After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, Russia’s former imperialist army disintegrated, and was replaced by the Red Army, created from the already existing Red Guard, and established when the Soviet government proclaimed compulsory military service for peasants and workers. It was organized primarily by Leon Trotsky to help fight anti-communist White Forces in Russia. Also, it was Trotsky who attached political officers (zampolits) to all military units to ensure the loyalty of all individuals, a practice that endured throughout the Soviet era. After the Russian civil war ended, General Mikhail Tukhachevskiy created an extensive reorganization program that established military schools and modernized much of the Soviet equipment. In the Red Army’s first fifteen years, individual membership to the communist Party increased dramatically among the officer ranks. Noncommissioned officers followed their officers, and officers followed their Communist leaders; this ensured the loyalty of the entire armed forces. In the mid 1930’s, the size of the armed forces and their equipment was greatly enhanced as the threat of war overshadowed much of Europe. By the end of the Second World War, the Soviet armed forces had grown to about 11.4 million soldiers (officers and enlisted) and the Soviet military had suffered a loss of about seven million people. At this point, the Soviet military was widely recognized as the most powerful military force in the world. In 1946, the Red Army was redesignated the Soviet army, and by the 1950’s the Soviet Union’s demobilization had reduced all active armed forces to approximately three million members.

From the 1940’s to the 1960’s, the Soviet Union witnessed a switch from traditional military forces to nuclear arms. During these years the Soviet armed forces attempted to adapt to the changing style of warfare and also concentrated on achieving equilibrium with the United States in strategic nuclear weapons. By the 1970’s, the USSR began to focus on modernizing their conventional warfare capabilities. Additionally, Soviet involvement in several Third World countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia began to increase. In December 1979, the USSR began an attempt to suppress dissidents in Afghanistan. This campaign ended up lasting nearly nine years, and it wasn’t until 1989 that all Soviet forces who had been deployed left Afghanistan. After the failure of the Afghanistan campaign, Soviet forces were faced with serious problems as the USSR began to crumble. When the Warsaw Pact was signed in 1991, it had disappeared entirely.

Three years later in 1994, all Soviet forces had withdrawn from lands west of the Ukraine and Belarus, as well as the Baltic states, which also in 1991 gained their independence. Currently, the Soviet (now Russian) military is divided into six different branches; the army, navy, Air Forces, Air Borne Troops, Strategic Rocket Forces, and Military Space Forces. Below are two links to some very informative sites regarding the Russian MiG and various Russian tanks.