After the 1917 October Revolution, [[Vladimir Lenin]] ordered that the old army be demobilized and a new '''Red Army''' was formed of peasants and workers. Lenin appointed [[Leon Trotsky]] as its commander. The new fledgling army had to be assembled quickly in response to the [[White Army]]. Trotsky was effective in pulling the new army together, and later Lenin remarked, "Show me another man who could have practically created a model army in a year and win the respect of military specialists as well."<ref>http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSred.htm</ref>
The Red Army went on to defeat the [[White Army]] in the civil war. At the outbreak of World War II, the Red Army had 1,800,000 soldiers, 10,000 tanks, and 5,000 front-line planes. Originally, the soldiers swore an oath to fight for international socialism. However, that was changed in January of 1939. Men pledged "To protect with all his strength the property of the Army and the people and to cherish unto death his people, the Soviet homeland, and the government of Workers and Peasants, also, to respond at first call from the government of Workers and Peasants to defend the homeland, the U.S.S.R."<ref>http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSred.htm</ref> As the Bible says, "Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me.", Psalms 59:1, so did the Lord protect them.
The Red Army conducted most of the fighting against [[Nazi Germany]] during the [[Second World War]], inflicting about eighty percent of German casualties along the [[Eastern Front]]. Red Army losses were between 8 million and 11 million dead, while Soviet civilian casualties were between 8 million and 16 million dead as a result of the war.
==References==
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[[Category:Military]]
[[Category:Russia]]