After the Russian Revolution in 1917, the new Soviet government formed a Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.

With the Russian Civil War that followed, losses provoked a need for conscription.

The dangers of Nazi Germany encouraged the Red Army to expand to 1.3 million by 1935.

In 1936, the Spanish Civil War provided valuable experience for testing new military equipment ,and new tactics.

By 1941, the Red Army was 4.8 million strong, with 2.9 million deployed at western military districts.

The conscription age was 18.

A wave of purges started after Kirov's assassination, affecting Red Army development.

High-ranking officers were disproportionately affected.

Combined with an explosive growth in the Red Army, this lowered the quality of the troops, and their readiness for battle and caused the rapid over-promotion of younger personnel.

To further cement the ideological grip of the Communist Party, political officers were employed to monitor troops' loyalty, and keep morale high.

Some political officers became renowned military leaders. Marshal

Marshal Konev had started his career as a Red Guard Commissar in 1918.

The Red Army was growing very quickly in the late 1930s.

It was tested against Japanese forces at Lake Khasan in 1938, and at the Khalkhin Gol River in 1939.

At Khalkhin Gol, a young Major General Zhukov established himself as a capable military leader.

After the U.S.S.R. failed to negotiate an exchange of territories near Leningrad in December of 1939,

the Red Army invaded Finland, in what would become known as the Winter War, known as the Soviet-Finnish War in the U.S.S.R.

Victory was not achieved until March of 1940, when the Finns were finally overwhelmed by tanks, planes, and soldiers.

This demonstrated the weakness of the Red Army to Hitler.

In 1941, the German Armed Forces and their fellow Axis combatants, launched Operation Barbarossa.

At the disbelief of Stalin, who thought he could prevent war with Germany.

The Soviet leadership over-hyped the Red Army's capabilities just before the war, and early defeats of 1941 heavily weighed on morale.

Weak logistics also contributed to early defeats of the Red Army.

On the border battles, Red Army units had to abandon their perfectly functional vehicles after ammo and fuel were exhausted, and supplies weren't delivered in time.

The Red Army would also be supplied with Lend-Lease aid from its allies, the United States, and Britain.

As the Germans got closer, Stalin ordered the Red Army to use Scorched Earth tactics, destroying anything that might be captured, or used, by the enemy, and evacuated factories East.

The organization of the Red Army differed a lot from the Western Armies.

The backbone of the Red Army was the Rifle division.

Typical Red Army divisions were twice as small as a Wehrmacht Infantry Division.

But Soviet units had a larger proportion of officers-to-soldiers.

In late 1941, the German Army launched an offensive on Moscow.

However, the Red Army held their ground and the Germans were brought to a halt.

Commanders, like Georgy Zhukov, had learnt from the harsh lessons of earlier defeats.

The Red Army would achieve major victories at Stalingrad in 1942, and at Kursk in 1943.

The Red Army advanced along the Eastern Front, and pushed the German forces all the way to Berlin by May, 1945.

34.4 million men and women served in the Red Army.

It is estimated that 6.8 million were KIA.

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