White Terror White Terror is the violence carried out by reactionary ( usually monarchist or conservative ) groups as part of a counter - revolution . In particular , during the 20th century , in several countries the term " White Terror " was applied to acts of violence against real or suspected socialists and communists . A White Terror may be contrasted with its revolutionary counterpart Red Terror . Historical origin : the French Revolution . The name derives from the traditional use of the colour white as a symbol of the Bourbon monarchy , as opposed to the red used by revolutionaries / republicans as in their Phrygian caps and red flag . The original White Terror took place in 1794 , during the turbulent times surrounding the French Revolution . It was organized by reactionary " Chouan " royalist forces in the aftermath of the Reign of Terror , and was targeted at the radical Jacobins and anyone suspected of supporting them . Throughout France , both real and suspected Jacobins were attacked and often murdered . Just like during the Reign of Terror , trials were held with little regard for due process . In other cases , gangs of youths who had aristocratic connections roamed the streets beating known Jacobins . These " bands of Jesus " dragged suspected revolutionaries from prisons and murdered them much as alleged royalists had been murdered during the September Massacres of 1792 . Again , in 1815 , following the return of King Louis XVIII of France to power , people suspected of having ties with the governments of the French Revolution or of Napoleon suffered arrest and execution . Marshal Brune was killed in Avignon , and General Jean - Pierre Ramel was assassinated in Toulouse . These actions struck fear in the population , dissuading Jacobin and Bonapartist electors to vote for the ultras . Of 402 members , the first Chamber of the Restoration was composed of 350 ultra - royalists ; the king himself thus named it the " Chambre introuvable " ( " the Unobtainable Chamber " ) . The Chamber voted oppressive laws , sentencing to death Marshal Ney and general la Bédoyère , while 250 people were given prison sentences and some others exiled ( Joseph Fouché , Lazare Carnot , Cambacérès ) . Anti - communist White Terrors . Bulgaria . The White Terror ( , " Byal teror " ) in Bulgaria occurred during the right - wing government of Aleksandar Tsankov ( 1923 – 26 ) . The Bulgarian Communist Party was repressed and martial law was declared . In 1925 , after the Sofia bomb attack aimed to assassinate Tsar Boris III , the Communist Party was outlawed and persecution escalated , with many notable figures who had expressed Communist beliefs — for example , writer Geo Milev — being repressed , and many killed without trial . An estimated 5000 people perished in the Tsankovite White Terror . Mainland China . The White Terror ( ) in China from 1927 to 1949 is associated with the Republic of China , led by Chiang Kai - shek and his nationalist party , the Kuomintang . The White Terror in mainland China began on April 12 , 1927 , when Chiang initiated a purge of Communists from the Shanghai Kuomintang and began large - scale killings in the " Shanghai massacre of 1927 " . The White Terror in China took millions of lives , most of them in rural areas , and nearly destroyed the Chinese Communist Party . Finland . After the Finnish Civil War of 1918 , the victorious White troops of Carl Gustaf Mannerheim carried out terror against workers and suspected leftists . According to Finnish studies , some 80 , 000 people and their families were sent to concentration camps , where more than 11 , 783 died of disease or starvation . About 8500 people were executed . In Helsinki , the White Guards made workers ' wives and children walk in front of their troops as they recaptured the city street by street . In Lahti , in one day , some 200 women were shot with explosive bullets . In Viipuri , 600 Red Guards were lined up in three rows and machine gunned to death . Germany . In the aftermath of World War I , Germany tottered on the brink of chaos . In an attempt to suppress the revolution , militia s formed out of demobilized World War I veterans . The Freikorps , as they were called , were meant as a replacement for the Kaiser ' s Army , which had evaporated overnight due to desertion . The Freikorps was used to suppress the Spartacist League on the streets of Berlin and then successfully invaded the Bavarian Soviet Republic . A large number of people were murdered in the subsequent terror . The number of workers who died in the repression of revolutionary developments in Germany from 1918 to 1921 was estimated at 15 , 000 . Greece . During 1945 – 46 , right - wing gangs killed about 1 , 190 pro - communist and left - wing civilians , and tortured many others . Entire villages that helped the partisans were attacked by those gangs . Guatemala . Military rulers of Guatemala resorted to white terror since Julio César Méndez Montenegro , initially as a counter - insurgency tactic , but it soon became an unrestrained campaign of murder , kidnapping , and destruction disproportional to a military