The chairman of which was L. D. Trotsky. His immediate subordinate was the former tsarist colonel, Latvian Joachim Vatsetis, who received the post of first Soviet commander-in-chief.
Attempts to found the Red Army on a voluntary basis under the slogan “The Socialist Fatherland is in danger!” were unsuccessful. The result was a rapid transition to mobilizations. Party members and Red Guards were mobilized into the Red Army; the dissolution of the few units of the former tsarist army that retained combat capability, for example, the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky guards regiments, was prohibited. On May 29, 1918, on the basis of the Resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee “On forced recruitment into the workers’ and peasants’ army,” conscription into the army began.
Non-labor elements were conscripted into the rear militia.
Important steps of the Bolsheviks were the fight against the “military anarchism” of the first months of the existence of the Red Army. The need for effective military force forced them to introduce mandatory execution of orders from commanders in the army, reintroduce executions for desertion, and conduct mass mobilizations in order to ensure the required number of troops. To control the loyalty of “military experts,” the positions of commissars were established. In the summer of 1918, the election of commanders was abolished.
Beginning of the Civil War
Commission for the conscription of workers and peasants into the Red Army (1918)
In conflicts between Cossacks and “nonresidents” in traditional Cossack lands, the Bolsheviks sided with the “nonresidents.” The struggle for power on the Don led to the election of Tsarist General A. M. Kaledin as ataman of the Don Cossacks; On the Don, a group of senior officers (generals M.V. Alekseev, L.G. Kornilov, A.I. Denikin, S.L. Markov) began forming the White Guard Volunteer Army. The signing of the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk by the Bolshevik leadership led by Trotsky and A. A. Joffe led to a sharp expansion of the German occupation (by the summer of 1918, German and Austro-Hungarian armed forces occupied Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, a number of districts of the Pskov and Petrograd provinces, most of Belarus, Ukraine, Crimea, Don region, partially the Taman Peninsula, Voronezh and Kursk provinces).
In March 1918, British troops occupied Arkhangelsk, in July - Murmansk, on April 5, Japanese troops occupied Vladivostok. Under the cover of Entente troops, a White Guard government was formed in the north, which began forming the “Slavo-British Legion” and the “Murmansk Volunteer Army” of 4,500 people, mainly former tsarist officers.
IN Soviet period the beginning of the civil war was considered to be the mutiny of the Czechoslovak corps in May 1918 - according to a number of historians, this is not true, if only because by that moment the first armed stage of the White Resistance - the struggle in the South of Russia - had already ended - the First Kuban campaign of the young Volunteer army (February 9 (22) - May 13, 1918). Another, and most important, reason to consider this untrue for this category of researchers is the complete ignorance of the authors of these statements with the definition of “war” in general, and “civil war” in particular. During the First World War, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and were forced to fight against Russia, despite the strong pro-Russian sentiments that existed at that time among the population of these countries. The tsarist government recruited a corps of Czechoslovak prisoners of war, planning to send it to the front; however, the revolution in Petrograd thwarted these plans. The corps command managed to reach an agreement with the Bolsheviks on sending them to France through Vladivostok. At the time of the uprising, the corps was heavily stretched along the railway.
At this stage, the corps was actually the only combat-ready military force in the country: the tsarist army had collapsed, and the Red Army and the White armies were still in the process of formation. Clashes between the Czechoslovak command and Bolshevik agitators became one of the reasons for the simultaneous rebellion along the entire route of the corps. In Samara, the Czechoslovaks overthrew the Bolsheviks and supported the formation of the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik Komuch (committee of members of the Constituent Assembly). This event led to the fall of Soviet power over vast territories. A weak government of the Ufa Directory was formed in Siberia. After the return of the former tsarist admiral A.V. Kolchak to Russia, determined officers organized a coup on November 18, 1918, which brought him to power.
Progress of the war
The next stage of the Russian Civil War was the “White Flood”; three main white armies were formed - the Volunteer Army on the Don (the first commander was General L. G. Kornilov, after his death on April 13, 1918 - General A. I. Denikin), in Siberia - the army of A. V. Kolchak (proclaimed Supreme The ruler of Russia with his capital in Omsk), in the north-west - the army of General N. N. Yudenich. Already in September 1918, the Komuch government collapsed under attacks from two sides - white and red. Kolchak’s troops reached the Urals, and Denikin’s troops reached Kyiv, and on October 13, 1919 they occupied Oryol. Yudenich's troops in September 1919 directly threatened Petrograd.
The powerful offensive of the White armies was stopped by the Red Army at the end of 1919. 1920 became the time of the “red flood”: the offensive of the Red Army on all fronts was supported by the First Cavalry Army formed by S. M. Budyonny. General Yudenich with the slogan “United and indivisible Russia” did not receive support from Finland and Estonia; his troops at the end of 1919 were forced to retreat to Estonia, where they were subsequently interned. In January 1920, Admiral Kolchak was arrested in Irkutsk by the authorities of the Menshevik-SR Political Center, handed over to the Bolsheviks, and executed on February 7, 1920. General Denikin's Volunteer Army experienced friction with the Cossacks; in Ukraine, it also had to fight, in addition to the Red Army, also with the Petliurites and Makhno's troops. On January 10, 1920, the Red Army occupied Rostov-on-Don, and in 1920 the Volunteer Army began a massive retreat to the south; On February 8, 1920, the Red Army occupied Odessa, and on March 27, Novorossiysk.
After the withdrawal of Entente troops from the Northern region (September 1919 - evacuation of interventionists from Arkhangelsk, February 1920 - from Murmansk), the collapse of the local White Guard government began. On February 20, 1920, the Provisional Government of the Northern Region and its army fled to Finland and Norway; on February 21, 1920, the Red Army entered the Northern Region.
