Red Army transcript during the war. Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (abbr. Red Army): the predecessor of the modern Russian army. History of the Red Army

Initially, the Soviet Red Army, the creation of which took place against the backdrop of the beginning of the civil war, had utopian features. The Bolsheviks believed that under a 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, society could only have “universal arming of the people.”

Creation of the Red Army

The first steps of the Bolsheviks indicated that they really wanted to abandon the previous 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 the Red Army was created, the new army was to become truly democratic. Time has shown that these plans could not survive the trials of the 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 paralyzed, which made the task indecently easier for Lenin and his supporters. But outside the capital there remained a huge country, most of which was not at all happy with the radical party, whose leaders came to Russia in a sealed carriage from enemy Germany.

By the beginning of a full-scale civil war, the Bolshevik armed forces were characterized by poor military training and the absence 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 armed forces became a matter of life and death for the people sitting in Smolny.

What difficulties did the Bolsheviks face? The party could not form its own army using the previous 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 already been at 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 compelling 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 army. Since coming to power, the RSDLP(b) issued many decrees. According to the slogans, peasants received land, and workers received factories. Now they had to defend these gains of the revolution. Hatred of the previous system (landowners, capitalists, etc.) was the foundation on which the Red Army rested. 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 residents 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 fill the ranks of the Red Army.

The formation of armed units was directly carried out by councils at the local level. In addition, for this purpose they were established. At first, they enjoyed significant independence from the central government. Who did the then Red Army consist of? The creation of this armed structure entailed an influx of a variety of 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 impact on the combat readiness of this army. In addition, the units often acted uncoordinatedly due to the election of commanders, collective and rally management.

Despite all the shortcomings, the Red Army was able to achieve important successes in the first months of the civil war, which became the key to its future unconditional victory. The Bolsheviks managed to hold Moscow and Yekaterinodar. Local uprisings were suppressed due to a noticeable numerical advantage, as well as widespread popular support. The populist decrees of the Soviet government (especially in 1917-1918) did their job.

Trotsky at the head of the army

It was this man who stood at the origins of the October Revolution in Petrograd. The revolutionary led the seizure of city communications and the Winter Palace from Smolny, where the Bolshevik headquarters was located. At the first stage of the Civil War, the figure of Trotsky was in no way inferior to the figure of Vladimir Lenin in terms of its scale and importance of the decisions made. Therefore, it is not surprising that Lev Davidovich was elected People's Commissar for Military Affairs. His organizational talent manifested itself in all its glory in this post. At the origins of the creation of the Red Army were the very first two people's commissars.

Tsarist officers in the Red Army

Theoretically, the Bolsheviks saw their army as 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 staffing its ranks with former tsarist officers. These specialists had significant experience. They all passed the first world war, and some remembered the Russian-Japanese. Many of them were nobles by birth.

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 Soviet power. In conditions 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 tsarist officers.

The presence of a “counter-revolutionary contingent” in the Red Army had long been a headache for the Bolsheviks. Former tsarist officers repeatedly rebelled. One of these was the rebellion led by Mikhail Muravyov in July 1918. This left Socialist Revolutionary and former tsarist officer was appointed by the Bolsheviks as commander of the Eastern Front, when the two parties still formed a single coalition. He tried to seize power in Simbirsk, which at that time was located next to the theater of military operations. The rebellion was suppressed by Joseph Vareikis and Mikhail Tukhachevsky. Uprisings in the Red Army, as a rule, occurred due to the harsh repressive measures of the command.

The appearance of the commissars

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 vastness of the former Russian Empire. Since the composition of the armed forces gradually became more heterogeneous, and the propaganda of opponents became stronger, the Council of People's Commissars decided to establish the post of military commissars. They were supposed to conduct party propaganda among soldiers and old specialists. The commissars made it possible to smooth out contradictions in the heterogeneous political views rank and file. Having received significant powers, these party representatives not only enlightened and educated the Red Army soldiers, but also reported to the top about unreliability individuals, dissatisfaction, etc.

Thus, the Bolsheviks imposed dual power in military units. On one side there were commanders, and on the other, commissars. The history of the creation of the Red Army would have been completely different if not for their appearance. IN 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 seasoned Bolsheviks became them (as a rule, people who joined the party before the revolution). With the increase in the army, and therefore 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 Main Headquarters 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 Bolshevik power. Immediately after the October Revolution, the party set a course for radicalizing the situation in the country. After unsuccessful elections for the RSDLP(b), this institute (necessary for determining the Russian future on an elective basis) was dispersed. Now Bolshevik opponents were left without legal tools to defend their position. The white movement quickly emerged in different regions of the country. It was possible to fight it only by military means - this is precisely why the creation of the Red Army was needed.

