Editing Red Army (section)

===Russian Civil War===
{{Details|Russian Civil War}}
[[File:Soviet Red Army Hammer and Plough.svg|upright|thumb|Hammer and plough cockade used by the Red Army from 1918 to 1922, when it was replaced by the hammer and sickle.<ref>{{cite web |last1= Russian Center of Vexillology and Heraldry |title= символы Красной Армии |url= http://www.vexillographia.ru/russia/RSFSRarm.htm |website= www.vexillographia.ru |publisher= Vexillographia |access-date= 18 June 2019 |archive-date= 18 June 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190618062017/http://www.vexillographia.ru/russia/RSFSRarm.htm |url-status= live }}</ref>]]

The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) can be divided into three periods:

# October 1917 – November 1918, from the [[October Revolution]] to the [[Armistice with Germany|World War I armistice]]. The Bolshevik government's [[nationalization]] of traditional [[Cossack]] lands in November 1917 provoked the insurrection of General [[Alexey Kaledin|Alexey Maximovich Kaledin]]'s [[Volunteer Army]] in the [[Don River, Russia|River Don]] region. The [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] of March 1918 aggravated Russian internal politics. The overall situation encouraged direct [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War]], in which twelve foreign countries supported anti-Bolshevik militias. A series of engagements resulted, involving, amongst others, the [[Czechoslovak Legion]], the [[Polish 5th Rifle Division]], and the pro-Bolshevik Red [[Latvian Riflemen]].
# January 1919 – November 1919, the advance and retreat of the White armies. Initially the White armies advanced successfully: from the south, under General [[Anton Denikin]]; from the east, under Admiral [[Aleksandr Vasilevich Kolchak]]; and from the northwest, under General [[Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich]]. The Whites beat back the Red Army on each front. [[Leon Trotsky]] reformed and counterattacked – the Red Army repelled Admiral Kolchak's army in June, and the armies of General Denikin and General Yudenich in October.<ref name="autogenerated3">{{Harvnb | Erickson | 1962 | pp = 72–73}}.</ref> By mid-November the White armies were all almost completely exhausted. In January 1920 [[Semyon Budyonny|Budenny]]'s [[1st Cavalry Army]] entered [[Rostov-on-Don]].
# 1919 to 1923, residual conflicts. Some peripheral theatres continued to see conflict for two more years, and remnants of the White forces remained in the [[Russian Far East]] into 1923.

At the start of the civil war, the Red Army consisted of 299 [[infantry]] [[regiment]]s.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://fstanitsa.ru/2/41_11.shtml | title = Krasnov | language = ru | place = [[Russia|RU]] | publisher = FST Anitsa | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080604130022/http://fstanitsa.ru/2/41_11.shtml | archive-date = 4 June 2008}}.</ref> The civil war intensified after Lenin dissolved the [[Russian Constituent Assembly]] (5–6 January 1918) and the Soviet government signed the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] (3 March 1918), removing Russia from the First World War. Freed from international obligations, the Red Army confronted an internecine war against a variety of opposing anti-Bolshevik forces, including the [[Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine]] led by [[Nestor Makhno]], the anti-White and anti-Red [[Green armies]], efforts to restore the defeated Provisional Government, monarchists, but mainly the [[White Movement]] of several different [[anti-socialist]] military confederations. "Red Army Day", 23 February 1918, has a two-fold historical significance: it was the first day of conscription (in [[Petrograd]] and Moscow), and the first day of combat against the occupying [[Imperial German Army]].<ref>{{Citation | first = SS | last = Lototskiy | title = The Soviet Army | place = Moscow | publisher = Progress Publishers | year = 1971 | page = 25}} cited in {{Harvnb | Scott | Scott | 1979 | p = 3}}.</ref>{{Efn | 8 February became "Soviet Army Day", a national holiday in the USSR.}}

The Red Army controlled by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic also against independence movements, invading and annexing [[Pro-independence movements in the Russian Civil War|newly independent states]] of the former Russian Empire. This included [[Soviet–Ukrainian War|three military campaigns]] against the [[Ukrainian People's Army|army]] of the [[Ukrainian People's Republic]], in January–February 1918, January–February 1919, and May–October 1920. Conquered nations were subsequently incorporated into the Soviet Union.<ref>Richard Pipes, ''The Formation of the Soviet Union, Communism and Nationalism, 1917–1923'']</ref>

