Rkka: how the "invincible and legendary" was created. Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (abbr.

Vladimir Lenin believed that in the country of the victorious proletariat, the need for regular army will disappear. In 1917, he wrote the work "State and Revolution", where he advocated the replacement of the regular army with the general armament of the people.

The armament of the people by the end of the First World War was indeed close to universal. True, by no means all the people were ready to defend the “gains of the revolution” with arms in their hands.
At the first clashes "with the cruel revolutionary reality," the idea of ​​a voluntary principle of recruitment into the Red Guard detachments showed its complete unviability.

"The principle of voluntariness" as a factor in inciting civil war

The detachments of the Red Guard, assembled in late 1917 and early 1918 from volunteers, quickly degenerated into semi-bandit or openly bandit formations. Here is how one of the delegates to the VIII Congress of the RCP (b) recalls this period of the formation of the Red Army: “... The best elements were knocked out, died, were captured, and thus a selection of the worst elements was created. These worst elements were joined by those who went to the volunteer army not to fight and die, but went because they were left without work, because they were thrown into the street as a result of a catastrophic breakdown of the entire social order. Finally, just the half-rotten remnants of the old army went there ... ".
It was the "gangster bias" of the first Red Army detachments that provoked the proliferation of the civil war. Suffice it to recall the uprisings of the Don Cossacks in April 1918, outraged by the "revolutionary" lawlessness.

The real birthday of the Red Army

Around the holiday on February 23, many copies broke and breaks. Its supporters say that it was on this day that the “revolutionary consciousness of the working masses” woke up, spurred on by the just published appeal of the Council of People’s Commissars of February 21 “The socialist fatherland is in danger”, as well as the “Appeal of the Military Commander-in-Chief” Nikolai Krylenko, which ended with the words : “All to arms. All in defense of the revolution." In major cities central Russia, first of all, rallies were held in Petrograd and Moscow, after which thousands of volunteers signed up for the Red Army. With their help, in March 1918, with difficulty, it was possible to stop the advance of small German units approximately on the line of the modern Russian-Estonian border.

On January 15 (28), 1918, the Council of People's Commissars of Soviet Russia issued a Decree on the Creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (published on January 20 (February 2), 1918). However, it seems that April 22, 1918 can be considered the real birthday of the Red Army. On this day, by the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee "On the procedure for filling positions in the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army", the election of command personnel was canceled. The commanders of individual units, brigades, divisions began to be appointed by the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs, and the commanders of battalions, companies and platoons were recommended for positions by local military registration and enlistment offices.

The Bolsheviks in the construction of the Red Army once again demonstrated the skillful use of "double standards". If in order to destroy and demoralize the tsarist army, they welcomed its “democratization” in every possible way, then the aforementioned decree returned the Red Army to the “vertical of power”, without which not a single combat-ready army in the world can exist.

From Democracy to Decimation

Leon Trotsky played an important role in the formation of the Red Army. It was he who set the course for building an army on traditional principles: unity of command, restoration death penalty, mobilization, restoration of insignia, a uniform uniform and even military parades, the first of which took place on May 1, 1918 in Moscow, on the Khodynka field. An important step was the fight against the "military anarchism" of the first months of the existence of the Red Army. For example, executions for desertion were restored. By the end of 1918, the power of the military committees was reduced to nothing.
People's Commissar Trotsky personal example showed the red commanders how to restore discipline. On August 10, 1918, he arrived in Sviyazhsk to take part in the battles for Kazan. When the 2nd Petrograd Regiment arbitrarily fled from the battlefield, Trotsky applied the ancient Roman ritual of decimation to deserters (execution of every tenth by lot). On August 31, Trotsky personally shot 20 people from among the unauthorized retreating units of the 5th Army.
With the filing of Trotsky, by a decree of July 29, the entire population of the country liable for military service between the ages of 18 and 40 was registered and military horse duty was established. This made it possible to sharply increase the size of the armed forces. In September 1918, about half a million people were already in the ranks of the Red Army - two with once again more than 5 months ago.
By 1920, the number of the Red Army was already more than 5.5 million people.

Commissioners are the key to success

The sharp increase in the number of the Red Army led to the fact that an acute shortage of competent, trained military commanders began to be felt. Voluntarily, according to various sources, from 2 to 8 thousand former "tsarist officers" joined the ranks of the Red Army. This was clearly not enough. Therefore, in relation to the most suspicious from the point of view of the Bolsheviks social group also had to resort to the method of mobilization. However, they could not rely entirely on the "military experts", as the officers of the Imperial Army began to be called. This is also why the institute of commissars was introduced in the troops, who looked after the "former".
This step played almost leading role at the end of the Civil War. It was the commissars, who were all members of the RCP(b), who undertook political work both with the troops and with the population. Relying on a powerful propaganda apparatus, they intelligibly explained to the fighters why it was necessary to fight for Soviet power "to the last drop of workers' and peasants' blood." While explaining the goals of the "whites", as an additional burden fell on the officers, who basically had a purely military education and were completely unprepared for such work. Therefore, not only ordinary White Guards, but also the officers themselves often did not have a clear idea of ​​what they were fighting for.