Photos of defenders of the communist future began to be published in a huge pile of propaganda newspapers. The Bolsheviks initially tried to ensure an influx of recruits with the help of catchy slogans: “The Socialist Fatherland is in danger!” etc. These measures had an effect, but it was insufficient. By April, the size of the army had increased to 200 thousand people, but this 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. For him, Russia was only the initial springboard for the offensive of the international proletariat. To strengthen propaganda in the Red Army, a Political Directorate was established.

In the year of the creation of the Red Army, people joined it not only for ideological reasons. In the country, exhausted by the long war with the Germans, there had long been a shortage of food. The danger of famine was especially acute in cities. In such bleak conditions, the poor sought to be in the service at any cost (where regular rations were guaranteed).

Introduction of universal conscription

Although the creation of the Red Army began in accordance with the decree of the Council of People's Commissars in January 1918, the accelerated pace of organizing new armed forces began in May, when the Czechoslovak Corps rebelled. These soldiers, captured during World War I, sided with the White movement and opposed the Bolsheviks. In a paralyzed and fragmented country, a relatively small 40,000-strong corps became the most combat-ready and professional army.

News of the uprising excited Lenin and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The Bolsheviks decided to take the lead. On May 29, 1918, a decree was issued introducing forced recruitment into the army. It took the form of mobilization. In domestic policy, the Soviet government adopted the course of war communism. The peasants not only lost their harvests, which went to the state, but also enlisted in large numbers into the army. 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 became the initiator. The history of the creation of the Red Army, in short, crossed another important milestone. On July 29, 1918, all healthy 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 (another 100 thousand remained in the rear troops).

Trotsky, like Lenin, put Marxist ideology aside for a time 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 death penalty for desertion and failure to follow orders was reinstated in the army. The insignia, uniform uniform, sole authority of leadership and many other signs of tsarist times returned. On May 1, 1918, the first parade of the Red Army took place on Khodynka Field in Moscow. The Vsevobuch system began working at full capacity.

In September, Trotsky headed the newly formed Revolutionary Military Council. This government agency became the top of the management pyramid that led the army. Right hand Trotsky was Joachim Vatsetis. He was the first to receive the position of commander-in-chief under Soviet rule. That same autumn, fronts were formed - 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 became the main one, and the Red Army began to take those 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 were to protect Bolshevik power. At first, it controlled a very small part of European Russia. At the same time, the RSFSR was under pressure from opponents on all sides. After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed with the Kaiser's Germany, Entente forces invaded Russia. The intervention was minor (it covered only the north of the country). The European powers supported the Whites mainly with arms 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 clearly 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 a problem of supplying the armed forces with all kinds of resources. The economy was paralyzed, strikes often broke out at enterprises, and hunger became the norm in the countryside. It was against this background that the Soviet government began to pursue the policy of war communism.

Its essence was simple. The economy was becoming 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 needed to squeeze all the juice out of the village. Prodrazverstka, harvest taxes, individual terror of 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 monitor the execution of his orders. On August 10, 1918, he arrived in Sviyazhsk, when battles for Kazan were taking place nearby. In a stubborn battle, one of the Red Army regiments faltered and fled. Then Trotsky publicly shot every tenth soldier in this formation. This reprisal, more like a ritual, was reminiscent of the ancient Roman tradition - decimation.

By decision of the People's Commissar, they began to shoot not only deserters, but also malingerers who took time off from the front due to an imaginary illness. The apogee of the fight against fugitives was the creation of foreign detachments. During the offensive, specially selected military men stood behind the main army and shot the cowards right during the battle. Thus, with the help of draconian measures and incredible cruelty, the Red Army became exemplary disciplined. The Bolsheviks had the courage and pragmatic cynicism to do something that Trotsky’s commanders, who did not disdain any methods to spread Soviet power, did not dare to do, soon began to be called the “demon of the revolution.”

Unification of the armed forces

The appearance of the Red Army soldiers 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 many more than those shod in the usual boots. This 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 popularly known as the Budenovka. Tunics and overcoats now have colored flaps. The red star sewn onto the headdress became a recognizable symbol.

The introduction of some characteristic features of the former army into the Red Army led to the emergence of an opposition faction in the party. Its members advocated the rejection of ideological compromise. Lenin and Trotsky, having joined forces, were able to defend their course in March 1919 at the VIII Congress.

The fragmentation of the white movement, the powerful propaganda of the Bolsheviks, their determination to carry out repressions to unite 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.

Alexey Zakvasin, Vladimir Sibirtsev

On February 23, 1918, a new military force appeared in Russia - the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA). Members of the young military organization received their baptism of fire in clashes with the White Guards, as well as German and Polish troops. Despite the lack of professional personnel and proper combat training, the soldiers of the Red Army were able to change the course of world history by winning the Great Patriotic War. Despite the political upheavals of the last hundred years, the Russian army has remained faithful to military traditions. About the main stages of the creation and development of the Red Army - in the RT material.

• Cavalry of the Red Army during the Civil War
• RIA News

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) originated on the territory of the former Russian Empire. Since November 1917, the nominal leadership of the state was exercised by the Bolsheviks (RSDLP (b), the radical wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party).

