As we have seen, mankind began to seriously pay attention to the problem of the reduction of biological diversity and the disappearance from the face of the earth of many species of living organisms only in the last century. Red books and "red lists" are compiled to attract the attention of government and public organizations to take action to conserve vulnerable species. Zoologists were the first to sound the alarm. In 1902, the International Convention for the Protection of Birds was signed, and since 1963 the World Conservation Union (since 1990 - the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and natural resources- IUCN) began to publish lists of endangered and rare species of animals. In the USSR, these lists appeared only in 1974, when the Committee on Endangered Plant Species was established, and by 1978 the first Russian Red Book of Plants had already been published. Kukurichkin G.M. Protection of Nature. Red and Green Books. - Surgut: GOU VPO "Surgut state. University of Khanty-Mansiysk Aut. env. - Ugra", 2010. - 35 p.
The inspirer of the creation of the Red Book was the British zoologist Peter Scott. It is a collection of facts about the unique inhabitants of our planet, over which the threat of extinction hangs over or which, alas, have already disappeared.
The Red Book was a reaction of the outstanding minds of the 19th-20th centuries, who realized what a great threat to nature poses economic activity ever-growing humanity. In 1949, at the initiative of the IUCN, a commission was created, which was entrusted with compiling lists of rare endangered species.
As a result, the lists were called the "Red Book" because the red color from ancient times symbolized danger, threat, death, warning. But the Book itself was published only in 1963, because it took fourteen years to create the lists, given that at that time there were not as many progressive technologies in the service of science as in the 21st century.
The first volume of the Red Book dealt with mammals, the second - with birds. Each species was described on a separate page, providing information about its history, features and reasons that put it in danger of extinction. Separately, protective measures were recommended, both for wild species and those kept in captivity.
The next three volumes of the World Red Book were published in 1966-71. This also includes lists with species of reptiles and amphibians. At the same time, the achievement of the new edition was the classification of species:
Endangered species requiring urgent special measures for their conservation;
Species whose numbers are declining;
Rare, but not yet endangered species;
Species whose position is uncertain due to the lack of reliable information about them;
Species restored, whose extinction was stopped with the help of protective measures.
This classification is partly the basis of all modern Red Books and the Red Book of Russia.
The third edition of the Red Book was published in 1972. The number of species in it has increased. This edition of the Red Book indicated the description of animals, their status according to the above classification, the current state of the species or subspecies, the definition of its geographical distribution, population structure and abundance, protection and restoration measures.
The fourth edition of the Red Book was carried out in 1978-1980. At the same time, more than a dozen species in the new edition moved into the category of "restored", Some species were completely excluded from the Book, as they are now quite common. Vrishch A.E., Khristoforova N.K. Red Data Books and their importance for education and enlightenment // Izvestia TINRO (Pacific Research Fisheries Center). 2009. V. 158. S. 198-208.
But the work of IUCN never stops. From the national Red Data Books and through questionnaire surveys, the IUCN Commission constantly draws new information. It tracks the position of species of living organisms in the world, as well as negative and positive factors affecting the situation of endangered plants and animals.
The public first spoke about the Red Book after the Second World War. Historians and economists, politicians and public figures, extras and financiers have summed up the material and moral losses suffered by mankind. Much has been written about this, however, even with the presence of the Red Book, it is impossible to accurately determine the damage caused to nature by man.
Gradually, there has been a transition from the creation of international Red Books to national ones, and then to regional and municipal (district, or city) ones. In the USSR, the first Red Book, dedicated to rare and endangered plant species, was published as a reference book in 1975. Thus, the history of the creation of the Red Books in Russia and their use for the protection of species diversity spans about 40 years. Initially, the Red Books were created, which included species of flora and fauna rare throughout the country.
Many countries have developed national Red Books for species that are not included in the International Red Book, but are rare or endangered for a particular state.
The Red Book is no longer as a reference book of the USSR, it was approved in 1974 and published in 1978. It included 62 species and subspecies of mammals, 63 species and subspecies of birds, 21 species of reptiles, 8 species of amphibians, and 444 species of plants.