In June 1918, [[Leon Trotsky]] abolished [[workers' control]] over the Red Army, replacing the election of [[Officer (military)|officers]] with traditional army hierarchies and criminalizing dissent with the [[death penalty]]. Simultaneously, Trotsky carried out a mass recruitment of officers from the old [[Imperial Russian Army]], who were employed as [[military advisor]]s (''voenspetsy'').{{Sfn | Overy | 2004 | p = 446 | ps =: 'at the end of the civil war, one-third of Red Army officers were ex-Tsarist ''voenspetsy''.'}}{{Sfn | Erickson | 1962 | pp = 31–34}} The Bolsheviks occasionally enforced the loyalty of such recruits by holding their families as hostages.{{sfn|Williams|1987}}{{Rp | needed = yes | date = September 2013}} As a result of this initiative, in 1918, 75% of the officers were [[Tsarist officers in the Red Army|former tsarists]].{{sfn|Williams|1987|p=71}} By mid-August 1920 the Red Army's former tsarist personnel included 48,000 officers, 10,300 administrators, and 214,000 [[non-commissioned officer]]s.<ref>{{Citation | first = N | last = Efimov | title = Grazhdanskaya Voina 1918–21 |trans-title=The Civil War 1918–21 | volume =  Second | place = Moscow | year = c. 1928 | page = 95 | language = ru}}, cited in {{Harvnb | Erickson | 1962 | p = 33}}</ref> When the civil war ended in 1922, ex-tsarists constituted 83% of the Red Army's divisional and corps commanders.{{sfn|Williams|1987}}{{Sfn | Overy | 2004 | p = 446 | ps =: 'at the end of the civil war, one-third of Red Army officers were ex-Tsarist ''voenspetsy''.'}}

[[File:Demyan Bedny and Leon Trotsky.jpg|thumb|[[Leon Trotsky]] and [[Demyan Bedny]] in 1918]]

In September 1918, the Bolshevik militias consolidated under the supreme command of the [[Revolutionary Military Council]] of the Republic ({{langx|ru|Революционный Военный Совет|translit= Revolyutsionny Voyenny Sovyet (Revvoyensoviet)}}). The first chairman was Trotsky, and the first commander-in-chief was [[Jukums Vācietis]] of the [[Latvian Riflemen]]; in July 1919 he was replaced by [[Sergey Kamenev]]. Soon afterwards Trotsky established the [[Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye|GRU]] (military intelligence) to provide political and military intelligence to Red Army commanders.<ref name="Suvorov, Viktor 1984" /> Trotsky founded the Red Army with an initial Red Guard organization and a core soldiery of Red Guard militiamen and the [[Cheka]] secret police.{{Sfn | Scott | Scott | 1979 | p = 8}} [[Conscription in the Soviet Union|Conscription]] began in June 1918,<ref>{{Citation | last = Read | first = Christopher | title = From Tsar to Soviets | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1996 | page = 137 | quote = By 1920, 77 per cent the enlisted ranks were peasants.}}</ref> and opposition to it was violently suppressed.<ref>{{harvnb|Williams|1987}}. 'Conscription-age (17–40) villagers hid from Red Army draft units; summary hostage executions brought the men out of hiding.'</ref>{{Rp | needed = yes | date = September 2013}}  To control the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Red Army soldiery, the Cheka operated special punitive brigades which suppressed [[anti-communism|anti-communists]], [[Desertion|deserters]], and "[[Enemy of the state|enemies of the state]]".<ref name="Suvorov, Viktor 1984">{{Citation | last = Suvorov | first = Viktor | title = Inside Soviet Military Intelligence | place = New York | publisher = Macmillan | year = 1984}}.</ref>{{Sfn | Chamberlain | 1957 | p = 131}}

[[File:Lenin, Trotsky and Voroshilov with Delegates of the 10th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks).jpg|thumb|right|[[Vladimir Lenin]], [[Kliment Voroshilov]], [[Leon Trotsky]] and soldiers, [[Petrograd]], 1921]]

