Red Army: the creation. History of the creation of the Red Army

Initially, the Soviet Red Army, whose creation occurred against the backdrop of a civil war, had utopian features. The Bolsheviks believed that under the socialist system the army should be built on a voluntary basis. This project corresponded to the 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 arming 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 passed on the abolition of officer ranks. The commanders were now elected by their own subordinates. According to the plan of the party, 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 the bloody era.

The Bolsheviks managed to seize power in Petrograd with the help of a small Red Guards and separate revolutionary detachments of sailors and soldiers. The Provisional Government was paralyzed, which, to impropriety, made it easier for Lenin and his supporters. But outside the capital remained a huge country, most of which was not at all pleased with the party of radicals, whose leaders came to Russia in a sealed car from enemy Germany.

By the beginning of a full-scale civil war, the Bolshevik armed forces were distinguished by weak military training and the absence of centralized effective control. Servants in the Red Guard were guided by revolutionary chaos and their own political convictions, which at any time could change. The situation of the newly proclaimed Soviet power was more than shaky. 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 sitting in the Smolny.

What difficulties did the Bolsheviks face? The party could not form its own army on the previous apparatus. The best cadres of the period of the monarchy and the Provisional Government hardly wanted to cooperate with the left-wing radicals. The second problem was that for several years Russia had waged war against Germany and its allies. The soldiers were tired - they were demoralized. In order to replenish the ranks of the Red Army, its founders had to come up with a national incentive, which would become a good reason to take up arms again.

The Bolsheviks did not need to go far for this. They made the main motive force of their troops the principle of class struggle. With the advent of the RSDLP (b), many decrees were issued. According to the slogans, peasants received land, and workers - factories. Now they had to protect these gains of the revolution. Hatred of the former system (landlords, capitalists, etc.) was the foundation on which the Red Army held. The creation of the Red Army took place on January 28, 1918. On that day a new government, through the Council of People's Commissars, adopted a corresponding decree.

First successes

Vsevobuch was also established. This system was intended for general military training of the inhabitants of the RSFSR, and then the USSR. Vsevobuch appeared on April 22, 1918, after in March the decision on its creation was adopted at the Seventh Congress of the RCP (B.). The Bolsheviks hoped that the new system would help them quickly replenish the ranks of the Red Army.

The formation of armed groups was carried out directly by 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. Of whom was the then Red Army? The creation of this armed structure led to the influx of various personnel. They were people who served in the old tsarist army, peasant militiamen, soldiers and sailors among the Red Guards. The heterogeneity of the composition adversely affected the combat readiness of this force. In addition, the detachments often acted inconsistently due to the election of commanders, collective and meeting management.

Despite all the shortcomings, the Red Army in the first months of the Civil War was able to achieve important successes, which became the guarantee of its future unconditional victory. Bolsheviks managed to keep Moscow and Yekaterinodar. Local uprisings were suppressed due to a noticeable numerical advantage, as well as broad popular support. Populist decrees of Soviet power (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 replaced each other. April 22, 1918 election of commanders were abolished. Now the heads of units, brigades and divisions were appointed in 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 Lev Trotsky.

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 headquarters of the Bolsheviks was located. At the first stage of the Civil War, Trotsky's figure in terms of its scale and importance of the decisions made was in no way inferior to the figure of Vladimir Lenin. It is therefore 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. At the source of the creation of the Red Army stood the very first two people's commissars.

Imperial officers in the Red Army

Theoretically, the Bolsheviks saw their army meeting the strict class requirements. However, the lack of experience of the majority of workers and peasants could lead to the defeat of the party. Therefore, the history of the creation of the Red Army made another turn when Trotsky proposed to equip its ranks with former tsarist officers. These specialists had considerable experience. All of them passed the First World War, and some also remembered the Russian-Japanese war. Many of them by origin were noblemen.

On the day of the creation of the Red Army, the Bolsheviks proclaimed that it would be cleared of the landlords and other enemies of the proletariat. However, practical necessity gradually corrected the course of Soviet power. In the face of danger, it was flexible enough in its decisions. Lenin was a pragmatist much more than a dogmatist. Therefore, he agreed to a compromise in the matter with the tsarist officers.

