Officers of the Russian Imperial army as part of the confrontation sides of the Tambov rebellion of 1920–1921

We consider a new aspect of the well-studied themе, related to objective circumstances and subjective motives for choosing a life position in the Civil war: the entry of former officers of the Russian Imperial army into the ranks of the Soviet or rebel armed forces. First of all, contradictions in information about the pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary military service of a selected circle of persons are revealed. With a sufficient degree of accuracy, 16 former officers who became the leaders of the suppression of the “Antonovshchina” in 1920–1921 and a maximum of 23 rebel commanders from the ranks of officers of the “old” army are identified. Differences of the social and professional image of the commanders of the opposing sides are established. Among the Soviet commanders, career officers from different classes prevailed, including 5 peasants (only 1 – Russian), of non-Tambov origin, who entered the region no earlier than 1917. On the contrary, among the rebel military leaders, all, except for one tradesman, came from the peasant class (only 3 were not from the Tambov Governorate). However, the loyalty of some former rebel commanders to their political leadership was low. Therefore, the study specially analyzes the “psychology of betrayal” of such people who went over to the side of the Soviet troops. The military leaders of the suppression of the Tambov rebellion, who came from the officer environment, made a choice in favor of Soviet power in 1917–1918 and by 1920 they repeatedly showed loyalty to the “workers’ and peasants’ state”. However, for the time being, this state recognized the devotion of, in principle, alien to it “gold-chasers”. In the 1930s almost all officers who took part in the suppression of the Tambov rebellion became victims of political repression.