Most of the “old regime” generals were in opposition to them. It was he, together with the Cossacks, who formed the backbone of the White Guard movement. In addition, the main external opponents of Russia's new political system were the Kaiser's Germany (until November 1918), Poland, Great Britain, France and the USA.

A powerful military group was supposed to protect the young socialist republic from political opponents and foreign troops. The Bolsheviks took the first steps in this direction in the winter of 1917-1918.

The Soviet authorities liquidated the recruitment system of the tsarist army, abolishing all ranks and titles. On January 28, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR adopted a Decree on the creation of the Red Army, and on February 11, on the creation of a fleet. Nevertheless, the founding day of the Red Army is considered to be February 23 - the date of publication of the appeal of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) “The Socialist Fatherland is in Danger!”

The document spoke about the expansionist plans of “German militarism.” In this regard, citizens of the RSFSR were called upon to devote all their strength and resources to the “cause revolutionary struggle" Military personnel in the western regions had to defend “every position to the last drop of blood.”

Battalions were created from workers, peasants and “able-bodied members of the bourgeois class” to dig trenches under the leadership of military specialists. Speculators, hooligans, agents and spies of the enemy, as well as counter-revolutionaries were subject to execution at the scene of the crime.

• German troops in Kyiv, March 1918
• RIA News

At the stage of formation

The Red Army was formed in the most difficult military-political and economic conditions. Before coming to power, the Bolsheviks sought to demoralize the tsarist military by calling the war with Germany and Austria-Hungary “imperialist.” The leader of the RSDLP (b) Vladimir Lenin demanded a separate peace with the Germans and predicted a quick regime change in Berlin.

After seizing power, the Bolsheviks refused to fight with the Kaiser’s Germany, but they failed to agree on peace. Taking advantage of Russia's weakness, German troops occupied Ukraine and became a real threat to the Bolshevik government.

At the same time, “counter-revolutionary” forces were strengthening in the former Russian Empire. White Guard formations were formed in the south of Russia, in the Volga region and the Urals. The opposition to the RSDLP (b) was supported by Western countries, which in 1918-1919 occupied part of the country’s coastal territories.

The Bolsheviks needed to create a combat-ready army, and in the shortest possible time. This was hampered for some time by the overly democratic views of the ideologists of Bolshevism.

However, such a view of the purpose of the armed forces of the SNK, which was headed by Lenin, had to be abandoned. In January 1918, the Bolsheviks actually set a course for the construction of a typical regular army, which was based on the principles of unity of command, the “vertical of power” and the inevitability of punishment for failure to comply with orders.

• Vladimir Lenin on Sverdlov Square in front of the troops, Moscow, May 5, 1920
• RIA News
• G. Goldstein

The paper approves the conscription system for recruiting troops. Citizens no younger than 18 years old could serve in the Red Army. Red Army soldiers were given a monthly salary of 50 rubles. The Red Army was proclaimed as an instrument for the protection of workers' rights and was supposed to consist of “exploited classes.”

The Red Army was declared “the worst enemy of capitalism”, and therefore was recruited according to the class principle. The command staff should have included only workers and peasants. The service life in the Red Army infantry was set at around one and a half years, in the cavalry - two and a half years. At the same time, the Bolsheviks convinced citizens that the regular nature of the Red Army would gradually change to a “militia” one.

In their achievements, the Bolsheviks recorded a significant reduction in the number of troops compared to the tsarist period - from 5 million to 600 thousand people. However, by 1920, about 5.5 million soldiers and officers were already serving in the ranks of the Red Army.

Young army

A huge contribution to the formation of the Red Army was made by the People's Commissar for Military Affairs of the RSFSR (since March 17, 1918) Leon Trotsky. He eliminated any concessions, restoring the authority of commanders and the practice of executions for desertion.

Iron discipline, combined with active propaganda of revolutionary ideas and the fight against the occupiers, became the key to the success of the Red Army on the eastern, southern and western fronts. By 1920, the Bolsheviks had recaptured the rich natural resources regions, which made it possible to provide troops with food and ammunition.

Changes for the better have also occurred in relations with Western countries. In 1919, German troops left Ukraine, and in 1920, the interventionists abandoned previously occupied Russian territories. However bloody battles in 1919-1921 they turned around with the recreated Polish state.

The Soviet-Polish war ended with the signing of the Riga Peace Treaty on March 18, 1921. Warsaw, which had previously been part of the Russian Empire, received vast lands of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.

At the end of 1920, when the threat to Bolshevik power had passed, Lenin announced mass demobilization. The size of the army fell to half a million people, and citizens who served were put into the reserve. In the mid-1920s, the Red Army was recruited according to the territorial-militia principle.

About 80% of the Armed Forces (AF) were citizens who were called up for military training. This approach was generally consistent with Lenin’s concept outlined in the book “State and Revolution,” but in practice only aggravated the problem of a shortage of qualified personnel.

