home Lucky Creation of a regular Red Army. Literary and historical notes of a young technician The first battles of the Red Army, what a holiday

Creation of a regular Red Army. Literary and historical notes of a young technician The first battles of the Red Army, what a holiday

February 23: what are we celebrating?

“Defender of the Fatherland Day” is a holiday celebrated on February 23 in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Transnistria. Officially established in the USSR in 1922 as Red Army and Navy Day. From 1949 to 1993 it was called “Day of the Soviet Army and Navy.”

In the Soviet Union, every schoolchild knew that February 23, 1918 is considered the day of the creation of the Red Army. According to the Soviet ideological myth, deliberately propagated in the 1930s and 40s, on February 23, 1918, the first, barely formed detachments of Red Army soldiers stopped the German offensive near Pskov and Narva. These supposedly harsh “battles” in the snowy expanses of northern Russia became the baptism of fire for the Red Army, which won a great victory in the Civil War.

What actually happened on February 23, 1918 near Pskov and Narva? Why was this day considered the birthday of the Soviet Army and Navy for many years? Even very educated people, politicians, graduates of Soviet universities and Soviet schools, today have a very vague idea about this...

Negotiations in Brest-Litovsk

The day after the Bolshevik revolution, i.e. On October 26 (November 8), 1917, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted the Decree on Peace, in which the Soviet government invited all warring states to immediately conclude a truce and begin peace negotiations. The Entente countries' refusal of this proposal forced the Soviet government on November 20 (December 3) to enter into separate negotiations with Germany. On December 2 (15), an armistice agreement was signed in Brest-Litovsk, and peace negotiations began on December 9 (22). The Soviet delegation put forward the principle of a democratic peace without annexations and indemnities as the basis for negotiations. On December 12 (25), Kühlmann, on behalf of the German-Austrian bloc, announced adherence to the main provisions of the Soviet declaration of peace without annexations and indemnities only on the condition that the governments of the Entente countries join the Soviet formula. The Entente powers, as is known, did not recognize the Bolshevik government and refused to join their separate negotiations. The Germans immediately took advantage of this. On January 5 (18), 1918, the German delegation demanded the separation from Russia of a territory of over 150 thousand km2, including Poland, Lithuania, parts of Estonia and Latvia, as well as significant areas inhabited by Ukrainians and Belarusians. The Bolsheviks decided that this was “robbery,” and negotiations were temporarily interrupted.

They resumed only on January 17 (30). When the head of the Soviet delegation, Trotsky, left for Brest, it was agreed between him and the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, Lenin: to delay negotiations in every possible way until Germany presented an ultimatum, after which they would immediately sign peace. Trotsky did not want to “delay” the negotiations, and already on January 28 he made an adventuristic statement that Soviet Russia was ending the war, demobilizing the army, but not signing peace. Kühlmann, in response to this, stated that “failure by Russia to sign a peace treaty automatically entails the termination of the truce.” Trotsky refused further negotiations, and the Soviet delegation left Brest-Litovsk.

German offensive near Pskov and Narva

On February 18 at 12 noon, Austro-German troops launched an offensive along the entire Eastern Front. On the evening of the same day, at a meeting of the Party Central Committee, after a sharp struggle, the majority (7 for, 5 against, 1 abstained) spoke in favor of signing peace. On the morning of February 19, the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, V.I. Lenin, sent a telegram to the German government in Berlin, expressing protest against the treacherous offensive, as well as the consent of the Soviet government to sign the German conditions. German troops continued their offensive. On February 21, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR adopted a decree - “The Socialist Fatherland is in Danger!” According to the version of Soviet historiography, the active formation of the Red Army began, which within two (!) days blocked the enemy’s path to Petrograd and stopped the German advance near Narva and Pskov.

According to archival data, by the evening of February 23, 1918, the Germans were 55 km from Pskov and more than 170 km from Narva. No battles on this day were recorded in either German or Russian archives.

