General Ali Fuat Cebesoy and the Kronstadt Revolt (1921): A Footnote to History

In: International journal of Middle East studies: IJMES, Band 3, Heft 4, S. 491-493

Abstract

The revolt of the Red sailors at the Kronstadt naval base near Petrograd, 1–18 March 1921, constituted a major threat to the new, unstable, and economically destitute Soviet régime in Russia. Although other uprisings against Soviet power had been successfully suppressed, this revolt of the Red sailors, among the foremost supporters of the Bolshevik seizure of authority on 25 October (N.S., 7 November) 1917, was a severe blow to Soviet prestige at home and abroad. Because of their popularity, the government was apprehensive about depending upon regular Soviet troops to suppress the uprising. Its predicament has been substantiated, for the first time, by Soviet Marshal Ivan S. Konev in his 'Reminiscences', where he admits that some Soviet trainees and artillerymen refused outright to fire on their rebel comrades.