Fundamental changes occurred in the mid-1930s, when the territorial principle was abolished, and a profound reform was carried out in the governing bodies of the Armed Forces. The size of the army began to grow, reaching about 5 million people by 1941.

“In 1918, the country had a young army, which included many specialists from the tsarist army. The command staff was represented mainly by Red commanders, who were trained from former non-commissioned officers and officers of the tsarist army. However, the problem of the lack of new command personnel was extremely acute. Subsequently, it was solved by creating new military schools and academies,” Mikhail Myagkov, scientific director of the Russian Military Historical Society (RVIO), told RT.

Growing Power

The achievements of the pre-war period include an unprecedented increase in production in the defense industry. The Soviet government almost completely eliminated dependence on the import of weapons technologies and military products.

The Red Army won its first war after the reorganization at the cost of terrible losses. In 1939, Moscow was unable to agree with Helsinki on moving the border from Leningrad and sent troops against the Finns. On March 12, 1940, the territorial claims of the USSR were satisfied.

• Soviet troops in the area of ​​Fort Ino on Karelian Isthmus, 1939-1940
• RIA News

However, in the three-month battles, the Red Army lost more than 120 thousand troops against 26 thousand from Finland. The war with Helsinki demonstrated serious problems in logistics (lack of warm clothes) and lack of experience among the command staff.

Historians most often explain the major defeats that the Soviet Armed Forces suffered in the first months of 1941 with such shortcomings in the planning of military operations. Despite its superiority in tanks, aircraft and artillery before the war with Germany, the Red Army experienced a shortage of fuel, spare parts, and most importantly, a shortage of personnel.

In November - December 1941, Soviet troops managed to win their first and most important victory at that time: stopping the Nazis near Moscow. 1942 was a turning point for the army. Despite the loss of key industrial areas in the west of the country, the Soviet Union established the production of weapons and ammunition and improved the training system for soldiers and junior commanders.

Incredibly, the Red Army gained experience and knowledge that it lacked in the fateful 1941. A clear proof of the increased power of the Soviet Armed Forces was (February 2, 1943). Six months later, Germany suffered its largest tank defeat at the Kursk Bulge, and in 1944 the Red Army liberated the entire territory of the USSR.

The Red Army gained immortal worldwide fame thanks to its mission to liberate Central and Eastern Europe from the Nazis. Soviet troops drove the Nazis out of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, East Germany and Austria. The symbol of Victory over Nazism was the assault flag of the 150th Infantry Division, which was hoisted over the Reichstag building on May 1, 1945.

• Soviet soldiers at the Reichstag in Berlin, May 1945
• RIA News

After the end of the Second World War, the USSR leadership disbanded all fronts, established military districts and began large-scale demobilization, reducing the number of armed forces from 11 to 2.5 million people. On February 25, 1946, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was renamed the Soviet Army. Instead of the People's Commissariat of Defense, the Ministry of the Armed Forces appeared. However, the “Red Army” did not leave the vocabulary of military personnel.

With increasing tensions in relations with the West, the size and role of the Soviet Armed Forces increased again. Since the 1950s, Moscow began to prepare for the prospect of a large-scale land war with NATO. By the end of the 1960s, the USSR had an arsenal of tens of thousands of armored vehicles and artillery.

The Soviet military machine reached its peak in the mid-1980s. With Mikhail Gorbachev coming to power (1985), confrontation with the United States noticeably decreased. The Soviet army (in parallel with the American armed forces) entered a period of disarmament, which lasted until the end of the 1990s.

The Soviet army ceased to exist with the registration of documents on the collapse of the USSR in December 1991. However, some researchers believe that the de facto Soviet Armed Forces continued to exist until 1993, that is, until the withdrawal of a group of troops from East Germany.

• A group of Soviet troops in Germany during tactical exercises
• RIA News

Return of traditions

In a conversation with RT, the chief Researcher Central Museum Armed Forces RF Vladimir Afanasyev noted that the Red Army, despite radical political changes, absorbed many traditions of the tsarist army.

“Former traditions were restored from the first months of the existence of the Red Army. Personal military ranks were returned. On the eve of the Great Patriotic War General ranks were reintroduced, and during the war years, many traditions found a second life: shoulder straps, honorary names of units and formations, fireworks in honor of the liberation of cities returned,” said Afanasyev.

The bearers of traditions were not only personnel from the tsarist period, but also military institutions. According to the expert, the Soviet authorities created Suvorov schools in the image and likeness of the cadet corps. Their education was initiated tsarist general Alexey Alekseevich Ignatiev. The tradition of including distinguished soldiers in the lists of units forever has also returned.

• Military personnel at the Victory Parade
• RIA News
• Alexander Vilf

“A significant part of the military schools that functioned during tsarist times continued to operate after the revolution. These are the Mikhailovsk Military Artillery Academy and the Academy of the General Staff. Therefore, we can say that almost all Soviet military leaders were students of the tsarist military minds,” Afanasyev said.