German troops advanced towards Pskov along railways and highways from the south from Ostrov and the southwest from Valka. Flying detachments of the 53rd German Corps of Army Group D were sent directly to capture the city. Having taken Rezhitsa on February 21 and fitted up a train captured in Dvinsk, which was equipped with armored sandbags and gun platforms (which is why it appears in Soviet literature as an “armored train”), the Germans with this train and with the support of armored cars moved to Pskov. Member of the Northern Front Troop Command B.P. Pozern noted the extreme small number of Germans advancing on Pskov: “According to information, they number almost in companies, although their advantage is that they have artillery and cavalry. It appears to be in small quantities."

At this time the city was a large number of soldier. Pskov was covered by the Russian 12th Army, which had fled from Dvinsk and Riga, and further, in the Ostrov region, there was the 1st Army. However, due to the complete lack of combat capability and the unwillingness of the personnel to hold the defense, both armies retreated to the areas of Novgorod, Luga and Staraya Russa. On February 20-21, soldiers hurriedly left the city en masse along the highway to Luga.

On February 24-25, Pskov was defended only by a hastily assembled company of Pskov Red Guards and conscript soldiers numbering up to 100 people. Two companies and a machine gun team of the 2nd Riga Latvian Regiment arrived from near Riga, they were joined by a small partisan detachment of volunteers and the 2nd Red Army Regiment under the command of former staff captain A.I. Cherepanov, staffed by soldiers and officers of the 12th armies who voluntarily remained in the city.

Pskov was occupied by the Germans on February 24. On February 25, German troops stopped the offensive in this direction and then sent only reconnaissance patrols from Pskov. The Soviet operational report for February 27-28, 1918 stated that “the Germans did not leave Pskov for the purpose of offensive operations... the advance of the Germans from Pskov was not noticed, despite the tempting possibility of capturing our artillery and convoys traveling along the Pskov highway to Novoselye.”

This was explained by the fact that on the night of February 24, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR accepted the German peace conditions and immediately informed the German government about this. The Soviet delegation left for Brest-Litovsk. On March 3, 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed.

Narva is the second city that for a long time appeared in Soviet historiography as the site of the heroic victory of the Red Army - it was taken by the Germans without a fight. The Red Navy men of Dybenko and the Hungarian internationalists of Bela Kun, who were supposed to defend Narva, fearing encirclement, fled to Yamburg. General Parsky, who arrived from Petrograd, tried to organize a defense and recapture the city from the Germans. On March 3-4, only a small enemy reconnaissance unit was in Narva. The forces that Dybenko had at his disposal, according to Parsky, would be quite enough to launch a counterattack and liberate the city. But the Red Navy men sabotaged all the general’s orders: they did not return to their position in Narva, left Yamburg and fled further to Gatchina. Internationalists followed them. After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk came into force, the law-abiding Germans themselves stopped on the Narva-Pskov line and made no attempts to pursue the enemy.

People's Commissar of the Navy Pavel Dybenko, afraid of the responsibility for leaving Narva, disappeared from Gatchina. In the end, he was discovered in Samara, sent to Moscow, court-martialed, removed from his post and expelled from the party.

Birth of a myth

In 1923, the 5th anniversary of the Red Army was celebrated with great pomp, and the holidays on February 23 acquired a wide scope. It is then that attempts begin to “invent” some event that justifies this strange date.

For the first time, February 23 was directly named as the day of publication of the decree on the creation of the Red Army in the resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of January 18, 1923. In the order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic dated February 5, 1923, signed by L.D. Trotsky, the event that served as the occasion for the holiday, is defined as follows: “On February 23, 1918, under pressure from enemies, the workers’ and peasants’ government proclaimed the need to create an armed force.” In the same year, a statement appeared in the magazine “Military Thought and Revolution” that on February 23, the first Red Army unit was allegedly formed, which took part in the battles in the northwestern direction. The following year, a photocopy of Lenin’s decree on the organization of the Red Army from January 15 (28), 1918 with a deliberately false date of February 23.

Why exactly February 23? A day on which nothing significant happened on the Western Front, and on which a combat-ready Red Army could not have been formed at once, out of general chaos and confusion?