Legionnaires of the Czechoslovak Corps
In 1919-1921 The Red Army also took part in the Soviet-Polish war. By signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Russia de jure recognized the independence of Poland, de facto independent since the beginning German occupation summer of 1915 (Germany occupied Poland, Lithuania, part of Belarus west of the Dvinsk-Sventsyany-Pinsk line, Moonsund Islands, part of Latvia, including Riga and Riga district, part of Ukraine). After Pilsudski came to power, Poland began to hatch plans for the restoration of the great Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth “from sea to sea.” On May 6, 1920, Polish troops occupied Kyiv, but by mid-July 1920 they were driven back to the borders of Poland. The Red Army's attempt to continue to advance ended in disaster for it; Instead of the uprising of the Polish proletariat expected by the Bolsheviks, the local population perceived the Red Army soldiers as Russian occupiers. In March 1921, a peace treaty was signed, transferring Western Belarus and Western Ukraine to Poland.
On October 28, 1920, the Red Army crossed Sivash and broke through the defenses of the white Armed Forces of Southern Russia under the command of Baron P. N. Wrangel in Crimea. On November 14-16, 1920, the remnants of the White Guards were evacuated from Crimea.
End of the war
At the beginning of 1920, the Bolsheviks recognized the Far Eastern Republic (FER), which was supposed to serve as a buffer between them and the Japanese occupiers. The main forces of the region, in addition to the Bolsheviks, troops of the Far Eastern Republic and the Japanese, were also the Transbaikal Cossacks of Ataman Semenov. Under pressure from the Bolsheviks, as well as from the Entente countries, who feared the strengthening of Japan, the troops of the Far Eastern Republic were withdrawn from Transbaikalia in the fall of 1920.
In 1939, the Soviet Union demanded that Finland transfer the territories bordering Leningrad in exchange for sparsely populated areas in the north, or rather, invited the Finnish government to consider a request to move the border from a line 30 kilometers from Leningrad (heavy artillery firing range) to a safe place distance for the USSR, in exchange for significantly larger territories in an area that did not threaten the security of the USSR, and only after receiving a categorical refusal to discuss any conditions or negotiate at all, was forced, after a series of provocations on the Finnish side, to take decisive action. The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army crossed the border on November 30, 1939. The aggravation of relations led to the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40 (in Finnish sources - the “Winter War”). The Finns’ excellent knowledge of their territory, the widespread use of ski units and snipers, and most importantly, the early (two months before the start of the Red Army’s actions) full mobilization led to numerous losses among the Red Army soldiers (330 thousand people, including those killed and missing - 80 thousand). However, the enormous numerical and technical superiority of the Red Army Soviet Union led Finland to defeat with casualty rates worse than normal for such conditions. On February 12, 1940, the Mannerheim Line was broken. Losses of 48.3 thousand people killed and 45 thousand wounded were also excessively large for the 200 thousand Finnish army.
At this stage, a number of Western powers viewed the USSR as a country fighting in World War II on the side of Germany, which is especially surprising considering that Finland had pursued an exclusively pro-German policy since 1935. The USSR was expelled from the League of Nations as an aggressor; The possibility of sending volunteers to Finland, which was never realized, was declared.
June 22, 1941
On the day of the surprise attack of the Nazis - June 22, 1941 - the number of field forces of the Red Army totaled 303 divisions and 22 brigades in 4.8 million people, including 166 divisions and 9 brigades in 2.9 million people at the western borders of the USSR in the western military districts. The Axis countries concentrated 181 divisions and 18 brigades (3.5 million people) on the Eastern Front. The first months of the invasion led the Red Army to the losses of hundreds of thousands of people in encirclement, the loss of valuable weapons, military aircraft, tanks and artillery. The Soviet leadership announced general mobilization, and by August 1, 1941, despite the loss of 46 divisions in battle, the Red Army had 401 divisions.
The large losses are explained, as is commonly believed, by the low readiness for an attack by Germany.
The Red Army's first major success was the counteroffensive near Moscow on December 5, 1941, which drove German troops away from the city, although the Red Army's attempt to launch a general offensive ended in disaster.
The Soviet government resorted to a number of emergency measures in order to stop the retreating Red Army. One of effective means there was an execution of those fleeing the battlefield, introduced by Stalin’s order, which received the unofficial name “Not a Step Back.”
Political commissars, intended as party envoys to keep an eye on the commanders, lost their power. They were renamed political deputies and turned into subordinate unit commanders. However, the most radical step was the restoration of pre-revolutionary military ranks and insignia, with minor changes. During the Civil War, there were initially no ranks or insignia. However, already in 1918, addresses for the position held were introduced: “platoon commander comrade”, “regiment commander comrade”, etc., and insignia were introduced to indicate the position. The Bolsheviks were most hated by shoulder straps, as a symbol of the old regime.
In 1938, as an experiment, personal military ranks for the highest ranks of the Red Army. In 1943, ranks and insignia developed on the basis of the tsarist ones were introduced for all military personnel.
Progress of the war
In the territories occupied by the Nazis, the NKVD organized a wide partisan movement, for example, in Ukraine alone in August 1943, 24,500 Soviet partisans operated.
Soviet poster
The surrender took place between May 9-17, during which time the Red Army captured 1 million 390 thousand 978 soldiers and officers, and 101 generals. At the request of the USSR, on May 23, the German government of Karl Dönitz was dissolved. On June 5, the Declaration of the Defeat of Germany was signed, transferring all power in Germany to the victors.
At the end of World War II Soviet army was the most powerful army in history. It had more tanks and artillery than all other countries combined, more soldiers, more honored great commanders. British Main Headquarters rejected the Operation Unthinkable plan to overthrow Stalin's government and drive the Red Army out of Europe as unfeasible.
