Who created the Red Army? They say Trotsky. And who is Trotsky, or, Bronstein really. A civilian intellectual who lived all his life abroad, there he became an intelligence agent for His Royal Majesty the King of Great Britain. And the British establishment, headed by His Majesty, slept and saw the collapsed Russian Empire. The most educated part of the high military command, including officers, generals and admirals of the General Staff Russian army and their GRU intelligence agents knew about the plans of Great Britain to defeat the Russian State and took countermeasures to prevent a catastrophe in Russia. However, Tsar Nicholas II did not understand such a development and in the end brought the empire to the fall.

With the instigation of the establishment and MI6 agents of Great Britain, the Russian Tsar was overthrown in March 1917 by the top liberal politicians and the Russian military, who at that time had direct influence on the country's power structures. The overthrow of the tsar was attended by Chairman of the State Duma Rodzianko, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Ingushetia Prince Lvov, leaders of the bourgeois factions of the State Duma Guchkov, Milyukov, Kerensky, deputies of the State Duma Shulgin, Tereshchenko, Chief of Staff of the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief General Alekseev, commanders of the fronts Generals Ruzsky, Koledin, Brusilov, Admiral of the Fleet Kolchak, commanders of armies and formations, Generals Krymov, Denikin, Kornilov, Krasnov and others. Not only did these conspirators force Tsar Nicholas II and his son Alexei Nikolayevich to abdicate, but they also forced the new Tsar Michael II to abdicate, and this is not the overthrow of the individual, but the liquidation of the system. And the strangest thing was that no one who came to power in Russia knew what to do with this power. They introduced freedoms that resulted in manifestations of anarchy. They could not come up with general laws for the entire state, and the people began to act in every way they could. The army began to fall apart before our eyes. Deserters fled from the front and in each village created their own states according to the type of "Father Angel", and the central government was inactive, because there was nothing to act on. The so-called dual power was established in Petrograd. The Provisional Government, which was called power without power, and the Soviets of Workers', Peasants', Soldiers' and Sailors' Deputies, which was called power without power. Under these conditions, understanding the current situation, when it was impossible to return the tsar to the throne, because no one wanted him, but also to support the helpless Provisional Government with mediocre and, according to the GRU, treacherous leaders of this government, the vast majority of senior officers, generals and admirals did not want to and they staked on the overthrow of this insignificant liberal government and the transfer of power to the only remaining force at that time - the Bolsheviks.

The General Staff of the Russian Army is developing a plan to overthrow the Provisional Government and transfer this power to the Bolsheviks, but not to Trotsky. Everything was done so that the new Soviet government was headed by Lenin.

The construction of a new state began. They began to build a new army. And who do you think told her, Trotsky with Sklyansky, Zheleznyak with Raskolnikov and the shaggy Antonov-Ovseenko? No. Russian senior officers, generals and admirals. Their names are hard to list here. There were about 50 thousand of them. Trotsky knew how not to command troops, but only to shoot officers such as the tsarist military foreman (lieutenant colonel) army commander Mironov, the tsarist captain of the 1st rank, the red commander of the Baltic Fleet Shchastny. This foreigner Trotsky (Bronstein) could not create any combat-ready army in Russia. It was created by Russian patriotic officers, generals and admirals. Here we celebrate the "Birthday of the Red Army" on February 23 every year. On this day, Lieutenant-General Dmitry Pavlovich Parsky, the combat-ready 1st, so-called, unit of the Red Army, created by him, stopped the German troops near Narva and Yamburg. The Germans did not go further, and following the example of the troops of General Parsky, other armies, formations and regiments of the Red Army began to form. Soon, the former tsarist general Parsky created the Red Northern Front, headed it, and the Germans did not stick their nose there. By the way, later several officers under the patronage of General Parsky wrote and accepted for execution military regulations in the Red Army.

And under such leadership, the Invincible and Legendary was created!

And now the facts.
1. On January 28 (15th old style), 1918, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin signed a decree of the Council of People's Commissars on the creation of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army and the establishment under the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs of the All-Russian Collegium for the Organization and Management of the Red Army ("Civil War and Military Intervention in the USSR ". Encyclopedia. M., 1983, p. 292). Podvoisky, Yeremeev, Mekhonoshin, Krylenko, Trifonov, Yurenev were appointed members of this structure (ibid., p. 125)
It is strange, but I do not observe in this list an amateur to catch an ice ax with Trotsky's head. This figure at that time served as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, and it was his fault that the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed on conditions that were unfavorable for Soviet Russia. Trotsky disrupted peace negotiations with Germany, and the Germans launched an offensive against Soviet Russia, where on February 23, 1918, near Pskov and Narva, they were stopped by units of the Red Army.

