Western Siberia Uprising
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The West Siberian rebellion was the largest of the
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
peasant uprisings against the nascent Bolshevik state. It began in early 1921 and was defeated at the end of 1922, due in part to the brutal repression of the militarily superior
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
, and the
famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...
that the region suffered.


Background

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian peasantry experienced two wars against the Russian state, both the product of revolutions and both ended with the imposition of state power: 1905–1907 and 1917–1922.


Rebellions in Central and Eastern Siberia against whites

The rebellious peasants were always enemies of the whites. The latter refused to accept land tenure reform and wanted revenge on the villagers for expropriating the land themselves in 1917. Admiral
Aleksandr Kolchak List of Russian admirals, Admiral Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (; – 7 February 1920) was a Russian navy officer and Arctic exploration, polar explorer who led the White movement in the Russian Civil War. As he assumed the title of Supreme Ru ...
made the fatal mistake of winning the animosity of peasants, by restoring the rights of landowners. Many Siberian villagers were descendants of
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
and Ukrainian immigrants who had fled from
serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...
and had a strong love for their freedom. The guerrillas began shortly after the formation of their government, on August 31, 1918, in the rural areas near
Slavgorod Slavgorod () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Altai Krai, Russia, located between Lake Sekachi, Lakes Sekachi and Bolshoye Yarovoye. The population of the town is It was founded in 1910 and was granted town status in 1914. ...
, Altai. But the problem worsened in early 1919. The White Army began to carry out grain requisitions and a
military draft Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it contin ...
, but most of their recruits deserted and numerous rear-guard revolts broke out (encouraged by Bolshevik activists, anarchists and left-wing SRs).
Taiga Taiga or tayga ( ; , ), also known as boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome. In North A ...
guerrillas were often led by deserters and sometimes joined scattered Red soldiers when the whites conquered the region in 1918, setting out to ambush units and cut off supply lines. Kolchak resorted to terror to placate them. With its rear weakened by the wear and tear of the guerrillas and being forced to distract its detachments in defending themselves against the peasantry, the white regime could not stop the advance of 200,000 Bolsheviks, who, on the other hand, knew how to add local partisans to their forces wherever they advanced. At the end of 1919, when the Siberian regime was totally defeated and disintegrated, the autonomous bands from
Central Siberia The Central Siberian Plateau (; ) is a vast mountainous area in Siberia, one of the Great Russian Regions. Geography The plateau occupies a great part of central Siberia between the Yenisei and Lena rivers. It is located in the Siberian Plat ...
to
Amur Oblast Amur Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya rivers in the Russian Far East. The oblast borders Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the south. The administrati ...
numbered more than 100,000 combatants.


Fall of Kolchak and Bolshevik advance

When his forces withdrew in 1920, Kolchak faced numerous mutinies that joined the guerrillas, leaving his loyal few completely alone and condemned. The Eastern Front of the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
, under the command of Major General
Vladimir Olderogge Vladimir Alexandrovich Olderogge (August 5, 1873 – May 27, 1931) was a Russian and Soviet military leader. He was commander of the Eastern Front of the Red Army. Biography Olderogge was born on July 24 (August 5), 1873, in Lublin to a Luthe ...
and formed by 70,000 soldiers, seized
Tyumen Tyumen ( ; rus, Тюмень, p=tʲʉˈmʲenʲ, a=Ru-Tyumen.ogg) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Tyumen Oblast, Russia. It is situated just east of the Ural Mountains, along the Tura ( ...
and
Kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus (burial mound) constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons, and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into mu ...
and then attacked
Petropavl Petropavl ( ; ) is a city on the Ishim River in northern Kazakhstan close to the border with Russia. It is the capital of the North Kazakhstan Region. Population: 218,956. Petropavl is about from Kökşetau, northwest of the national cap ...
ovsk on August 25. In response, 58,000 targets commanded by General
Mikhail Diterikhs Mikhail Konstantinovich Diterikhs (, ; May 17, 1874 – September 9, 1937) served as a general in the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently became a key figure in the monarchist White movement in Siberia and the Russian Far East area during the R ...
fought back, seizing
Tobolsk Tobolsk (, ) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1587, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, and was the historic capita ...
and driving the Bolsheviks across the
Tobol River The Tobol (, ) is a river in Western Siberia (in Kazakhstan and Russia) and the main (left) tributary of the Irtysh. Its length is , and the area of its drainage basin is . History The Tobol River was one of the four important rivers of the ...
. On October 14 with 75,000 soldiers, Olderogge ordered a new offensive, forcing the 56,000 whites to withdraw from Petropavlovsk on October 29. Diterikhs suffered 5,000 dead and 8,000 prisoners. After the defeat, the Bolshevik advance became unstoppable, as did the peasant guerrillas. Nearly 100,000 whites were killed, captured or deserted in the following months.
Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...
,
Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...
,
Tomsk Tomsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, on the Tom (river), Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. It has six univers ...
,
Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...
and
Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...
all fell into their hands. In early February 1920, after the
Great Siberian Ice March The Great Siberian Ice March () was the name given to the winter retreat of Admiral Kolchak's Siberian Army from Omsk to Chita, in the course of the Russian Civil War between 14 November 1919 and March 1920. General Vladimir Kappel, who w ...
25,000 surviving white soldiers entered Irkutsk and soon fled to Chita. The withdrawal of the
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
from Chitá, on October 21, 1920, and the consolidation of the Republic of the Far East made the guerrillas disappear from the region. Between the late 1920s and early 1921, with the foreseeable defeat of the
White Movement The White movement,. The old spelling was retained by the Whites to differentiate from the Reds. also known as the Whites, was one of the main factions of the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It was led mainly by the Right-wing politics, right- ...
, the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
was in charge of subduing the unruly rural world. The latter was disunited in various movements led by its own
atamans Ataman (variants: ''otaman'', ''wataman'', ''vataman''; ; ) was a title of Cossack and haidamak leaders of various kinds. In the Russian Empire, the term was the official title of the supreme military commanders of the Cossack armies. The Ukrai ...
.


