Status Updates From Russia: Revolution and Civi...

The White forces continue to find ways to become even more incompetent, pig-headed, and barbaric. It’s a wonder they weren’t defeated much earlier.

The Whites suffered from disunity and a degree of cruelty wholly unnecessary in their program, which made what should’ve been an easy sell of being the lesser of two evils complicated by authoritarian sympathies and warrior barbarism that often made them look no better than the Bolsheviks. At times, even worse than the Bolsheviks. A warlord system was never going to last.

It’s taken about 1/3 of the book to get past the years 1912-1917, but strangely it still feels under-covered. The Revolution itself could fill volumes just for 1917. But as this book is more about the Civil War than the Revolution itself, I can make my peace with it.