Most white émigrés left Russia from 1917 to 1920 (estimates vary between 900,000 and 2 million). Some managed to leave during the 1920s and 1930s, or were expelled by the Soviet government (such as, for example, Pitirim Sorokin and Ivan Ilyin).
The phrase White Russia is the literal translation of the word Belarus (Russian: белый – white, Русь – the Rus).
Despite some significant success in 1919, the Whites were defeated being forced back to Far Eastern Russia, where they continued fighting until October 1922. When the Japanese withdrew, the Soviet army of the Far Eastern Republic retook the territory.
Countryside estates were turned into sanitariums and children's camps. But since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia's aristocrats have become more vocal -- more than 15,000 have joined The Assembly of Nobles, and are demanding the restitution of seized buildings.
The warring factions included the Red and White Armies. The Red Army fought for the Lenin's Bolshevik government. The White Army represented a large group of loosely allied forces, including monarchists, capitalists and supporters of democratic socialism.
Red, White and You
More specifically, it meant those who fought against the Soviet Red Army in the Russian Civil War (1918 to 1921). This usage derived from the royalist opponents of the French Revolution, known as the “Whites” because they adopted the white flag of the French Bourbon dynasty.
In short, the Bolsheviks were able to win the Russian Civil War because the Whites failed to secure the support of the different national groups, key foreign powers, and the peasantry, while Bolsheviks enjoyed much more authority within Russia and were therefore able to assert their power over the Whites.
Many members of the Russian nobility who fled Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution played a significant role in the White Emigre communities which settled in Europe, in North America, and in other parts of the world.
Members of the Ural Regional Soviet – the Bolsheviks who issued the order to execute Tsar Nicholas II Romanov and his family.
The United States responded to the Russian Revolution of 1917 by participating in the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War with the Allies of World War I in support of the White movement, in seeking to overthrow the Bolsheviks.
Most Cossacks were sent to the gulags in far northern Russia and Siberia, and many died; some, however, escaped, and others lived until the amnesty of 1953 (see below).
Casualties and War Crimes
The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people during the war, including 8.7 million military and 19 million civilian deaths. The largest portion of military dead were 5.7 million ethnic Russians, followed by 1.3 million ethnic Ukrainians.
How Strong Is the White Russian? If we were to use an 80-proof vodka and mix the White Russian according to the recipe above, it would be approximately 24 percent ABV (48 proof). Even though it will mellow a bit as the ice melts, it is a deceptive cocktail and a little more potent than you may think, so take it easy.
During and after World War II, many Russian émigrés moved to the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, South Africa and Australia – where many of their communities still exist in the 21st century.
During the negotiations of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Belarus first declared independence under German occupation on 25 March 1918, forming the Belarusian People's Republic. Immediately afterwards, the Polish–Soviet War ignited, and the territory of Belarus was divided between Poland and Soviet Russia.
To put it simply, political tension. The new provisional government of Russia feared that pro-Romanovs would rally and restore the dynasty. So, not unreasonably, they wanted the tsar and tsarina of Russia to leave the country.
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The Queen, Prince Philip, and all of their descendants are also related to the Romanovs through Queen Victoria, as she was Tsarina Alexandra's grandmother.
When Nicholas was forced to abdicate at the beginning of the revolution, England was allied with Russia against Germany in the First World War, which explains much of its interest in preserving the czar's life. This is when the prime minister, with the king's permission, first extended an offer to rescue him.
The Russian Revolution was led by a man called Lenin. Lenin died about ten years after the revolution. During the Russian Revolution, the Tsar was killed and all of the other rich people were either killed or had to leave Russia.
Russian oligarchs (Russian: олигархи, tr. oligarkhi) are business oligarchs of the former Soviet republics who rapidly accumulated wealth in the 1990s via the Russian privatisation that followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
A powerful dynasty that ruled for generations, the Romanovs took Russia to great heights. The rich heritage and inherited wealth sum up to a total of around $300 billion.
At the start of the civil war, the White Army was much bigger than the Reds, although exact numbers for the sizes of the two armies are hard to establish.
Some favored monarchism, while others favored capitalism or alternative forms of socialism. The White Army had support from Great Britain, France, the U.S., and Japan, while the Red Army possessed internal support, which ultimately proved much more effective.
The Whites had several leaders - Yudenich, Kolchak, Deniken and Wrangel. All wanted glory for themselves. While trying to defeat the Reds, they were also often in competition with each other. They were all ambitious men and each was determined to take control of Russia for himself.