Rebellion

On January 31, 1921, a small revolt broke out in the village of Chelnokovskom, in the
Ishim Ishim may refer to: *Ishim (river), a river in Kazakhstan and Russia *Ishim, Tyumen Oblast, a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia *Ishim (angel), a rank of angels in the Jewish angelic hierarchy See also

*Ishimsky (disambiguation) *Ishimbay {{Disam ...
province, which soon spread to the neighboring regions of
Tyumen Tyumen ( ; rus, Тюмень, p=tʲʉˈmʲenʲ, a=Ru-Tyumen.ogg) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Tyumen Oblast, Russia. It is situated just east of the Ural Mountains, along the Tura ( ...
, Akmola,
Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...
,
Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk; , is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, seventh-largest city in Russia, with a population ...
,
Tobolsk Tobolsk (, ) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1587, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, and was the historic capita ...
,
Tomsk Tomsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, on the Tom (river), Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. It has six univers ...
and
Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...
, causing the Bolsheviks to lose control of
Western Siberia Western Siberia or West Siberia ( rus, Западная Сибирь, p=ˈzapədnəjə sʲɪˈbʲirʲ; , ) is a region in North Asia. It is part of the wider region of Siberia that is mostly located in the Russia, Russian Federation, with a Sout ...
, from
Kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus (burial mound) constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons, and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into mu ...
to
Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...
. It was the largest green uprising, both by the number of rebels and their geographic extension, and perhaps the least studied. They dominated a population of three million four hundred thousand people. Its causes were the aggressive searches carried out by the 35,000 soldiers of the "prodotriady" installed in Siberia after the defeat of Kolchak and the violation of peasant democracy, since the Bolsheviks falsified the elections in the regional volost. The main leaders of these bands were Semyon Serkov, Václav Puzhevsky, Vasily Zheltovsky, Timoféi Sitnikov, Stepan Danilov, Vladimir Rodin, Piotr Dolin, Grégory Atamanov, Afanasi Afanasiev and Petr Shevchenko. In charge of the Red revolutionary military council of the region was Ivan Smirnov, Vasili Shorin,
Checkist The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...
Ivan Pavlunovsky and Makar Vasiliev. Although sources vary the total number of peasants in arms from 30,000 to 150,000. Historian Vladimir Shulpyakov gives the figure of 70,000 or 100,000 men, but the most likely figure is 55,000 to 60,000 rebels. Many Cossacks from the region joined. They controlled a total of twelve districts and occupied the cities of
Ishim Ishim may refer to: *Ishim (river), a river in Kazakhstan and Russia *Ishim, Tyumen Oblast, a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia *Ishim (angel), a rank of angels in the Jewish angelic hierarchy See also