The Reds defeated the Whites more by numbers than skill. So, even in the most difficult period for the Bolsheviks at the end of the summer - in the fall of 1919, when the fate of the world's first Soviet republic hung in the balance, the number of the Red Army exceeded the combined number of all the White armies at that time, according to various sources from 1.5 to 3 times.
One of the outstanding phenomena in the history of military art was the legendary red cavalry. At first, a clear advantage in the cavalry was for the whites, for whom, as you know, the majority of the Cossacks spoke. In addition, the South and South-East of Russia (territories where horse breeding was traditionally developed) were cut off from the Bolsheviks. But gradually, from separate red cavalry regiments and cavalry detachments, a transition began to the formation of brigades, and then divisions. So, a small cavalry partisan detachment of Semyon Budyonny, created in February 1918, grew within a year to a consolidated cavalry division of the Tsaritsyn Front, and then to the First Cavalry Army, which played an important, and, according to some historians, a decisive role in the defeat of Denikin's army . During the years of the Civil War, in individual operations, the red cavalry accounted for up to half of the total number of troops involved in the Red Army. Often horse attacks were supported by powerful machine gun fire from carts.

The success of the combat operations of the Soviet cavalry during the years of the Civil War was facilitated by the vastness of the theaters of operations, the stretching of the opposing armies on broad fronts, the presence of gaps that were poorly covered or not at all occupied by troops, which were used by cavalry formations to reach the enemy’s flanks and carry out deep raids in his rear. Under these conditions, the cavalry could fully realize its combat properties and capabilities: mobility, surprise attacks, speed and decisiveness of actions.

On February 23, 1918, a new military force appeared in Russia - the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA). The members of the young military organization received their baptism of fire in clashes with the White Guards, as well as German and Polish troops. Despite the lack of professional personnel and proper combat training, the soldiers of the Red Army were able to turn the tide of world history by winning the Great Patriotic War. Despite the political upheavals of the last hundred years domestic army remained faithful to military traditions. About the main stages of the creation and development of the Red Army - in the material RT.

• Cavalry of the Red Army during the Civil War
• RIA News

The Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) was born on the territory of the former Russian Empire. From November 1917, the nominal leadership of the state was carried out by the Bolsheviks (RSDLP (b), the radical wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party).

In opposition to them was most of"old-mode" generals. It was he, along with the Cossacks, who formed the backbone of the White Guard movement. In addition, the main external opponents of the new political structure Russia was Kaiser Germany (until November 1918), Poland, Great Britain, France and the USA.

A powerful military grouping was supposed to protect the young socialist republic from political opponents and foreign troops. The Bolsheviks took the first steps in this direction in the winter of 1917-1918.

The Soviet authorities liquidated the recruiting system for the tsarist army, abolishing all ranks and ranks. On January 28, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR adopted a Decree on the creation of the Red Army, and on February 11, on the creation of a fleet. Nevertheless, February 23 is considered the founding day of the Red Army - the date of publication of the appeal of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) "The socialist fatherland is in danger!".

The document spoke of the expansionist plans of "German militarism". In this regard, the citizens of the RSFSR were called upon to throw all their forces and means into the "cause of the revolutionary struggle." Military personnel in the western regions had to defend "every position to the last drop of blood."

From workers, peasants and "able-bodied members of the bourgeois class" battalions were created to dig trenches under the guidance of military specialists. Speculators, hooligans, agents and spies of the enemy, as well as counter-revolutionaries, were to be shot at the scene of the crime.

• German troops in Kyiv, March 1918
• RIA News

At the stage of formation

The Red Army was formed in the most difficult military-political and economic conditions. Before coming to power, the Bolsheviks sought to demoralize the tsarist military by calling the war with Germany and Austria-Hungary "imperialist". The leader of the RSDLP (b), Vladimir Lenin, demanded a separate peace with the Germans and predicted an imminent regime change in Berlin.

After the seizure of power, the Bolsheviks refused to fight against Kaiser's Germany, but they failed to agree on peace. Taking advantage of Russia's weakness, German troops occupied Ukraine and became a real threat to the Bolshevik government.

At the same time, "counter-revolutionary" forces were growing in the former Russian Empire. In the south of Russia, in the Volga region and in the Urals, White Guard formations were formed. The opposition of the RSDLP (b) was supported by Western countries, which in 1918-1919 occupied part of the coastal territories of the country.

The Bolsheviks needed to create a combat-ready army, and to the maximum short term. For some time this was hindered by the excessively democratic views of the ideologists of Bolshevism.

However, such a view of the purpose of the armed forces of the Council of People's Commissars, which was headed by Lenin, had to be abandoned. In January 1918, the Bolsheviks actually headed for the construction of a typical regular army, which is based on the principles of unity of command, the "vertical of power" and the inevitability of punishment for non-execution of orders.

• Vladimir Lenin on Sverdlov Square in front of the troops, Moscow, May 5, 1920
• RIA News
• G. Goldstein

The paper approves the conscription system for recruiting troops. Citizens under the age of 18 could serve in the Red Army. Red Army soldiers were assigned a monthly salary of 50 rubles. The Red Army was proclaimed an instrument for protecting the rights of workers and was supposed to consist of "exploited classes."

The Red Army was declared "the worst enemy of capitalism", and therefore was completed according to the class principle. The commanding staff were to include only workers and peasants. The term of service in the infantry of the Red Army was set at one and a half years, in the cavalry - two and a half years. At the same time, the Bolsheviks convinced the citizens that the regular character of the Red Army would gradually change to a "militia" one.

In their achievements, the Bolsheviks recorded a significant reduction in the number of troops compared with the tsarist period - from 5 million to 600 thousand people. However, by 1920, about 5.5 million soldiers and officers were already serving in the ranks of the Red Army.

Young army

A huge contribution to the formation of the Red Army was made by the People's Commissar for Military Affairs of the RSFSR (since March 17, 1918) Lev Trotsky. He eliminated any indulgence, restoring the authority of commanders and the practice of executions for desertion.

Iron discipline, combined with active propaganda of revolutionary ideas and the fight against the invaders, became the key to the success of the Red Army on the eastern, southern and western fronts. By 1920, the Bolsheviks had conquered regions rich in natural resources, which made it possible to provide troops with food and ammunition.

