Origins and Phenomenon of the Civil War in Russia: Glance Through a Hundred years

The paper studies the modern understanding of the origins, genesis and contents of the Civil War in Russia. The author discovers peculiarities of the First World War and its interrelations with the Russian Civil War. A special attention gives to the revolutionary process in Russia at the beginning of XX century and first of all in 1917. The Russian Revolution is characterized as a multifaceted upheaval and a series of different, concurrent and overlapping revolutions. Author analyzes the drama of the Russian Revolution, increasing number of contradictions and conflicts during its development in 1917–1918. The article examines different aspects of interaction between the Russian Revolution and Civil War, movement from “small” to the full-scaled, front and bloody Civil War in Russia, the processes and events of May – summer 1918, which led to the new stage of the war. The paper discovers the unique phenomenon of the Russian Civil War as a complex or series of wars of different characters and with different participants. The main wars, military and other counteractions are enumerated and characterized in the article. Author comes to the conclusion about the actuality of the historical lessons of the Russian Civil War at the beginning of XX century for nowadays