Myagkov believes that the most intensive stage of the return of pre-revolutionary traditions occurred during the Great Patriotic War.

“In 1943, shoulder straps were introduced. Many World War I veterans who fought in the 1940s wore royal decorations. These were symbolic examples of continuity. Also, during the Great Patriotic War, the Order of Glory was introduced, which in its statute and colors resembled the St. George’s awards,” the expert said in an interview with RT.

Historians are sure that they are the successors of the Soviet troops. They inherited both the traditions of the Red Army and the pre-revolutionary imperial army: patriotism, devotion to the people, loyalty to the banner and their military unit.

On January 15 (28), 1918, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a Decree on the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) on a voluntary basis. On January 29 (February 11), the Decree on the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet (RKKF) was signed. Direct management of the formation of the Red Army was carried out by the All-Russian Collegium, created under the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs.

In connection with the violation of the truce concluded with Germany and its troops going on the offensive, on February 22, 1918, the government turned to the people with a decree-appeal signed by V.I. Lenin, “The Socialist Fatherland is in Danger!” The next day, mass enrollment of volunteers into the Red Army and the formation of many of its units began. In February 1918, Red Army detachments offered decisive resistance to German troops near Pskov and Narva. In honor of these events, on February 23, a national holiday began to be celebrated annually - the Day of the Red (Soviet) Army and Navy (later Defender of the Fatherland Day).

DECREE ON THE FORMATION OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKERS' AND PEASANTS' RED ARMY JANUARY 15(28), 1918

The old army served as an instrument of class oppression of the working people by the bourgeoisie. With the transfer of power to the working and exploited classes, the need arose to create a new army, which would be a stronghold Soviet power in the present, the foundation for replacing the standing army with all-people's weapons in the near future and will serve as support for the coming socialist

revolutions in Europe.

In view of this, the Council of People's Commissars decides:

organize a new army called the "Workers' and Peasants' Red Army", on the following grounds:

1) The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army is created from the most conscious and organized elements of the working masses.

2) Access to its ranks is open to all citizens of the Russian Republic at least 18 years of age. Anyone who is ready to give his strength, his life to defend the gains of the October Revolution, the power of the Soviets and socialism, joins the Red Army. To join the Red Army, the following recommendations are required:

military committees or public democratic organizations standing on the platform of Soviet power, party or professional organizations or at least two members of these organizations. When joining in whole parts, mutual responsibility of everyone and a roll-call vote are required.

1) Warriors of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army are on full state pay and on top of this receive 50 rubles. per month.

2) Disabled members of the families of Red Army soldiers, who were previously their dependents, are provided with everything necessary according to local consumer standards, in accordance with the decrees of local bodies of Soviet power.

The supreme governing body of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army is the Council of People's Commissars. Direct leadership and management of the army is concentrated in the Commissariat for Military Affairs, in the special All-Russian Collegium created under it.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars

V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

Supreme Commander-in-Chief N. Krylenko.

People's Commissars for Military and Naval Affairs:

Dybenko and Podvoisky.

People's Commissars: Proshyan, Zatonsky and Steinberg.

Administrator of the Council of People's Commissars

Vlad.Bonch-Bruevich.

Secretary of the Council of People's Commissars N. Gorbunov.

Decrees of the Soviet government. T. 1. M., State Publishing House of Political Literature, 1957.

APPEAL OF THE BOLSHEVIK GOVERNMENT

In order to save an exhausted, tormented country from new military trials, we made the greatest sacrifice and announced to the Germans our agreement to sign their peace terms. On the evening of February 20 (7), our envoys left Rezhitsa for Dvinsk, and there is still no answer. The German government is apparently slow to respond. It clearly doesn't want peace. Fulfilling the instructions of the capitalists of all countries, German militarism wants to strangle the Russian and Ukrainian workers and peasants, return the lands to the landowners, factories and factories to the bankers, and the authorities to the monarchy. German generals want to establish their “order” in Petrograd and Kyiv. The Socialist Republic of Soviets is in the greatest danger. Until the moment when the German proletariat rises and wins, the sacred duty of the workers and peasants of Russia is the selfless defense of the Soviet Republic against the hordes of bourgeois-imperialist Germany. The Council of People's Commissars decides: 1) All forces and means of the country are entirely allocated to the cause of revolutionary defense. 2) All Soviets and revolutionary organizations are charged with the duty of defending every position to the last drop of blood. 3) Railway organizations and the Soviets associated with them are obliged to do their best to prevent the enemy from using the communications apparatus; during retreat, destroy tracks, blow up and burn railway buildings; all rolling stock - carriages and locomotives - should be immediately sent east into the interior of the country. 4) All grain and food supplies in general, as well as any valuable property that is in danger of falling into the hands of the enemy, must be subject to unconditional destruction; supervision of this is entrusted to local Councils under the personal responsibility of their chairmen. 5) The workers and peasants of Petrograd, Kyiv and all cities, towns, villages and hamlets along the new front must mobilize battalions to dig trenches under the leadership of military specialists. 6) These battalions must include all able-bodied members of the bourgeois class, men and women, under the supervision of the Red Guards; Those who resist are shot. 7) All publications that oppose the cause of revolutionary defense and take the side of the German bourgeoisie, as well as those seeking to use the invasion of the imperialist hordes for the purpose of overthrowing Soviet power, are closed; able-bodied editors and staff of these publications are mobilized to dig trenches and other defensive work. 8) Enemy agents, speculators, thugs, hooligans, counter-revolutionary agitators, German spies are shot at the scene of the crime.