Changes for the better occurred in relations with Western countries. In 1919, German troops left Ukraine, and in 1920 the interventionists left the previously occupied Russian territories. However, bloody battles in 1919-1921 unfolded with the recreated Polish state.

The Soviet-Polish war ended with the signing of the Riga Peace Treaty on March 18, 1921. Warsaw, which had previously been part of the Russian Empire, received the vast lands of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.

At the end of 1920, when the threat of Bolshevik power had passed, Lenin announced a mass demobilization. The size of the army fell to half a million people, and the citizens who served were recorded in the reserve. In the mid-1920s, the Red Army was recruited according to the territorial-militia principle.

About 80% of the Armed Forces (AF) were citizens who were called up for military training. This approach was generally consistent with the concept of Lenin, set out in the book "State and Revolution", but in practice only exacerbated the problem of a shortage of qualified personnel.

Cardinal changes took place in the mid-1930s, when the territorial principle was abolished, and a profound reform was carried out in the command and control bodies of the Armed Forces. The size of the army began to grow, by 1941 reaching about 5 million people.

“In 1918, the country had a young army, into which many specialists from the tsarist army joined. The command staff was represented mainly by red commanders, who were trained from former non-commissioned officers and officers of the tsarist army. However, the problem of the lack of new command personnel was extremely acute. In the future, it was solved by creating new military schools and academies, ”Mikhail Myagkov, scientific director of the Russian Military Historical Society (RVIO), told RT.

Rising power

The achievements of the pre-war period include an unprecedented increase in production in the defense industry. The Soviet government almost completely eliminated dependence on the import of weapons technology and military products.

The Red Army won its first war after the reorganization at the cost of monstrous losses. In 1939, Moscow was unable to agree with Helsinki on the transfer of the border from Leningrad and threw troops against the Finns. On March 12, 1940, the territorial claims of the USSR were satisfied.

• Soviet troops near Fort Ino Karelian Isthmus, 1939-1940
• RIA News

However, in three-month battles, the Red Army lost more than 120 thousand military personnel against 26 thousand from Finland. The war with Helsinki showed serious problems in logistics (lack of warm clothes) and a lack of experience among the commanding staff.

Historians most often explain the major defeats that the Soviet Armed Forces suffered in the first months of 1941 with such shortcomings in the planning of military operations. Despite the superiority in tanks, aircraft and artillery before the war with Germany, the Red Army experienced a shortage of fuel, spare parts, and most importantly, a shortage of personnel.

In November - December 1941, the Soviet troops managed to win the first and most important victory at that time: to stop the Nazis near Moscow. 1942 was a turning point for the army. Despite the loss of key industrial areas in the west of the country, the Soviet Union established the production of weapons and ammunition and improved the training system for soldiers and junior command levels.

In the incredible Red Army gained experience and knowledge, which was lacking in the fateful 1941. A vivid proof of the increased power of the Soviet Armed Forces was (February 2, 1943). Six months later, on the Kursk Bulge, Germany suffered the largest tank defeat, and in 1944 the Red Army liberated the entire territory of the USSR.

The Red Army gained immortal worldwide fame thanks to the mission to liberate Central and of Eastern Europe. Soviet troops drove the Nazis out of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, East Germany and Austria. The assault flag of the 150th Infantry Division, which was hoisted over the Reichstag building on May 1, 1945, became the symbol of the Victory over Nazism.

• Soviet soldiers at the Reichstag in Berlin, May 1945
• RIA News

After the end of the Second World War, the leadership of the USSR disbanded all fronts, established military districts and began large-scale demobilization, reducing the strength of the Armed Forces from 11 to 2.5 million people. On February 25, 1946, the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army was renamed the Soviet Army. Instead of the People's Commissariat of Defense, the Ministry of the Armed Forces appeared. However, the "Red Army" did not leave the lexicon of the military.

With the growing tension in relations with the West, the number and role of the Soviet Armed Forces increased again. Since the 1950s, Moscow began to prepare for the prospect of a large-scale land war with NATO. By the end of the 1960s, the USSR had an arsenal of tens of thousands of armored vehicles and artillery.

The Soviet war machine reached its peak in the mid-1980s. With the coming to power of Mikhail Gorbachev (1985), the confrontation with the United States has noticeably decreased. The Soviet army (in parallel with the US Armed Forces) entered a period of disarmament, which continued until the end of the 1990s.

The Soviet army ceased to exist with the paperwork on the collapse of the USSR in December 1991. However, some researchers believe that de facto the Soviet Armed Forces continued to exist until 1993, that is, until the withdrawal of the group of troops from East Germany.

• A group of Soviet troops in Germany at tactical exercises
• RIA News

Return of traditions

In an interview with RT, the chief researcher of the Central Museum Armed Forces Russian Federation Vladimir Afanasyev noted that the Red Army, despite the radical political changes, absorbed many traditions of the tsarist army.

“Former traditions were restored from the first months of the existence of the Red Army. The personal military ranks. On the eve of the Great Patriotic War general ranks were reintroduced, and during the war years, many traditions found a second life: shoulder straps, honorary names of units and formations, salutes in honor of the liberation of cities returned, ”said Afanasyev.

The bearers of traditions were not only personnel of the tsarist period, but also military establishments. According to the expert, the Soviet authorities created Suvorov schools in the image and likeness of the cadet corps. Their formation was initiated by the tsarist general Alexei Alekseevich Ignatiev. The tradition has also returned to enlist distinguished soldiers in the lists of units forever.

