Recent from talks
Chinese in the Russian Revolution and in the Russian Civil War
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Chinese in the Russian Revolution and in the Russian Civil War
There are a number of reports about the involvement of Chinese detachments in the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War. Chinese troops served as bodyguards of Bolshevik functionaries, served in the Cheka, and even formed complete regiments of the Red Army. It has been estimated that there were tens of thousands of Chinese troops in the Red Army, and they were among the few groups of foreigners fighting for the Red Army.
Other notable examples of foreigners serving in the Red Army include Koreans in the Russian Far East, Czech and Slovak nationals, Hungarian communists under Béla Kun, Red Latvian Riflemen as well as a number of other national detachments. By the summer of 1919, the Red Army comprised over a million men. By November 1920, it comprised over 1.8 million men. Foreign soldiers did not make up a significant bulk of the Red Army, and the majority of the soldiers of the Red Army fighting in the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War were Russians.
Large numbers of Chinese lived and worked in Siberia in the late Russian Empire. Many of these migrant workers were transferred to the European part of Russia and to the Ural during World War I because of the acute shortage of workers there. For example, by 1916 there were about 5,000 Chinese workers in Novgorod Governorate. In 1916-1917 about 2,000 Chinese workers were employed in the construction of Russian fortifications around the Gulf of Finland. A significant number of them were convicted robbers (honghuzi, "Red Beards", transliterated into Russian as "khunkhuzy", хунхузы) transferred from katorga labor camps in Harbin and other locations in the Far Eastern regions of the Russian Empire. After the Russian Revolution, some of them stayed in Finland and took part as volunteers in the Finnish Civil War on the allied communist side. After 1917 many of these Chinese workers joined the Red Army. The vast majority of these Chinese were apolitical and become soldiers solely in order to gain rights as workers in a foreign country.
Dungans fought alongside Kyrgyz rebels in attacking Przheval'sk during the 1916 Basmachi revolt.
A Dungan Muslim and communist Commander Magaza Masanchi of the Dungan Cavalry Regiment fought for the Soviet Union against the Basmachis. He also took part in other actions in central Asia.
All of the capitals of the major Soviet republics in the European sphere of the soon-to-be USSR (established 1922) and Petrograd/St. Petersburg had sizable contingents of "others" as Red Guards. "Others" refers to Buryats, Armenians, Cossacks, Tatars, Latvians, Hungarians, Poles, Jews and to some degree Chinese. Of note is the fact that after the October Revolution, Red Guards were organized in state commercial enterprises, factories and plants often at the request of the local or regional workers' Soviet (autonomous workers' council in the plant, factory, etc.). In the Paramonovskii settlement in the Donbas, there were 27 Chinese and 3 Austrian Red Guards. In the Almazno settlement, there were Chinese, Germans, Czechs, Slovaks and Poles in addition to Russians, Ukrainians and Cossacks. Minsk supposedly had many Chinese Red Guards (but it is believed that "one thousand" the estimate given by Benton is too high). In the Russian Far East, from a total of 330 Red Guards in the city of Nikolsk-Ussuriisk, 57 were Koreans in May 1918. The main duties of the Cheka were to fight against counter-revolution, sabotage and quell internal dissent. They were allowed to use "extra-legal" means to search, arrest, destroy and torture. In the beginning, there were three main sections which quickly grew into four or more. The first three sections were: information section (information collection and administration), organizational section (executive to determine who and how to fight against the "enemies" of the new state) and the fighting section. Later, the administrative section grew as the Cheka grew to approximately 100,000 by 1920. There are some who argue that the Cheka had grown to over 200,000 by 1920. The Cheka grew from 23 men in the beginning to approximately 100,000 plus by 1919-1920 (a conservative estimate). They took their ranks from the pre-existing Bolshevik group, the MRC (the Military Revolutionary Committee), the Red Guards (the predecessor to the Soviet police (militsia), the pre-Revolution, Russian Army, mercenaries and recruits.
The Chinese with the Red Army were recruited from factory workers who had been attracted into Russia before the war and sided with the urban proletariat with whom they worked. Separate Chinese units fought for the Bolsheviks in Ukraine, Transcaucasia and Siberia.
One estimate suggests that there were hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops in the Red Army. Nonetheless, Brian Murphy asserts that "the number of Chinese troops did not constitute a significant fraction of the Red Army." By summer of 1919, the Red Army comprised over a million men. By November 1920, it comprised over 1.8 million men.
