How many troops would the White Armies have had at their peak during the Russian Civil War?
score:11
The White Army was never a unified force but rather a number of armies of varying sizes which rarely co-ordinated their efforts. David Bullock, in The Russian Civil War 1918-22 states
Overall, the White armies were middle class in orientation but were amazingly heterogeneous. Their ranks contained the full spectrum of former Russian society, from peasant to noble. They were united only through their opposition to Bolshevism
The lack of unity is what probably cost them the war, and it also contributes to the problem of estimating numbers. Other complicating factors in making an estimate are:
- the armies were scattered across different regions of Russia
- numbers fluctuated as soldiers joined then deserted and then re-joined
- various armies were at times merged and then split up again
- whole units would change from one side to the other and then back again
- numbers vary greatly according to the year as casualties were often extremely heavy
- inaccurate 'numbers on paper' (see example below)
S.A. Smith, in The Russian Revolution: A Very Short Introduction gives a figure of 2 million by the spring of 1920 for the White Army. He also states that the Red Army numbered around 5 million by the autumn of 1920 but that there were never more than 500,000 in the front line.
Mikhail Khvostov in The Russian Civil War (2): White Armies provides probably the most comprehensive data on the various White Armies and this is most likely what you are looking for. As this data is spread across over 40 pages (there is no summary), it is simply too much to include here. However, here are just a few of the armies he mentions:
- Northern Army – 18,000 (mid to late 1919)
- North-Western Army – 101,648 (on paper) but estimated to be 56,600 (with only 27,000 under arms) (Sept 1919)
- South Russia (The Volunteer Army) – 100,000 (Dec 1918)
- Crimea, Army of General Wrangel – 30,000 (July 1920, created out of soldiers from other White Armies of the south which had been defeated)
- Army of Turkestan – 9,000 (May 1919)
- Basmachi (Muslim Freedom Fighters) – 15,000 (circa. 1919, usually co-ordinated with the Army of Turkestan)
- Army of the Urals – 25,000 (July 1919)
- Army of Siberia - 7,600 (July 1918, after which it grew but no figures are given)
- Army of the West – 51,100 (March 1919)
There were also a number of Ukrainian armies which fought the Red Army, but they also fought the Whites and even each other.
During the early years of the war (the Japanese stayed longer), there were also a number of foreign troops fighting for the Whites.
To help the White Army, troops from Britain, France, Japan and the United States were sent into Russia. By December, 1918, there were 200,000 foreign soldiers supporting the anti-Bolshevik forces.
Upvote:0
More post
- 📝 Post world war one mandates model
- 📝 Who were the Wright brothers' competitors?
- 📝 Origin of the idea of a series of books
- 📝 When did the Ecclesiastical courts in England lose the authority to mete out punishments such as imprisonment and execution?
- 📝 What is the name and meaning of a World War 2 CCC Medal with both the Polish Eagle and British Statant Gardant Lion?
- 📝 Did Stalin prevent the partitioning of Bulgaria by the western Allies after WW2?
- 📝 What did Cleopatra's nose look like?
- 📝 Is there a reason why Turkey took the Balkan territories of the Ottoman Empire, instead of Greece or another of the Balkan states?
- 📝 Was there ever a war mission where the personnel were instructed to surrender when the mission complete?
- 📝 Was there a viable alternate supply route to Australia during World War II?
- 📝 Can you recommend a book on the French Revolution?
- 📝 Was there a rule against non-Muslims wearing the colour green in the Ottoman empire?
- 📝 Did Muslims swear by "the beard of the Prophet"?
- 📝 What was the internal Soviet reaction to the moon landing?
- 📝 Were Roman public roads built by private companies?
- 📝 Why did the attempts to keep Africa colonized after World War II fail?
- 📝 Has an army ever not cancel its preplanned attack after a security breach?
- 📝 How many troops did Hitler send back from the Eastern front to face the Allies' assault?
- 📝 Can anyone tell me what military uniform this is?
- 📝 Why didn't every nation commit genocides against every other nation when they conquered land?
- 📝 Were "hitmen" a real historical occupation?
- 📝 Why was Johannes Blaskowitz indicted at the Nuremberg High Command Trial
- 📝 Which texts/works were lost due to the Mongol invasions of Baghdad?
- 📝 Is there any way to get a list of Germans who were interned in American camps during WWII?
- 📝 What did the British Empire mean by "Free Trade" in reference to the colonies?
- 📝 What kind of book is "Evangelium de transitu Mariae"?
- 📝 Did most citizens of the British Empire hold racists views before the post-war period?
- 📝 Which of LBJ's fellow representatives were less active than him in the House?
- 📝 Were Moses & Abraham historical figures?
- 📝 What were the requirements in order for a man to become a burgher (or citizen) in German cities in the middle ages?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How many troops would the White Armies have had at their peak during the Russian Civil War?
- 📝 How did the way commanders ask their troops to deal with the immediate death of their comrades vary by country/culture during WWII?
- 📝 How was ownership of property managed during the Black Death, when so many original owners had died?
- 📝 How many tons of steel were produced in Russia during the Russian Civil War?
- 📝 How did the British and French train their troops during the colonial eras?
- 📝 How many Reichsmarks would a piano lesson have cost in Germany during 1930 - 39?
- 📝 How many troops did the Confederate and Union army have in each year of the Civil War?
- 📝 How many people in the US starved to death during the Great Depression?
- 📝 How would slaves have addressed their masters in Ancient Greece?
- 📝 How many different countries could a person alive today have lived in without leaving their hometown?
- 📝 How many lives were estimated to have been saved by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs?
- 📝 How much of an impact did the Roman emperors' civil wars have on their decision to debase the coinage?
- 📝 Would a common person in the 18th century have heard Mozart's music during his lifetime?
- 📝 If salt was scarce and expensive, how did people "salt the earth" to ensure their enemies would stay defeated?
- 📝 How did ancient armies keep the route of supplies to their battlefield?
- 📝 In England, how many Jews died during the persecutions of the crusades during 1190-1200?
- 📝 How many Britons lived in India during the British Raj (1858 - 1947)?
- 📝 How have African countries kept the boundaries divided by colonists and countries unified for decades, despite the many ethnical groups and conflicts?
- 📝 What is the historical evidence behind the claim that the Soviet armies perpetrated mass rapes during their stay in Germany?
- 📝 How many trucks did Russia and Germany have at the start of Barbarossa?
- 📝 How many surface ships have reached the North Pole?
- 📝 How many Dutch lived in Indonesia during the colonial era vs native population?
- 📝 How much time did people have to take shelter during the Blitz in 1940-41?
- 📝 How would Eastern European emigres have traveled across Eastern Europe to Warsaw in the early 20thC?
- 📝 How would one have gone about setting up a business during Communist Revolutionary China?
- 📝 Would the USSR have invaded Poland in WW2 if the Germans had not crossed into previously-agreed Soviet sphere of influence?
- 📝 During the Middle Ages, how many people could be fed by fishing?
- 📝 Where did British troops fight during the allied intervention in the Russian Civil War?
- 📝 Apart from the White Ship in 1120, have there been any other maritime disasters in which an heir to a throne and/or many notable people died?
- 📝 How many ships did the fleet of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) possess at its peak (around 1670)?