• Soldiers at the Victory Parade
• RIA News
• Alexander Wilf

“A significant part of the military schools that functioned in tsarist times continued to work after the revolution. This is the Mikhailovskaya Military Artillery Academy, and the Academy of the General Staff. Therefore, we can say that almost all Soviet military leaders were students of the tsarist military minds, ”said Afanasiev.

Myagkov believes that the most intensive stage of the return of pre-revolutionary traditions occurred during the Great Patriotic War.

“In 1943, shoulder straps were introduced. Many World War I veterans who fought in the 1940s wore royal decorations. These were symbolic examples of continuity. Also during the Great Patriotic War, the Order of Glory was introduced, which, in its statute and in its colors, resembled the St. George awards, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.

Historians are sure that they are the successors of the Soviet troops. They simultaneously inherited the traditions of the Red Army and the pre-revolutionary imperial army: patriotism, devotion to the people, loyalty to the banner and their military unit.

Let's recall the curious stories from the life of Chapaev, Budyonny, Frunze, Shchors and Kotovsky.
Semyon Budyonny was born on April 25, 1883. Songs and legends were composed about the chief cavalryman of the Land of the Soviets, cities and towns were named after him. In the memory of many generations, the commander of the Cavalry remained a folk hero. One of the first Soviet marshals, three times Hero of the Soviet Union, lived to be 90 years old.
Vasily Chapaev
1. In February 1887, Vasily Chapaev was born in the village of Budaika, Cheboksary district, Kazan province. At baptism, he was recorded as Gavrilov. He inherited the nickname "Chapai", or rather "Chapai", from his father, and he inherited from his grandfather Stepan, who worked as a senior in the cooperative of loaders and constantly urged the workers by shouting: "Chop, chop!" The word meant "chain", that is, "take". The nickname "Chapai" remained with Stepan Gavrilovich. The nickname “Chapaevs” was assigned to the descendants, which then became the official surname.

Vasily Chapaev on a postcard from IZOGIZ, USSR

2. Vasily Chapaev was almost the first of the red commanders to move to a car. It was the technique that was the real weakness of the division commander. At first he liked the American "Stever", then this car seemed to him shaky. They sent a bright red chic Packard to replace it. However, this machine was not suitable for military operations in the steppe. Therefore, under Chapaev, two Fords were always on duty, easily squeezing up to 70 miles per hour off-road.

When subordinates did not go on duty, the division commander raged: “Comrade Khvesin! I will complain about you to the CEC! You give me an order and demand that I carry it out, but I can’t walk along the entire front, it’s impossible for me to ride. I demand to immediately send for the division and for the cause of the revolution one motorcycle with a sidecar, two passenger car, four supply trucks!”

Vasily Ivanovich personally selected drivers. One of them, Nikolai Ivanov, was taken almost by force from Chapaev to Moscow and made the personal driver of Lenin's sister, Anna Ulyanova-Elizarova.
The nickname "Chapai", or rather, "Chapai", Vasily Ivanovich inherited from his grandfather.

3. Chapaev did not learn to read and write, but tried to get a higher military education. It is known that Vasily Ivanovich displayed in his questionnaire for those entering the accelerated course of the Academy of the General Staff, filled out by him personally. Question: “Are you an active party member? What was your activity? Answer: “I belong. Formed seven regiments of the Red Army. Question: What awards do you have? Answer: “Georgievsky Cavalier of four degrees. The watch was also handed over. Question: What is your general education? Answer: Self-taught. And, finally, the most interesting thing is the conclusion of the attestation commission: “Enroll as having a revolutionary military experience. Almost illiterate."

Semyon Budyonny
1. The legendary marshal managed to start a family only on the third attempt. The first wife, a front-line friend Nadezhda, accidentally shot herself with a pistol. About his second wife, Olga Stefanovna, Budyonny himself wrote to the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office: “In the first months of 1937 ... I.V. Stalin said in a conversation with me that, as he knows from Yezhov’s information, my wife is Budyonny-Mikhailova Olga Stefanovna behaves indecently and thereby compromises me and that, he emphasized, this is unprofitable for us in any way, we will not allow this to anyone ... ”Olga ended up in the camps ... The second cousin of the marshal became the third wife. She was 34 years younger than Semyon Mikhailovich, but Budyonny fell in love like a boy. “Hello, my dear mother! I received your letter and remembered September 20, which bound us for life, ”he wrote from the front of Mary. - It seems to me that you and I grew up together since childhood. I love you infinitely and until the end of my last heartbeat I will love you. You are my most beloved creature, you, who brought happiness - our own children ... Hello to you, my dear, I kiss you tightly, your Semyon.
“This, Semyon, is not your mustache, but a folk one ...,” said Frunze to Budyonny when he decided to shave them off.

2. There is a legend that during the battles for the Crimea, when Budyonny was checking captured cartridges - whether they were smokeless or not, he brought a cigarette to them. The gunpowder flared up and scorched one mustache, which turned gray. Since then, Semyon Mikhailovich tinted it. Budyonny wanted to completely shave off his mustache, but Mikhail Frunze dissuaded him: “This, Semyon, is not your mustache, but a folk one ...”

Semyon Budyonny on a postcard from IZOGIZ, USSR

3. Semyon Budyonny before recent years was an excellent rider. In Moscow, on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, near the panorama, there is a famous monument - Kutuzov on horseback. So, the sculptor Tomsky sculpted the commander's horse from Budyonny's horse. It was Semyon Mikhailovich's favorite - the Sophist. He was incredibly handsome - Don breed, reddish color. When the marshal came to Tomsky to visit the horse, they say, the Sophist found out from the engine of the car that his owner had arrived. And when Budyonny was gone, the Sophist wept like a man.

