The Kornilov Affair: The Ineptitude Of The Bolsheviks

This was showcased during the Kornilov Affair when he asked the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Lavr Kornilov, to move people loyal to the Provisional Government toward Petrograd, where the soviets controlled the army garrison. Kornilov wanted to establish his own military dictatorship which caused Kerensky to provide weapons to the Bolsheviks and to free those who were currently in jail, including the commander of the Red Army, Leon Trotsky. This showcased the ineptitude of the Russian Provisional Government as there was disunity within the group. It was a very weak system that was going to eventually fail due to the lack of leadership and support of the Russian population, particularly within the urban community. Although there were

This showed that the people who did not support the Bolsheviks did not support the Russian Provisional Government either. This disunity was also showcased later during the Civil War within the White Movement. They all opposed the Bolsheviks but there was disunity within the group causing the soviets to rise to power. It was composed of different coalitions, the Tsarists, Mensheviks, Capitalists, and land-owners who all had different ideals and government philosophies. This was opposite of the Bolshevik cause, which showcased strong leadership and a unity of their intention to establish a revolutionary socialist government. The Russian working class was very willing to follow the intentions of the Bolsheviks. They greatly applied to their needs and desires to provide more support and rights to the workers in the factories and the

Although the Red Army outnumbered the White Movement, they were difficult to defeat and intense fighting often took a long time to complete. During the elongated fighting, supplies could be difficult to obtain while the Whites had the support of large groups of anti-Bolsheviks, including the British and the Cossacks. Soldiers often times were malnourished and deprived of an adequate drinking source. The group that Dune was a part of encountered the typhus disease as people were desperate to survive. “There were houses where there was nobody to fetch water for the sick people, and we were greeted with pleas of ‘drink, drink’…” Times were very rough for those who got caught in the middle of the Civil War along with the soldiers who fought for a long time. They had to not only defend themselves from the Whites, but also to protect their valuables and to make sure that they could find sources of water and food to keep the soldiers alive and moving forward. Dune’s depiction of the experiences of the Civil War were accurate as he told the truthful stories of the troubles he and his group encountered. He told about the troubles that not only the Red Army experienced, but also of the problems that the Whites and the local peasants in various villages (Greens) faced. He became more irritated and disapproved of the Red Army and the overall presence of the Bolshevik