As part of the “crusade against Bolshevism” declared by Hitler, a number of European countries, who actually pursued their national interests:
- Finland - participated in the occupation of Karelia and the siege of Leningrad as revenge for the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40. In Finnish sources, military operations against the USSR in the period 1941-1944 are usually called the “Continuation War”. After the return of the territories, Mannerheim ordered the troops to go to the defensive; On June 9, the Red Army launched an offensive, and on September 5, Finland went over to the side of the anti-Hitler coalition.
- Spain - the Blue Division, numbering 18 thousand people, took part in the hostilities on the Eastern Front. This unit was recruited from volunteers - Falangists, staunch supporters of the dictator General Franco, while the USSR supported the other side - the Republicans - during the Spanish Civil War. By October 1943, the formation had lost 12,776 people and was withdrawn from the front.
- France - an infantry regiment of 2,452 men recruited from Vichy France fought on the Eastern Front. Disbanded 1 September 1944
- Italy - sent the Italian Expeditionary Force in Russia (Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia, CSIR) numbering 62 thousand people to the USSR. It was defeated as a result of the Red Army's breakthrough on the Don on November 19.
- Romania - the troops underwent a number of reorganizations. The Romanian army took part in the occupation of Bessarabia, Ukraine, Crimea, and represented the largest allied contingent among the German satellite countries (267,727 people). The offensive of the Red Army in August 1944 caused a coup in Romania (King Mihai I overthrew dictator Antonescu), and a transition to the side of the anti-Hitler coalition on August 25.
- Hungary - sent to the Eastern Front in 1941 a mobile corps of 40 thousand people (defeated and returned to Budapest on December 6, 1941), 4 infantry brigades with a total number of 63 thousand people, and the 2nd Army, consisting of 9 light infantry divisions. Destroyed during the Soviet offensive on January 12-14. The Hungarian government enters into negotiations with the USSR, and signs an armistice on October 15; German troops organize a coup d'etat and force Hungary to continue the war. The fighting in Budapest continued until the very end of the war.
Liberation of Europe from the Wehrmacht
The offensive of 1944 allowed the Red Army to move on to the liberation of a number of European countries from the German occupiers. Soviet troops fought in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, occupied Bulgaria, and occupied East Germany.
This laid the foundation for the subsequent formation of the so-called. "socialist camp" in Europe. However, its borders did not coincide with the territories of those countries that the Red Army liberated; Thus, the communists in Yugoslavia came to power thanks to the partisan People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, which was virtually independent of Moscow. There were no Soviet troops on the territory of Albania.
On the other hand, the Red Army liberated the Austrian capital Vienna and the island of Bornholm in Denmark, where pro-Soviet power was not established.
The fighting took place in the following countries:
- Poland. In July-August 1944, the Red Army occupied territories east of the Vistula, constituting a quarter of Poland with a population of 5 million people. The Home Army, the armed forces of the Polish government in exile, and the Ludowa Army, a military organization of the pro-Soviet Polish Workers' Party (reformed into the Polish Army in 1944), are deployed. On August 1, 1944, the Home Army organized an anti-German uprising in Warsaw, which was suppressed by Germany using the most brutal methods. The issue of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 remains controversial; Proponents of one point of view argue that the Red Army deliberately “stopped at the Warsaw walls”, since the uprising was organized by the Polish government in exile, referred to in Soviet sources as the “emigrant government in London.” Proponents of another point of view point out that in August 1944 the Red Army was physically unable to come to the aid of the rebels. In January 1945, Soviet-Polish troops crossed the Vistula and reached the Oder.
- Romania. In the spring of 1944, the Red Army entered the territory of this country. Soviet superiority over Romanian forces is estimated at nine to one. This circumstance causes the coup on August 23, 1944. Romanian King Mihai I overthrows pro-German dictator Antonescu. Uprisings break out in Bucharest, Ploesti, Brasov, etc. On August 31, Soviet troops enter Bucharest. September 12, 1944 Romania signs an agreement to join the anti-Hitler coalition; The clauses of this agreement provide for the dissolution of pro-Hitler organizations and a ban on propaganda against the anti-Hitler coalition.
- Bulgaria. In both world wars she fought on the side of Germany. However, traditional pro-Russian sentiments led to the fact that Bulgaria did not formally declare war on the USSR and did not send troops to the Eastern Front. Bulgarian units carried out occupation service in Greece and Yugoslavia, liberating German troops. This circumstance prompted the USSR to enter the territory of Bulgaria on September 8, 1944. The Red Army's advance met no resistance, and in turn sparked the uprising of the Fatherland Front in Sofia on September 9, 1944. The new government declares war on Germany and Hungary.
- Czechoslovakia. The Red Army enters the territory of Slovakia on September 8, and begins battles with German troops with the active support of Czechoslovak partisans. The army of the pro-German government of Slovakia goes over to the side of the USSR. A new Soviet offensive begins in the spring of 1945; on May 5, 1945, an uprising breaks out in Prague. By the 7th the situation of the rebels becomes critical. On May 9, Soviet troops enter Prague.
- Yugoslavia. By 1944, widespread anti-German resistance had developed in Yugoslavia, the main forces of which were the communist People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (NOLA), numbering up to 400 thousand people under the command of Josip Broz Tito, and the monarchical “Officer Movement” of the Chetniks (from the Serbian “cheta” - "squad"), under the command of D. Mikhailovich. The weak activity of the Chetniks, and their tendency towards collaboration, was combined with clashes with the forces of the NOLA. On September 28, 1944, the Red Army attacks Belgrade. By October 21, Soviet troops, supported by Bulgarian troops and the NOLA, occupy Belgrade. A group of Chetniks pose with German soldiers.
- Hungary. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of the First World War, former admiral M. Horthy, a staunch supporter of Germany, came to power. In August 1944, the Red Army entered Hungarian territory. Her government proposes to conclude a truce, but with the support of the Germans, the leader comes to power on October 17 fascist organization“Crossed Arrows” by F. Salasi. On December 26, the Soviet offensive closed Hungarian and German forces in the Budapest area. On December 28, the new government declares war on Germany. The liberation of Hungary is completed in 1945.
