When I talk about the Red Army most people will think about WW2 but
what were the origins of this army? Well the Red Army was founded by Bolshevik leader Leon
Trotsky and fought in the Russian Civil War where it expanded to a mass army with millions of men.
In this video you're going to learn about the origins of the Red Army, keep watching.
Hey good to have you back on the channel: if you are new to history hustle welcome to the channel.
My name is Stefan, I'm a Dutch history teacher and I like to make videos about history for you and if
you find it interesting consider subscribing, hit the notification bell and join the hustle. During
the 1905 Russian Revolution militant workers organized themselves into paramilitary units
known as the Red Guards. These came to the scene again in February 1917. These Red Guards had to
protect strategic posts such as factories where workers were recruited. Initially these men were
not directly aligned to the Bolsheviks but they did help the Bolsheviks with seizing power
in Petrograd in October 1917. They took part in storming the Winter Palace and arresting people
as well as seizing power in Moscow. These men were volunteers and its commanders were chosen
by elections; among its ranks were idealistic youths but also criminals. At the time of the
October Revolution they numbered some 200 000 men; with the arrival of demobilized soldiers from
the front of WW1 their numbers increased... in September 1918 they were officially
dissolved although Red Guards remained stationed at more remote regions. Many of them joined the
Red Army that was established early 1918, but this was not always easy because they were accustomed
to basically behaving as they liked. But they did not really like the discipline that was enforced
in the Red Army; others joined the Soviet secret police: the Cheka. “The new regime had to establish
its distance from the old culture of command. A decree in December abolished ranks, along with their privileges and insignia. The term “specialist” replaced “officer”; “Red Army man” replaced “soldier.””
The Red Army was officially established in January 1918. Its full name was the Workers' and Peasants'
Red Army. This army was founded by Leon Trotsky; he decided to build an army from the ground up.
The front of WW1 was disintegrating and so was the Russian army: the men had no more
will to fight. As Russian army Commander Mikhail Dmitriyevich Bonch-Bruyevich: “The army is altogether unsuitable
for combat and is in no condition to hold back the enemy.” The Soviet Republic needed an army; not
the old army but an army compatible with socialist principles and capable of defending the new regime.
And the revolution was in danger because the Bolsheviks had seized power in the main cities: Petrograd
and Moscow, while its opponents - that were known as the Whites - gathered in the peripheries. Early
January the peace talks between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers deadlocked. Mid-February the
impatient Central Powers (Germany & Austro-Hungary) they launched Operation Faustschlag
and they could pretty much walk to Petrograd unopposed. Leon Trotsky did his best to rally the
men for defending the capital of the revolution. “Comrades! Our Soviet Socialist Republic must have a
well-organized army.” “Exhausted and unarmed Russia will inevitably become the slave of the united forces of international imperialism,
unless we are saved in time by the support of the international proletariat and unless we organize our own defense.” “The question of creating an army is for us now a question of life or death.”
The demobilization of the tsarist army continue till mid-April as
the Red Army was founded in January; initially admission was highly selective and volunteers
required a recommendation from a military body or trade union that was in line with the Bolshevik
party. Dedicated men needed to be found. Its first baptismal fire was alongside Red Guards against
the Germans at Pskov and Narva. The conflict between the Germans and Soviet Russia lasted
short as a peace deal was signed on the 3rd of March became known as the Treaty of Brest Litovsk.
Soviet Russia had to seed large swaths of land to the Central Powers. With the Central Powers
gone as a potential enemy the Bolsheviks could now focus on their internal enemies and these
were the Whites: the Whites were a diverse group of anti-Bolshevik forces that opposed the Red Army
and the Bolshevik government; they were made of various factions, including monarchists, democrats,
liberals and socialists who all shared a common goal of overthrowing the Bolsheviks and most of
them wanted to restore a more traditional and conservative government. On the fourth of March
the Supreme Military Soviets was set up that took care of the development of the Red Army:
six military districts were created in the military commissariats were created at all
levels: 58 infantry divisions, specialist and technical troops, as well as armor, artillery and
cavalry units were set up. The next month there were 150 000 men in its ranks and this grew to 200 000
n the following month. At that point there were no training centers, there were no uniforms,
there was no standardization. By the end of that year 50 training schools for Red Army commanders
were set up. “The goal was still to train a new generation of Red Commanders. Commissars were
still in use as ideological watchdogs, but hierarchy and the threat of execution were back. Field tribunals were created to impose the death penalty on soldiers, officers, and commissars guilty of treason, sabotage, desertion, or looting.”
On the initiative of Trotsky nearly 22 000
former tsarist officers were re-employed in the Red Army, as so-called military specialists, and 130 000
former tsarist NCOs were re-employed which proved vital for professionalizing the Red Army.
Did you know that in the month after the October Revolution all persons had to address each other
as 'citizen' first (grazhdanin) and soon with 'comrade' (tovarish). In the Red Army there were
only two ranks: 'Red Army man' (Krasnoarmeyets) and 'Red commander' (Krasny Komandir or Kraskom).
Ranks were introduced in 1935. In May 1918 the Soviet government decided to issue conscription
for men between the ages of 18 and 40 and they needed men as many Red Army soldiers deserted on
masse. Idealistic youth saw their dreams dashed as the Whites approached in on them and many farmers went
home for the harvest; by the end of 1918 there were 12 field armies numbering more than 285 000
infantry and cavalry; overall command was in the hands of the Revolutionary Military Council of
Republics, the RMSR, headed by Trotsky. Unique was the presence of commissars that were later known as
political officers. These were mostly trusted party members that had to keep an eye on the officer's
behavior and attitude. “Effectively, the commissars were political spies, whose adverse reports could lead, at the very least, to a reprimand and a bad mark in an officer's dossier,
so it is unsurprising that their relationships with line officers were often strained. A unit commander could not make a decision without consulting his commissar, who often had little or no military education.
