Initially, the Soviet Red Army, which was created against the background of the beginning of the civil war, had utopian features. The Bolsheviks believed that under the socialist system, the army should be built on a voluntary basis. This project was in line with Marxist ideology. Such an army was opposed to the regular armies of Western countries. According to the theoretical doctrine, in society there could only be “universal armament of the people.”
Creation of the Red Army
The first steps of the Bolsheviks said that they really wanted to abandon the former tsarist system. On December 16, 1917, a decree was adopted abolishing officer ranks. Commanders were now elected by their own subordinates. According to the party's plan, on the day of the creation of the Red Army, the new army was to become truly democratic. Time has shown that these plans could not survive the trials of a bloody era.
The Bolsheviks managed to seize power in Petrograd with the help of a small Red Guard and separate revolutionary detachments of sailors and soldiers. The provisional government was paralyzedobscenely made the task easier for Lenin and his supporters. But outside the capital there was a huge country, most of which was not at all happy with the party of radicals, whose leaders arrived in Russia in a sealed wagon from enemy Germany.
By the beginning of a full-scale civil war, the Bolshevik armed forces were distinguished by weak military training and the lack of centralized effective control. Those who served in the Red Guard were guided by revolutionary chaos and their own political convictions, which could change at any moment. The position of the newly proclaimed Soviet power was more than precarious. She needed a fundamentally new Red Army. The creation of the armed forces became a matter of life and death for the people who were imprisoned in Smolny.
What difficulties did the Bolsheviks face? The party could not form its own army on the old apparatus. The best cadres of the period of the monarchy and the Provisional Government hardly wanted to cooperate with the radical left. The second problem was that Russia had been waging war against Germany and its allies for several years. The soldiers were tired - they were demoralized. In order to replenish the ranks of the Red Army, its founders needed to come up with a nationwide incentive that would be a good reason to take up arms again.
The Bolsheviks did not have to go far for this. They made the principle of class struggle the main driving force of their troops. With the coming to power of the RSDLP (b) issued many decrees. According to the slogans, the peasants received land, and the workers received factories. Now theyhad to defend these gains of the revolution. Hatred for the old system (landlords, capitalists, etc.) was the foundation on which the Red Army was held. The creation of the Red Army took place on January 28, 1918. On this day, the new government, represented by the Council of People's Commissars, adopted a corresponding decree.
First successes
Vsevobuch was also established. This system was intended for universal military training of the inhabitants of the RSFSR, and then the USSR. Vsevobuch appeared on April 22, 1918, after the decision to create it was made at the VII Congress of the RCP (b) in March. The Bolsheviks hoped that the new system would help them quickly replenish the ranks of the Red Army.
The formation of armed detachments was carried out directly by the councils at the local level. In addition, revolutionary committees (revolutionary committees) were established for this purpose. At first, they enjoyed considerable independence from the central government. Who was the then Red Army? The creation of this armed structure led to an influx of various personnel. These were people who served in the old tsarist army, peasant militias, soldiers and sailors from among the Red Guards. The heterogeneity of the composition had a negative effect on the combat readiness of this army. In addition, the detachments often acted inconsistently due to the election of commanders, collective and rally management.
Despite all the flaws, the Red Army in the first months of the civil war was able to achieve important successes that became the key to its future unconditional victory. The Bolsheviks succeededkeep Moscow and Yekaterinodar. Local uprisings were suppressed due to a noticeable numerical advantage, as well as wide popular support. The populist decrees of the Soviet government (especially in 1917-1918) did their job.
Trotsky at the head of the army
During the civil war, the stages of the creation of the Red Army quickly succeeded each other. On April 22, 1918, the election of commanding officers was abolished. Now the heads of units, brigades and divisions were appointed by the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs. The first head of this department in November 1917 was Nikolai Podvoisky. In March 1918 he was replaced by Leon Trotsky.
It was this man who stood at the origins of the October Revolution in Petrograd. The revolutionary led the capture of city communications and the Winter Palace from Smolny, where the headquarters of the Bolsheviks was located. At the first stage of the Civil War, the figure of Trotsky in terms of scale and importance of the decisions made was in no way inferior to the figure of Vladimir Lenin. Therefore, it is not surprising that Lev Davidovich was elected People's Commissar for Military Affairs. His organizational talent in all its glory manifested itself in this post. The very first two people's commissars stood at the origins of the creation of the Red Army.
Tsarist officers in the Red Army
Theoretically, the Bolsheviks saw their army meeting strict class requirements. However, the lack of experience among the majority of workers and peasants could be the reason for the defeat of the party. Therefore, the history of the creation of the Red Army took another turn when Trotsky proposed to equip itranks of former tsarist officers. These professionals have considerable experience. All of them went through the First World War, and some remembered the Russo-Japanese War. Many of them were nobles by origin.