- Austria. On April 6, 1945, the Red Army begins street fighting in Vienna, ending on April 13. On April 9, the government of the USSR makes a statement that “The Soviet government does not pursue the goal of acquiring part of Austrian territories, or changing the social system of Austria.” On April 27, 1945, Austria restores state sovereignty, destroyed during the Anschluss of 1938.
- Denmark. On May 9, 1945, the Red Army lands on the Danish island of Bornholm, and accepts the surrender of 12 thousand German soldiers and officers. On May 19, representatives of the Danish government arrive in Bornholm to express gratitude.
- Norway. In October 1944, the Red Army liberates Pechenga and enters the northeastern regions of Norway. The German group in this country capitulated only in May 1945.
- Finland. In the summer of 1944, the Red Army attacks the Finns, occupies Vyborg on June 20, and Petrozavodsk on June 28. On September 19, 1944, Finland signs an armistice agreement with the USSR, and the Lapland War with Germany begins.
Organization
In the first months of its existence, the Red Army was conceived without ranks and insignia, with free elections commanders However, already on May 29, 1918, compulsory military service was declared for men aged 18 to 40 years. To carry out mass recruitment of troops, the Bolsheviks organized military commissariats (military registration and enlistment offices), which continue to exist today, maintaining the same functions and the same name. Military commissariats should not be confused with the institution of political commissars in the troops.
In the mid-1920s, a military reform was carried out in the USSR, which laid the territorial-militia principle as the basis for the formation of the Red Army. In each region, men capable of holding weapons in their hands were conscripted for a limited time into territorial units, which made up approximately half the army. The first service period was three months for a year, then one month per year for five years. At the same time, the regular frame remained the core of the system. In 1925, such an organization provided 46 out of 77 infantry divisions, and 1 out of 11 cavalry divisions. The period of service in the regular (non-territorial) troops was 2 years. Subsequently, the territorial system was dissolved, with complete reorganization into cadre divisions in 1937-38.
With the beginning of Industrialization in the USSR, a campaign for technical re-equipment and mechanization of troops was also launched. The first mechanized unit was formed in 1930. It became the 1st Mechanized Brigade, which consisted of a tank regiment, a motorized rifle regiment, a reconnaissance battalion, and an artillery battalion (corresponding to the battalion). After such humble beginnings, the Red Army began forming in 1932 the first operational-level mechanized formations in its history, the 11th and 45th mechanized corps. They included tank units and were able to independently solve a number of combat missions without support from the fronts.
By order of the Soviet People's Commissar of Defense on July 6, 1940, nine mechanized corps were formed. Between February and March 1941, an order was issued to form another 20 similar corps. Officially, the Red Army numbered 29 mechanized corps in 1941, with no less than 29,899 tanks, but a number of historians express the opinion that in reality there were only 17 thousand tanks. A number of models were outdated, and there was a significant shortage of spare parts. On June 22, 1941, the Red Army had only 1,475 T-34 tanks and KV series tanks in service, and they were too widely dispersed along the front line. For the future, the 3rd Mechanized Corps in Lithuania was formed with 460 tanks, 109 of which were the then latest T-34 and KV-1. The 4th Army had 520 tanks, all obsolete T-26s, while facing an enemy fielding 1,031 new medium tanks. According to other sources, in terms of combat qualities, the main tanks of the Red Army of the period 1940-1942. were on par with or superior to German tanks. New types of tanks (T-34 and KV) had superiority over all German tanks and were slightly vulnerable to enemy anti-tank artillery. The shortage of T-34 tanks was common for the Red Army at the beginning of the war, and played a certain role in its defeats in 1941.
Another point of view
The leadership of the USSR in the 30s came out with the following theses:
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army is armed force workers and peasants of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It is called upon to protect and defend our Motherland, the world's first socialist state of working people.
Due to historical conditions, the Red Army exists as an invincible, all-destructive force. This is how she is, this is how she will always be.
Some observers attributed the defeats of the Red Army in the first period of the Great Patriotic War to the low qualifications of senior and middle command personnel. As Ya. I. Dzhugashvili, the former commander of the howitzer battery of the 14th Tank Division, who was captured near Senno (See Lepel counterattack), said during interrogation:
The failures of the [Soviet] tank forces are not explained poor quality materials or weapons, and inability to command and lack of experience in maneuvering Wikipedia
creation of the red army briefly
- On January 15, 1918, a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR was published
About the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army - In short, it was created by Trotsky...
- Military pressure on Soviet Russia already in the spring of 1918 paved the way for the creation of a large, combat-ready Red Army, but it was not easy to do this quickly. Until mid-January 1918, the task of democratizing the old army was mainly solved. January 15, 1918 Lenin signed a decree on the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) on a volunteer basis. During this period, it was staffed from among class-conscious workers and poor peasants. By May 10, 1918, 306 thousand people served in the Red Army units (250 thousand Red Army soldiers and 34 thousand Red Guards), of which more than 70% were communists and sympathizers. On May 29, a decision was made on the mandatory mobilization of workers and peasants of a number of conscription ages, and on July 10, 1918, the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets legislated the transition to recruiting the army and navy on the basis of general military service.
When creating the Red Army, the new government had to overcome a number of difficulties. In the spring of 1918, the troops did not have uniform staffing, uniforms, or the same type of weapons. The management of military units was carried out by elected commanders and collegial bodies. The level of discipline and combat training of the Red Army soldiers and command personnel was low. The authorities remained suspicious of the officer corps and the hostility of many officers towards the Bolsheviks. All this had to be overcome decisively and in a short time.
