Factions of the Russian Civil War

White Armies; A loose coalition of anti Bolshevik factions (mostly composing of Tsarists, Cossacks, and even socialists). Inaccurately described as the “Tsarist” faction, however there were Tsarist presence in several White Armies, most notably the infamous warlord Roman von Ungern Sternberg (also known as the “Bloody White Baron” for his brutality). The downfall of the White Army was the lack of cooperation of the White Army factions (along with other anti Bolshevik Factions), thus allowing for the Bolsheviks to fight several opponents at once while defeating each rival faction one by one.

Black Armies; Several Anarchist armies (most notably Nestor Makhno’s Makhnovists, the most powerful, successful, and famous of the Anarchist factions) warred against White and Red Armies alike, and they were in and out of alliances with the Bolsheviks. They had a major presence in Ukraine. Failed when betrayed for a final time by the Bolsheviks and the loss of public support among the peasants in Ukraine.

Green Armies; A loose term describing loosely organized and localized peasant armies that fought all other factions in the war (especially the Red Armies). They were alienated by the Red Terror and the White Terror that mutilated the local populations, and the neglect by officials of both sides. Can be described as the “self defense groups”. The downfall, as with the White Armies, the lack of coordination and also the lack of expansion and the localized nature of their campaigns. Green Armies had no ideology other than kill the hated Communists. The most powerful Green Army was Aleksandr Antonov Blue Army which even temporarily drove the Bolsheviks out of the Tambov region.

Red Armies (or more correctly the Bolsheviks); The most powerful group in the war and the main party in the Soviet Government. A left wing Marxist group. Despite its left-wing ideology, the faction had several conflicts with other left wing groups like the Left SRs and the Makhnovists. Infamous for use of the Red Terror, a now common term for any Communist mass killings. The purpose of the Bolshevik Red Terror was to purge out the White factions and their supporters. The White counterpart to the Red Terror was the White Terror. The White Terror, inverse to its Communist counterpart, is now a term for anti Communist mass killings.

Other factions in the Russian Civil War;

Basmachi; A loose term describing anti Bolshevik Khanates in Central Asia that were sparked into revolt by the violently atheist nature of the Bolshevik regime. Their downfall as that of their counterparts in Russia was their constant inter factional fighting which was cunningly taken advantage of by the Bolsheviks.

Various Independent Movements; The various independent movements are far too numerous to mention in this document, however some of the most prominent of them is Poland, the Baltic Republics, Azerbaijan, among others. They had an approx. 50% success rates against the Bolsheviks. Some successes for independence against the Bolsheviks were Poland and the Baltic States, while failures were in Mongolia (place of operations for the White Baron mentioned above), Ukraine (place of operations for Makhno), and the Caucasus.