The presence in the Red Army of a "counter-revolutionary contingent" for a long time was a headache for the Bolsheviks. Former tsarist officers repeatedly rebelled. One of these was a mutiny led by Mikhail Muravev in July 1918. This left SR and former tsarist officer was appointed by the Bolsheviks as commander of the Eastern Front, when the two parties were still a single coalition. He tried to seize power in Simbirsk, which at that time was near the theater of military operations. The revolt was suppressed by Joseph Vareikis and Mikhail Tukhachevsky. Rebellion in the Red Army, as a rule, occurred because of the severe repressive measures of the command.

The appearance of commissars

Actually, the date of the creation of the Red Army is not the only important mark in the calendar for the history of the establishment of Soviet power in the expanses of the former Russian Empire. As the composition of the armed forces gradually became more diverse, and the propaganda of the opponents was stronger, the SNK decided to establish the post of military commissars. They had to conduct party propaganda among soldiers and old specialists. The commissars made it possible to smooth out the contradictions in the rank-and-file composition, which was mottled by political views. Having received considerable powers, these representatives of the party not only enlightened and educated the Red Army soldiers, but also reported upward about the unreliability of individuals, discontent, etc.

Thus, the Bolsheviks implanted dual power in military units. On the one hand were the commanders, and on the other - the commissars. The history of the creation of the Red Army would have been quite different, had it not been for their appearance. In an emergency situation, the commissioner could become the sole manager, leaving the commander in the background. Military councils were created to manage the divisions and larger formations. Each such body included one commander and two commissars. They became only the most ideologically hardened Bolsheviks (as a rule, people who joined the party before the revolution). With the increase in the army, and hence the commissioners, the authorities had to create a new educational infrastructure, which is necessary for the operative training of propagandists and agitators.

Propaganda

In May 1918, the All-Russian 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 the power of the Bolsheviks. Immediately after the October Revolution, the party took a course to radicalize the situation in the country. After the unsuccessful elections for the RSDLP (b) for the Constituent Assembly, this institution (which was necessary to determine the Russian future on an electoral basis) was dispersed. Now the opponents of the Bolshevik were left without legal tools to defend their position. Quickly in different regions of the country a white movement was born. It was possible to fight with him only by military means - for this purpose the creation of the Red Army was required.

Photos of defenders of the communist future began to be printed in a huge heap of propaganda newspapers. The Bolsheviks at first tried to ensure the influx of recruits with the help of catchy slogans: "The socialist country is in danger!", Etc. These measures produced an effect, but it was not enough. By April, the size of the army had increased to 200,000, but this would not have been enough to subordinate the entire territory of the former Russian Empire to the party. Do not forget that Lenin dreamed of a world revolution. Russia for him was only the starting point of the offensive of the international proletariat. To strengthen the propaganda in the Red Army, the Political Administration was established.

In the year of the creation of the Red Army, it entered into it not only for ideological reasons. In a country exhausted by the long war with the Germans, a shortage of food was felt for a long time. The danger of hunger was especially acute in the cities. In such harsh conditions poor people sought at any cost to be in the service (there was guaranteed a regular ration).

The introduction of universal military service

Although the creation of the Red Army began in accordance with the decree of the Council of People's Commissars in January 1918, the forced pace of the organization of the new armed forces began in May, when the Czechoslovak Corps rebelled. These soldiers, captured 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 became the most combat-ready and professional army.

The news of the uprising stirred up Lenin and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The Bolsheviks decided to go ahead. On May 29, 1918, a decree was issued, according to which a forced recruitment into the army was introduced. It took the form of mobilization. In domestic politics the Soviet government adopted the course of war communism. Peasants not only lost their crops, which left the state, but also massively climbed into the troops. Party mobilization to the front became routine. By the end of the Civil War, half of the members of the RSDLP (b) found themselves in the army. Almost all the 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, briefly, overcame another important milestone. July 29, 1918, all fit for men who were between the ages of 18 and 40 were registered. Even representatives of the enemy bourgeois class (former merchants, industrialists, etc.) were included in the rear militia. Such cardinal measures have borne fruit. The creation of the Red Army by September 1918 allowed to send to the front more than 450 thousand people (about 100 thousand remained in the rear troops).

