Why was there a Russian civil war?

Answer 1

The 1917 Bolshevik Revolution was the communists over throwing the Tsarist government.

--Edit Well, firstly, the answer above is relevent, but not the answer to the question asked.

When the October Revolution in Russia came about in 1917, there were lots of other political groups in Russia besides the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, felt that they alone deserved to rule Russia, and didn't believe in a coalition government. Originally, Lenin had a Constituent Assembly, but since the Bolsheviks gained less seats in the vote than the Left SRs, he dissolved the Constituent Assembly, basically rendering Russia a single-party state. This obviously annoyed the rest of the communist groups, which joined in the general unrest. The Russian civil war came about for several reasons; including the general unrest with the Bolsheviks being in power from:

Ex-Tsarist supporters

Army generals

Clerical associations

Rightist groups

Left SRs + Mensheviks

FOREIGN SUPPORT - Allied powers - British, France, etc.

The Russian civil war was basically the "Reds" [Bolsheviks] vs. the "Whites" [everyone mentionned above]

The foreign support was there because the Bolsheviks saw the First World War as an "Imperialist" war, and not their business, and so withdrew Russia [The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]. They also refused to pay back the war loans to the Allied forces, as they did not feel they had to, being a new government after the Provisional Government. The Allies also felt that if they defeated the Bolsheviks were defeated, Russia would rejoin the war and fight Germany on another border.

As Churchill put it, England wished to "Strangle the Bolshevik Revolution in the cradle." The allied forces had a fear of communism. The Russian Civil war was basically inevitable, which the leaders of the Bolshevik party was aware of - which was a leading reason as to why the Bolshevik party left the First World War, as they knew they'd need the men and ammunition [but also because the 1st World War had been the demise of both the Tsar and the Provisional Government] - as Russia was in a critical period of revolution and reform.

Answer 2

The Russians provided very little in the way of men or material. As communists they provided money and moral support to stem the expansion of Fascism. Hitler and Stalin hated and mistrusted each other.