On the day the Red Army was created, the Bolsheviks proclaimed that it would be cleared of landowners and other enemies of the proletariat. However, practical necessity gradually corrected the course of the Soviet government. In times of danger, she was quite flexible in her decisions. Lenin was a pragmatist much more than a dogmatist. Therefore, he agreed to a compromise on the issue with the royal officers.
The presence of a "counter-revolutionary contingent" in the Red Army has long been a headache for the Bolsheviks. Former tsarist officers raised uprisings more than once. One of these was the rebellion led by Mikhail Muravyov in July 1918. This Left Socialist-Revolutionary and former tsarist officer was appointed commander of the Eastern Front by the Bolsheviks when the two parties still formed a single coalition. He tried to seize power in Simbirsk, which at that time was located near the theater of operations. The rebellion was suppressed by Joseph Vareikis and Mikhail Tukhachevsky. The uprisings in the Red Army, as a rule, took place due to the harsh repressive measures of the command.
Commissioners appear
Actually, the date of the creation of the Red Army is not the only important mark on the calendar for the history of the formation of Soviet power in the expanses of the former Russian Empire. Since the composition of the armed forces gradually became more heterogeneous, and propagandaopponents are stronger, the Council of People's Commissars decided to establish the position of military commissars. They were supposed to carry out party propaganda among the soldiers and old specialists. The commissars made it possible to smooth out contradictions in the rank and file, which was diverse in terms of political views. Having received significant powers, these representatives of the party not only enlightened and educated the Red Army soldiers, but also reported to the top about the unreliability of individuals, discontent, etc.
Thus, the Bolsheviks planted dual power in the military units. On one side were the commanders, and on the other, the commissars. The history of the creation of the Red Army would have been completely different if not for their appearance. In an emergency, the commissar could become the sole leader, leaving the commander in the background. Military councils were created to manage divisions and larger formations. Each such body included one commander and two commissars. Only the most ideologically hardened Bolsheviks became them (as a rule, people who joined the party before the revolution). With the increase in the army, and hence the commissars, the authorities had to create a new educational infrastructure necessary for the operational training of propagandists and agitators.
Propaganda
In May 1918, the All-Russian General Staff was established, and in September - the Revolutionary Military Council. These dates and the date of the creation of the Red Army became key to the spread and strengthening of the power of the Bolsheviks. Immediately after the October Revolution, the party headed for the radicalization of the situation in the country. After the unsuccessful elections for the RSDLP (b) inThe Constituent Assembly, this institution (necessary to determine the Russian future on an elective basis) was dispersed. Now the opponents of the Bolsheviks were left without legal tools to defend their position. The white movement quickly sprang up in different regions of the country. It was possible to fight him only by military means - that is why the creation of the Red Army was needed.
Photos of the defenders of the communist future began to be published in a huge pile of propaganda newspapers. The Bolsheviks at first tried to secure an influx of recruits with catchy slogans: "The socialist fatherland is in danger!" etc. These measures had an effect, but it was not enough. By April, the size of the army had increased to 200,000, but that would not have been enough to subjugate the entire territory of the former Russian Empire to the party. We should not forget that Lenin dreamed of a world revolution. Russia for him was only the initial springboard for the offensive of the international proletariat. To strengthen propaganda in the Red Army, the Political Directorate was established.
In the year of the creation of the Red Army, they joined it not only for ideological reasons. In the country, exhausted by a long war with the Germans, there was a shortage of food for a long time. The danger of starvation was especially acute in the cities. In such bleak conditions, the poor sought to be in the service at any cost (regular rations were guaranteed there).
Introduction of universal conscription
Although the creation of the Red Army began in accordance with the decree of the Council of People'scommissars back in January 1918, the accelerated pace of organizing new armed forces came in May, when the Czechoslovak Corps rebelled. These soldiers, taken prisoner during the First World War, took the side of the white movement and opposed the Bolsheviks. In a paralyzed and fragmented country, a relatively small 40,000-strong corps has become the most combat-ready and professional army.
The news of the uprising excited Lenin and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The Bolsheviks decided to go ahead of the curve. On May 29, 1918, a decree was issued, according to which forced recruitment into the army was introduced. It took the form of mobilization. In domestic policy, the Soviet government adopted the course of war communism. The peasants not only lost their crops, which went to the state, but also massively climbed into the troops. Party mobilizations to the front became commonplace. By the end of the Civil War, half of the members of the RSDLP (b) ended up in the army. At the same time, almost all Bolsheviks became commissars and political workers.