The socialist fatherland is in danger! Long live the socialist fatherland! Long live the international socialist revolution!

Decree “The Socialist Fatherland is in Danger!”

DECISION OF THE VTsIK ON FORCED RECRUITMENT INTO THE WORKERS' AND PEASANTS' ARMY

The Central Executive Committee believes that the transition from a volunteer army to a general mobilization of workers and poor peasants is imperatively dictated by the entire situation of the country, both for the struggle for bread and for repelling the insolent counter-revolution, both internal and external, due to hunger.

It is necessary to move immediately to forced recruitment of one or more ages. In view of the complexity of the matter and the difficulty of carrying it out simultaneously over the entire territory of the country, it seems necessary to begin, on the one hand, with the most threatened areas, and on the other hand, with the main centers of the labor movement.

Based on the above, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decides to order the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs to develop within a week for Moscow, Petrograd, the Don and Kuban regions a plan for implementing forced recruitment within such limits and forms that would least disrupt the course of production and public life designated regions and cities.

The corresponding Soviet institutions are ordered to take the most energetic and active part in the work of the Military Commissariat to fulfill the tasks assigned to it.

VIEW FROM THE WHITE CAMP

Back in mid-January, the Soviet government promulgated a decree on organizing a “workers’ and peasants’ army” from “the most conscious and organized elements of the working class.” But the formation of a new class army was unsuccessful, and the council had to turn to old organizations: units from the front and from reserve battalions were allocated. respectively, screened out and processed, Latvian, sailor detachments and the Red Guard, formed by factory committees. They all went against Ukraine and the Don. What force moved these people, mortally tired of the war, to new cruel sacrifices and hardships? Least of all is devotion to Soviet power and its ideals. Hunger, unemployment, prospects for an idle, well-fed life and enrichment through robbery, the inability to get back to their native places in any other way, the habit of many people during the four years of war to soldiering as a craft (“declassed”), and finally, to a greater or lesser extent, a sense of class malice and hatred, nurtured over centuries and fueled by the strongest propaganda.

A.I. Denikin. Essays on Russian Troubles.

DEFENDER OF THE FATHERLAND DAY - HISTORY OF THE HOLIDAY

The holiday originated in the USSR, then February 23 was celebrated annually as a national holiday - Day Soviet army and the Navy.

There was no document establishing February 23 as an official Soviet holiday. Soviet historiography linked the commemoration of the military to this date with the events of 1918: on January 28 (15 old style) January 1918, the Council of People's Commissars (SNK), headed by Chairman Vladimir Lenin, adopted a Decree on the organization of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA), and February 11 (January 29, old style) - Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet (RKKF).

On February 22, the decree-appeal of the Council of People's Commissars "The Socialist Fatherland is in Danger!" was published, and on February 23, mass rallies took place in Petrograd, Moscow and other cities of the country, at which workers were called upon to stand up for the defense of their Fatherland. This day was marked by the massive entry of volunteers into the Red Army and the beginning of the formation of its detachments and units.

On January 10, 1919, the Chairman of the Higher Military Inspectorate of the Red Army, Nikolai Podvoisky, sent to the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee a proposal to celebrate the anniversary of the creation of the Red Army, timing the celebration to the nearest Sunday before or after January 28. However, due to the late submission of the application, no decision was made.

Then the Moscow Soviet took the initiative to celebrate the first anniversary of the Red Army. On January 24, 1919, its presidium, which at that time was headed by Lev Kamenev, decided to coincide these celebrations with the day of the Red Gift, held with the aim of collecting material and monetary resources for the Red Army.

A Central Committee was created under the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) to organize the celebration of the anniversary of the Red Army and Red Gift Day, which took place on Sunday, February 23.

On February 5, Pravda and other newspapers published the following information: “The organization of the Red Gift Day throughout Russia has been postponed to February 23. On this day, celebrations of the anniversary of the creation of the Red Army, which was celebrated on January 28, will be organized in cities and at the front.”

On February 23, 1919, Russian citizens celebrated the anniversary of the Red Army for the first time, but this day was not celebrated either in 1920 or 1921.