The transition to universal conscription made it possible to sharply increase the size of the Red Army: in the fall of 1918 it exceeded half a million, and by the end of the year there were 1 million soldiers. Measures were taken to restore discipline: V.I. Lenin demanded that the command staff, higher and lower, be forced to carry out combat orders at any cost. The name of People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs L. D. Trotsky is associated with the widespread and conscious use of repression against violators of military discipline. In addition to the one restored back in February death penalty, in the summer and autumn of 1918, at the fronts they resorted to the decimation of execution of every tenth soldier who surrendered without an order.
To increase professionalism, it was decided to recruit officers and generals from the previous regime into the new army. Lenin also considered the use of military specialists as a form of class struggle. To exercise party control over them, the institution of military commissars was created, who were assigned to military experts. Without the signature of the commissars, the orders of the commanders were not valid. The families of former officers were placed under the control of the Cheka and were actually in the position of hostages. At the same time, many officers sincerely accepted the new government and consciously collaborated with it. Overall over the years Civil War 75 thousand former tsarist generals and officers fought on the side of the Soviets. Former military specialists made up 48% of the senior command staff and administrative apparatus, 15% were former non-commissioned officers. Graduates of the first Soviet courses and schools made up only 37% of the Red commanders. By the end of 1920, there were about 5.5 million people in the ranks of the Red Army.
Militarization of control and concentration of resources. Since the beginning of the Civil War, the Soviet leadership took vigorous measures to mobilize all available resources for victory. On September 2, 1918, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (RMR) was created. He exercised direct leadership of the army and navy, as well as all institutions of the military and naval departments. L. D. Trotsky, People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, was appointed chairman. The main working bodies of the RVSR were the Field Headquarters, which was in charge of military operations, and the All-Russian Main Staff, which was involved in organizing the rear, recruiting and training troops.
On November 30, 1918, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense was formed. The new emergency body was headed by the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, V. I. Lenin. The activities of the Defense Council covered primarily economic issues, the solution of which was necessary to ensure the unity of the front and rear. Meeting, as a rule, regularly twice a week - Briefly? HURRAH!
Military pressure on Soviet Russia already in the spring of 1918 paved the way for the creation of a large, combat-ready Red Army, but it was not easy to do this quickly. Until mid-January 1918, the task of democratizing the old army was mainly solved. January 15, 1918 Lenin signed a decree on the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) on a volunteer basis.
During this period, it was staffed from among class-conscious workers and poor peasants. At the same time, the popular myth that the Red Army was founded on February 23 and this holiday in honor of its organization has no basis. By May 10, 1918, 306 thousand people served in units of the Red Army (250 thousand Red Army soldiers and 34 thousand Red Guards), of which more than 70% were communists and sympathizers. On May 29, a decision was made on the mandatory mobilization of workers and peasants of a number of conscription ages, and on July 10, 1918, the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets legislated the transition to recruiting the army and navy on the basis of general military service.
When creating the Red Army, the new government had to overcome a number of difficulties. In the spring of 1918, the troops did not have uniform staffing, uniforms, or the same type of weapons. The management of military units was carried out by elected commanders and collegial bodies. The level of discipline and combat training of the Red Army soldiers and “commanders” was low. The authorities remained suspicious of the officer corps and the hostility of many officers towards the Bolsheviks. All this had to be overcome decisively and in a short time.
The transition to universal conscription made it possible to sharply increase the size of the Red Army: in the fall of 1918 it exceeded half a million, and by the end of the year - 1 million soldiers. Measures were taken to restore discipline: V.I. Lenin demanded “to force the command staff, higher and lower, to carry out combat orders at the cost of any means necessary.” The name of People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs L. D. Trotsky is associated with the widespread and conscious use of repression against violators of military discipline. In addition to the death penalty, which was restored back in February, in the summer and autumn of 1918, at the fronts they resorted to decimation - the execution of every tenth soldier who surrendered without an order.
To increase professionalism, it was decided to recruit officers and generals from the previous regime into the new army. Lenin also considered the use of military specialists as a form of class struggle. To exercise party control over them, the institution of military commissars was created, who were “assigned” to military experts. Without the signature of the commissars, the orders of the commanders were not valid. The families of former officers were placed under the control of the Cheka and were actually in the position of hostages. At the same time, many officers sincerely accepted the new government and consciously collaborated with it. In general, during the Civil War, 75 thousand former tsarist generals and officers fought on the side of the Soviets. Former military specialists made up 48% of the senior command staff and administrative apparatus, 15% were former non-commissioned officers. Graduates of the first Soviet courses and schools made up only 37% of the Red commanders. By the end of 1920, there were about 5.5 million people in the ranks of the Red Army.
Militarization of control and concentration of resources. Since the beginning of the Civil War, the Soviet leadership took vigorous measures to mobilize all available resources for victory. On September 2, 1918, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (RVSR) was created. He exercised direct leadership of the army and navy, as well as all institutions of the military and naval departments. L. D. Trotsky, People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, was appointed chairman. The main working bodies of the RVSR were the Field Headquarters, which was in charge of military operations, and the All-Russian Main Staff, which was involved in organizing the rear, recruiting and training troops.
On November 30, 1918, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense was formed. The new emergency body was headed by the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, V. I. Lenin. The activities of the Defense Council covered primarily economic issues, the solution of which was necessary to ensure the unity of the front and rear. Meeting, as a rule, regularly - twice a week, the Council discussed emerging problems and took prompt measures to overcome difficulties. He also made decisions to declare certain areas of the country under a state of war (siege) and transfer all power in them to the revolutionary committees.