The second edition of the Red Book in the Soviet Union was carried out in 1984 and included 202 species of insects, 2 species of crustaceans, 19 species of molluscs, 11 species of worms, 9 species and subspecies of fish, 9 species of amphibians, 37 species and subspecies of reptiles, 80 species of birds and 94 species and subspecies of mammals. The authors of the Book divided all of them into five categories:
I - species that are endangered;
ІІ - species, the number of which is still high today, but it is declining very quickly;
ІІІ - rarest species or living in a limited area;
ІV - species of low abundance, but poorly studied, which cannot be attributed to the previous categories;
V - species whose populations began to grow after protection and the danger of their extinction has passed. Mirzoyan E.N. etc. Formation of ecological concepts in the USSR. Seven outstanding theories. - M.: Librokom, 2012. - 632 p.
In 1984, the second edition of the Red Book of the USSR was published, where three more categories were noted:
Species, still of considerable abundance, which, however, may be endangered;
Rare little-studied species that are difficult to classify;
Reproduced species - the state of which no longer causes concern, but requires constant monitoring and is not subject to economic use.
So, in the Red Book, five categories of species were identified that need the attention of society and every person.
After the collapse of the USSR and the formation Russian Federation there was a need to create a new Red Book, not only due to geographical and territorial changes, but also legal ones.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation began to develop a draft of the Red Book of Russia, which lasted from 1992 to 2001, while the old Soviet edition of the Book was in effect.
In the Red Book of Russia, published in 2001, six categories of species were identified:
0 - extinct species. The time of their disappearance ranges from 50 years for vertebrates and from 100 years for invertebrates;
1 - species, as well as their groups (taxa), which are on the verge of extinction, i.e. species whose numbers are alarmingly small;
2 - species that are declining in numbers, populations in which a steady decline in the number of individuals is recorded;
3 - rare species that live only in limited areas;
4 - indeterminate species - rather rare species for which there is no exact static information on population fluctuations;
5 - recoverable and recovering - previously rare and endangered species and taxa, which now, due to human efforts or natural factors, are becoming more numerous.
In total, 8 taxa of amphibians, 21 taxa of reptiles, 128 taxa of birds and 74 taxa of mammals are listed in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation, totaling 231 taxa. As well as 155 species of invertebrates (including insects), 43 species of cyclostomes and fish, 8 species of amphibians, 20 species of reptiles, 118 species of birds and 64 species of mammals. These figures are less than in the Red Book of the USSR, where, for example, 94 species of endangered mammals were listed, however, it should be noted that some of these species have now become the sad property of the Red Books of neighboring countries. http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_book
At the same time, scientists optimistically call the category "0" - probably disappeared. This shows the hope that some species of animals did not disappear completely, but, for example, went to regions that are difficult for humans to access. Thus, in 2013, a Cuban flint tooth was discovered in Cuba, which since 2003 has been considered extinct.
In the Red Book of the Russian Federation, all species are divided into groups ("mammals", "birds", "reptiles" Skaldina O.V. Red Book of Russia. - M .: Eksmo, 2011. - 272 p., in volume 2 - among plants " angiosperms", "gymnosperms", etc. Melikhova N.M., Skaldina O.V. Red Book of Russia. Plants of Russia. - M .: Eksmo, 2013. - 240 p.). Each species is provided with a detailed description, incl. with information about its distribution, habitats, abundance of the species and measures for its protection. The data is supplemented by maps showing habitats.
In addition, materials are provided on the legal side of the protection of wildlife, on the species found in the protected areas of the country and on the classification of such protected areas.
About 30 years ago, regional Red Books also began to be created in the USSR. This process does not stop today. Currently, there are 63 republican, regional, regional Red Data Books.
Thus, the Red Book has several purposes:
Biological - it is designed for specialists, scientists;
Environmental - provides for the development of measures for the conservation of animals and plants;
Legal - establishes a special legal status of animal and plant species; defines criminal, administrative and material and moral responsibility for the extermination of species of living organisms. The book is the basis for the development of new laws to punish violators of legal norms on nature protection;
Scientific - is the methodological basis for justifying the creation of new protected areas; serves as a scientific reference;
Cultural, educational and educational. Hwang T.A., Shinkina M.V. Ecology. Basics environmental management. - M.: Yurayt, 2011. - 320
The criteria for listing species in the Red Book are:
Chronological - distribution, state of populations of endemic species with a broken range, the rarest species;
Florogenetic - relic species (representatives of different geological periods);
Ecological-coenotic - endangered species;
4- pragmatic - practical use of one or another type;
Aesthetic, etc.
