Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926

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.

This was a big war—or rather, it was a huge compendium of small and medium-sized wars—and consequently, this is a big book. Like all other volumes in the War series, though, it covers its subject very systematically. It begins with a list of acronyms and abbreviations, so that readers can follow the key institutional and organizational players, which were often not generally known by their full names (and in some cases are known better by their Russian titles and especially acronyms—a form regarded as revolutionary at the time and much favored by the Soviet government). The chronology that follows is more essential than ever in this volume, since it is extremely hard to keep track of so many different phases and locations of these diverse conflicts without knowing what happened where and when across the huge expanse of the former Russian Empire. Subsequently, the author’s introduction does a masterly job of bringing it all together, explaining the importance of the work, outlining the general tide of events and decisive encounters, and then weighing up just who won or lost the most, as well as seeking to establish that the conflicts under discussion began earlier and lasted longer than is normally supposed. But there is no doubt that the core of the book is the dictionary, with substantial entries on many hundreds of persons who played a significant role, on every side, as well as hundreds more entries covering the major political and military institutions and organizations of all the contending sides. Key events and campaigns of the wars are also included, as well as many reflective aspects of the subject (including, for example, the “Russian” Civil Wars’ portrayal in film and literature). Still, big as this book may be, there is much more that can be learned about the “Russian” Civil Wars, and the substantial bibliography, therefore directs readers to the best sources in a range of languages.

The writing of this huge book was clearly a labor of love on the part of the author, but even now he would admit that his work is not complete, for completeness might require something several times larger. Nevertheless, this is a most extraordinary work, obviously built on the author’s lifetime of research and study of his subject and his ruminations upon it. Some of that is related to teaching: Jonathan D. Smele is senior lecturer in modern European history at Queen Mary, University of London, where he has taught since 1992, following spells at the Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen. In addition, he was for a decade the sole editor of the chief academic journal on his subject, Revolutionary Russia. Hardly the least of his previous achievements is that he has written or edited several major works on the Russian revolutions and civil wars, including a comprehensive annotated bibliography on the subject and a seminal monograph. Consequently, this Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916–1926 is the ideal place to seek both a broad and up-to-date view of an exceptionally complex series of overlapping conflicts and a very focused view of everything related to them.

Jon Woronoff

Series Editor