In the difficult conditions of the Civil War, maintaining order in the rear acquired particular importance. For this purpose it was created special system military and repressive-terrorist bodies are defending the revolution. It included the Cheka, the police, the Internal Security Troops (VOKhR), the Special Purpose Units (CHON), the Internal Service Troops (VUNUS), the food army and some other military formations that were outside the subordination of the command of the Red Army and operated mainly in the rear. Special role among them belonged to the Cheka. From mid-1918, there was an accelerated creation of local (provincial, district, volost, rural) emergency commissions. In accordance with the decision of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of October 28, 1918, all of them received the right to create armed detachments, the number of which by March 1919 reached 30 thousand people. In dangerous moments in some territories, local Chekas took over the functions of bodies of Soviet power.
Already in the summer of 1918, the Bolsheviks began to brutally suppress all opposition political forces, trying to suppress even the possibility of their consolidation. Since then, BCQ has used the word “terror” more frequently. Explaining its meaning at the end of June 1918, Chairman of the Cheka F.E. Dzerzhinsky said: “Society and the press do not correctly understand the tasks and nature of our commission. They understand the fight against counter-revolution in the sense of normal state policy and scream hollowly about guarantees, courts, investigations, etc. We have nothing in common with military revolutionary tribunals, we represent organized terror. This needs to be said openly.” No less characteristic is the August statement of the head of the Petrograd organization of the RCP (b) G. E. Zinoviev: “We now calmly read that somewhere there 200-300 people were shot. The other day I read a note that, it seems, several thousand White Guards were shot in Livny, Oryol province. If we go at this pace, we will quickly reduce the bourgeois population of Russia.”
After the attempt on Lenin's life and the murder of the main Petrograd security officer M. S. Uritsky, on September 5, 1918, a Decree of the Council of People's Commissars was issued, which ordered that all persons associated with White Guard conspiracies be shot on the spot. Hostage-taking has become a mass phenomenon. According to experts, only in September - October 1918 in the territory Soviet Russia about 15 thousand people were shot. The main victims were representatives of the officers, nobility, bourgeoisie, intelligentsia, and sometimes members of their families. At the same time, the creation of a network was launched across the country concentration camps, whose contingent numbered in the tens of thousands.
During the war years, the Bolsheviks managed to create a strict system of confiscating food from peasants to supply soldiers and partly the urban population, primarily the proletariat. The work of enterprises providing the production of weapons, ammunition, and uniforms for the active army was also established. And although the organization of economic life was built to a large extent using coercion, and the quantity produced was far from optimal needs, it still made it possible to create the necessary conditions for the survival of the Soviet Republic.
Big role In mobilizing workers and peasants to repel the enemy, the Bolsheviks devoted agitation and propaganda work, which was organized on a national scale. Both political workers and cultural figures took part in this activity. Leaflets, posters, brochures, and newspapers were published in large quantities, and propaganda trains and propaganda steamboats traveled throughout the country. The monumental propaganda plan envisaged the creation of a series of monuments to revolutionaries and progressive figures of “all times and eras.” Public buildings, institutions, as well as holidays and others public events were decorated with banners, posters, banners, the content of which promoted the goals of the new government, the greatness of labor, the union of workers and peasants (“What the revolution brings to the working people”; “Peace of the peoples will be concluded on the ruins of bourgeois rule”; “Factory - to the working people”; “Land to the peasants”) " and so on.). The intervention of the Entente countries, foreign support for the White movement, Poland's war against Soviet Russia gave the Bolsheviks the opportunity to intercept from their enemies the slogans of defending the freedom and independence of the Fatherland.
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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 offensive on the 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 Marshal of the 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.
Didactic goal: to create conditions for awareness and comprehension of a block of educational information, its consolidation, application and verification of the level of assimilation using the technology of independent group learning.
Lesson type: combined.
Educational: study the reasons for the creation of the Red Army, ensure repetition and in-depth study of previously studied concepts of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA), the Revolutionary Military Council, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense.
Developmental: continue the development and formation of skills: present the main issues of the topic, prepare and deliver messages, work with a historical map and documents, additional literature, analyze them, draw conclusions, write down the main thing in a notebook.
Educational: education of civic and patriotic feelings.
Forms of organizing educational activities: group, frontal, pair.
Methods: partially – search, research
Equipment: textbook History of Russia, grade 9 (edited by A.A. Danilov, L.G. Kosulina), History of the Fatherland, grade 10 (edited by L.N. Zharova, I.A. Mishina), wall map “Civil War and Intervention in Russia,” a video film from the series “Russia of the 20th century”, an audio recording with music from the group “Lube” - “Horse”, student reports about V.K. Blucher; Vatsetise I.I.; Tukhachevsky M.M.; Trotsky L.D., historical documents, portraits, form, multimedia.
Teacher: The topic of the lesson and the purpose are reported.
The music sounds: “Seeing off” (as my own mother saw me off).
Teacher: During the lesson, it is necessary to write down the stages of the creation of the Red Army. Annex 1
Multimedia. 1 frame about the revolution.
Teacher: In October 1917, the October Revolution took place, the Bolsheviks came to power in the country, from October to March 1918, the formation of Soviet power took place throughout the country, where peacefully and where armed, and the first protests against the Bolsheviks were spontaneous and scattered, did not enjoy mass support from the population and took place against the backdrop of a relatively quick and peaceful establishment of Soviet power; this time was called the “Triumphal March of Soviet power in the country.” However, already at the very beginning of the confrontation, two main centers of resistance to the Bolshevik power emerged: east of the Volga, in Siberia, where wealthy peasants dominated, who were under the influence of the Socialist Revolutionaries, and also in the south - in the territories inhabited by the Cossacks, known for their love of freedom and special way of life . The main fronts of the civil war are the Eastern and Southern.
Lenin was an adherent of the Marxist position that after the victory of the socialist revolution, the regular army, as one of the main attributes of bourgeois society, should be replaced by the people's militia, which would be convened only in case of military danger. However, the scale of anti-Bolshevik protests required a different approach.