So the Red Book is a subject scientific activity, the perfect textbook and manual, a reliable guide and recommendations for action in the field of environmental protection.
The Red Book is a kind of list that lists all kinds of animals and plants that, if no action is taken, are expected to disappear completely. The annotated list, which is the book, is necessary for the implementation of organizational tasks for the protection and accounting of endangered rare species. Based on the data of the Red Book, no matter what level it is (international, national or regional), programs are formed aimed at protecting and saving certain species.
The history of the creation of the Red Book begins in 1963, it is directly related to the work of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, established in 1948.
Chairman of the Commission on rare species, Peter Scott, proposed to give the name of the publication - "Red Book". Later he became the holder and compiler of the book of the planet (Red Book of the international level). Red is a symbol of danger, and, of course, it has nothing to do with red symbols. Soviet Union, which did not prevent the USSR for a long time from presenting itself as the initiator of the appearance of the book.
Replenishment of the Red Book with new data occurs constantly. Already by the beginning of 1980, the world knew about the release of four editions, today there are many more. Although they have a book format, they are similar to a loose-leaf thick calendar. It was conceived this way on purpose, so that any sheet could be replaced with a new one. There was no need to reprint all volumes.
Descriptions of those species are painted in green, the position of which, after being included in the Red Book, has stabilized. Unfortunately, there are much more endangered animals, birds, fish, and plants. For example, today the Red Book will be able to tell about 305 species and subspecies of endangered mammals. Of these, the situation has stabilized only in 7 species. Out of 258 species of birds (and their subspecies), only 4 have improved positions. Of the descriptions of 98 reptiles in green color only 2 are painted. The situation has not improved in any way in any species of fish and amphibians. In the entire history of the Red Book, 14 species of animals have completely died out.
Having no legal status and not being binding, the INCO Red Book can only provide advice to the governments of those countries where a particular species is endangered.
At the end of 1988, MSPO created new form information about wild animals, which is called the "Red List of Threatened Species", which is not an analogue of the Red Book, but performs the same function, having only different ways classification.
2001 is the time of the re-edition of the Red Book of Russia. They have already created it, adhering to the principles that are described in the "Red List of Threatened Species", classifying not only by species, but also by the degree of extinction. In addition, each subject of the federation and the region publishes its own local Red Book.
Initially, the Soviet Red Army, the creation of which took place against the backdrop of the beginning civil war, had utopian features. The Bolsheviks believed that under the socialist system, the army should be built on a voluntary basis. This project was in line with Marxist ideology. Such an army was opposed to regular armies Western countries. According to the theoretical doctrine, in society there could only be "universal armament of the people."
Creation of the Red Army
The first steps of the Bolsheviks showed that they really wanted to abandon the former tsarist system. On December 16, 1917, a decree was adopted abolishing officer ranks. Commanders were now elected by their own subordinates. According to the party's plan, on the day of the creation of the Red Army, the new army was to become truly democratic. Time has shown that these plans could not survive the trials of a bloody era.
The Bolsheviks managed to seize power in Petrograd with the help of a small Red Guard and separate revolutionary detachments of sailors and soldiers. The provisional government was paralyzed, which obscenely made the task easier for Lenin and his supporters. But outside the capital there was a huge country, most of which was not at all happy with the party of radicals, whose leaders arrived in Russia in a sealed wagon from enemy Germany.
By the beginning of a full-scale civil war, the Bolshevik armed forces were distinguished by poor military training and the absence of centralized effective control. Those who served in the Red Guard were guided by revolutionary chaos and their own political convictions, which could change at any moment. The position of the newly proclaimed Soviet power was more than precarious. She needed a fundamentally new Red Army. The creation of the armed forces became a matter of life and death for the people who were in Smolny.
What difficulties faced the Bolsheviks? The party could not form its own army on the old apparatus. The best cadres of the period of the monarchy and the Provisional Government hardly wanted to cooperate with the radical left. The second problem was that Russia had been waging war against Germany and its allies for several years. The soldiers were tired - they were demoralized. In order to replenish the ranks of the Red Army, its founders had to come up with a nationwide incentive that would be a good reason to take up arms again.
