Trotsky speaks on building a new Red Army

The new Soviet government appointed Trotsky to lead foreign affairs. He published secret treaties and called for an immediate democratic peace, challenging imperial diplomacy while navigating the...

Trotsky ended negotiations without signing Germany’s terms and declared that Soviet Russia would demobilize but not continue fighting. German forces soon resumed their advance, exposing the risks of...

After refusing to sign the imposed terms and Germany resumed its advance, Trotsky defended the decision to accept a harsh treaty as necessary to preserve the new Soviet government. This was a...

After the German offensive, the Soviet government accepted a treaty that ceded Ukraine, the Baltic provinces, Finland, and other territories. Trotsky had opposed signing under those terms but...

Trotsky took charge of rebuilding military capacity as civil war and foreign intervention widened. The new army drew on former imperial officers under political supervision, a pragmatic decision...

The government created a centralized command for the Red Army and appointed Trotsky to lead its Revolutionary Military Council. The civil-war state relied on conscription, discipline, and political...

The speech defended emergency mobilization after anti-Bolshevik forces and foreign intervention threatened the Soviet state. It documents his argument for centralized command while exposing the...

The order celebrated a battlefield reversal and called for discipline and renewed mobilization. Its language shows how Trotsky fused revolutionary political claims with military command. The civil war...

A wartime directive framed the armed forces as institutions of the new workers’ state and demanded disciplined service. Its rhetoric of popular ownership coexisted with centralized command and...

The First Congress of the Communist International adopted a manifesto drafted by Trotsky. It called workers across borders to oppose imperial war and colonial domination, presenting revolutions in...