ABSTRACT

Supported in large part by evidence released after the collapse of the Soviet Union, this book follows the career of the Red Army from its birth in 1918 as the designated vanguard of world revolution to its affiliation in 1941 with 'the citadel of capitalism', the United States.

chapter 1|14 pages

The Military Revolutionary Committee

chapter 2|15 pages

‘All Power to the Soviets’

forming the socialist state

chapter 3|18 pages

Birth of the Red Army, War, and Peace

an army of a new type

chapter 4|15 pages

‘In a Fiery Ring of Fronts’

imperialist intervention

chapter 5|23 pages

An Armed Camp

the revolutionary council of the republic

chapter 6|15 pages

The Test of Battle on Three Fronts

east front and kolchak

chapter 7|16 pages

The Decisive Battles

the central committee in charge

chapter 8|18 pages

Defeat and Victory

the moment of victory

chapter 9|18 pages

Class War and Military Reform

nep and the military system

chapter 10|16 pages

The New Order

stalin as custodian of leninism

chapter 11|19 pages

The Red Army and the Reichswehr

general hans von seeckt and the treaty of versailles

chapter 12|31 pages

The Tukhachevskiy Era

technological reconstruction

chapter 13|14 pages

Stalin’s Military Reform

kirov, kuybyshev, and tukhachevskiy

chapter 14|15 pages

Approaching the ‘Second Imperialist War’

a somewhat new course

chapter 15|15 pages

The ‘Most Pressing and Deadly Threat’

the winter war

chapter 16|13 pages

War Plans

the lay of the land

chapter 17|14 pages

Stalin Deceived

the game begins

chapter 18|17 pages

The Red Army at Bay

the battles of the frontiers

chapter 19|14 pages

The Heartland in Peril

typhoon, twin battles, and the rasputitsa

chapter 20|15 pages

The Heartland Preserved

rostov and tikhvin

chapter 21|13 pages

Conclusion

world war and global war