And the The Welcome to Russian History Retold episode 183, the Russian Civil War Part 2,

The Boligerance, the Reds, Blacks, Plus One.

Last time we looked at the commanders of the White Armies that would lead the fight against the

Bolsheviks and their allies.

Today we will look at the leaders of the Red Army and their

partners as well as a mystery man who was involved in another war with the Russians which

had an impact though on the Civil War.

When you think of the Russian Civil War, you think of the fight between the Reds and the Whites.

But that would only tell you part of the story.

There were other groups like the Greens who appear in 1920 and the

blacks led by Nestor Mockno who I will begin with today. Nestor Mockno was born on November 7th, 1888 in Julio Pole, which is now in Ukraine, into a very poor peasant family.

His father died when he was a mere 10 months old, which caused him to begin working as a shepherd to feed the family at the age of 7.

By 1905, he started working in an iron foundry where he was exposed to radical ideas

that were spreading around Russia like wildfire.

By the following year he adjoined the anarchist communist movement. He was arrested in

1906 and again in 1907 but released due to lack of evidence both times. In

1908 he was arrested yet again and because of an informer he was convicted in

a 1910 sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment

where he served the next seven years at the Butreskaya prison in Moscow.

His release came in February 1917.

From here, Mockno became sort of a Robin Hood of Ukraine, expropriating lands and money from the wealthy and giving much of it to the peasants.

This made him quite popular and created a large following which was to turn into his 3 million man army.

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