Military Wiki
Eastern Front
Part of the Russian Civil War
DateMay 1918 – June 1923
LocationVolga, Ural, Siberia, Far East, Mongolia
Result Decisive Red Army victory; collapse of Kolchakist army.
Belligerents

White Movement : Kolchak (blason) Russian Government

Bandera de Bakio Provisional Siberian Government

Flag of Russia KOMUCH
Russia Priamur Government
Siberian flag Siberia
Flag of Mongolia (1911) Mongolia (May–August 1921)
Allied Powers
Merchant flag of Japan (1870) Empire of Japan
US flag 48 stars United States
Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

  • Canadian Red Ensign 1868-1921 Canada

France France
Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned Kingdom of Italy
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
Poland Poland
Republic of China (1912–1949) China


Flag of Mongolia (1911) Mongolia

Bolshevik:
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Russian SFSR
Flag of the Far Eastern Republic Far Eastern Republic

Flag of the People's Republic of Mongolia (1921-1924) Mongolian communists
Commanders and leaders

Kolchak (blason) Alexander Kolchak
Bandera de Bakio Grigory Semyonov
Flag of Russia Alexander Dutov
Flag of Russia Vladimir Kappel
Flag of Russia Mikhail Diterikhs
Flag of Russia Ungern-Sternberg
Flag of Russia Anatoly Pepelyayev

Flag of Russia Mikhail Korobeinikov

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Leon Trotsky
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Mikhail Tukhachevsky
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Mikhail Frunze
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Vasily Blyukher
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Mikhail Muravyov
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Aleksandr Samoilov
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Fyodor Raskolnikov
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Mikhail Velikanov
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Ivan Strod

Flag of the People's Republic of Mongolia (1921-1924) Damdin Sükhbaatar
Strength

Flag of Russia Ural Army - 25,000
Siberian flag Siberian Army - 80,000
Flag of Russia Orenburg Independent Army - 50,000
Flag of Russia Western Army of White Movement - 51,000
Czechoslovakia Czech Legion - 42,000
Russia People Army of Komuch - ~10,000
Bandits 50,000
Others ~ 100,000

White Total:
~ 400,000

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic 5 Field Armies of about 12,000-50,000 men each

Total:
~ 600,000
Casualties and losses
250,000-400,000 150,000-300,000




In May 1918, soldiers of the Czechoslovak Legion revolted against the Bolsheviks in Chelyabinsk. They were angry because the Bolsheviks had ordered the Czechoslovak troops to disarm, breaking former agreements. The Legion was trying to evacuate to the Western Front to continue the fight against the Central powers, but after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March, the Bolsheviks no longer supported this move.[1] The revolt quickly spread across Siberia, because the Czechoslovaks used the Trans-Siberian Railway to move their troops east quickly and because they were supported by local uprisings instigated by Russian army officers. When the uprising reached Yekaterinburg, the former Tsar and his family who were being held there by the Bolsheviks were executed to prevent their capture by the Whites. By the end of August, Vladivostok was in Czechoslovak hands.[2] In the power vacuum left by the departure of the Bolsheviks multiple White Movement governments were established, most importantly KOMUCH at Samara and the Provisional Siberian Government. KOMUCH quickly ordered a general mobilisation, but its troops were small and badly trained. The Czechoslovaks allied with KOMUCH and advanced to the west, taking Kazan, where they captured the tsar's gold reserves which had been moved east for safekeeping.[3] In Petrograd, Lenin had called upon factory workers to be dispatched to the Eastern Front.

Notes[]

  1. Bullock 2008, p. 44-46.
  2. Bullock 2008, p. 46.
  3. Bullock 2008, p. 46-48.

References[]

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