Revolutionary Military Council

Trotsky, like Lenin, temporarily dismissed the Marxist ideology in order to increase the fighting efficiency of the armed forces. It was he who, as a People's Commissar, initiated the important reforms and reforms at the front. In the army, the death penalty was restored for desertion and failure to comply with orders. The insignia, the uniform form, the sole authority of the leadership and many other signs of the tsar's time returned. May 1, 1918 at the Khodynka Field in Moscow was the first parade of the Red Army. At full capacity, the system Vsevobucha.

In September, Trotsky headed the newly formed Revolutionary Military Council. This state body became the pinnacle of the administrative pyramid, which led the army. The right hand of Trotsky was Joachim Vatsetis. He was the first under the Soviet government to receive the post of commander-in-chief. The same autumn, the fronts - the Southern, Eastern and Northern fronts - were formed. 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 toward pragmatism became the main one, and the Red Army began to accept those forms that were its foundation for the next decades.

Military Communism

No doubt, the reasons for the creation of the Red Army were 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 Brest Peace Treaty was signed with the Kaiser Germany, Entente forces invaded Russia. The intervention was insignificant (it covered only the north of the country). The European powers supported White mainly with arms and money. For the Red Army, the attack of the French and the British became only an additional reason for the consolidation and intensification of propaganda in the rank and file. Now the creation of the Red Army could be briefly and intelligibly explained by Russia's defense against foreign invasion. Such slogans made it possible 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 often broke out at enterprises, hunger became the norm in the village. It was against this background that Soviet power began to pursue the policy of war communism.

Its essence 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 needed to squeeze out all the juices from the village. The surplus-appropriation, the yielding taxes, the individual terror of the peasants who did not want to share their grain with the state-all this was used to feed and finance the Red Army.

Fighting desertion

Trotsky personally went to the front, in order to control the execution of his orders. August 10, 1918 he came to Sviyazhsk, when not far from him were fighting for Kazan. In a stubborn battle, one of the Red Army regiments faltered and fled. Then Trotsky publicly shot every tenth soldier in this formation. Such a reprisal, more like a ritual, was reminiscent of the ancient Roman tradition of decimation.

By the decision of the People's Commissar, they began to shoot not only deserters, but also simulators who were sent from the front for imaginary illness. The apogee of the struggle with the fugitives was the creation of foreign troops. During the offensive behind the main army, specially selected military men stood up, who shot the cowards right in the course of the battle. So, with the help of draconian measures and incredible cruelty, the Red Army became modeledly disciplined. The Bolsheviks had the courage and pragmatic cynicism that the commanders of the White armies did not dare . Trotsky, who did not disdain any methods for spreading Soviet power, soon began to be called the "demon of the revolution."

Unification of the armed forces

Gradually, the appearance of the Red Army changed. Initially, the Red Army did not provide a uniform form of clothing. Soldiers, as a rule, worn their old military uniforms or civilian clothes. Because of the huge influx of peasants, shod in bast shoes, there is much more than shod in customary boots. Such anarchy existed until the end of the unification of the armed forces.

In the beginning of 1919, according to the decision of the Revolutionary Military Council, the insignia was introduced. At the same time the Red Army men received their own headdress, which became popular among the people as Budyonovka. Gymnastics and greatcoats got colored valves. The red star, sewn onto the headpiece, became a recognizable symbol.

The introduction of some characteristic features of the former army in the Red Army led to the emergence of an opposition faction in the party. Its members advocated the rejection of an ideological compromise. Lenin and Trotsky, joining forces, in March 1919 at the Eighth 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 Poland and Finland. The Red Army won the Civil War. At the final stage of the conflict, its strength was already 5.5 million people.