The Bolsheviks did not have to go far for this. They made the principle of class struggle the main driving force of their troops. With the coming to power of the RSDLP (b) issued many decrees. According to the slogans, the peasants received land, and the workers - factories. Now they had to defend these gains of the revolution. Hatred for the old system (landlords, capitalists, etc.) was the foundation on which the Red Army was held. The creation of the Red Army took place on January 28, 1918. On this day, the new government, represented by the Council of People's Commissars, adopted a corresponding decree.
First successes
Vsevobuch was also established. This system was intended for universal military training of the inhabitants of the RSFSR, and then the USSR. Vsevobuch appeared on April 22, 1918, after the decision to create it was made at the VII Congress of the RCP (b) in March. The Bolsheviks believed that new system will help them quickly replenish the ranks of the Red Army.
The soviets at the local level were directly involved in the formation of armed detachments. In addition, for this purpose were established. At first, they enjoyed considerable independence from the central government. Who was the then Red Army? The creation of this armed structure led to an influx of various personnel. These were people who served in the old tsarist army, peasant militias, soldiers and sailors from among the Red Guards. The heterogeneity of the composition had a negative effect on the combat readiness of this army. In addition, the detachments often acted inconsistently due to the election of commanders, collective and rally management.
Despite all the shortcomings, the Red Army in the first months of the civil war was able to achieve important successes that became the key to its future unconditional victory. The Bolsheviks managed to keep Moscow and Yekaterinodar. Local uprisings were suppressed due to a noticeable numerical advantage, as well as wide popular support. The populist decrees of the Soviet government (especially in 1917-1918) did their job.
Trotsky at the head of the army
It was this man who stood at the origins of the October Revolution in Petrograd. The revolutionary led the capture of city communications and the Winter Palace from Smolny, where the headquarters of the Bolsheviks was located. At the first stage civil war Trotsky's figure was in no way inferior to the figure of Vladimir Lenin in terms of scale and importance of the decisions made. Therefore, it is not surprising that Lev Davidovich was elected People's Commissar for Military Affairs. His organizational talent in all its glory manifested itself in this post. At the origins of the creation of the Red Army were the very first two people's commissars.
Tsarist officers in the Red Army
Theoretically, the Bolsheviks saw their army as meeting strict class requirements. However, the lack of experience among the majority of workers and peasants could be the reason for the defeat of the party. Therefore, the history of the creation of the Red Army took another turn when Trotsky proposed to staff its ranks with former tsarist officers. These professionals have considerable experience. They all passed the first world war, and some remembered the Russian-Japanese. Many of them were nobles by origin.
On the day the Red Army was created, the Bolsheviks proclaimed that it would be purged of landlords and other enemies of the proletariat. However, practical necessity gradually corrected the course of the Soviet government. In times of danger, she was quite flexible in her decisions. Lenin was a pragmatist much more than a dogmatist. Therefore, he agreed to a compromise on the issue with the royal officers.
The presence of a "counter-revolutionary contingent" in the Red Army has long been a headache for the Bolsheviks. Former tsarist officers raised uprisings more than once. One of these was the rebellion led by Mikhail Muravyov in July 1918. This Left Socialist-Revolutionary and former tsarist officer was appointed by the Bolsheviks as commander Eastern Front when the two parties still formed a single coalition. He tried to seize power in Simbirsk, which at that time was located near the theater of operations. The rebellion was suppressed by Joseph Vareikis and Mikhail Tukhachevsky. The uprisings in the Red Army, as a rule, took place due to the harsh repressive measures of the command.
The emergence of commissioners
Actually, the date of the creation of the Red Army is not the only important mark on the calendar for the history of the formation of Soviet power in the expanses of the former Russian Empire. Since the composition of the armed forces gradually became more and more heterogeneous, and the propaganda of opponents became stronger, the Council of People's Commissars decided to establish the position of military commissars. They were supposed to carry out party propaganda among the soldiers and old specialists. The commissars made it possible to smooth out contradictions in the rank and file, which was diverse in terms of political views. Having received significant powers, these representatives of the party not only enlightened and educated the Red Army soldiers, but also reported to the top about the unreliability of individuals, discontent, etc.