1. January 15, 1918, a decree of the Council of People's Commissars proclaimed the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA). Among the first volunteers to join the Red Army were St. Petersburg workers - Red Guards. On January 29, 1918, the Red Fleet was formed.
Teacher: On everyone’s desks there are documents about the creation of the Red Army.
Teacher: Please answer the question, on what principles was the process of forming the Red Army?
Student answers: the army is created from conscious and organized elements of the working people, access to it is open to everyone who is ready to give their strength and life to defend the gains of the revolution, recommendations are needed: military committees or democratic organizations.
Teacher: Now we will watch a fragment with you video about the creation of the Red Army. I would like to draw your attention to watch the film carefully and answer the question.
Teacher: What does the documentary newsreel indicate? What is their training? Who were the first Red Army soldiers?
Answers: very poorly dressed, many do not have appropriate uniforms, many do not know how to shoot, there is no discipline.
Teacher: the answers are correct.
2. Teacher: In the autumn of 1917 - in the spring of 1918, the process of demobilization of the old tsarist army was underway. All old ranks and titles, estates were abolished, and election of command personnel was introduced.
Question. What is demobilization (remember the definition).
Answers: disarmament of the old army, dissolution of soldiers to their homes, all military ranks were abolished.
Teacher: Many soldiers and officers of the old tsarist army who did not agree with the new government, the power of the Bolsheviks, went to serve on the Don with the atamans Kaledin, Denikin, Alekseev and other generals and atamans. A Volunteer Army was formed on the Don under the command of General Lavr Kornilov, which marked the beginning of the white movement, so named in contrast to the red one - revolutionary. White color symbolized law and order. Participants in the white movement considered themselves the spokesmen for the idea of restoring the former power and might of the Russian state and a merciless struggle against those forces that, in their opinion, plunged Russia into chaos and anarchy - the Bolsheviks.
The initially applied volunteer principle of recruitment led to organizational disunity and decentralization in command and control, which had a detrimental effect on the combat effectiveness and discipline of the Red Army. She suffered a number of serious defeats.
That is why, in order to achieve the highest strategic goal - maintaining power Bolsheviks, Lenin considered it possible to abandon his views in the field of military development and return to traditional, “bourgeois”, as he said, principles, i.e. to universal conscription and unity of command.
3. Teacher: Back in the spring of 1918, a decree on compulsory military training was issued. Women could study military affairs voluntarily.
4. April 22, 1918 - the election of commanders was abolished and the first Soviet military oath was introduced, the text of which was compiled by L.D. Trotsky.
On the same day, an important step was taken towards the transition from the voluntary principle of army formation to universal military service: everyone who joined the ranks of the Red Army had to take an oath and serve in it for at least six months.
A Red Army soldier in uniform reads the Military Oath (document - history of the Fatherland).
Teacher: Answer the question, what was the most important, most important thing for those who joined the Red Army?
Student answers.
Teacher: Question one. How long was your service in the Red Army?
Teacher: Remember how many people serve in the modern Russian army?
U: Now let’s look at fragments of the film, pay attention to the first uniform of the Red Army soldiers, what is special about it, what distinguishes it from the modern uniform?
Multimedia frames about the form (3,4,5).
Students' answers: long overcoats, tunics, no insignia, unusual headdresses, many do not have boots, their legs are wrapped in foot wraps.
Teacher: absolutely right, there weren’t enough uniforms for everyone, they dressed according to who had what.
Teacher: On May 20, 1918, there were just over 322 thousand soldiers in the army of the Soviet Republic. Of these, about 200 thousand were armed, about 31 thousand were trained. With such forces it was impossible to resist the troops of the White Guards and interventionists.
“Any revolution is only worth something if it knows how to defend itself,” Lenin said in the fall of 1918.
5. In May 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee issued a decree “On the transition to the general mobilization of workers and poor peasants.”
In July 1918, the law was published, it stated: “persons from 18 to 40 years of age are required to undergo military service" During the summer and autumn of 1918, 300 thousand people were mobilized into the ranks of the Red Army. The resolution also stated that persons unworthy to serve in the army due to their moral qualities were not allowed into its ranks (subsequently a decree was issued “on exemption from military service for religious beliefs”). An alternative service was introduced for them.
The backbone of the army were members of the RCP (b). By the end of the civil war, the Red Army numbered 5.5 million fighters, of which over 700 thousand were workers, 4 million peasants. About 50 thousand officers and generals of the old army, 10 thousand military officials, 40 thousand doctors and medical personnel, mainly from the old tsarist army, were drafted into it. Old military specialists made up 35% of the entire command staff of the Red Army. By January 1, 1919, the ranks of the Red Army consisted of approximately 165 thousand former tsarist officers and soldiers. The involvement of military experts was accompanied by strict “class” control over their activities. And Mikhail Nikolaevich Tukhachevsky was instructed to receive officers of the old army.
Student message. Portrait. Tukhachevsky Mikhail Nikolaevich, a man of exceptional abilities, while studying in the cadet corps, he made a violin with his own hands, they always said about him that he had golden hands, since he always preferred to do everything himself. Graduated with honors cadet corps and was accepted into the Alexander Military School, the end of the school coincided with the beginning of the First World War. Tukhachevsky held the rank of second lieutenant of the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment. In the spring of 1918, he was hired by the military department of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK), and in April he joined the Bolshevik Party. He personally received former officers; his conversations were distinguished by exceptional tact. The new army commander made a huge impression on his interlocutors, and thanks to him, more than one hundred officers then went over to the side of Soviet power. This made it possible to quickly create a field command of the 1st Army, division and brigade headquarters, and organize staff work.
Teacher: Much attention was paid to the formation of new team personnel.
6. In 1917 - 1919, in addition to short-term courses and military schools, higher military educational institutions were opened to train mid-level commanders from the most distinguished Red Army soldiers. The recruitment of military specialists into the army was carried out simultaneously with the introduction of the position of military commissars, who were supposed to control the actions of the commander, were responsible for the combat effectiveness and resilience of the units, and carried out the political education of sailors and Red Army soldiers.
