The Russian Civil War: When an Empire Devoured Itself

In this episode, Lucas and Luna peel back the layers of the Russian Civil War, a conflict that tore apart an already shattered empire. They start by sketching the war's chaotic opening in 1918, when the Bolsheviks controlled only a sliver of Russia from Petrograd and Moscow outward, surrounded by a ring of hostile fronts. Lucas explains how the war was never a simple 'Reds vs. Whites' binary: the Whites were a loose coalition of monarchists, liberals, and nationalists, while the Reds faced mutinies, desertions, and peasant uprisings. They zoom in on the pivotal Eastern Front, where Admiral Alexander Kolchak's offensive in 1919 nearly reached the Volga before collapsing. Lucas describes Trotsky's armored train—a mobile command center that became a symbol of Red determination—and how the Cheka's terror campaigns both suppressed dissent and fueled resistance. Luna asks about the role of foreign intervention, and Lucas details the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Arkhangelsk, Vladivostok, and the Czech Legion's strange odyssey. They touch on the war's staggering human cost: millions dead from combat, famine, and disease. The episode ends reflecting on how the civil war hardened Bolshevik authoritarianism, shaping the USSR for decades. Featuring Alexander Kolchak, Leon Trotsky, Anton Denikin, Pyotr Wrangel, Nestor Makhno, the Czech Legion, and the Tambov Rebellion.

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