The Green armies, Green Army (Russian: Зелёная Армия), or Greens (Russian: Зелёные) were armed peasant groups which fought against all governments in the Russian Civil War. They fought to protect their communities from requisitions or reprisals by either side. At times associated with the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, by far the largest grouping of the Russian Constituent Assembly, the Green Armies had—at least tacit—support throughout much of Russia. However, the Green Armies' primary base, the peasantry, were largely reluctant to wage an active campaign during the Russian Civil War.
Read more about Green Armies: Backdrop, Constituents, Leadership and Goals, Tactics and Activity, Cooperation With Other Groups, Bolshevik Response, Reasons For Failure
Famous quotes containing the words green and/or armies:
“In the cowslips peeps I lie,
Hidden from the buzzing fly,
While green grass beneath me lies,
Pearled wi’ dew like fishes’ eyes,
Here I lye, a clock-a-clay,
Waiting for the time o’ day.”
—John Clare (1793–1864)
“In the weakness of one kind of authority, and in the fluctuation of all, the officers of an army will remain for some time mutinous and full of faction, until some popular general, who understands the art of conciliating the soldiery, and who possesses the true spirit of command, shall draw the eyes of all men upon himself. Armies will obey him on his personal account. There is no other way of securing military obedience in this state of things.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)