In the summer, Trotsky initiated the introduction of universal military service. The history of the creation of the Red Army, in short, has overcome another important milestone. On July 29, 1918, all eligible men, who were between 18 and 40 years old, were registered. Even representatives of the enemy bourgeois class (former merchants, industrialists, etc.) were included in the rear militia. Such drastic measures have borne fruit. The creation of the Red Army by September 1918 made it possible to send more than 450 thousand people to the front (about 100 thousand more remained in the rear troops).
Revolutionary Military Council
Trotsky, like Lenin, temporarily swept aside Marxist ideology in order to increase the combat effectiveness of the armed forces. It was he, as People's Commissar, who initiated important reforms and transformations at the front. The army reinstated the death pen alty for desertion and failure to follow orders. The insignia, the single uniform, the sole authority of the leadership, and many other signs of the tsarist era returned. On May 1, 1918, the first parade of the Red Army took place on the Khodynka field in Moscow. The Vsevobuch system has been launched at full capacity.
In September, Trotsky headed the newly formed Revolutionary Military Council. This state body became the top of the administrative pyramid that led the army. Trotsky's right hand was Joachim Vatsetis. He was the first under Soviet rule to receive the post of commander in chief. In the same autumn, the fronts were formed - the Southern, Eastern and Northern. Each of them had its own headquarters. The first month of the creation of the Red Army was a time of uncertainty - the Bolsheviks were torn between ideology and practice. Now the course towards pragmatism has become the main one, and the Red Army began to take the forms that turned out to be its foundation over the next decades.
War Communism
Without a doubt, the reasons for the creation of the Red Army was to protect the Bolshevik power. At first, she controlled a very small part of European Russia. At the same time, the RSFSR was under pressure from opponents from all sides. After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed withKaiser's Germany, the forces of the Entente invaded Russia. The intervention was insignificant (it covered only the north of the country). The European powers supported the whites mainly with the supply of weapons and money. For the Red Army, the attack by the French and British was only an additional reason for consolidating and strengthening propaganda among the rank and file. Now the creation of the Red Army could be briefly and intelligibly explained by the defense of Russia from foreign invasion. Such slogans allowed to increase the influx of recruits.
At the same time, throughout the Civil War, there was the problem of supplying the armed forces with all sorts of resources. The economy was paralyzed, strikes broke out frequently at factories, and famine became the norm in the countryside. It was against this background that the Soviet government began to pursue a policy of war communism.
The essence of it was simple. The economy became radically centralized. The state took full control of the distribution of resources in the country. Industrial enterprises were nationalized immediately after the October Revolution. Now the Bolsheviks had to squeeze all the juice out of the countryside. Surplus appropriation, harvest taxes, individual terror of the peasants who did not want to share their grain with the state - all this was used in order to feed and finance the Red Army.
Fight against desertion
Trotsky personally went to the front in order to control the execution of his orders. On August 10, 1918, he arrived in Sviyazhsk, when battles for Kazan were going on not far from him. In a stubborn battle, one of the Red Army regiments trembledand ran. Then Trotsky publicly shot every tenth soldier in this formation. Such a massacre, more like a ritual, was reminiscent of the ancient Roman tradition - decimation.
According to the decision of the people's commissar, not only deserters were shot, but also simulators who asked for leave from the front due to an imaginary illness. The apogee of the fight against the fugitives was the creation of foreign detachments. During the offensive, specially selected military men stood behind the main army, who shot the cowards right in the course of the battle. Thus, with the help of draconian measures and incredible cruelty, the Red Army became exemplarily disciplined. The Bolsheviks had the courage and pragmatic cynicism to do something that the commanders of the White armies did not dare to do. Trotsky, who did not disdain any methods to spread Soviet power, soon began to be called the "demon of the revolution."
Unification of the armed forces
The appearance of the Red Army soldiers also gradually changed. At first, the Red Army did not provide for a uniform uniform. Soldiers, as a rule, wore out their old military uniforms or civilian clothes. Due to the huge influx of peasants shod in bast shoes, there were much more than those shod in familiar boots. Such anarchy lasted until the end of the unification of the armed forces.
At the beginning of 1919, according to the decision of the Revolutionary Military Council, sleeve insignia were introduced. At the same time, the Red Army soldiers received their own headdress, which became known among the people as Budyonovka. Tunics and overcoats got colored flaps. became a recognizable symbola red star sewn onto the headdress.
The introduction of some of the characteristic features of the former army into the Red Army led to the fact that an opposition faction arose in the party. Its members advocated the rejection of ideological compromise. Lenin and Trotsky, having joined forces, in March 1919 at the VIII Congress were able to defend their course.
The fragmentation of the white movement, the powerful propaganda of the Bolsheviks, their determination to carry out repressions to rally their own ranks, and many other circumstances led to the fact that Soviet power was established on the territory of almost the entire former Russian Empire, except for Poland and Finland. The Red Army won the Civil War. At the final stage of the conflict, its number was already 5.5 million people.
