Causes for the Russian Civil War

There was a civil war in 1918 because there was increasing opposition to the Bolsheviks. This opposition came from indigenous people, Czechs legions in Russia, and the West.

Local Russians opposed the Bolsheviks for a number of reasons which include, but the two most important are the loss of land, people and industry resulting from the treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the dishonoring of the new government. The treaty of Brest-Litovsk, signed march 3rd 1918 was meant to get Russia out of the Great War, and it obliged Russia to cede 32% of Russia's agricultural land, 34% of the population and 54% of Russia's industry. After seizing power, Lenin allowed elections to be held for the Assembly. The Bolsheviks won 170 seats while the social revolutionaries won more than twice as much, 370 seats. However, when the assembly was scheduled to start meeting, Lenin saw to it that the Red army had it closed, and "silenced" anyone who complained. The Bolsheviks represented a minority of the Russian population that had managed to rise to power, however the majority of the Russian population was dissatisfied with the Bolsheviks, for some of the reasons listed above. The Social Revolutionaries were dissatisfied because they were denied political power, and together with the Mensheviks, Tsarists, Landlords, etc. they were all angry at the outcome of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

In May 1918 there was an uprising of the Czechoslovak brigade in Russia. The Czechoslovak brigade was the best organized military force in Russia, surviving the collapse of the imperial Russian army, which it was once a part of. The Czechs quarreled with the Russians because they wished to go to the French front to fight for an independent Czechoslovakia. Most important is what they did afterwards, which is that they took control of the Tran-Siberian railway. This very important because it was the biggest and probably only railway in Russia. Especially at a time when Russia had such a poor infrastructure, lacking a varied array of transportation methods, a railway and the control of a railway is very important because it means that one controlling it has power to control the distribution of food and arms in a period of civil unrest. Having such power the Czechs defeated the Reds in most of Siberia and gave help to their white opponents. The second reason for which the Czech legion was important for the Russian civil war was that they gave leeway for other foreign armies to join the fight against the reds.

The third cause of the Russian civil war was the foreign opposition to the Bolshevik government. This opposition was due to two interconnected factors. The first being that the Bolshevik's duty was to wage international communist revolutions. While the second being that in light of the first reason they set up Comintern led by Zinoviev. An organization with the aim to spread communist ideology. Hence, foreign countries, besides being angered at Russia's withdrawal from the Great War, sent in armies of their own to defeat the Bolsheviks which posed such a threat to the survival of capitalism.

In conclusion, the Russian civil war was fought between two camps, the Bolsheviks and all those who were against the Bolsheviks collectively known as The Whites. Some of the bigger groups which comprised the whites include Tsarists, Mensheviks, Social Revolutionaries, Landlords, minorities such as the Muslims, and foreigns (Czechs, French English, and Americans). Hence, the main cause of the Russian civil war of 1918 was that the Bolsheviks were faced with immense opposition originating from different groups for different yet sometimes similar reasons.