The White Army () or White Guard (), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (), was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and anti-Soviet governments during the Russian Civil War. They fought against the Red Army of the Bolsheviks. When it was created, the structure of the Russian Army of the Provisional Government period was used, while almost every individual formation had its own characteristics. The military art of the White Army was based on the experience of the First World War, which, however, left a strong imprint on the specifics of the Civil War. History The name "White" is associated with white symbols of the supporters of the pre-revolutionary order, dating back to the time of the French Revolution, in contrast to the name of the Red Guard detachments, and then the Red Army. For the first time, the name "White Guard" was used in Russia for Finnish police detachments created in 1906 to fight the revolutionary movement. Their members wore white bandages on their sleeves; however, this did not have a direct connection with the White Army during the Civil War. The White armies comprised a number of different groups, who operated independently and did not share a single ideology or political goal. Their leaders were conservative or moderate generals and political leaders, each with different goals and plans to achieve them, and most of these armies did not coordinate their actions. The chain of command in each, as well as individual members, differed, from experienced veterans of World War I to fresh volunteers. The White Guards, in addition to directly fighting with the Reds, as well as the Makhnovtsi, carried out the White Terror, while taking part in mass executions, including assisting foreign interventionists (for example, 257 civilians were killed in 1919 in the course of the struggle in the village of Ivanovka of the Japanese Army and the White Guards against the pro-Bolshevik detachments of partisans). The overall amount of people killed in the White Terror is significantly less than that in the Red Terror, which drastically differed from its counterpart due to being deliberately organized and run by Bolshevik leaders. In The Black Book of Communism, Nicolas Werth contrasts the Red and White terrors, noting the former was the official policy of the Bolshevik government: The Bolshevik policy of terror was more systematic, better organized, and