Native name | Белый Террор |
---|---|
Duration | 1917–1923 |
Location | Former Russian Empire |
Type | Mass killings, executions, pogroms, political violence, genocide |
Motive | Antisemitism, anti-communism, Russian nationalism, Russian monarchism |
Target | Jews, Communists |
Perpetrator | White Army |
Deaths | 20,000-300,000[1] |
The White Terror (‹See Tfd›Russian: Белый Террор, romanized: Belyy Terror) in Russia refers to the violence and mass killings carried out by the White Army during the Russian Civil War (1917–1923). It began after the Bolsheviks seized power in November 1917, and continued until the defeat of the White Army at the hands of the Red Army.
The Bolsheviks' Red Terror started a year later in early September 1918[2][3] in response to several planned assassinations of Bolshevik leaders and the initial massacres of Red prisoners in Moscow and during the Finnish Civil War.[4] According to some Russian historians, the White Terror was a series of premeditated actions directed by their leaders.[5][6][7] although this is contested by most Russian historians who view it as spontaneous and disorganized.[8][9][10] Estimates for those killed in the White Terror vary between 20,000 and 300,000 people.[11]
According to historian Ronald Suny, total estimates for the White Terror are difficult to ascertain due to the role of multiple administrations and violence perpetrated by undisciplined, independent anti-Bolshevik forces. However, Suny did highlight the higher proportion of anti-semitic attacks by the White military forces, who were responsible for 17% of pogroms throughout the Russian Civil War (compared to 8.5% for the Red forces).[12] Suny stated that the casualties of the White Terror would have exceeded the Red Terror with the inclusion of anti-Soviet violence and Jewish pogroms into the death toll.[12]
The 1985 Whitaker Report of the United Nations cited that 100,000 to 250,000 Jews in more than 2,000 pogroms were killed by a mixture of Whites, Cossacks and Ukrainian nationalists as a modern example of genocide.[13]
The poet was just one of many victims of the Red Terror, a state-sponsored wave of violence that was decreed in Russia on September 5, 1918, and lasted until 1922.
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