7. In September 1918, for the general management of military actions on the fronts, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (RVSR), consisting of the commander of the front (army) and two commissars, was created. It included L.D. Trotsky (chairman), E.M. Sklyansky, K.Kh. Danishevsky, P.A. Kobozev, I.I. Vatsetis and others.
L.D. Trotsky tells the teacher.
Trotsky L.D., while remaining People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, as Chairman of the RVSR, did a lot to transform the Red Army into a revolutionary, regular army. He actively fought against the so-called opposition, which resisted the introduction of conscription and the involvement of military specialists. He took part in the development of operations to defeat Kolchak, Denikin, Yudenich, and the White Poles. He worked closely with Lenin, who trusted him completely. Trotsky showed a penchant for administration and forceful pressure. Members of the RVSR were endowed with emergency powers (including the execution of traitors and cowards without trial), and they traveled to the most dangerous sectors of the front.
8. Teacher: On September 2, 1918, the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces was established. Vatsetis I.I. became the first commander-in-chief of the republic
Student's speech. – portrait on multimedia.
Vatsetis I.I graduated from the Academy of the General Staff, and participated in the First World War with the rank of colonel. With his regiment he went over to the side of Soviet power. Suppressed
Teacher: Study the document yourself and answer the question, For what purpose was this document adopted?
Student answers: The Republic was in danger, the white units were advancing, it was necessary to defend the cause of the revolution, the power of the Bolsheviks.
Teacher: That's right, the Soviet Republic was in danger.
10. To coordinate the actions of the front and rear, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense was established at the end of November 1918.
Teacher: read the document on the formation of the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense and answer the question: What functions were assigned to the Council?
Student answers: mobilization of all forces and means in the interests of defense.
Teacher: He had to mobilize all the country's resources to defend the Socialist Fatherland. The Defense Council was headed by Lenin. All people's commissariats and the RVSR were subordinate to the Defense Council. Twice a week, at meetings of the Defense Council, issues of the production of weapons, ammunition, supply of the front and rear, and the distribution of human resources were considered.
The greatest threat to Bolshevik power came from the east. To fight back, the Eastern Front was formed. The fighting on the eastern front was heavy and bloody.
A 10,000-strong partisan detachment under the command of V.K. Blucher provided great assistance to the troops of the eastern front.
Student's speech. Portrait.
Blucher V.K. was from peasant background. The landowner nicknamed his grandfather Blucher for his quickness and ingenuity, after the Prussian Field Marshal Blucher. The nickname turned into a surname. Young Vasily worked at a factory, where he became close to the Bolsheviks. During the First World War, he received two St. George Crosses, the St. George Medal, and was promoted to non-commissioned officer. In 1915 he was wounded. Then, with a detachment of Red Guards, he established Soviet power in Chelyabinsk. Organized a rebuff to Ataman Dutov near Orenburg and was cut off from the main forces of the Red Army. In incredibly difficult conditions, Blucher managed to lead his detachment through the rear of the whites. Blucher was the first to be awarded the Order of the Red Banner (since his forty-day journey of one and a half thousand kilometers was equated to Suvorov’s crossing of the Alps).
Teacher: But let's go back. When one of the first decrees the Soviet government abolished all old titles, ranks, estates, it also abolished the royal reward system. In the first years of Soviet power, there was no reward system as such during the year; the Red Heroes were content with modest gifts. For example: “for devotion to the revolution and skillful command of the battery, the red commander - artilleryman, Comrade Nalivaiko, is presented with red trousers.”
U: Let’s remember the film “Officers” (where the commander was also awarded red trousers)
There were often awards in the form of clothes, also because there simply wasn’t enough of it. The desired reward was a watch, a personal weapon, or simply gratitude in front of the line of soldiers.
The first order appeared in the award system of the Soviet government in 1918. It became the Order of the Red Banner of the RSFSR. Order for multimedia. Annex 1
On September 30, 1918, for No. 1, the order was awarded to V.K. Blucher (later received four orders during the civil war, and the fifth in the mid-20s for his work as a military adviser to the revolutionary government of China).
Three more heroes of the Civil War, S.S. Vostretsov, I.F., received four Orders of the Red Banner. Fedko, Ya.F. Fabricius. More than thirty people were awarded this order three times, and about three hundred people - twice. In total, about 15 thousand people became holders of the Order of the Red Banner.
In 1924, the Order of the Red Banner of the USSR was established.
In addition to orders, honorary military breastplates, honorary revolutionary red banners, and honorary firearms appeared.
In the battles with intervention and the civil war, the Red Army was built and formed, young fighters were trained in military affairs, studied the Charter, various military disciplines. And more than once our Red Army was tested by invaders - militarists. A severe test for the people and their armed forces was Patriotic War with fascism.
Teacher: We looked at the history of the creation of the Red Army. What stage do you think was the most difficult and why?
Student answers: probably the first, since the time was very difficult, uncertain, the demobilization of the tsarist army had just taken place, and then there was recruitment into the new Red Army, the danger of intervention loomed over the country, the strengthening of the new power of the Bolsheviks, the people were wondering where to go in white or red, which is better.
Teacher: sums it up.
WITH with good reason It can be considered that the current Russian army is a direct heir to the military glory, experience, and traditions of the Soviet Armed Forces and the Red Army. At the same time, she is the heir to the wonderful traditions and brilliant victories of the Russian army of pre-revolutionary times. She is the heir of those who glorified themselves on the ice of Lake Peipus, the Kulikovo Field, near Poltava, and Borodino, in the famous Brusilovsky breakthrough and the victories of the Great Patriotic War.
Music is playing. Preobrazhensky March. Music "Seeing Off".
