The White Armies of Russia: A Chronicle of Counter-Revolution and Allied Intervention

by George Stewart

This book is a very thorough and comprehensive account of the Civil War and Allied intervention that followed the chaotic Russian revolution of 1917 which culminated in the Bolshevik take over. Although written from the perspective of the White counter-revolutionary armies fighting to overthrow Lenin's new 'Red' regime, Stewart is remarkably objective. Generously illustrated with both maps and photographs, this is a big book which attempts - very successfully - to cover widespread theatres of war in the vastest country on earth. The Reds had two huge advantages over their White opponents: they had a unified, single command and they were defending central positions in the heart of Russia - including the capital, Moscow, and the port city of Leningrad St Petersburg] - against diffuse attacks from different directions. By contrast the Whites were disunited politically, ranging from reactionary monarchists to social democrats and even anarchists - and were fighting in widely different locations - under rival commanders unable to co-ordinate their disparate - and often desperate - attacks. As a result, the more ruthless Reds were eventually able to defeat them piecemeal; and the efforts by the Allies - the US, Britain, France and even Japan - to support them were in vain. This book covers the fighting in Siberia when Admiral Kolchak was the White leader; Ukraine, where General Deniken held sway; the Baltic where General Yudenich threatened St Petersburg, cradle of the revolution; and the Crimea where General Wrangel represented the last forlorn hope of the Whites before he and they were forced into exile.

Genres: Russia

469 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1933

Reviews

[Monty Milne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a reprint of a classic work first published in the 1930's. It is an excellent and objective view of the conflict, written with elegance and lucidity. There is an abundance of maps and illustrations, and as is usually the case with reprints they don't come out as well as in the original. The last chapter is a curiosity, describing what the white exiles were up to in the 1930's (a lot of them working as waiters in French restaurants, it seems). Alas, it wasn't all over for many of them: we now know the Soviets were still kidnapping, torturing and murdering their exiled countrymen into the 1950's. The White armies included great military minds (Yudenich), inspirational leaders (Wrangel) and men of heroic courage and self sacrifice (Kappel) as well as brigands (Semyonov), psychopaths (Kalmykov) and lunatics (Ungern-Sternberg). They also included people of every political opinion, from monarchist reactionaries (far fewer than Red propaganda would have people believe) right through to the far left.

I was utterly absorbed by this fascinating chronicle. The Whites had no lack of courage, but lost because of political ineptitude, the confusion and duplicity of their international allies, and - most decisively - the successes of the Red Army, underpinned as they were by repression and propaganda (or, as I prefer to think of it, lies and Terror). And - to give the devil his due - the organising genius of Trotsky, which was far above anything any of the White generals could manage. Alas...

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was 20 pages in when I realised what I’d taken on: a mountain (and as yet I’ve not earned that privilege - I only have walking shoes at present). For reference, I took a sheet and drew a line down the middle - in one column I listed the ‘prominent Reds’ and the other the ‘Whites’, with a string of page numbers for when they get a mention.
I can’t imagine the research that went into this. I’m no historian (I’m starting to get an itch), but this was so informative: the detail of how and why the events unfolded: the decision making: the in-fighting. Many did not want a return to Czarist rule, but, also, many did not favour a ‘Red State’. Yes, the monarchy were guilty of much, but this was not - as I previously believed - an uprising of the poor against the elite. This was a propaganda driven revolution.
The brutality - on both sides - more an organised and promoted brutality with Red forces - more from leaderless gangs on the White side; but still brutality.
The years of suffering and the loss, both personal and financial, was for thousands upon thousands catastrophic; and for the surviving émigrés, I can only accept, as it’s difficult for me to understand, how the scars were so deep that many could not, would not, forget and move on. The will to continue the culture, preserve the memories, and continue the fight, in both open and more clandestine organisations, remained.
It was heart-warming to find that some of the Romanov family did survive as émigrés: former Princesses and more finding a place in Western-Europe; and in many cases not the place you’d expect.

[Alex Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic contribution to the historiography of the Russian Civil War written shortly (about a decade) after the conflict, but probably not for the uninitiated. Although Stewart does an excellent job in describing the political context, especially for the White Army, those without a firm understanding of the background might be better served by reading J.D. Smele's "The 'Russian' Civil Wars, 1916-1926" or Antony Beevor's more recent "Russia: Revolution and Civil War, 1917-1921" as general primers.

That being said, Stewart's book provides excellent coverage of the strategic 'big picture' across all the theatres of the conflict (Baltic Area, South Russia, North Russia, and Siberia/The Far East) in a chronological, accessible narrative structure that seamlessly weaves in excerpts from primary documents, making what would otherwise be a dry military history genuinely exciting. A few flaws persist - many of the dramatis personae are introduced without much in the way of biographical information, which is perhaps not an issue for laege personalities like Wrangel or Denikin, but their dozen or so subordinates are little more than names on a page and difficult to distinguish; maps although plentiful, can be difficult to read, at least in the edition published by The Naval and Military Press. Moreover, many of the place names referred to in the text do not appear on the maps, rendering it at times difficult to follow the flow of the conflict.

Personally, the book succeeded in de-romantizing the White movement for me. It's leadership is portrayed as deeply flawed, either being completely unsuited to the task at hand or tragically unable/unwilling to tap into the Zeitgeist they lived in.