Red Victory: A History of the Russian Civil War

Rating:
Summary: Good History
Review: It is rare to find a book on any civil war that is both factual and objective. _Red Victory_ is one of the rare exceptions. It is remarkably unbiased, and tells the stories of both the "Reds" and the "Whites" without taking sides. It also succeeds in presenting the facts of the fast-moving and unconventional Russian Civil War in a format that is easy to read. It covers not only the civil war but the early years of Communist government, as well. Those who want to dig deeper into the various aspects of the conflict will find the abundant footnotes and bibliography to be of great value.

The author's greatest achievement is his excellent analysis of why the Reds ultimately prevailed. Unlike those revisionist authors who claim that the Bolsheviks' military triumph was inevitable, W. Bruce Lincoln shows how the Reds were able to make the most of their opportunities and consolidate their gains while the Whites squandered many of their considerable advantages. Neither enjoyed widespread popular support. Both sides were also guilty of atrocities, as the conditions of post-World War 1 Russia left little room between repression or anarchy. The difference is that the Communists combined repression with reform, and were able to win the reluctant support (or at least toleration) of much of the populace. The Whites, by contrast, even when initially welcomed as liberators, alienated many with their reactionary policies (which included restoring the estates of the hated landowners). Given a choice between "Red Terror" and the Old Order, most Russians opted to take their chances with the former.

My only disappointment was the lack of detailed information on the military campaigns of the war. However, this book is much better than _Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime_, by Richard Pipes, which is the only other single-volume work widely available on the topic.

Rating:
Summary: Very engaging history on a very complex subject
Review: Lincoln very engagingly takes the reader into the private memoirs of hundreds of principal characters, into the thinking of Lenin and Trotsky and Stalin, and into the changing and complex fabric of Russian life during its Civil War. Every page breathes the idea "revolution" as the cure-all in the Reds' minds for every ill in Russian society, while the Whites seem more bent on democracy or a dictatorship (like the tsarist days), so long as there was some kind of order, during a period when "corruption" was their own festering and ultimately destructive cancer. Politics, the maker of strange bedfellows, and a background as broad and as varied as Russia itself, make for key components in this fascinating examination of political theory and efforts at self-government on the heels of the First World War.

Rating:
Summary: would give it two and a half but...
Review: this book just doesnt cut it as professional history. It is aimed too much toward general laymen interest of the public. A topic as horrific as the Russian Civil War cannot be dealt with in such a conventional manner. Lincoln tells us what happened as opposed to why. The Whites get almost no attention and most of the work focuses on the Reds. This book is divided into sections 1918, 1919, 1920 ect... but there is almost no chronological order to the work and Lincoln jumps from the October Revolution to Cheka atrocities with no sense of transition. The White administration of territories and the White military unitis along with their regimental level commanders receive not attention at all. This book gives the impression that all Whites were nothing but a motley collection of disgrunteled front commanders from the German war, muderous rascists, and drug addicted psychotics. They were no saints but Trotsky and Lenin were just as bad...if not worse. The book is over long and actually gives more importance Stalin's terror in the late 30s then it does on the apocolyptic war at the front in 1919. The section on the Kronstad uprising should have been cut out altogeather and more focus should have been given to the Tambov peasant rising. Stick with Mawdsley's more academic and convincing work on this terrible tragedy.

Rating:
Summary: A fine book, worth reading, but with some flaws
Review: This book provides an excellent portrayal of the social, political, economic and military events in the parts of Russia that were at least nominally controlled by the Bolsheviks during the successive stages of the Russian Civil War. This extensive description and discussion not only illuminates the problems confronted and solved by Lenin and Trotsky, but provides a basis for understanding the later course of events in the Soviet Union.

I have two criticisms. First, the book does not describe nearly as well the evolution, decisions and events of the 20-odd major anti-Bolshevik groups (including army units from 14 foreign countries, and about a dozen governments and/or armies set up by anti-Bolshevik Russians between 1918 and 1922.) This lack is reflected in the bibliography, which omits various important sources on the anti-Bolshevik movements.

Second, a criticism of the publisher. Like most authors' manuscripts, this one could have benefited from a heavy editorial blue pencil. If somebody as skillful and determined as (say) Katherine White had been Lincoln's editor, the book would have wound up covering all the same material more clearly in perhaps 2/3 as many words, would have eliminated a number of ambiguities and seeming inconsistencies (and a couple of minor errors of fact), and would have contained a far more useful index.

Rating:
Summary: Good History
Review: This is a great look at a bloody moment in Russian history. Fascinating, exciting, and well written, this is how hisotry should be written.