Mikhail Frunze
1. Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze was born in the city of Pishpek in the family of a retired paramedic and a Voronezh peasant woman. Misha was the second of five children. His father died early (the future commander was then only 12 years old), the family was in need, and the state paid for the education of two older brothers. Subjects were easy for Misha, especially languages, and the director of the gymnasium considered the child to be a genius. educational institution Mikhail graduated in 1904 with a gold medal, without exams he was enrolled in the economic department of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University.

Mikhail Frunze on a postcard from IZOGIZ, USSR

2. Frunze later recalled his impetuous military career: he received his primary military education by shooting at officers in Shuya, the secondary education against Kolchak, and the higher education on the Southern Front, defeating Wrangel. Mikhail Vasilievich possessed personal courage, he liked to be in front of the troops: in 1919, near Ufa, the commander was even shell-shocked. Frunze did not hesitate to punish the insurgent peasants for "class irresponsibility." But most importantly, he showed the talent of the organizer and the ability to select competent specialists. True, the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, Lev Trotsky, did not delight in this gift. In his opinion, the military leader "was fascinated by abstract schemes, he was poorly versed in people and easily fell under the influence of specialists, mostly secondary ones."
The children of Mikhail Frunze - Tanya and Timur - were raised by Kliment Voroshilov.

3. After a car accident, Frunze once again developed a stomach ulcer - he caught the disease while still a prisoner of the Vladimir Central. The People's Commissariat of Defense did not survive the subsequent operation. According to the official version, the cause of death was a combination of hard-to-diagnose diseases that led to heart failure. But a year later, the writer Boris Pilnyak put forward the version that Stalin thus got rid of a potential competitor. By the way, shortly before the death of Mikhail Vasilyevich, an article was published in the English "Airplane" where he was called the "Russian Napoleon". Meanwhile, Frunze's wife could not bear the death of her husband: in despair, the woman committed suicide. Their children - Tanya and Timur - were raised by Kliment Voroshilov.

Grigory Kotovsky
1. Grigory Ivanovich Kotovsky, the son of an engineer-nobleman, began his bandit career by killing the father of his beloved, Prince Kantakuzin, who opposed the meetings of lovers. At the same time, he deprived his passion of property by burning her estate. Hiding in the woods, Kotovsky put together a gang, which included former convicts and other professional criminals. Their robberies, murders, robberies, extortion shook the whole of Bessarabia. All this was done with audacity, cynicism and frontierism. More than once, law enforcement officers caught the adventurer, but thanks to his great physical strength and dexterity, he managed to escape every time. In 1907, Kotovsky was sentenced to 12 years of hard labor, but in 1913 he fled from Nerchinsk and already in 1915 led a new gang in his native land.

Grigory Kotovsky on a postcard from IZOGIZ, USSR

2. Kotovsky gave the impression of an intelligent, courteous person, easily aroused the sympathy of many. Contemporaries pointed to the enormous strength of Gregory. From childhood, he began to engage in weight lifting, boxing, and loved horse racing. In life, this was very useful to him: strength gave independence, power, frightened enemies and victims. Kotovsky of that time is steel fists, a frantic temper and a craving for all sorts of pleasures. In cities, he always appeared under the guise of a rich, elegant aristocrat, posing as a landowner, merchant, company representative, manager, machinist, representative for the procurement of products for the army. He liked to visit the theaters, boasting about his brutal appetite, for example, scrambled eggs from 25 eggs. Thoroughbred horses, gambling and women were his weakness.
The weakness of Grigory Kotovsky was thoroughbred horses, gambling and women.

3. The death of Grigory Ivanovich is shrouded in the same unsolved mystery as his life. According to one version, the new economic policy of the Soviet state allowed the legendary brigade commander to quite legally and legally engage in big business. Under his command was a whole network of sugar factories in Uman, trade in meat, bread, soap, tanneries and cotton factories. Some hop plantations in the subsidiary farm of the 13th Cavalry Regiment brought up to 1.5 million gold rubles per year of net profit. Kotovsky is also credited with the idea of ​​creating the Moldavian autonomy, in which he wanted to rule over a kind of Soviet prince. Be that as it may, the appetites of Grigory Ivanovich began to irritate the Soviet "top".

Nikolai Shchors
1. Nikolai Shchors was born in the small town of Snovsk. In 1909 he graduated from the parochial school. The career of a priest did not suit him very much, but Nikolai decided to go to the seminary. The son of a railroad engineer did not want to turn bolts and nuts in the depot. When the first shots of the German war rang out, Shchors enthusiastically responded to the call to the army. Being a literate guy, he was immediately assigned to the Kyiv school of military paramedics. After a year and a half of fighting, he moved from the trenches of the First World War to the audience of the Poltava Military School, which trained junior warrant officers for the active army at an accelerated four-month course. Clever and sensitive by nature, Nikolai realized that the school produced only semblances of "their nobility." This fixed in him a peculiar complex of resentment at the inequality of real officers and "cannon fodder". Therefore, over time, Shchors willingly went under the scarlet banners, forgetting about what he received the day before February Revolution the rank of lieutenant.
Until 1935, the name of Shchors was not widely known, even the TSB did not mention him.

2. Until 1935, the name of Shchors was not widely known, even the TSB did not mention him. In February 1935, presenting Alexander Dovzhenko with the Order of Lenin, Stalin suggested that the artist create a film about the "Ukrainian Chapaev", which was done. Later, several books, songs, even an opera were written about Shchors, schools, streets, villages and even a city were named after him. In 1936, Matvey Blanter (music) and Mikhail Golodny (lyrics) wrote The Song of Shchors.

