The concept of "white terror" is customary to denote the repressive policy pursued by anti-Bolshevik forces during the Civil War of 1918-1922. 20th century.
Was there really terror
It is worth saying that the concept of "white terror" is very conditional. In modern historiography, there is no single understanding of this phenomenon, because some historians believe that there was no white terror as such. In doing so, they consider white and red terror in comparison. If the Red Terror had special punitive organs, for example, a revolutionary tribunal, then this was not typical for the White Terror. Other scholars describe the White Terror as a response to the punitive actions of the Bolsheviks.
It is interesting to note that the actual terrorist actions are not characteristic of the white terror, therefore such a definition can be considered rather conditional than accurate. Naturally, the actions of the White Guards were cruel, in some places too much. However, this all happened within the framework of the war.
A feature of the white terror in Russia can be considered its spontaneous nature. Surprise and spontaneity are the main features that characterize the actions of the White Guards during the 1918-1922 years of the 20th century. It is a mistake to believe that only the White Guards, that is, representatives of the defeated tsarist army, who did not have time to emigrate abroad, opposed the Bolsheviks. This point of view has been imposed by Soviet ideologists for years. In fact, representatives of various strata of society acted on the side of the White Guards, respectively, they also became involved in the so-called White Terror.
Senselessness and spontaneity are the main features
It is worth saying that the representatives of the white movement did not see the point in terror. They did not want and did not wage war with the people, but fought against the Bolshevik movement. Other researchers refute such statements, arguing that the representatives of the collapsed army just launched terrorist actions in the literal sense of the word.
Unity on this issue is unlikely to ever be achieved. However, the indisputable fact remains that the white terror did not have any legislative basis, unlike the red movement.
Although at the same time it is known for certain that the White Guards cruelly dealt with those who did not want to join them, join the army. Both soldiers and generals committed outrage. History knows the memoirs of eyewitnesses of those events, which contain information about the looting of representatives of the former tsarist army, in particular Kolchak's troops.
In fact, today it makes no sense to compare the white and red terror as to which of them turned out to be more brutal. Both the one and the other claimed many lives.
