Clockwise from top: Soldiers of the Don Army in 1919; a White infantry division in March 1920; soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Army; Leon Trotsky in 1918; hanging of workers in Yekaterinoslav by the Czech troops, April 1918.
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| Conflict | Russian Civil War | | Date | 9 November 1917 � June 1923 | | Location | Former Russian Empire (including Russian SFSR, Baltic states, Ukraine, Georgia, Poland, Finland, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia), Mongolia, Persia | | Result | *Bolshevik victory in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan
*Bolshevik defeat in Finland, Poland and in the Baltic states
*Communist takeover in Mongolia | Territorial
changes | Establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922; independence of Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland | Pro-Communist forces:
Red flag.svg Bolshevik Party (not in power until 7 November 1917)
Soviet Union (from 30 December 1922)
:Russian SFSR (from 7 November 1917)
:Flag of the Ukrainian SSR (1923-1927).svg Ukrainian SSR
:Flag of the Byelorussian SSR (1919).svg Byelorussian SSR
Flag of the Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR.svg Red Guards and later
Red Army flag.svg Red Army (from 28 January 1918)
Finnish Red Guards
Flag of the Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR.svg Mongolian communists
Black flag.svg Black Army (allied with the Bolsheviks until 1920)
Flag of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus.svg Mountainous Republic of the North Caucasus
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Left Socialist-Revolutionaries (1917) | Anti-Communist forces
Russia Russian Republic (to 7 November 1917)
Russia White Movement
Cossacks:
:Flag of Kuban People's Republic.svg Kuban Cossacks
::Flag of Kuban People's Republic.svg Kuban People's Republic
:Flag of Don Cossacks.svg Don Cossacks
Allied Intervention (1918 � 1922):
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
France France
Kingdom of Greece
Kingdom of Italy
Empire of Japan
Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Serbia
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
:Australia
:Canada
:British Raj
United States
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Local nationalist movements, national states, and decentralist movements
Estonia
Finland
Latvia
Lithuania
Poland Poland
Flag of Georgia (1918-1921).svg Democratic Republic of Georgia
Flag of Ukrainian People's Republic 1917.svg Ukrainian People's Republic
Mahno banner.jpg Free Territory
Flag of the Alash Autonomy.svg Alash Autonomy
Flag of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan.svg Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
Flag of the Transcaucasian Federation.svg Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (1918)
Flag of Belarus (1991-1995).svg Belarusian People's Republic
Flag of the Far Eastern Republic.svg Far Eastern Republic (1920-1922)
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Darker green and Black flag.svg Green armies
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Left Socialist-Revolutionaries (1918)
----
Mahno banner.jpg Black Army (1920-1921)
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Flag of Mongolia (1911).svg Mongolia | Central Powers (1917 � 19):
Austria-Hungary
German Empire
Baltic German.svg Baltic German National Committee
Ottoman Empire | | 3,000,000 | | 2,400,000 White Russians, 155,000 in Allied intervention. | | several hundred thousand est. | | 1,212,824 casualties
Records are incomplete. | | At least 1,500,000 | | ? |
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The Russian Civil War (1917 � 23) was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) and subsequently gained control throughout Russia.
The principal fighting occurred between the Bolshevik Red Army, often in temporary alliance with other leftist pro-revolutionary groups, and the forces of the White Army, the loosely-allied anti-Bolshevik forces. Many foreign armies warred against the Red Army, notably the Allied Forces, and many volunteer foreigners fought on both sides of the Russian Civil War. The Polish � Soviet War is often viewed as a theatre of the conflict. Other nationalist and regional political groups also participated in the war, including the Ukrainian nationalist Green Army, the Ukrainian anarchist Black Army and Black Guards, and warlords such as Ungern von Sternberg.
The most intense fighting took place from 1918 � 20. Major military operations ended on 25 October 1922 when the Red Army occupied Vladivostok, previously held by the Provisional Priamur Government. The last enclave of the White Forces was the Ayano-Maysky District on the Pacific coast, where General Anatoly Pepelyayev did not capitulate until 17 June 1923.
In Soviet historiography the period of the Civil War has traditionally been defined as 1918 � 21, but the war's skirmishes actually stretched from 1917 � 23.
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