History remembers ‘Red Terror’ as a movement under which Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd, Moscow and several other key Russian cities. It was in March of 1918, the Brest-Litovsk Treaty was signed that pulled them out of the war with the Central Powers. After that they unleashed the Red Terror against their own population. But what is Red Terror? Why did they do it? How many were killed?
Foundation of Red Terror!
The roots of ‘red terror’ lie in the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. It resulted in Russia – or rather Soviet-Russia giving up large strips of land to the central powers. Within the Bolshevik party people were divided by this treaty. Despite wanting to end the war, the Left Soviet Russians wanted peace without annexation. Thus they opposed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Bolsheviks were willing to give up much land for the time being in order to save the Revolution. According to historian Orlando Figes the Red Terror did not come out of the blue. The direct cause occurred near the end of the Summer of 1918.
The Beginning!
The Left Soviet Russians were against the treaty and launched a revolt that Summer that was snuffed out by the Bolsheviks. For decades Russia was a society with a small group of rich people and an enormous group of poor people. Majority of them were peasants. Bolsheviks introduced mass violence in Russia, or rather they brought ‘Red Terror’ in Russia. During the first month after October, the revolution led by the Bolshevik regime wasn’t as bloody as it would later be. Less than 1,000 executions were carried out between December and the following Summer of 1918.
Casualties!
Many arrests were random, because the bolsheviks hadn’t consolidated their power to build a well functioning police state. The Red Terror looked very similar to Stalin’s Great Terror in its randomness for the victims.The bolsheviks justified their terror as a war against the counter revolution. But who these counter revolutionaries were wasn’t entirely clear. As time progressed the regime became more paranoid.
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It is hard to say how many people died as a result of the Red Terror. We have no count of people that were killed by the Cheka. We also don’t know the number of civilians died at the hands of Red Army soldiers during the Civil War. According to Orlando Figes, the numbers must be in the 100K. There are also claims that the number might surpass the deaths during the Russian Civil War. The Red Terror led to protests, also within the Bolshevik party. The Red Terror would officially end near the end of 1918 but continue throughout the Russian Civil War.
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