The Red Terror was a period of political repression and mass killings carried out by Bolsheviks after the beginning of the Russian Civil War in 1918. The term is usually applied to Bolshevik political repression during the whole period of the Civil War (1917–1922),[1][2] as distinguished from the White Terror carried out by the White Army (Russian and non-Russian groups opposed to Bolshevik rule) against their political enemies (including the Bolsheviks). It was modeled on the Terror of the French Revolution. The Cheka (the Bolshevik secret police)[3] carried out the repressions of the Red Terror.[4] Estimates for the total number of people killed during the Red Terror for the initial period of repression are at least 10,000.[5]Estimates for the total number of victims of Bolshevik repression vary widely. One source asserts that the total number of victims of repression and pacification campaigns could be 1.3 million,[6] whereas another gives estimates of 28,000 executions per year from December 1917 to February 1922.[7] The most reliable estimations for the total number of killings put the number at about 100,000,[8] whereas others suggest a figure of 200,000.[9]