Battle of Petrograd

Battle of Petrograd
	Part of the Russian Civil War, Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War, Estonian War of Independence and Heimosodat
	; A picture of a Young Bolshevik soldier in Petrograd
Date	28 September – 14 November 1919; (1 month, 2 weeks and 3 days)
Location	Petrograd Governorate, Russian SFSR 60°03′0″N31°45′0″E / 60.05000°N 31.75000°E
Result	Soviet victory Dissolution of the Northwest Army ;
Territorial; changes	Soviets successfully defend Petrograd
Belligerents
Northwest Russia ; Estonia ; British Empire ; Ingria ; Finland	Soviet Russia
Commanders and leaders
Nikolai Yudenich	Leon Trotsky
Units involved
Northwest Army	Red Army 7th Army ; 15th Army ;
Strength
18,500; 6,000; around 2,000; British Baltic Fleet	55,500

Last updated November 15, 2024

The Battle of Petrograd was a campaign by the White movement to take the city of Petrograd (at various times called Saint Petersburg, Petrograd, and Leningrad; now Saint Petersburg). The city held significant value, notably as it was the same city that the October Revolution took place in. The battle was also at a critical point in the Civil War as the Whites had also been getting closer to Moscow and the Russian State was at its peak.

Using the new Regional Government of Northwest Russia as a base, the newly formed Northwestern Army had launched an attack from Pskov and drove north to Petrograd. The White Army saw a string of victories on the road to Petrograd. After the White advance severed a railroad junction from Moscow to Petrograd, the Bolsheviks began to fear the city might soon fall. Trotsky personally went north to rally the city's defenses, he oversaw the utilization of an alternative rail line to bring in supplies from Moscow needed to fend off the attack.

The advance stalled and reversed, soon the Whites were forced to retreat into Estonia. Hoping to secure a peace deal with Soviet Russia, the Estonian government refused to allow the Northwestern Army to be restationed in the nation. The White cause had begun to disintegrate across Russia however. Though the Northwestern Army was soon allowed to send pockets of units into Estonia, the new government of the Russian State collapsed; simultaneously the army disbanded, ending any chance of Petrograd, the historic capital of Russia, being taken from the Bolsheviks.

Background

On August 8, the Bolsheviks promised that Estonian independence would be recognized on the condition that the Estonian Army would withdraw from Pskov. Yudenich suggested that the Estonian Army be put under his command in exchange for recognized and secured independence. If the Estonians took the peace deal with the Russian SFSR, the Northwestern Army would have no base for operations. In an effort to preserve an alliance with Estonia, he formed the Regional Government of Northwest Russia to start formal negotiations.^[1]

Battle

White Army offensive

On September 28 the White Northwestern Army launched the offensive. Within the week Luga had been taken, railroads from Pskov to Petrograd had been cut off and Iamburg had been taken by October 11. On October 20 some units had made it to Pulkovo Heights, within the suburbs of Petrograd. The 3rd Infantry Division of the Army had ignored orders to cut the Moscow-Petrograd railway at Tosno to reach Petrograd first.^[2]

Red Army counteroffensive

Trotsky had traveled north to the city in an effort to rally a defense. The railway junction at Tosno, that was left alone, had allowed supplies to be sent to the defenders of Petrograd from Moscow. On October 21 the Red Army attacked pushing the Whites back from Pulkovo and retook Tsarskoe Selo and Pavlovsk 2 days later. Soon the 7th Army attacked east while the 15th Army attacked south taking back Luga on the 31st. On the second anniversary of the October Revolution the two armies linked up east and south of Iamburg.^[3]

Aftermath

After the counterattacks by the 7th and 15th Red Armies, the Northwestern Army was severely weakened. Estonia, who did not want to jeopardize the current peace negotiations, refused to take the White Army in as refugees preventing them from taking shelter in Narva. After several pleas, the Estonian government agreed to take in small groups, provided that they would be unarmed and would not be wearing the uniform of Northwestern Army. The Regional Government of Northwest Russia was disbanded on December 5 and the army itself formally disbanded.^[4]^[5]

Trotsky was later awarded the Order of the Red Banner for his personal role in organising the defence of Petrograd.^[6]

Notes

↑ Lincoln 1989, p. 292-293.
↑ Lincoln 1989, p. 296-298.
↑ Lincoln 1989, p. 298-299.
↑ McMeekin, Sean (2017-05-30). The Russian Revolution: A New History. Basic Books. ISBN 9780465094974.
↑ Lincoln 1989, p. 299-300.
↑ Patenaude, Betrand (21 September 2017). "Trotsky and Trotskyism" in The Cambridge History of Communism: Volume 1, World Revolution and Socialism in One Country 1917–1941. Cambridge University Press. p. 197. ISBN 978-1-108-21041-6.

Related Research Articles

The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution, October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment in the larger Russian Revolution of 1917–1923. It was the second revolutionary change of government in Russia in 1917. It took place through an insurrection in Petrograd on 7 November 1917 [O.S. 25 October]. It was the precipitating event of the Russian Civil War. The initial stage of the October Revolution which involved the assault on Petrograd occurred largely without any human casualties.

The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social change in Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government following two successive revolutions and a civil war. It can also be seen as the precursor for the other revolutions that occurred in the aftermath of World War I, such as the German Revolution of 1918–1919. The Russian Revolution was one of the key events of the 20th century.

