Editing Leon Trotsky (section)

=== Head of the Red Army (spring 1918) ===
[[File:Leon Trotsky Armored Train 1920.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|Trotsky speaks from [[Trotsky's train|his armoured train]] during the civil war in 1920]]
On 13 March 1918, Trotsky's resignation as Foreign Affairs Commissar was accepted. He was appointed People's Commissar of Army and Navy Affairs, replacing Podvoisky, and chairman of the Supreme Military Council. The post of commander-in-chief was abolished, giving Trotsky full control of the Red Army, responsible only to the Communist Party leadership, whose Left Socialist Revolutionary allies had left the government over the treaty.
The entire Bolshevik Red Army leadership, including former Defence Commissar [[Nikolai Podvoisky]] and commander-in-chief [[Nikolai Krylenko]], vigorously protested Trotsky's appointment and eventually resigned. They believed the Red Army should consist only of dedicated revolutionaries, rely on propaganda and force, and have elected officers. They viewed former imperial officers as potential traitors. Their views remained popular, and their supporters, including Podvoisky (who became one of Trotsky's deputies), were a constant source of opposition. Discontent with Trotsky's policies of strict discipline, [[conscription]], and reliance on supervised non-Communist military experts led to the [[Military Opposition]], active within the Party in late 1918–1919.<ref name="Life XXXVI">{{cite book|title=My Life|last=Trotsky|first=Leon|chapter=XXXVI|year=1930|chapter-url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/mylife/ch36.htm|title-link=My Life (Leon Trotsky autobiography)}}</ref>