Zinoviev and the Defense of Petrograd, 1919

• In Event: Breaking the Mold: New Research on the Civil War in the Baltics, Finland and Petrograd, 1919-1923

Abstract

The approach of General Iudenich’s forces to Petrograd in late 1919 occasioned unflattering portrayals of the chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, Grigorii Zinoviev, as falling into panic. Yet Zinoviev’s role at this critical moment has received little close scrutiny and has been overshadowed by that of Trotsky. This paper will assess Zinoviev’s behavior in preparing and administering Petrograd for Iudenich’s attack.

Author

• T. Clayton Black, Washington College