The Russian Civil War was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the overthrowing of the liberal-democratic Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. It resulted in the formation of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and later the Soviet Union in most of its territory. Its finale marked the end of the Russian Revolution, which was one of the key events of the 20th century.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers, by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, which followed months of negotiations after the armistice on the Eastern Front in December 1917, was signed at Brest-Litovsk.

The White movement, also known as the Whites, was a loose confederation of anti-communist forces that fought the communist Bolsheviks, also known as the Reds, in the Russian Civil War (1917–1923) and that to a lesser extent continued operating as militarized associations of rebels both outside and within Russian borders in Siberia until roughly World War II (1939–1945). The movement's military arm was the White Army, also known as the White Guard or White Guardsmen.

The Estonian War of Independence, also known as the Estonian Liberation War, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Soviet Russian westward offensive of 1918–1919 and the 1919 aggression of the pro–German Baltische Landeswehr. The campaign was the struggle of the newly established democratic state of Estonia for independence in the aftermath of World War I. It resulted in a victory for Estonia and was concluded in the 1920 Treaty of Tartu.

Nikolai Nikolayevich Yudenich was a commander of the Russian Imperial Army during World War I. He was a leader of the anti-communist White movement in northwestern Russia during the Civil War.

The Kerensky–Krasnov uprising was an attempt by Alexander Kerensky to crush the October Revolution and regain power after the Bolsheviks overthrew his government in Petrograd. It took place between 8 and 13 November 1917 [O.S. 26 and 31 October].

The Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919 was part of the campaign by Soviet Russia into areas abandoned by the Ober Ost garrisons that were being withdrawn to Germany following that country's defeat in World War I. The initially successful offensive against the Republic of Estonia ignited the Estonian War of Independence which ended with the Soviet recognition of Estonia. Similarly, the campaigns against the Republic of Latvia and Republic of Lithuania ultimately failed, resulting in the Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty and Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty respectively. In Belarus, the Belarusian People's Republic was conquered and the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia proclaimed.

The Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a series of multi-national military expeditions that began in 1918. The initial impetus behind the interventions was to secure munitions and supply depots from falling into the German Empire's hands, particularly after the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and to rescue the Allied forces that had become trapped within Russia after the 1917 October Revolution. After the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the Allied plan changed to helping the White forces in the Russian Civil War. After the Whites collapsed, the Allies withdrew their forces from Russia by 1925.

The Left SR uprising, or Left SR revolt, was a rebellion against the Bolsheviks by the Left Socialist Revolutionary Party in Moscow, Soviet Russia, on 6–7 July 1918. It was one of a number of left-wing uprisings against the Bolsheviks that took place during the Russian Civil War.

The Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, commonly known as the Petrograd Soviet Ispolkom was a self-appointed executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet. As an antagonist of the Russian Provisional Government, after the 1917 February Revolution in Russia, the Ispolkom became a second center of power. It was dissolved during the Bolshevik October Revolution later that year.

The British campaign in the Baltic 1918–1919 was a part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The codename of the Royal Navy campaign was Operation Red Trek. The intervention played a key role in enabling the establishment of the independent states of Estonia and Latvia. It failed to secure the control of Petrograd by White Russian forces, which was one of the main goals of the campaign.

Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. In the years following Lenin's death in 1924, he rose to become the leader of the Soviet Union.

The 11th Rifle Division was a military formation of the Soviet Union's Red Army. Its personnel were involved in the protection of the demarcation line in Pskov, defensive battles against the Army of the Southern Front in Krasnov Novohopersk - Borisoglebsk, against the army and the forces of Estonia, Bulak Balakhovich in Marienburg in defense of Petrograd and as the offensive against Yudenich's troops in Pskov the Luga-Gdov, Yamburg, Narva, Dvina-Rezhitsk directions, the Polish-Soviet war of 1920, in the suppression of the Kronstadt uprising participated in the Soviet-Finnish War and World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Faustschlag</span> Last action on the Eastern Front, WW1

The Operation Faustschlag, also known as the Eleven Days' War, was a Central Powers offensive in World War I. It was the last major offensive on the Eastern Front.

The Russian Provisional Government was a provisional government of the Russian Empire and Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately after the abdication of Nicholas II on 2 March, O.S. [15 March 1917, N.S.], during the February Revolution. The intention of the provisional government was the organization of elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly and its convention. The provisional government, led first by Prince Georgy Lvov and then by Alexander Kerensky, lasted approximately eight months, and ceased to exist when the Bolsheviks gained power in the October Revolution in October [November, N.S.] 1917.

The Kronstadt rebellion was a 1921 insurrection of Soviet sailors, naval infantry, and civilians against the Bolshevik government in the Russian port city of Kronstadt. Located on Kotlin Island in the Gulf of Finland, Kronstadt defended the former capital city, Petrograd, as the base of the Baltic Fleet. For sixteen days in March 1921, rebels in Kronstadt's naval fortress rose in opposition to the Soviet government which they had helped to consolidate. Led by Stepan Petrichenko, it was the last major revolt against Bolshevik rule on Russian territory during the Russian Civil War.

Events from the year 1917 in Russia.

The Northwestern Army was a White Army that operated in the Pskov Governorate, Saint Petersburg Governorate, Estonia and Latvia during the Russian Civil War from 1919 to 1920.

References

Lincoln, William (1989). A History of the Russian Civil War. Simon and Schuster Publishing. ISBN 0-671-63166-7