Nikolai Shchors on a postcard from IZOGIZ, USSR

3. When in 1949 the body of Nikolai Shchors was exhumed in Kuibyshev, it was found well-preserved, practically incorrupt, although it had lain in a coffin for 30 years. This is explained by the fact that when Shchors was buried in 1919, his body was previously embalmed, soaked in a cool solution table salt and placed in a sealed zinc coffin.

Military pressure on Soviet Russia already in the spring of 1918 set the stage for the creation of a large, combat-ready Red Army, but it was not easy to do this quickly. Until mid-January 1918, the main task was to democratize the old army. 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 recruited from among the class-conscious workers and the poorest 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, 306,000 people (250,000 Red Army men and 34,000 Red Guards) served in the Red Army units, 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 draft ages, and on July 10, 1918, the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets legislated the transition to manning 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 states, uniforms, or weapons of the same type. The management of military units was carried out by elected commanders and collegiate bodies. The level of discipline and combat training of the Red Army and the "commanders" was low. The suspicion of the authorities towards the officer corps and the hostility of many officers to the Bolsheviks remained. All this had to be overcome resolutely and in a short time.

The transition to universal conscription made it possible to sharply increase the size of the Red Army: in the autumn of 1918 it exceeded half a million, and by the end of the year - 1 million fighters. 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." The name of People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs L. D. Trotsky is associated with the widespread and deliberate use of repressions against violators of military discipline. In addition to the death penalty restored back in February, in the summer and autumn of 1918, decimation was resorted to at the fronts - the execution of every tenth fighter who conceded a unit without an order.

To improve professionalism, it was decided to recruit officers and generals of the former regime into the new army. Lenin considered the use of military specialists as one of the forms of class struggle. In order to exercise party control over them, an 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 cooperated with it. In general, during the years of 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 management and concentration of resources. From 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-Glavshtab, which organized the rear, recruited and trained 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, on a regular basis - twice a week, the Council discussed emerging problems and took prompt measures to overcome difficulties. He also made decisions on declaring certain regions of the country in a state of war (siege) and transferring all power in them to the revolutionary committees.

In the difficult conditions of the Civil War, maintaining order in the rear was of particular importance. For this purpose, a special system of military and repressive-terrorist organs was created to protect the revolution. It included the Cheka, the police, the Internal Security Troops (VOHR), the Special Purpose Units (CHON), the Internal Service Troops (VUNUS), the food army and some other military formations that were outside the command of the Red Army and operated mainly in the rear. A special role among them belonged to the Cheka. From the middle of 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 with them, the number of which by March 1919 reached 30 thousand people. At dangerous moments in some territories, local Chekas took over the functions of organs of Soviet power.

The Bolsheviks already in the summer of 1918 went on a harsh suppression of all opposition political forces, seeking to prevent even the possibility of their consolidation. Since that time, BCQ has heard the word "terror" more often. Explaining its meaning at the end of June 1918, the 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 a normal state policy and hollowly shout about guarantees, trials, investigations, and so on. We have nothing in common with revolutionary military tribunals, we represent organized terror. It 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 200-300 people were shot somewhere there. The other day I read a note that, it seems, in Livny Oryol province several thousand White Guards were shot. If we go at such a pace, then we will quickly reduce the bourgeois population of Russia.

After the attempt on the life of Lenin and the assassination of the chief Petrograd Chekist M. S. Uritsky, on September 5, 1918, the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars was issued, which ordered that all persons associated with the White Guard conspiracies be shot on the spot. The mass phenomenon has acquired hostility. According to experts, only in September - October 1918, about 15 thousand people were shot on the territory of Soviet Russia. The main victims were representatives of the officers, the nobility, the bourgeoisie, the intelligentsia, and sometimes members of their families. At the same time, the creation of a network of concentration camps began throughout the country, the contingent of which numbered in the tens of thousands.

During the war years, the Bolsheviks managed to create a rigid system of food withdrawal from the peasants to supply the soldiers and partly the urban population, primarily the proletariat. The work of enterprises that ensure the production of weapons, ammunition, uniforms for the active army was also established. And although the organization of economic life was built to a large extent with the use of coercion, and the amount produced was far from optimal needs, it nevertheless made it possible to create the necessary conditions for the survival of the Soviet Republic.

The Bolsheviks assigned a large role in the mobilization of workers and peasants to repel the enemy to agitation and propaganda work, which was established on a nationwide scale. Both political workers and cultural figures took part in this activity. Leaflets, posters, brochures, and newspapers were published in large editions; agitation trains and agitation steamboats plied across the country. The plan for monumental propaganda called for the creation of a series of monuments to revolutionaries and progressives "of all times and peoples." Public buildings, institutions, as well as holidays and other mass events were decorated with banners, posters, banners, the content of which propagated the goals of the new government, the greatness of labor, the union of workers and peasants (“What the revolution brings to the working people”; “The world of peoples will be concluded on the ruins of bourgeois rule ";" Factories - to the working people "; "Land - to the peasants", etc.). The intervention of the Entente countries, foreign support for the White movement, the war of Poland against Soviet Russia gave the Bolsheviks the opportunity to intercept from their enemies the slogans of protecting the freedom and independence of the Fatherland.

On January 15 (28), 1918, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a Decree on the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) on a voluntary basis. On January 29 (February 11), the Decree on the Creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet (RKKF) was signed. The direct leadership of the formation of the Red Army was carried out by the All-Russian Collegium, created under the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs.