In 1919, 612 "hardcore" deserters of the total 837,000 draft dodgers and deserters were executed following Trotsky's draconian measures.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reese |first1=Roger R. |title=Russia's Army: A History from the Napoleonic Wars to the War in Ukraine |date=2023 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-9356-4 |page=109 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hWS2EAAAQBAJ&dq=trotsky+desertion+612&pg=PA109 |language=en |access-date=7 May 2024 |archive-date=22 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240422142207/https://books.google.com/books?id=hWS2EAAAQBAJ&dq=trotsky%20desertion%20612&pg=PA109 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Figes, "a majority of deserters (most registered as "weak-willed") were handed back to the military authorities, and formed into units for transfer to one of the rear armies or directly to the front". Even those registered as "malicious" deserters were returned to the ranks when the demand for reinforcements became desperate". Forges also noted that the Red Army instituted [[amnesty]] weeks to prohibit punitive measures against desertion which encouraged  the voluntary return of 98,000–132,000 deserters to the army.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Figes |first1=Orlando |title=The Red Army and Mass Mobilization during the Russian Civil War 1918–1920 |journal=Past & Present |date=1990 |issue=129 |pages=168–211 |doi=10.1093/past/129.1.168 |jstor=650938 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/650938 |issn=0031-2746 |access-date=7 May 2024 |archive-date=3 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231003024839/https://www.jstor.org/stable/650938 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Red Army used special regiments for ethnic minorities, such as the Dungan Cavalry Regiment commanded by the [[Dungan people|Dungan]] [[Magaza Masanchi]].<ref>{{Cite book | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=drhBAAAAYAAJ&q=of+the+Dungan+Cavalry+Regiment+including+its+commander+Magaza+Masanchin |title= Situating Central Asian review | volume = 16 | year= 1968 | publisher= The Central Asian Research Centre in association with the Soviet Affairs Study Group, St. Antony's College | place = London; Oxford | page= 250 | access-date= 1 January 2011}}</ref> It also co-operated with armed Bolshevik Party-oriented volunteer units, the [[Forces of Special Purpose]] from 1919 to 1925.<ref>{{cite book
 |last1       = Khvostov
 |first1      = Mikhail
 |title       = The Russian Civil War (1): The Red Army
 |url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=UBbSGEaFZkIC
 |series      = Men-at-arms series
 |volume      = 1
 |publisher   = [[Osprey Publishing]]
 |date        = 1995
 |pages       = 15–16
 |isbn        = 978-1855326088
 |access-date = 2014-10-27
 |quote       = Only volunteers could join, they had to be aged between 14 and 55 and of fanatic loyalty – communists, idealistic workers and peasants, trade union members and members of the Young Comm[...]unist League (''Komsomol''). ''Chasti osobogo naznacheniya'' units fought in close co-operation with the Cheka and played an important part in the establishment of Soviet rule and the defeat of counter-revolution. They were always present at the most dangerous points on the battlefield, and were usually the last to withdraw. When retreat was the only option, many ''chonovtsi'' stayed behind in occupied areas to form clandestine networks and partisan detachments.
}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
Compare [[spetsnaz]].</ref>

The slogan "exhortation, organization, and reprisals" expressed the discipline and motivation which helped ensure the Red Army's tactical and strategic success. On campaign, the attached Cheka special punitive brigades conducted summary field [[court-martial]] and executions of deserters and slackers.{{Sfn | Chamberlain | 1957 | p = 131}}<ref>{{Citation | last = Daniels | first = Robert V | title = A Documentary History of Communism in Russia: From Lenin to Gorbachev | publisher = UPNE | year = 1993 | isbn = 978-0-87451-616-6 | page = 70 | quote = The Cheka Special Punitive Brigades also were charged with detecting sabotage and counter-revolution among Red Army soldiers and commanders.}}</ref> Under Commissar [[Yan Karlovich Berzin]], the brigades took hostages from the villages of deserters to compel their surrender; one in ten of those returning was executed. The same tactic also suppressed peasant rebellions in areas controlled by the Red Army, the biggest of these being the [[Tambov Rebellion]].<ref>{{Citation | last = Brovkin | first = Vladimire | title = Workers' Unrest and the Bolsheviks' Response in 1919 | journal = Slavic Review | volume = 49 | number = 3 |date= Autumn 1990 | pages = 350–373 | doi= 10.2307/2499983| jstor = 2499983 | s2cid = 163240797 }}.</ref> The Soviets enforced the loyalty of the various political, ethnic, and national groups in the Red Army through [[political commissar]]s attached at the [[brigade]] and regimental levels. The commissars also had the task of spying on commanders for [[political correctness|political incorrectness]].{{Sfn | Erickson | 1962 | pp = 38–39}} In August 1918, Trotsky authorized General [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky]] to place [[barrier troops|blocking units]] behind politically unreliable Red Army units, to shoot anyone who retreated without permission.<ref>{{Citation | first = Dmitri | last = Volkogonov | title = Trotsky: The Eternal Revolutionary | editor-first = Harold | editor-last = Shukman | publisher = HarperCollins | place = London | year = 1996 | page = 180}}.</ref> In 1942, during the [[Great Patriotic War]] (1941–1945) [[Joseph Stalin]] reintroduced the blocking policy and [[Penal military unit|penal battalions]] with [[Order No. 227|Order 227]].

In the spring of 1919, Anna Novikova was enrolled in the school of infantry commanders in Moscow. After completing military training, she became the first woman to command a combat unit of the Red Army. In 1920, she fought on an [[armored train]].<ref>В. Новоселов. "Всю жизнь..." // газета "[[Pravda|Правда]]" от 21 января 1986</ref>