Further, it was precisely the breakdown of negotiations with Germany that caused the removal of Leib Davidovich Bronstein (Trotsky) from the post of People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs. It turns out that on February 23, 1918, on a day that is symbolic for the Red Army, this Trotsky had nothing to do with the Red Army, from the word AT ALL.

2. The first People's Commissar of Defense in Soviet Russia was the old Bolshevik (member of the party since 1901), Russian by birth, Nikolai Ilyich Podvoisky. He held this position from December 10, 1917 to March 14, 1918. As far as I understand, March follows February both in the old and in the new style. And at this time, Trotsky was no longer even the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs.

3. March 4, 1918, at the suggestion of V.I. Lenin, the Supreme Military Council was formed. Mikhail Bonch-Bruevich became the head of the Air Force, and, accordingly, Proshyan and Shutko were appointed commissars (“Civil War and Military Intervention in the USSR”. Encyclopedia. M., 1983, p. 292).
Further from the encyclopedia
In January 1918, the formation of the First Corps of the Red Army began in Petrograd. The largest part of it was made up of St. Petersburg workers. In March 1918, this unit already included 10 battalions, a machine gun and horse regiments, a heavy artillery battalion, a light artillery brigade, a mortar battalion, 3 air squadrons, a motorcycle, engineering and automobile units, a searchlight team. In February and March 1918, parts of the corps took part in the famous battles with the Germans near Pskov and Narva, as well as near Vitebsk and Orsha (“Civil War and Military Intervention in the USSR.” Encyclopedia. M., 1983, p. 447).

The real creators of the Red Army are V.I. Lenin, N.I. Podvoisky and Bonch-Bruevich.

P.S. And in addition to the above "No peace, no war, but disband the army" on February 11, 1918, Kühlmann once again asked if the Bolsheviks accepted the terms of peace. To this, Trotsky burst into a demagogic speech: “We no longer want to take part in this purely imperialist war, where the claims of the propertied classes are clearly paid for with human blood.
In anticipation of that, we hope, approaching hour when the oppressed working classes of all countries will take power into their own hands, like the working class of Russia, we are withdrawing our army and our people from the war. We give the order for the complete demobilization of our armies. (The First World War: 1914-1918: facts, documents M. 2003 p. 460) Upon returning to Petrograd, immediately by order of Trotsky, an appeal was issued “To everyone! Everyone! Everyone!” dated February 13, 1918 with the famous demobilization order. (Military History Journal. 1991. No. 2. S. 46-48.)
And now this balabol-demagogue Trotsky is called the creator of the Red Army Well, the secret DB (c)

Initially, the Soviet Red Army, the creation of which took place against the backdrop of the beginning 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 showed 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 paralyzed, which obscenely 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 carriage from enemy Germany.

By the beginning of a full-scale civil war, the Bolshevik armed forces were distinguished 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 the armed forces became a matter of life and death for the people who were in Smolny.

What difficulties faced the Bolsheviks? 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 had 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 - factories. Now they had 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 people's commissars passed the 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 believed that new system will help them quickly replenish the ranks of the Red Army.

The soviets at the local level were directly involved in the formation of armed detachments. In addition, for this purpose were established. 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 shortcomings, 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 managed to keep 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

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. 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 to staff its ranks with former tsarist officers. These professionals have considerable experience. They all passed the first world war, and some remembered the Russian-Japanese. Many of them were nobles by origin.

On the day the Red Army was created, the Bolsheviks proclaimed that it would be purged of landlords 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.

The emergence of commissioners

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 and more heterogeneous, and the propaganda of opponents became 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 motley political views ordinary composition. 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. AT 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. Right after October revolution the party took a course on the radicalization of the situation in the country. After the unsuccessful elections for the RSDLP(b), 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 - it was for this that 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 risen 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's Commissars as early as January 1918, the accelerated pace of the organization of new armed forces came in May, when the Czechoslovak Corps revolted. 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 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 politics 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 became the initiator The history of the creation of the Red Army, in short, overcame 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).

Trotsky, like Lenin, temporarily brushed 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. Reinstated in the army the death penalty for desertion and disobedience of 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 operating 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 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 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed with Imperial Germany, the Entente forces 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 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 a 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 had to squeeze all the juice out of the countryside. Requisitioning, 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.

The 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 faltered and fled. Then Trotsky publicly shot every tenth soldier in this formation. Such a massacre, more like a ritual, resembled the ancient Roman tradition - decimation.

By decision of the people's commissar, they began to shoot not only deserters, but also simulators who asked for time off 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 Trotsky did not dare to do, who did not disdain any methods to spread Soviet power, they soon began to call the "demon of the revolution."

Unification of the armed forces

gradually changed and appearance Red Army soldiers. 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 badges differences. 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. A recognizable symbol was a red star sewn on a headdress.

The introduction into the Red Army of certain characteristic features of the former 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. Red Army won civil war. At the final stage of the conflict, its number was already 5.5 million people.