Thus, the Bolsheviks planted dual power in the military units. On one side were the commanders, and on the other, the commissars. The history of the creation of the Red Army would have been completely different if not for their appearance. IN emergency the commissar could become the sole leader, leaving the commander in the background. Military councils were created to manage divisions and larger formations. Each such body included one commander and two commissars. Only the most ideologically hardened Bolsheviks became them (as a rule, people who joined the party before the revolution). With the increase in the army, and hence the commissars, the authorities had to create a new educational infrastructure necessary for the operational training of propagandists and agitators.
Propaganda
In May 1918, the All-Russian Main Headquarters, and in September - the Revolutionary Military Council. These dates and the date of the creation of the Red Army became key to the spread and strengthening of the power of the Bolsheviks. Right after October revolution the party took a course on the radicalization of the situation in the country. After the unsuccessful elections for the RSDLP(b), this institution (necessary to determine the Russian future on an elective basis) was dispersed. Now the opponents of the Bolsheviks were left without legal tools to defend their position. The white movement quickly sprang up in different regions of the country. It was possible to fight him only by military means - it was for this that the creation of the Red Army was needed.
Photos of the defenders of the communist future began to be published in a huge pile of propaganda newspapers. The Bolsheviks at first tried to secure an influx of recruits with catchy slogans: "The socialist fatherland is in danger!" etc. These measures had an effect, but it was not enough. By April, the size of the army had risen to 200,000, but that would not have been enough to subjugate the entire territory of the former Russian Empire to the party. We should not forget that Lenin dreamed of a world revolution. Russia for him was only the initial springboard for the offensive of the international proletariat. To strengthen propaganda in the Red Army, the Political Directorate was established.
In the year of the creation of the Red Army, they joined it not only for ideological reasons. In the country, exhausted by a long war with the Germans, there was a shortage of food for a long time. The danger of starvation was especially acute in the cities. In such bleak conditions, the poor sought to be in the service at any cost (regular rations were guaranteed there).
Introduction of universal conscription
Although the creation of the Red Army began in accordance with the decree of the Council of People's Commissars as early as January 1918, the accelerated pace of the organization of new armed forces came in May, when the Czechoslovak Corps revolted. These soldiers, captured during the First World War, took sides white movement and opposed the Bolsheviks. In a paralyzed and fragmented country, a relatively small 40,000-strong corps became the most combat-ready and professional army.
The news of the uprising excited Lenin and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The Bolsheviks decided to go ahead of the curve. On May 29, 1918, a decree was issued, according to which forced recruitment into the army was introduced. It took the form of mobilization. In domestic politics The Soviet government adopted the course of war communism. The peasants not only lost their crops, which went to the state, but also massively climbed into the troops. Party mobilizations to the front became commonplace. By the end of the Civil War, half of the members of the RSDLP (b) ended up in the army. At the same time, almost all Bolsheviks became commissars and political workers.
In the summer, Trotsky became the initiator The history of the creation of the Red Army, in short, overcame another important milestone. On July 29, 1918, all eligible men, who were between 18 and 40 years old, were registered. Even representatives of the enemy bourgeois class (former merchants, industrialists, etc.) were included in the rear militia. Such drastic measures have borne fruit. The creation of the Red Army by September 1918 made it possible to send more than 450 thousand people to the front (about 100 thousand more remained in the rear troops).
Trotsky, like Lenin, temporarily brushed aside Marxist ideology in order to increase the combat effectiveness of the armed forces. It was he, as People's Commissar, who initiated important reforms and transformations at the front. The army reinstated the death penalty for desertion and failure to follow orders. The insignia, the single uniform, the sole authority of the leadership, and many other signs of the tsarist era returned. On May 1, 1918, the first parade of the Red Army took place on the Khodynka field in Moscow. The Vsevobuch system has been operating at full capacity.