*Ishimsky (disambiguation) *Ishimbay {{Disam ...
, Beryozovo,
Obdorsk Salekhard ( ; Khanty: , ''Pułñawat''; , , formerly Obdorsk) is a town and the administrative centre of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The town lies on the Arctic Circle, with the town centre being about south and suburbs stretching to ...
,
Barabinsk Barabinsk () is a town in Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia, located in the Baraba steppe on the Trans-Siberian Railway between Omsk and Novosibirsk. Population: History It was founded at the end of the 19th century and was granted town status in 1917. ...
, Kainsk,
Tobolsk Tobolsk (, ) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1587, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, and was the historic capita ...
and
Petropavl Petropavl ( ; ) is a city on the Ishim River in northern Kazakhstan close to the border with Russia. It is the capital of the North Kazakhstan Region. Population: 218,956. Petropavl is about from Kökşetau, northwest of the national cap ...
ovsk, and seized the
Trans-Siberian railway The Trans-Siberian Railway, historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway ...
between February and March 1921. The desperate courage of these rebels led to a terrible campaign of repression by the
Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...
. The President of the Party in Siberia, Ivan Smirnov, estimated that up to March 12, 1921, 7,000 peasants had been murdered in the
Petropavl Petropavl ( ; ) is a city on the Ishim River in northern Kazakhstan close to the border with Russia. It is the capital of the North Kazakhstan Region. Population: 218,956. Petropavl is about from Kökşetau, northwest of the national cap ...
region alone and another 15,000 in
Ishim Ishim may refer to: *Ishim (river), a river in Kazakhstan and Russia *Ishim, Tyumen Oblast, a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia *Ishim (angel), a rank of angels in the Jewish angelic hierarchy See also

*Ishimsky (disambiguation) *Ishimbay {{Disam ...
. In the town of Aromashevo, between April 28 and May 1, the Red troops faced 10,000 peasants; 700 Greens died in combat, many drowned in rivers when they fled, and 5,700 were captured with many weapons and loot. For another two days the greens were endlessly hunted. The victory allowed the Reds to regain control of the north of Ishim. Indeed, with these actions, together with the establishment of permanent garrisons, revolutionary committees and an espionage network, the capture of several leaders - granting amnesties in exchange for handing over former comrades, mass executions, taking hostages of family members, and artillery bombardments of entire villages, the major operations ended and the rebels turned to guerrilla warfare. In December 1922 reports stated that "banditry" had all but disappeared.


End

The abandonment of the ''
Prodrazvyorstka ''Prodrazverstka'', also transliteration of Russian, transliterated ''prodrazvyorstka'' ( rus, продразвёрстка, p=prədrɐˈzvʲɵrstkə, short for , ), alternatively referred to in English as grain requisitioning, was a policy and ...
'' and the adoption of the
New Economic Policy The New Economic Policy (NEP) () was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, ...
(NEP) was key to its submission. The last insurgent foci were crushed at the end of 1922 in
Ishim Ishim may refer to: *Ishim (river), a river in Kazakhstan and Russia *Ishim, Tyumen Oblast, a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia *Ishim (angel), a rank of angels in the Jewish angelic hierarchy See also

*Ishimsky (disambiguation) *Ishimbay {{Disam ...
, after a ferocious repression and a devastating famine that wiped out the farmers. New anti-communist guerrillas would only emerge with the
invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory (country subdivision), territory controlled by another similar entity, ...
of
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
.


See also

*
Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
*
Green armies The Green armies (), also known as the Green Army (Зелёная Армия, ''Zelonaya Armiya'') or Greens (Зелёные, ''Zelonyye''), were armed peasant groups which fought against all governments in the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1922 ...
*
Tambov Rebellion The Tambov Rebellion of 1920–1922 was one of the largest and best-organized peasant rebellions challenging the Bolshevik government during the Russian Civil War. The uprising took place in the territories of the modern Tambov Oblast and part ...
*
Makhnovshchina The Makhnovshchina (, ) was a Political movement#Mass movements, mass movement to establish anarchist communism in southern Ukraine, southern and eastern Ukraine during the Ukrainian War of Independence of 1917–1921. Named after Nestor Makhno, ...
* Pitchfork uprising *
Kazym rebellion The Kazym Rebellion () was a revolt by the Khanty people, Khanty people of western Siberia against the collectivisation policies of the Soviet Union, Soviet government in 1933. The revolt was named after the small town of Kazym in the Khanty-Mansi ...
* Peasant rebellion of Sorokino


References


Notes


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Russian Civil War, state=expanded Anti-Bolshevik uprisings Peasant revolts History of Siberia Massacres of the Russian Civil War Soviet war crimes in the Russian Civil War Military operations of the Russian Civil War in 1921 Military operations of the Russian Civil War in 1922 Kazakhstan in the Russian Civil War North Kazakhstan Region Wars involving Soviet Russia (1917–1922) Massacres in 1922