Battle of Petrograd

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Battle of Petrograd
Part of the Russian Civil War, Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919, and Estonian War of Independence
Date 28 September – 14 November 1919 (1 month, 2 weeks and 3 days) Location Petrograd Governorate, Russian SFSR 60°03′0″N 31°45′0″E / 60.05000°N 31.75000°E / 60.05000; 31.75000 Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
Northwest Russia	Soviet Russia
Commanders and leaders
Nikolai Yudenich	Leon Trotsky
Units involved
Northwest Army	Red Army 7th Army 15th Army
Strength
18,500	55,500

The Battle of Petrograd was a campaign by the White movement to take the city of Petrograd. The city held significant value, notably as it was the same city that the October Revolution took place in. The battle was also at a critical point in the Civil War as the Whites has also been getting closer to Moscow and the Russian State was at its peak.

Using the new Regional Government of Northwest Russia as a base, the newly formed Northwestern Army had launched an attack from Pskov and drove north to Petrograd. The White Army saw a string of victories on the road to Petrograd. After the White advance severed a railroad junction from Moscow to Petrograd, the Bolsheviks began to fear the city might soon fall. Trotsky personally went north to rally the city's defenses, he oversaw the utilization of an alternative rail line to bring in supplies from Moscow needed to fend off the attack.

The advance stalled and reversed, soon the Whites were forced to retreat into Estonia. Hoping to secure a peace deal with Soviet Russia, the Estonian government refused to allow the Northwestern Army to be restationed in the nation. The White cause had begun to disintegrate across Russia however. Though the Northwestern Army was soon allowed to send pockets of units into Estonia, the new government of the Russian State collapsed; simultaneously the army disbanded, ending any chance of Petrograd, the historic capital of Russia, being taken from the Bolsheviks.