Everything is very simple. On the night of February 22 to 23 (February 9 to 10, old style), 1918, the famous “Ice” (First Kuban) campaign of the Volunteer Army began. This date became the actual date of formation and beginning of the White movement. It was widely celebrated by former white warriors in exile. The “Ice March” of volunteers, as an act of unprecedented courage and patriotism, is still considered one of the most heroic pages in the history of White Russia. To erase this event from memory, to “replace” it with another, more suitable for the victors in the Civil War - it was for this purpose that the mythical date of birth of the Red Army was invented.

Klim Voroshilov himself “let slip” about this in 1933 at a ceremonial meeting dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the Red Army:

As for the myth of the “victory at Pskov and Narva,” then, according to many historians, it was personally invented by I.V. Stalin in 1938. It first appears in a material published in Izvestia on February 16, 1938 under the heading “To the 20th anniversary of the Red Army and the Navy. Theses for propagandists." The corresponding thesis sounded as follows: “Near Narva and Pskov, the German occupiers were given a decisive rebuff. Their advance towards revolutionary Petrograd was suspended. The day of repulse to the troops of German imperialism became the anniversary day of the young Red Army.”

In September of the same year, it was enshrined in the chapter of “A Short Course in the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)” published in Pravda:

No one dared to object to this. It was this version that was supported by state propaganda in the USSR for many years, was included in school and university textbooks, and is still mentioned as real in some journalistic works and speeches of modern Russian politicians.

Currently, the holiday is celebrated as Defender of the Fatherland Day in accordance with Federal law RF "About the days military glory(victorious days) of Russia" (1995).

Only on January 18, 2006, the State Duma decided to exclude the words “Victory Day of the Red Army over the Kaiser’s troops of Germany (1918)” from the official description of the holiday in the law, and also to state the concept of “defender” in the singular.

Red Army Day (Defender of the Fatherland Day) is a holiday of Soviet origin, celebrated on February 23 in Russia and some CIS countries. Unofficially celebrated as Men's Day.

The history of the holiday dates back to January 28 (January 15, old style) 1918. On this day, against the backdrop of the First World War ongoing in Europe, the Council of People's Commissars (the de facto government of Soviet Russia), led by its chairman Vladimir Lenin, adopted a Decree on the organization of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA).

In the first days of January 1919, the Soviet authorities remembered the approaching anniversary of the Council of People's Commissars decree on the organization of the Red Army. On January 10, the Chairman of the Higher Military Inspectorate of the Red Army, Nikolai Podvoisky, sent to the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee a proposal to celebrate the anniversary of the creation of the Red Army, timing the celebration to the nearest Sunday before or after January 28. However, due to the late submission of the application, no decision was made.

Then the Moscow Soviet took the initiative to celebrate the first anniversary of the Red Army. On January 24, 1919, its presidium, which at that time was headed by Lev Kamenev, decided to coincide these celebrations with Red Gift Day. This day was organized by the relevant commission under the All-Russian Central Executive Committee with the aim of providing assistance to the fighting Red Army soldiers. Red Gift Day was scheduled for February 16, but the commission did not have time to hold it on time. Therefore, Red Gift Day and the Red Army Day dedicated to it were decided to be celebrated on the Sunday following February 16, that is, February 23.

In 1920-1921, Red Army Day was not celebrated.

On January 27, 1922, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee published a resolution on the 4th anniversary of the Red Army, which stated: “In accordance with the resolution of the IX All-Russian Congress of Soviets on the Red Army, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee draws the attention of the executive committees to the upcoming anniversary of the creation of the Red Army (February 23).”

In 1923, the resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, adopted on January 18, stated: “On February 23, 1923, the Red Army will celebrate the 5th anniversary of its existence. On this day, five years ago, the Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars of January 28 of the same year was published, which laid the foundation for the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, the stronghold of the proletarian dictatorship.” However, this statement was not true, since the mentioned decree was published in central newspapers almost immediately after its adoption.

The 10th anniversary of the Red Army in 1928, like all previous ones, was celebrated as the anniversary of the Council of People's Commissars decree on the organization of the Red Army of January 28 (15), 1918, but the very date of publication, contrary to the truth, was directly linked to February 23.