In September, Trotsky headed the newly formed Revolutionary Military Council. This state body became the top of the administrative pyramid that led the army. Trotsky's right hand was Joachim Vatsetis. He was the first under Soviet rule to receive the post of commander in chief. In the same autumn, the fronts were formed - the Southern, Eastern and Northern. Each of them had its own headquarters. The first month of the creation of the Red Army was a time of uncertainty - the Bolsheviks were torn between ideology and practice. Now the course towards pragmatism has become the main one, and the Red Army began to take the forms that turned out to be its foundation over the next decades.
war communism
Without a doubt, the reasons for the creation of the Red Army were to protect the Bolshevik power. At first, she controlled a very small part of European Russia. At the same time, the RSFSR was under pressure from opponents from all sides. After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed with Imperial Germany, the Entente forces invaded Russia. The intervention was insignificant (it covered only the north of the country). The European powers supported the whites mainly with the supply of weapons and money. For the Red Army, the attack by the French and British was only an additional reason for consolidating and strengthening propaganda among the rank and file. Now the creation of the Red Army could be briefly and intelligibly explained by the defense of Russia from foreign invasion. Such slogans allowed to increase the influx of recruits.
At the same time, throughout the Civil War, there was the problem of supplying the armed forces with all sorts of resources. The economy was paralyzed, strikes broke out frequently at factories, and famine became the norm in the countryside. It was against this background that the Soviet government began to pursue a policy of war communism.
Its essence was simple. The economy became radically centralized. The state took full control of the distribution of resources in the country. Industrial enterprises were nationalized immediately after the October Revolution. Now the Bolsheviks had to squeeze all the juice out of the countryside. Requisitioning, harvest taxes, individual terror of the peasants who did not want to share their grain with the state - all this was used in order to feed and finance the Red Army.
The fight against desertion
Trotsky personally went to the front in order to control the execution of his orders. On August 10, 1918, he arrived in Sviyazhsk, when battles for Kazan were going on not far from him. In a stubborn battle, one of the Red Army regiments faltered and fled. Then Trotsky publicly shot every tenth soldier in this formation. Such a massacre, more like a ritual, resembled the ancient Roman tradition - decimation.
By decision of the People's Commissar, they began to shoot not only deserters, but also simulators who asked for leave from the front due to an imaginary illness. The apogee of the fight against the fugitives was the creation of foreign detachments. During the offensive, specially selected military men stood up behind the main army, who shot the cowards right in the course of the battle. Thus, with the help of draconian measures and incredible cruelty, the Red Army became exemplarily disciplined. The Bolsheviks had the courage and pragmatic cynicism to do something that the commanders of Trotsky did not dare to do, who did not disdain any methods to spread Soviet power, they soon began to call the "demon of the revolution."
Unification of the armed forces
gradually changed and appearance Red Army soldiers. At first, the Red Army did not provide for a uniform uniform. Soldiers, as a rule, wore out their old military uniforms or civilian clothes. Due to the huge influx of peasants shod in bast shoes, there were much more than those shod in familiar boots. Such anarchy lasted until the end of the unification of the armed forces.
At the beginning of 1919, according to the decision of the Revolutionary Military Council, sleeve insignia were introduced. At the same time, the Red Army soldiers received their own headdress, which became known among the people as Budyonovka. Tunics and overcoats got colored flaps. A recognizable symbol was a red star sewn onto a headdress.
The introduction into the Red Army of some characteristic features the former army led to the fact that an opposition faction arose in the party. Its members advocated the rejection of ideological compromise. Lenin and Trotsky, having joined forces, in March 1919 at the VIII Congress were able to defend their course.
The fragmentation of the white movement, the powerful propaganda of the Bolsheviks, their determination to carry out repressions to rally their own ranks, and many other circumstances led to the fact that Soviet power was established on the territory of almost the entire former Russian Empire, except for Poland and Finland. The Red Army won the Civil War. At the final stage of the conflict, its number was already 5.5 million people.
Vladimir Lenin believed that in the country of the victorious proletariat, the need for a regular army would 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, primarily in Petrograd and Moscow, rallies were held, 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 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 efficient army peace.
From Democracy to Decimation
Leon Trotsky played an important role in the formation of the Red Army. It was he who headed for the construction of the army on traditional principles: unity of command, the restoration of the death penalty, mobilization, the restoration of insignia, uniform uniforms 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, by his 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 allowed a sharp increase in the number armed forces. In September 1918, about half a million people were already in the ranks of the Red Army - more than two times 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. According to various sources, from 2 to 8 thousand former "tsarist officers" voluntarily 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, he will rely entirely on the "military experts", as officers began to be called. Imperial Army they couldn't. 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 had mostly 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 equestrian partisan detachment Semyon Budyonny, created in February 1918, within a year grew 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.
