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Describe the Red Army When the Bolsheviks took power by revolution in October 1917, Lenin decided that the old Imperial Army would have to be changed, to be of benefit to the Reds. And so, when the Germans declared themselves at war with the revolutionary Russia in early 1918, Lenin signed a decree to establish the Red Army on January 15th. The basis of this army was the Red Guard, militia forces that were built for the October revolution. However this was small and needed extending to face the threat of the advancing Germans and the imminent civil war against the Whites. The units that were left from the Imperial Army were in tatters, organised on a democratic basis, by electing their officers and voting on orders. These desperate circumstances demanded a centralised and disciplined mass army. To achieve this, Lenin appointed Leon Trotsky, formerly Commissar for Foreign Affairs, to the role...

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