Hub AI
Chinese in the Russian Revolution and in the Russian Civil War AI simulator
(@Chinese in the Russian Revolution and in the Russian Civil War_simulator)
Chinese in the Russian Revolution and in the Russian Civil War
There are a number of reports about the involvement of Chinese detachments in the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War. Chinese troops served as bodyguards of Bolshevik functionaries, served in the Cheka, and even formed complete regiments of the Red Army. It has been estimated that there were tens of thousands of Chinese troops in the Red Army, and they were among the few groups of foreigners fighting for the Red Army.
Other notable examples of foreigners serving in the Red Army include Koreans in the Russian Far East, Czech and Slovak nationals, Hungarian communists under Béla Kun, Red Latvian Riflemen as well as a number of other national detachments. By the summer of 1919, the Red Army comprised over a million men. By November 1920, it comprised over 1.8 million men. Foreign soldiers did not make up a significant bulk of the Red Army, and the majority of the soldiers of the Red Army fighting in the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War were Russians.
Large numbers of Chinese lived and worked in Siberia in the late Russian Empire. Many of these migrant workers were transferred to the European part of Russia and to the Ural during World War I because of the acute shortage of workers there. For example, by 1916 there were about 5,000 Chinese workers in Novgorod Governorate. In 1916-1917 about 2,000 Chinese workers were employed in the construction of Russian fortifications around the Gulf of Finland. A significant number of them were convicted robbers (honghuzi, "Red Beards", transliterated into Russian as "khunkhuzy", хунхузы) transferred from katorga labor camps in Harbin and other locations in the Far Eastern regions of the Russian Empire. After the Russian Revolution, some of them stayed in Finland and took part as volunteers in the Finnish Civil War on the allied communist side. After 1917 many of these Chinese workers joined the Red Army. The vast majority of these Chinese were apolitical and become soldiers solely in order to gain rights as workers in a foreign country.
Dungans fought alongside Kyrgyz rebels in attacking Przheval'sk during the 1916 Basmachi revolt.
A Dungan Muslim and communist Commander Magaza Masanchi of the Dungan Cavalry Regiment fought for the Soviet Union against the Basmachis. He also took part in other actions in central Asia.
All of the capitals of the major Soviet republics in the European sphere of the soon-to-be USSR (established 1922) and Petrograd/St. Petersburg had sizable contingents of "others" as Red Guards. "Others" refers to Buryats, Armenians, Cossacks, Tatars, Latvians, Hungarians, Poles, Jews and to some degree Chinese. Of note is the fact that after the October Revolution, Red Guards were organized in state commercial enterprises, factories and plants often at the request of the local or regional workers' Soviet (autonomous workers' council in the plant, factory, etc.). In the Paramonovskii settlement in the Donbas, there were 27 Chinese and 3 Austrian Red Guards. In the Almazno settlement, there were Chinese, Germans, Czechs, Slovaks and Poles in addition to Russians, Ukrainians and Cossacks. Minsk supposedly had many Chinese Red Guards (but it is believed that "one thousand" the estimate given by Benton is too high). In the Russian Far East, from a total of 330 Red Guards in the city of Nikolsk-Ussuriisk, 57 were Koreans in May 1918. The main duties of the Cheka were to fight against counter-revolution, sabotage and quell internal dissent. They were allowed to use "extra-legal" means to search, arrest, destroy and torture. In the beginning, there were three main sections which quickly grew into four or more. The first three sections were: information section (information collection and administration), organizational section (executive to determine who and how to fight against the "enemies" of the new state) and the fighting section. Later, the administrative section grew as the Cheka grew to approximately 100,000 by 1920. There are some who argue that the Cheka had grown to over 200,000 by 1920. The Cheka grew from 23 men in the beginning to approximately 100,000 plus by 1919-1920 (a conservative estimate). They took their ranks from the pre-existing Bolshevik group, the MRC (the Military Revolutionary Committee), the Red Guards (the predecessor to the Soviet police (militsia), the pre-Revolution, Russian Army, mercenaries and recruits.
The Chinese with the Red Army were recruited from factory workers who had been attracted into Russia before the war and sided with the urban proletariat with whom they worked. Separate Chinese units fought for the Bolsheviks in Ukraine, Transcaucasia and Siberia.
One estimate suggests that there were hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops in the Red Army. Nonetheless, Brian Murphy asserts that "the number of Chinese troops did not constitute a significant fraction of the Red Army." By summer of 1919, the Red Army comprised over a million men. By November 1920, it comprised over 1.8 million men.
Recent media