famine and disease and the general mayhem of the times. Whether this was all worth it probably rarely crossed the minds of those involved, because they felt themselves to be playing for huge stakes: nationhood and “freedom” for some, domination of a precious ideology (endowed with all sorts of possible virtues) for others. Yet having recently witnessed the collapse of the huge Soviet empire that arose from the “Russian” civil wars, one may be permitted some doubts.