Commissars also kept a close watch on the rankers of their units, and relied upon loyal Party members among the soldiers to keep them informed.”
Every soldier in the Red Army had
a booklet which outlined his rights, duties and norms of conduct. By December 1919 the Red Army
numbered over 3 million men and in the following year it reached a number of 5.5 million; these men
remained under arms till 1924 when the Red Army demobilized to around half a million men. The
highest operational unit was the so-called Front. A Front was given a geographical name and comprised
between two and five field armies, as well as detached forces, reserve units, specialist troops
and administrative organs. During the Russian Civil War there were the following Front:
Northern Front: fought against the Whites and interventionist forces in the north and was later
incorporated in the Western Front. This was the most important part of the Soviet border and
faced the Baltics and Poland. The Ukrainian Front: operated against Ukrainian nationalists, the Whites
(and foreign allies) and Poles in Ukraine as well as on Crimea. The Southern Front:
operated in the area between Ukraine to the Azov Sea. It was later re-named South-Western Front.
It fought against Denikin's forces but also on Crimea. The Turkestan Front: fought in Central
Asia and also saw action against the Basmachi movement that fought till in the 1930s. The Caspian-Caucasian Front:
was eventually disbanded to the Southern Front. The Eastern Front: fought against the Czechslovak
Legion and White Troops in the Urals and Siberia. There was infantry, cavalry, armoured units.
There was also the Cheka. In English its full name would be this: All-Russian Extraordinary Commission to
Combat Counterrevolution and Sabotage. It was the first secret police of the Soviets. The Cheka
was led by Felix Dzerzhinsky, as he stated: “The Cheka is not an investigating commission, a court,
or a tribunal. It is a fighting organ on the internal front of the civil war ... It does not judge, it strikes. It does not pardon, it destroys all who are caught on the other side of the barricade.”
Unsurprisingly, the men of the Red Army fought with weapons of the old tsarist army: most well-known
was the Russian service rifle the 7.62mm Mosin-Nagant M.1891. Cavalry was equiped with the
Mosin M.1908 carbine. The standard revolver was the 7.62mm Nagant M.1895. Looking at machine
guns the Maxim M.1910 was used. Did you know this machine gun is used in the Ukraine War today?
And then Russian Likhonin 47-58mm mortars were used. Apart from Russian weapons the Red Army also made use
of stockpiles of weapons from vanquished enemies, for example they captured weapons from the Central
Powers which evacuated Ukraine after 11th of November 1918 and therefore left Mauser M.1898
and Austrian Mannlicher M.1895 for the taking. On this photograph you see Red Army Soldiers with the
Japanese Arisaka's: M.1905. I don't know whether these were stockpiles of the Russo-Japanese
War, which I doubt, or weapons from the Japanese interventionist forces. Much of the Allied delivery
weaponry came in Red hands due to corruption. A favorite was the American WWinchester M.1895. Well
known are the armored trains, which receive numbers and names: Trotsky used one named Revolutionary
Military Soviet to transfer to and between fronts to motivate the men. Looking at armor the Allied
interventionist forces gave tanks to the Whites, which were captured by the Reds. They were later put on
display: here you see images of a British WW1 tank that I recorded when I was visiting
Kharkiv, Ukraine in the summer of 2019. Initially there was no standardization when it came down to
uniforms. Red Guardsmen wore all kinds of clothing: from civilian to military, as you can see here on
this photograph; there wore not more than a red ribbon or an armband. The choice of red as a colour
needs some explanation: for centuries this was a symbol of mutiny and brigandage. In nasal use
it meant defiance and was hoisted when preparing for battle. In Russian the word red (krasny) has a
second meaning: pretty. And then there was the red star; the party line was at the five-pointed star
stood for the five continents where the revolution had to be carried out. Here you see a hammer and a
plow cockade used by the Red Army from 1918 to 1922, when it was replaced by the hammer and sickle and
here you see sleeve Insignia of the command staff of the Red Army introduced in 1919. A distinctive
uniform was the long great coat with colored tabs and the pointed hat; there is a story this uniform
was already designed in 1913 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Romanov Dynasty. The
three tabs stood for the three centuries but in reality the RMSR initiated a competition in May
1918 and in December new hand gear was chosen as well as the color of the tabs that was announced
early 1919. And the new headgear became the budenovka, named after Semion Budenny. Here I have a
cheap replica that I bought in Saint Petersburg when I visited the city in the summer of 2019. I
even have a photograph with it together with Lenin... who basically charged me way too much money
for that I was totally ripped off by Lenin. Obviously it's a cheap replica but
I believe where it basically comes down to is that you can detach these sides and then when
it's cold you can do this... although I can't see anything but well you get the point! The Red Army
troop for a great coat of khaki cloth with three tabs in branch of service color: red for infantry,
orange and later black for artillery and blue for cavalry. As for trousers: breaches were often worn
with leather boots or ankle boots with puttees. Throughout the 1920s it remained an army that
was not the best dressed by West European standards... looking at this picture from the
1920s with Polish and Soviet border guards you can see what I mean. The Cheka (the Soviet secret
police) on the other hand, they were much better dressed: from head to toe they were dressed in
black leather and had all kinds of weaponry to safeguard the revolution; read to commit terror...