threat . It was branded a " White Terror " even in a report of allied U . S . intelligence service , now declassified . Governmental and paramilitary forces killed or disappeared about 15 , 000 of civilians during the Méndez ' s rule in 1966 – 69 , especially in peasant communities . The victims included guerrilla sympathizers , labor union leaders , intellectuals , students , and vaguely defined " enemies of the government " . Mass extra - judicial terror campaign against leftists , other civil activists , and impoverished indigenous population recurred several times until , resulting in several times more deaths . Hungary . One of the first such White Terrors outside Russia was the Hungarian White Terror , carried out by irregular and semi - regular detachments in Hungary in 1919 – 20 , after the fall of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in response to the Red Terror . Most of them formally belonged to Miklós Horthy ' s " " National Army " " , but they were not under direct control , and it is disputed if Horthy had known about their actions . Militias massacred approximately 600 - 2000 people , mostly communist Jews and alleged traitors . Russia . The White Armies , foreign forces , and other opponents of the Soviet Government carried out mass violence against the population , tortured and shot people suspected of being associated with the soviets , destroyed villages , and tormented Red Army prisoners . After each town was captured , there was a protracted massacre of suspected opponents . Some historians believe that the White terror was premeditated and systematic , as orders for terror came from high officials in the White movement , as well as legislative actions of the White regimes . Taiwan . In Taiwan , the " White Terror " describes the suppression of political dissidents under the martial law period from May 19 , 1947 to July 15 , 1987 , following the Kuomintang ' s acquisition of Taiwan and its retreat there . It resulted in part from the 228 Incident ( also known as the " 228 massacre " ) in Taiwan in 1947 . It included the repression of democrats , communists and Taiwan independence supporters . South Korea . Before and during the Korean War , there were a series of reprisal killings carried out by South Korean security forces against suspected communists . The most infamous incident of this type occurred during the Jeju Uprising that took place on Jeju island . In recent years , the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Korea revealed many massacres which have been blamed on communist forces / sympathizers . The worst tragedy was the Bodo League massacre . There were various other massacres that also took place , such as the Mungyeong massacre , Geochang massacre , Sancheong and Hamyang massacre and Ganghwa massacre . The governmental research into such incidents began in 2005 . Spain . During and after the civil war in Spain the Nationalist side executed an estimated 200 , 000 people . Other White Terrors . Ethiopia . In February 1977 , the EPRP , a communist group , initiated terrorist attacks — known as the White Terror — against Derg members and their supporters ( another communist group ) . This violence immediately claimed at least eight Derg members , plus numerous Derg supporters , and soon provoked a government counteraction – the Red Terror . In comparison to groups that committed other White Terrors , the EPRP was not reactionary or anti - communist . Memorials to victims of White Terror . In Russia , Ukraine , Belarus , and elsewhere , there are a significant number of monuments dedicated to victims of the White Terror . Most monuments were placed on the mass graves where victims of the terror are buried . In the central square in Volgograd there is a " Square of Fallen Fighters " , created 1920 , where the remains of 55 victims of the white terror are buried . A monument was established in 1957 , in black and red granite , inscribed with : " To the freedom fighters of Red Tsaritsyn . Buried here are the heroic defenders of Red Tsaritsyn brutally tortured by White Guard butchers in 1919 . " A monument to victims of the White Terror in Vyborg was constructed in 1961 near the Leningrad highway . It is dedicated to the memory of 600 prisoners who were shot with machine gun s by the White Guards on the ramparts of the city . The " In Memory of Victims of White Terror " monument in Voronezh is located in a park near the regional Nikitinskaia libraries . The monument was unveiled in 1920 on the site where public executions were carried out in 1919 by the troops of Mamantov . In Sevastopol on the 15th Bastion Street of December 1920 , there is a " Communard Cemetery and victims of white terror " . The cemetery is named in honor of the members of the Communist underground , murdered by Whites in 1919 – 20 . In the city of Slavgorad in Altai , there is a monument dedicated to the participants in the Chernodolsky Uprising and their families who fell victim to the white terror of Ataman Annekov . Taiwanese composer Tyzen Hsiao wrote his 2001 " " in memory of that island ' s victims of anti - communist persecution .