The Red Army was the military force of the Soviet regime. Formed at the beginning of 1918, it was called into action to defend the new regime during the Russian Civil War. While ostensibly of the working classes (its foundation title was the ‘Worker-Peasant Red Army’), it also contained elements of the old order, including thousands of officers who had served in the tsarist Imperial Army. As in most armies, its rank and file was made up of working-class conscripts and recruits. This made building loyalty and enforcing obedience in the Red Army a problem for the Bolshevik Commissar of War, Leon Trotsky.
Origins
When the Bolsheviks seized power in October 1917, they inherited control of the former Imperial Army, by that time known as the Army of Free Russia. The new regime had no intention of maintaining the old army, however, due to its connections with tsarism and the risk of a military-led counter-revolution. In December 1917, the Soviet government formally dissolved the army’s officer corps and released its 250,000 officers.
At that point, the only loyal military force available to the Bolshevik regime was the Red Guards. Comprised mainly of armed industrial workers and disgruntled former soldiers, the Red Guards numbered as many as 200,000 men, one-sixth of this number in Petrograd. Though loyal to the Bolshevik cause, the Red Guards were untrained and lacking both military discipline and preparedness for combat.
The threat of continued war with Germany, along with rising opposition to the new regime, necessitated the formation of a larger, more professional standing army. In January 1918, the Soviet executive Sovnarkom issued a decree forming the Red Army:
“The Soviet of People’s Commissars [decrees] a new army to be known as the Worker-Peasant Red Army. The Worker-Peasant Army is to be made up of the more class conscious and organised elements of the toiling masses. Admission to the army is open to all Russian citizens 18 years and over. Admission is by recommendation of army committees or democratic organisations [adhering to] the platform of the Soviet government, party and labor organisations.”
In its first weeks, the new Red Army was a volunteer force organised along socialist lines – its members wore no ranks or insignia and its officers were elected democratically. As might be expected, this did little to improve control, organisation or discipline.
Transformation under Trotsky
The transformation of the Red Army began in March 1918 with the appointment of Leon Trotsky as war commissar. Historians generally agree that Trotsky’s leadership was instrumental in turning the Red Army into a professional and effective military force. This transformation involved some measures that, at the time, seemed risky or potentially dangerous.
One of the more controversial was Trotsky’s decision to raid the military stocks of the old tsarist regime. Shortly after taking control, Trotsky conscripted more than 70,000 ex-officers and former NCOs (non-commissioned officers) from the rapidly dissolving Imperial Army. It was a move that sparked criticism and opposition in the upper ranks of the Bolshevik movement.
Trotsky’s justification was that the new nation had no time to train and educate new officers: it needed the experience and expertise of military specialists immediately, regardless of their origins. These tsarist officers, Trotsky claimed, would be “squeezed like lemons, then thrown away”.
“With all his brilliance at organisation and his genius for leading men, Trotsky understood that Russia’s embryonic Red Army could not develop without a large corps of officers trained in the methods of modern warfare.”
W. Bruce Lincoln, historian
Ensuring obedience
By 1920, more than 250,000 Imperial Army veterans had been drafted into the Red Army. Many of these soldiers were previously loyal to the Romanov monarchy and had no political allegiance or affection for the Bolsheviks. As the Civil War unfolded, the likelihood of desertion, defection to the White Army or anti-Bolshevik espionage increased, creating risks for the Soviet regime.
To curtail this, Trotsky ensured the obedience and good conduct of higher ranking officers by ordering party commissars be attached to every military unit. These commissars were little more than Bolshevik watchdogs. They shadowed officers in positions of command, from high-ranking generals down to company-level commanders, and reported back to the party on their loyalty, efficiency and enthusiasm.
Obedience was also guaranteed by the ominous Cheka and, in some individual cases, threats to the families of officers if they showed any signs of disloyalty. In December 1918, Trotsky ordered a group of commissars to “establish the family status of former officers among command personnel and inform each of them, by signed order, that any treachery or treason will cause the arrest of their families… They are each taking upon themselves responsibility for their families”.
Politicising the army
As in the Tsarist Imperial Army, the rank and file of the Red Army were mostly conscripted peasants. Conscription was introduced by Sovnarkom in May 1918, as the Civil War was beginning to escalate. Red Army numbers consequently spiralled, leaping from 800,000 in 1918 to more than three million by 1920. At this point, the Red Army was engaged in battle on not less than 16 different fronts.
Realising the Red Army’s enormous size and reliance on conscripts could bring disciplinary problems, Trotsky implemented strategies to politicise the army and increase morale. Propaganda was distributed within the ranks of the Red Army, constantly reminding soldiers of their importance to the revolution and the consequences should they fail in their mission. Komsomol, the Bolshevik party’s youth league, was also targeted as a source of idealistic young recruits.
During the Civil War, Trotsky himself lived almost permanently on an armoured train, travelling from one front to the next. On these voyages he would oversee plans and supervise progress, hold personal audiences with officers, and deliver rousing speeches to Red Army soldiers. The train also carried a radio transmitter and printing press for on-site production of propaganda, a generous supply of tobacco and even a brass band, all to boost morale.
Dealing with desertion
Conversely, Trotsky could be as determinedly brutal as he was motivating and uplifting. Following a string of defeats in mid-1918, at a time when the Red Army was still undermanned and inexperienced, Trotsky was confronted by reports of desertion, cowardice and retreat among Red Army units.
His response was to order the formation of ‘blocking units’. These special squads were placed behind active frontlines and tasked with shooting any deserters or soldiers seen retreating without authorisation. It was a tactic later used by Trotsky’s nemesis, Joseph Stalin, during World War II.
Trotsky’s ruthlessness, coupled with his planning, attention to detail and ability to unify disparate forces, helped harden the Red Army into a formidable military force.
1. The Red Army was the organised military force of the new Soviet regime. It was formed by decree in January 1918.
2. Trotsky was appointed war commissar in March 1918 and played a pivotal role in reorganising, shaping and toughening the new Soviet army.
3. Trotsky filled the ranks of the Red Army with conscripts, including thousands of former tsarist officers, claiming to need their experience and expertise.
4. He was notoriously ruthless about enforcing loyalty and discipline, using threats against families and deploying party commissars and ‘blocking units’.
5. Trotsky also worked to raise morale in the Red Army, reminding soldiers of their importance in history, utilising propaganda and personally travelling around Russia to supervise and speak.
Citation information
Title: ‘The Red Army’
Authors: Steve Thompson, Jennifer Llewellyn, John Rae
Publisher: Alpha History
URL: https://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/red-army/
Date published: February 10, 2018
Date updated: December 2, 2024
Date accessed: June 15, 2026
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