Interactive map and chart of the Russian Civil War and War Communism, 1918 to 1921

The Reds won the war and lost the villages

Between 1918 and 1921 the Red Army beat four White armies one at a time, while behind the lines the Cheka and the grain squads enforced War Communism. The same policy that fed the army emptied the countryside. Move the month forward and watch each White front swell and fade while the harvest and industry lines sink; then switch the layer to see what the villages paid.

Civil War and the home front Jan 1918 · 1 White front

Move the month forward from 1918. Watch each White front on the map, then the three lines beneath.

Red Army formed · Assembly dissolved
MonthJan 1918
1918191919201921
Red Army size (approx)≈ 0.3M
Industry vs 1913 (approx)≈ 35%

Figures are approximate textbook estimates: large-scale industrial output index (1913 = 100), grain harvest as a share of pre-war, grain requisitioned per procurement year in million tonnes.

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