In connection with the violation of the armistice concluded with Germany and the transition of its troops to the offensive, on February 22, 1918, the government addressed the people with a decree-appeal signed by V.I. Lenin "The socialist fatherland is in danger!". The next day, the mass enrollment of volunteers in the Red Army and the formation of many of its units began. In February 1918, the Red Army detachments offered decisive resistance to the German troops near Pskov and Narva. In honor of these events, on February 23, a national holiday began to be celebrated annually - the Day of the Red (Soviet) Army and Navy (later Defender of the Fatherland Day).

DECREE ON THE FORMATION OF THE VOLUNTARY WORKERS' AND PEASANTS' RED ARMY JANUARY 15(28), 1918

The old army served as an instrument of class oppression of the working people by the bourgeoisie. With the transfer of power to the working and exploited classes, it became necessary to create a new army, which will be the bulwark of Soviet power in the present, the foundation for replacing the standing army with nationwide weapons in the near future and will serve as support for the coming socialist

revolutions in Europe.

In view of this, the Council of People's Commissars decides:

organize a new army called the "Workers' and Peasants' Red Army", on the following grounds:

1) The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army is being created from the most conscious and organized elements of the working masses.

2) Access to its ranks is open to all citizens of the Russian Republic at least 18 years old. Anyone who is ready to give his strength, his life to defend the gains enters the Red Army. October revolution, the power of the Soviets and socialism. To join the Red Army, recommendations are required:

military committees or public democratic organizations standing on the platform of Soviet power, party or professional organizations, or at least two members of these organizations. When joining in whole parts, a mutual guarantee of all and a roll-call vote are required.

1) The soldiers of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army are on full state allowance and in addition receive 50 rubles. per month.

2) Disabled members of the families of soldiers of the Red Army, who were previously dependent on them, are provided with everything necessary according to local consumer standards, in accordance with the decisions of local Soviet authorities.

The Council of People's Commissars is the supreme governing body of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. The direct leadership and management of the army is concentrated in the Commissariat for Military Affairs, in the special All-Russian Board created under it.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars

V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

Supreme Commander N. Krylenko.

People's Commissars for Military and Naval Affairs:

Dybenko and Podvoisky.

People's Commissars: Proshyan, Zatonsky and Steinberg.

Managing Director of the Council of People's Commissars

Vlad. Bonch-Bruevich.

Secretary of the Council of People's Commissars N. Gorbunov.

Decrees of the Soviet power. T. 1. M., State publishing house of political literature, 1957.

THE APPEAL OF THE BOLSHEVIK GOVERNMENT

In order to save the exhausted, tormented country from new military trials, we made the greatest sacrifice and announced to the Germans our agreement to sign their terms of peace. Our parliamentarians left Rezhitsa in the evening for Dvinsk on February 20 (7), and there is still no answer. The German government is obviously slow to respond. It clearly does not want peace. Fulfilling the instructions of the capitalists of all countries, German militarism wants to strangle the Russian and Ukrainian workers and peasants, to return the land to the landlords, the factories and plants to the bankers, and the power to the monarchy. The German generals want to establish their own "order" in Petrograd and Kyiv. The Socialist Republic of Soviets is in the greatest danger. Until the moment when the proletariat of Germany rises and triumphs, the sacred duty of the workers and peasants of Russia is the selfless defense of the Republic of Soviets against the hordes of bourgeois-imperialist Germany. The Council of People's Commissars decides: 1) All forces and means of the country are wholly devoted to the cause of revolutionary defense. 2) All Soviets and revolutionary organizations are obliged to defend every position to the last drop of blood. 3) Railway organizations and the Soviets associated with them are obliged by all means to prevent the enemy from using the communications apparatus; when retreating, destroy tracks, blow up and burn railway buildings; all rolling stock - wagons and steam locomotives - should immediately be directed east into the interior of the country. 4) All grain and food stocks in general, as well as any valuable property that is in danger of falling into the hands of the enemy, must be subjected to unconditional destruction; the supervision of this is entrusted to the local Soviets under the personal responsibility of their chairmen. 5) The workers and peasants of Petrograd, Kyiv and all cities, towns, villages and villages along the line of the new front must mobilize battalions to dig trenches under the guidance of military specialists. 6) All able-bodied members of the bourgeois class, men and women, must be included in these battalions, under the supervision of the Red Guards; those who resist are shot. 7) All publications that oppose the cause of revolutionary defense and take the side of the German bourgeoisie, as well as those seeking to use the invasion of the imperialist hordes in order to overthrow the Soviet power, are closed; able-bodied editors and employees of these publications are mobilized for digging trenches and other defensive work. 8) Enemy agents, speculators, thugs, hooligans, counter-revolutionary agitators, German spies are shot at the scene of the crime.

The socialist fatherland is in danger! Long live the socialist fatherland! Long live the international socialist revolution!

Decree "The socialist fatherland is in danger!"

DECISION OF THE VTsIK ON FORCED RECRUITMENT TO THE WORKERS AND PEASANTS ARMY

The Central Executive Committee considers that the transition from a volunteer army to a general mobilization of the workers and the poorest peasants is imperatively dictated by the entire situation of the country, both for the struggle for bread and for repulsing the counter-revolution, both internal and external, which has become impudent on the basis of famine.

It is necessary to urgently move to the forced recruitment of one or more ages. In view of the complexity of the matter and the difficulty of carrying it out simultaneously throughout the entire territory of the country, it seems necessary to begin, on the one hand, with the most threatened areas, and on the other hand, with the main centers of the labor movement.

Based on the foregoing, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decides to instruct the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs to develop, within a week, for Moscow, Petrograd, the Don and Kuban regions, a plan for the implementation of forced recruitment within such limits and forms that would least disturb the course of production and social life of the aforementioned regions and cities.