On January 27, 1922, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee published a resolution on the fourth anniversary of the Red Army, which stated: “In accordance with the resolution of the IX All-Russian Congress of Soviets on the Red Army, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee draws the attention of the executive committees to the upcoming anniversary of the creation of the Red Army (February 23).”

The Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, Leon Trotsky, organized a military parade on Red Square on this day, thereby establishing the tradition of an annual national celebration.

In 1923, the five-year anniversary of the Red Army was widely celebrated. The resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, adopted on January 18, 1923, stated: “On February 23, 1923, the Red Army will celebrate the 5th anniversary of its existence. On this day, five years ago, the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of January 28 of the same year, which marked the beginning of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, the stronghold of the proletarian dictatorship."

The tenth anniversary of the Red Army in 1928, like all previous ones, was celebrated as the anniversary of the Council of People's Commissars decree on the organization of the Red Army of January 28, 1918, but the date of publication itself was directly linked to February 23.

In 1938, in the “Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)” the fundamental a new version origin of the date of the holiday, not related to the decree of the Council of People's Commissars. The book stated that in 1918, near Narva and Pskov, “the German occupiers were given a decisive rebuff. Their advance to Petrograd was suspended. The day of repulse to the troops of German imperialism - February 23 - became the birthday of the young Red Army.” Later, in the order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR dated February 23, 1942, the wording was slightly changed: “The young detachments of the Red Army, which entered the war for the first time, completely defeated the German invaders near Pskov and Narva on February 23, 1918. That is why February 23 was declared a day birth of the Red Army."

In 1951, another interpretation of the holiday appeared. In the “History of the Civil War in the USSR” it was stated that in 1919 the first anniversary of the Red Army was celebrated “on the memorable day of the mobilization of workers for the defense of the socialist Fatherland, the mass entry of workers into the Red Army, the widespread formation of the first detachments and units of the new army.”

In the Federal Law of March 13, 1995 "On the Days of Military Glory of Russia", the day of February 23 was officially called "The Day of the Red Army's Victory over the Kaiser's troops of Germany (1918) - the Day of Defenders of the Fatherland."

In accordance with the amendments made to the Federal Law “On the Days of Military Glory of Russia” by the Federal Law of April 15, 2006, the words “Victory Day of the Red Army over the Kaiser’s troops of Germany (1918)” were excluded from the official description of the holiday, and also stated in the singular the concept of "defender".

In December 2001, the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation supported the proposal to make February 23 - Defender of the Fatherland Day - a non-working holiday.

On Defender of the Fatherland Day, Russians honor those who served or are currently serving in the ranks of the country's Armed Forces.

The Red Army was created, as they say, from scratch. Despite this, she managed to become a formidable force and win the civil war. The key to success was the construction of the Red Army using the experience of the old, pre-revolutionary army.

On the ruins of the old army

By the beginning of 1918, Russia, which had survived two revolutions, finally emerged from the First World War. Her army was a pitiful sight - soldiers deserted en masse and headed to their homes. Since November 1917, the Armed Forces did not exist de jure - after the Bolsheviks issued an order to dissolve the old army.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the former empire, a new war was breaking out - a civil one. In Moscow the battles with the cadets had just died down, in St. Petersburg - with the Cossacks of General Krasnov. Events grew like a snowball.

On the Don, generals Alekseev and Kornilov formed the Volunteer Army, in the Orenburg steppes the anti-communist uprising of Ataman Dutov unfolded, in the Kharkov region there were battles with cadets of the Chuguev Military School, in the Yekaterinoslav province - with detachments of the Central Rada of the self-proclaimed Ukrainian Republic.

Labor activists and revolutionary sailors

The external, old enemy was not asleep either: the Germans intensified their attack on Eastern Front, capturing a number of territories of the former Russian Empire.

At that time, the Soviet government had at its disposal only Red Guard detachments, created locally mainly from labor activists and revolutionary-minded sailors.

During the initial period of general partisanship in the civil war, the Red Guards were the support of the Council of People's Commissars, but it gradually became clear that voluntariness should be replaced by the conscription principle.

This was clearly shown, for example, by the events in Kyiv in January 1918, where the uprising of the working detachments of the Red Guard against the power of the Central Rada was brutally suppressed by national units and officer detachments.

The first step towards the creation of the Red Army

On January 15, 1918, Lenin issued a Decree on the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. The document emphasized that access to its ranks is open to all citizens of the Russian Republic at least 18 years of age who are ready to “give their strength, their lives to defend the won October Revolution and the power of the Soviets and socialism.”

This was the first, but half-hearted step towards creating an army. So far it was proposed to join it voluntarily, and in this the Bolsheviks followed the path of Alekseev and Kornilov with their voluntary recruitment of the White Army. As a result, by the spring of 1918, no more than 200 thousand people were in the ranks of the Red Army. And its combat effectiveness left much to be desired - most of the front-line soldiers were resting at home from the horrors of the World War.

