To understand the causes of the Second World War, one must look back to the First World War. The war that had no victors. In truth, if there was any nation that could be considered a winner of the Cataclysmic great war, it is the one that surrendered several years before its conclusion. That nation would be the Russian Republic, and the Civil War that ultimately lead to its creation.
The October Revolution, as it became to be known, started in October of 1917, after the Bolsheviks attempted to seize and dismiss the Constituent Assembly through force, after stunning and brutal election losses. While the attempt was crushed, Lenin managed to escape alongside other ring leaders.
Why the Bolsheviks lost so heavily is presently unknown. However, between the signing of the New Russian Constitution, during that April, and the official surrender of Russia in July with the signing of the Brest-Litovsk treaty, many Russian citizens clearly felt the Bolshevik's criticisms of Russia's new government weren't that drastic. And while the treaty itself was controversial, costing Russia considerable swaths of land, it was able to keep a sizable portion of its industry intact, though it lost Poland and several other border regions to Germany. Though, secretly and spitefully, the new government began shipping arms into these areas. This would prove useful for several nations declaring independence towards that war's end when Germany was simply too exhausted to keep fighting anymore, largely erasing what gains the Kaiser could lay claim to.
The initial scattering of the Bolsheviks lead to a resistance movement against the provisional government. However, among much of the Russian citizenry, this time is also called 'The Red Terror'. The Bolsheviks kidnapped many to serve in their armies, oftentimes at gunpoint or by holding hostages. While the Bolshevik's ranks swelled, it came at the cost of hundreds of thousands of soldiers willing to flee or turn on their commanding officers at the first sign they would be able to get away with it.
However, thanks to the peace several months prior, the Russian army was, at the very least, somewhat rested and combat capable. At least, considerably more than their red counterparts. However, early engagements were messy affairs. Bolshevik forces relied on brutal hit-and-run tactics up until their first major offensive in March 1918. While these attacks came from just about everywhere within Russia, the strongest concentration of these forces where in the West. These forces were more heavily armed and fed than any other in the Bolshevik forces. The newfound Republic used this to launch a campaign against Lenin and the Bolsheviks, claiming that were lapdogs for the Kaiser, on orders to make sure Russia kept fighting despite its surrender.
While it is true that Lenin had been returned to Russia in an attempt to weaken it by the German Government of the time, it is still up for debate how much his forces were armed and fed on the German payroll. The results of this propaganda speak for themselves. Bolshevik support, which had already started to wane ever since the early days of the Red Terror, took a nose dive. As news spread across Russia, even areas where they had support became increasingly more hostile. In some regions of Russia, Bolsheviks became known as задница императора. The rough intention behind this insult means where the Emperor rests their ass.
This insult was later used to describe French and German soldiers during the Second World War.
However, all was not well for the newborn Russian Republic. In addition to territories lost to Germany and Austria-Hungry as per the Brest-Litovsk treaty, several regions of Russia began to rebel, seeking to take back their independence. Finland, Ukraine, and Estonia declared their independence, threatening further force if their demands were not met. While the Bolsheviks in central Asia were crushed by January of 1918, the Russian Republic realized they did not have the force necessary to both fight off the Bolshevik legions and force these nations back into line. Not without harming both production for the war effort and the already precarious food situation.
The Russian Republic ultimately recognized each of the nations as independent sovereign states with considerable reluctance, though there were concessions. Soldiers of the government had to make their way back to Russia proper, and with their equipment as well. Those who were born in these new nations could refuse, but their equipment must still be returned. The Russian Republic also worked hard to secure a trade deal with Ukraine for much-needed grain.
Of course, this wasn't entirely followed. Many people in these new Republics had no trust or love for Russia, so many hid and maintained their old military equipment to use against the Russians. This choice, combined arms shipments to lost territories in Europe, proved to be an unpleasant surprise for German and French forces during the Second World War.
While there was strong criticism for giving up such land from the Conservative wings of government, the influx of soldiers that had once been policing these Republics could now be put into direct conflict with the Bolsheviks. Troops from Estonia aided in the crushing of the Bolsheviks during the Battle of Petrograd, encircling Bolshevik soldiers that were laying siege to the city. This battle completely crushed the Bolshevik presence in the West, outside of a few small holdouts.
The Forces of the Russian Republic, with their morale increasing, managed to remove the last trances of resistance in the area by October of 1919, followed by the capture of Lenin in January of 1920, caught trying to sneak across the newly established border of Finnland.
Lenin's capture helped bring an end to the conflict, but many Bolshevic positions had already been destroyed by the Russian Republic. Their holdings in Siberia were lost by July 17, 1919 with the capture of Omsk. However, it was not lost to the army, but rather a peasant uprising from mothers and sisters that were tired of having their husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers kidnapped and forced into service, as well as the other abuses Bolshevic soldiers inflicted upon Russia's civilian population.
The Bolshevic forces, facing defeat on all fronts, try to open a front in the south by launching another coup in the newly liberated Ukraine, hoping to cease the nation for their own ends. This coup meets initial success, managing to capture Kyiv in a lightning strike, lead in part by Joseph Stalin, in late November 1919. While they were able to hold the capital for several months, Ukraine did not bend to what they saw, rightfully, as foreign invaders. The situation was already beginning to unravel for the Bolsheviks by the time the Russian Republic announce the capture of Lenin.
With the announcement of Lenin's capture, the situation tipped completely out of control. Ukrainian forces captured and then hanged several important members of the attack, while others were shipped back to Russia as prisoners. This would prove to be a harbinger of what would happen to the Bolsheviks once Lenin's capture was announced to the whole of Russia.
By the next month, Lenin's capture was announced for all of Russia to hear. Some Bolshevik formations attempt a hard drive toward Moscow, which were crushed, while others simply put down their guns and faded away into obscurity. There were some attempts to free Lenin from captivity, but these attempts were met with failure. By September 9th, 1920, most of the fighting had come to a stop.
Lenin faced trial from December 1920 to October 1921, facing numerous crimes, including treason. Many called for the man's death, that he should be executed. However, it was enshrined as part of the Russian Constitution that the death penalty was forbidden. Many felt that such a power was simply too easy to abuse, as it had been used to murder countless people under numerous tsars. Including Nicholas the Second, which had been at the forefront of many's minds.
Despite the calls for the man's head, Lenin was found guilty, and sentenced to life in prison. He was kept in Moscow under the greatest security they could manage.
Lenin died ten years later, the day just before he was put in chains for the rest of his life. Some in Russia feared that there would be a Bolshevik uprising with the man's death. However, most of the nation did not care for the man's passing, or celebrated it, as Lenin's death marked the true end of the Bolsheviks.
By the time Lenin was sentenced, the First World War would continue to rage for another eleven months.
Russia suffered from the civil war heavily. In total, four to eight million Russians lost their lives, mostly civilians, with entire towns being depopulated by the Bolsheviks in their search for more soldiers. Combined with its dead from World War One, Russia had lost more than ten million people. However, it leaving the war and spared its people the worst of the slaughter to come.
After all, the First World War did not have winners. It had survivors.