Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Russian Civil War started in 1917 following the October Revolution and ended by 1922 with the defeat of White resistance. The conflict lasted five years across the former empire after Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik Party to seize control.
Leon Trotsky reorganized Russia's fragmented military forces into a Workers' and Peasants' Red Army after January 1918. He introduced mandatory conscription of rural peasants to expand troop numbers significantly while recruiting former Tsarist commanders as voenspetsy or military specialists.
The Tambov Rebellion emerged as the largest peasant challenge due to grain requisitioning policies sparking violent resistance. This revolt marked strikes and demonstrations that began when Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy in May 1918.
Thirteen foreign states including Britain France Italy Japan Czechoslovakia Romania Greece Serbia Portugal Belgium Netherlands China and the United States sent troops supplies weapons equipment advisors money food and ammunition. Allied Powers provided massive scale war materials to support anti-Bolshevik efforts against the Soviet government.
The Red Terror campaign mass repressions officially began between the 17th and the 30th of August 1918 following an assassination attempt on Vladimir Lenin by Fanny Kaplan. Felix Dzerzhinsky directed the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission Cheka to root out counter-revolutionary threats starting December 1917.