The relevant Soviet institutions are instructed to take the most energetic and active part in the work of the Military Commissariat in carrying out the tasks assigned to it.

VIEW FROM THE WHITE CAMP

As early as mid-January, the Soviet government promulgated a decree on the organization of a "workers' and peasants' army" from "the most conscious and organized elements of the working class." But the formation of a new class army was not successful, and the council had to turn to the old organizations: units were allocated from the front and from reserve battalions. respectively sifted and processed, Latvian, sailor detachments and the Red Guard, formed by factory committees. All of them went against Ukraine and the Don. What force moved these people, mortally tired of the war, to new cruel sacrifices and hardships? Least of all - devotion to the Soviet government and its ideals. Hunger, unemployment, the prospects of an idle, well-fed life and enrichment by robbery, the impossibility of getting back to their native places in a different way, the habit of many people during the four years of the war to soldiering as a craft (“declassed”), and finally, to a greater or lesser extent, a sense of class malice and hatred, brought up over the centuries and kindled by the strongest propaganda.

A.I. Denikin. Essays on Russian Troubles.

DEFENDER OF THE HOMELAND DAY - HOLIDAY HISTORY

The holiday originated in the USSR, then February 23 was annually celebrated as a national holiday - Day Soviet army and the Navy.

There was no document establishing February 23 as an official Soviet holiday. Soviet historiography associated the timing of the honoring of the military to this date with the events of 1918: on January 28 (15, old style) January 1918, the Council of People's Commissars (SNK), headed by Chairman Vladimir Lenin, adopted a Decree on the organization of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA), and February 11 (January 29, old style) - Workers 'and Peasants' Red Fleet (RKKF).

On February 22, the decree-appeal of the Council of People's Commissars "The Socialist Fatherland is in Danger!" was published, and on February 23, mass rallies were held in Petrograd, Moscow and other cities of the country, at which workers were urged to defend their Fatherland. This day was marked by the mass entry of volunteers into the Red Army and the beginning of the formation of its detachments and units.

On January 10, 1919, the chairman of the Higher Military Inspectorate of the Red Army, Nikolai Podvoisky, sent a proposal to the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to celebrate the anniversary of the creation of the Red Army, timing the celebration to the nearest Sunday before or after January 28. However, due to the late submission of the application, no decision was made.

Then the Moscow Soviet took the initiative to celebrate the first anniversary of the Red Army. On January 24, 1919, its presidium, which at that time was headed by Lev Kamenev, decided to coincide with these celebrations on the day of the Red Gift, held to collect material and Money for the Red Army.

Under the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK), a Central Committee was created to organize the celebration of the anniversary of the Red Army and Red Gift Day, which took place on Sunday, February 23.

On February 5, Pravda and other newspapers published the following information: "The organization of the Red Gift Day throughout Russia has been postponed to February 23. On this day, the celebration of the anniversary of the creation of the Red Army, which will be celebrated on January 28, will be organized in cities and at the front."

On February 23, 1919, the citizens of Russia celebrated the anniversary of the Red Army for the first time, but this day was not celebrated either in 1920 or in 1921.

On January 27, 1922, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee published a resolution on the fourth anniversary of the Red Army, which stated: "In accordance with resolution IX All-Russian Congress Councils on the Red Army The Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee draws the attention of the executive committees to the upcoming anniversary of the creation of the Red Army (February 23).

The Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, Lev Trotsky, arranged a military parade on Red Square that day, thus laying the foundation for the tradition of an annual nationwide celebration.

In 1923, the fifth anniversary of the Red Army was widely celebrated. The decision of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, adopted on January 18, 1923, stated: "On February 23, 1923, the Red Army will celebrate the 5th anniversary of its existence. On this day, five years ago, the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of January 28 of the same year, which laid the foundation for the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, the stronghold of the proletarian dictatorship.

The tenth anniversary of the Red Army in 1928, like all previous ones, was celebrated as the anniversary of the decree of the Council of People's Commissars on the organization of the Red Army of January 28, 1918, but the publication date itself was directly linked to February 23.

In 1938, in the "Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks" was set out in principle a new version the origin of the date of the holiday, not related to the decree of the Council of People's Commissars. The book stated that in 1918 near Narva and Pskov "the German occupiers were given a decisive rebuff. Their advance on Petrograd was suspended. The day of the rebuff to the troops of German imperialism, February 23, became the birthday of the young Red Army." Later, in the order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR dated February 23, 1942, the wording was slightly changed: "The young detachments of the Red Army, who entered the war for the first time, utterly defeated the German invaders near Pskov and Narva on February 23, 1918. That is why February 23 was declared the day birth of the Red Army.

In 1951, another interpretation of the holiday appeared. In the "History of the Civil War in the USSR" it was indicated that in 1919 the first anniversary of the Red Army was celebrated "on the memorable day of the mobilization of the working people for the defense of the socialist Fatherland, the mass entry of workers into the Red Army, the broad formation of the first detachments and units of the new army."

In the Federal Law of March 13, 1995 "On the Days of Military Glory of Russia", the day of February 23 was officially called "The Day of the Red Army's Victory over the Kaiser's troops of Germany (1918) - the Day of Defenders of the Fatherland."

In accordance with the changes made to the Federal Law "On the Days of Military Glory of Russia" by the Federal Law of April 15, 2006, the words "Day of the victory of the Red Army over the Kaiser troops of Germany (1918)" were excluded from the official description of the holiday, and also stated in the singular concept of "defender".

In December 2001 The State Duma The Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation supported the proposal to make February 23 - Defender of the Fatherland Day - a non-working holiday.

On Defender of the Fatherland Day, Russians honor those who served or are serving in the ranks of the country's Armed Forces.