A powerful incentive to create a large army was given by the enemies - the 40,000-strong Czechoslovak corps, which in the summer of the same year rebelled against Soviet power along the entire length of the Trans-Siberian Railway and overnight captured vast areas of the country - from Chelyabinsk to Vladivostok. In the south of the European part of Russia, Denikin’s troops were not asleep; having recovered from the unsuccessful assault on Ekaterinodar (now Krasnodar), in June 1918 they again launched an attack on Kuban and this time achieved their goal.

Fight not with slogans, but with skill

Under these conditions, one of the founders of the Red Army, People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs Leon Trotsky proposed moving to a more rigid model of army building. According to the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars on July 29, 1918, military conscription was introduced in the country, which made it possible to increase the number of the Red Army to almost half a million people by mid-September.

Along with quantitative growth, the army also strengthened qualitatively. The leadership of the country and the Red Army realized that slogans alone that the socialist fatherland was in danger would not win the war. We need experienced personnel, even if they do not adhere to revolutionary rhetoric.

So-called military experts, that is, officers and generals of the tsarist army, began to be conscripted en masse into the Red Army. Their total number during the Civil War in the ranks of the Red Army was almost 50 thousand people.

The best of the best

Many later became the pride of the USSR, such as Colonel Boris Shaposhnikov, who became a marshal Soviet Union and Chief of the Army General Staff, including during the Great Patriotic War. Another head of the General Staff of the Red Army during World War II, Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky entered the Civil War as a staff captain.

Another effective measure to strengthen the middle command ranks were military schools and accelerated training courses for Red commanders from among soldiers, workers and peasants. In battles and battles, yesterday's non-commissioned officers and sergeants quickly rose to become commanders of large formations. Suffice it to recall Vasily Chapaev, who became a division commander, or Semyon Budyonny, who headed the 1st Cavalry Army.

Even earlier, the election of commanders was abolished, which had an extremely harmful effect on the level of combat effectiveness of units, turning them into anarchic spontaneous detachments. Now the commander was responsible for order and discipline, albeit on an equal basis with the commissar.

Kamenev instead of Vatsetis

It is curious that a little later whites also joined the conscript army. In particular, the Volunteer Army in 1919 largely remained such only in name - the ferocity of the Civil War imperiously demanded that opponents replenish their ranks by any means.

Former colonel Joakim Vatsetis was appointed the first commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the RSFSR in the fall of 1918 (since January 1919, he simultaneously led the actions of the army of Soviet Latvia). After a series of defeats for the Red Army in the summer of 1919 in European Russia, Vatsetis was replaced in his post by another tsarist colonel, Sergei Kamenev.

Under his leadership, things went much better for the Red Army. The armies of Kolchak, Denikin, and Wrangel were defeated. Yudenich's attack on Petrograd was repulsed, Polish units were driven out of Ukraine and Belarus.

Territorial police principle

By the end of the Civil War, the total strength of the Red Army was more than five million people. The Red Cavalry, initially numbering only three regiments, over the course of numerous battles grew to several armies that operated on widely extended communications of countless fronts of the civil war, serving as shock troops.

The end of hostilities required a sharp reduction in the number of personnel. This, first of all, was needed by the war-depleted economy of the country. As a result, in 1920-1924. demobilization was carried out, which reduced the Red Army to half a million people.

Under the leadership of the People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs Mikhail Frunze, most of the remaining troops were transferred to the territorial-militia principle of recruitment. It consisted in the fact that a small part of the Red Army soldiers and unit commanders carried out permanent service, and the rest of the personnel were called up for five years for training sessions lasting up to a year.

Strengthening combat capability

Over time, Frunze's reform led to problems: the combat readiness of the territorial units was much lower than the regular ones.

The thirties, with the advent of the Nazis in Germany and the Japanese attack on China, began to smell distinctly of gunpowder. As a result, the USSR began transferring regiments, divisions and corps to a regular basis.

This took into account not only the experience of the First World War and the Civil War, but also participation in new conflicts, in particular, the clash with Chinese troops in 1929 on the Chinese Eastern Railway and Japanese troops on Lake Khasan in 1938.

The total number of the Red Army increased, the troops were actively rearming. This primarily concerned artillery and armored forces. New troops were created, for example, airborne troops. Mother infantry became more motorized.

Premonition of World War

Aviation, which had previously performed mainly reconnaissance missions, was now becoming a powerful force, increasing the proportion of bombers, attack aircraft and fighters in its ranks.

Soviet tank crews and pilots tried their hand at local wars taking place far from the USSR - in Spain and China.

In order to increase prestige military profession and the convenience of serving in 1935, personal military ranks were introduced to career military personnel - from marshal to lieutenant.

The territorial-militia principle of recruiting the Red Army was finally put to rest by the law on universal conscription of 1939, which expanded the composition of the Red Army and established longer terms of service.

And there was a big war ahead.