The Black Army was an armed group based mostly Ukrainian anarchists and one of the four armies that participated in the Russian Civil War, where they fought well, integrating Bolsheviks Red Army, pro-Western conservative and Mensheviks grouped in the White Army , and nationalists who formed the Green Army .
This was not a big army, but was highly respected because of their ferocity in battle and the speed of movement. Traveled long distances at high speed to attack from several sides and removed in a short space of time, or surprise attack on the enemy's rear after an apparent escape. On the other hand, being an army with a strong social support, did not require considerable expenditure on infrastructure and there was need for centralized organization.
The usual tactic was to attack Black Army with few combatants, strike forcefully and disappear, or flee in the middle of the battle for hours after attacking the enemy's rear, which allowed him to undermine the morale of the enemy.
In fighting in the open field was recognized by the fierceness of his men, mostly peasants who risked their lives in defense of their land with more courage than any other group of fighters.
Context
In Ukraine there was a peasant majority used to being attacked by different armies and work with other farmers, to develop small armed groups, specialized in defending the village from intruders. For these State peasants was an instance inevitable that periodically appear in the fields in the form of army to keep a portion of the harvest.
At the end of World War I, between December 1917 and January 1918, the peasant guerrillas drove the large landowners in their areas of influence, dividing and valuing the land and industries.
But in March 1918, Lenin signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which allows the Austro-German axis to occupy Ukraine. Strong currents revolutionary anarchists and the Ukrainian people who months ago were allied with the Bolsheviks and fought beside him, were crushed by the powerful Austrian army. land immediately return to their former owners, whose privileges are reinforced in order to maintain the neutrality of the region as it prepares the return of the Czar. To this end Skoropadsky appointed Ataman, a tsarist convinced, as head of the central RADA.
Landowners who are reinstated, they were grouped with the approval of the RADA to get revenge on the rebels who took off the land. The legal protection of the RADA was normal, considering that the insurgents were potential rebels and should be removed to prevent the republication of the Russian case, if the Tsar finally returned to Ukraine. During June, July and August 1918, the repression of the Ukrainian RADA was bloody and many anarchists were executed.
addition to the repression of nationalist Green Army, paid by landlords and service to Kiev, the peasants suffered the lash of continuous occupation troops in Germany and Austria.
The need for some unifying against the harsh repression, is what leads to Gulai-Pole farmers to organize themselves to take active part in the war that was waged against totalitarianism and the tyrants of RADA. A leading figure in the Black Army was Nestor Makhno, who brought together the wishes of the peasants, contrary to the restoration proposed by the White Army, and never lost his support.
was organized in the summer of 1918 as a scourge of the positions of the Green Army and Axis forces in Europe. Composed mainly of peasants, the Black Army had at the end of this year with more than 1,500 troops. To his misfortune, Makhno always maintained the hope that it was possible to maintain an alliance with the Bolsheviks against the nationalism of the Green Army and the monarchy which sought to restore the White Army.
lived in the Black Army leaders with different ways of understanding War. Commanders as Karetnik, Marchenko, Vasilevsky, Veretélnikoff, Gavrilenko and Stchuss sympathized with the Bolsheviks at the beginning, just like Makhno, who even met Lenin.
Other officials and ideologues as Kalinitchenko, Kurilenko, Lepétchenko Belash and brothers were also anarchists demonstrating ideologically distant from any other side and did not favor any alliance.
Maknho tolerate freedom of their colleagues to ally with or fight the Bolsheviks.
Internal organization and military resources
organization Black internal Army was based on three basic principles:
Volunteering: All fighters were volunteers, not forced anyone to join the army.
Eligibility: The unit commanders, staff members and the Council of insurgents, and in general those who occupy important posts, to be elected or accepted by the insurgents of the respective unit and the whole army.
consenting Discipline: All rules of discipline were drawn up by commissions of insurgents and then validated in assemblies military. Once established, should be strictly observed under the personal responsibility of each insurgent and each commander.
Cavalry was considered one of the best in the world, and had his own elite corps, the "Black Sotnia.
is estimated that in 1919 more than 25,000 Ukrainians fought in the Black Army.
The ability to mobilize the Black Army was very high, and is also used to rotate the troops, because the majority of Ukrainian peasants had combat experience, having participated in the First World War.
Sources mentioning that more than 100,000 people fought in the Black Army during the Civil War, as it must be borne in mind that farmers, although many were not regular soldiers, were the logistics network.
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