In 1938, in the “Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)” a fundamentally new version of the origin of the date of the holiday was presented, which was not related to the decree of the Council of People’s Commissars. The book stated that in 1918, near Narva and Pskov, “the German occupiers were given a decisive rebuff. Their advance to Petrograd was stopped. The day of repulse to the troops of German imperialism - February 23 - became the birthday of the young Red Army." Later, in the order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR dated February 23, 1942, the wording was changed: “The young detachments of the Red Army, which entered the war for the first time, completely defeated the German invaders near Pskov and Narva on February 23, 1918. That is why February 23 was declared the birthday of the Red Army.”

In 1951, the latest interpretation of the holiday appeared. The “History of the Civil War in the USSR” stated that in 1919 the first anniversary of the Red Army was celebrated “on the memorable day of the mobilization of workers to defend the socialist Fatherland, the mass entry of workers into the Red Army, the widespread formation of the first detachments and units of the new army.”

In the Federal Law of March 13, 1995 N32 Federal Law “On the Days of Military Glory of Russia,” February 23 bears the official name: “The Day of the Red Army’s Victory over the Kaiser’s troops of Germany in 1918 - the Day of Defenders of the Fatherland.”

In accordance with the amendments made to the Federal Law “On the Days of Military Glory of Russia” by the Federal Law of April 15, 2006, the words “Victory Day of the Red Army over the Kaiser’s troops of Germany (1918)” were excluded from the official description of the holiday, and also stated in the singular the concept of "defender".

Vladimir Lenin believed that in the country of a victorious proletariat there would be no need for a regular army. In 1917, he wrote the work “State and Revolution,” where he advocated replacing the regular army with the general arming of the people.

The arming of the people by the end of the First World War was indeed close to universal. True, not all the people were ready to defend the “gains of the revolution” with arms in hand.
At the first clashes with “cruel revolutionary reality,” the idea of the voluntary principle of recruitment into the Red Guard detachments showed its complete unviability.

“The principle of voluntariness” as a factor in inciting civil war

The Red Guard detachments, assembled from volunteers at the end of 1917 and beginning of 1918, quickly degenerated into semi-bandit or outright bandit formations. This is how one of the delegates to the VIII Congress of the RCP(b) recalls this period of formation of the Red Army: “...The best elements were knocked out, died, were captured, and thus a selection of the worst elements was created. These worst elements were joined by those who joined the volunteer army not in order to fight and die, but did so because they were left without something to do, because they were thrown out onto the street as a result of a catastrophic breakdown of the entire social structure. Finally, it was just the half-rotten remnants of the old army that went there...”
It was the “gangster deviation” of the first Red Army detachments that provoked the expansion of the civil war. Suffice it to recall the uprising of the Don Cossacks in April 1918, outraged by the “revolutionary” lawlessness.

The real birthday of the Red Army

Around the holiday of February 23, many spears were and are being broken. His supporters say that it was on this day that the “revolutionary consciousness of the working masses” awoke, spurred by the just published appeal of the Council of People’s Commissars of February 21, “The Socialist Fatherland is in Danger,” as well as the “Appeal of the Military Commander-in-Chief” Nikolai Krylenko, which ended with the words : “Everyone to arms. Everything is in defense of the revolution." In large cities of central Russia, primarily in Petrograd and Moscow, rallies were held, after which thousands of volunteers signed up to join the ranks of the Red Army. With their help, in March 1918, it was difficult to stop the advance of small German units approximately on the line of the modern Russian-Estonian border.

On January 15 (28), 1918, the Council of People's Commissars of Soviet Russia issued a Decree on the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (published on January 20 (February 2), 1918). However, it seems that the real birthday of the Red Army can be considered April 22, 1918. On this day, by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee “On the procedure for filling positions in the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army,” the election of command personnel was abolished. Commanders of individual units, brigades, and divisions began to be appointed by the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs, and commanders of battalions, companies and platoons were recommended for positions by local military registration and enlistment offices.

During the construction of the Red Army, the Bolsheviks once again demonstrated the skillful use of “double standards.” If, in order to destroy and demoralize the tsarist army, they welcomed its “democratization” in every possible way, then the above-mentioned decree returned the Red Army to the “vertical of power”, without which not a single combat-ready army in the world could exist.

From democracy to decimation

Leon Trotsky played an important role in the formation of the Red Army. It was he who set a course for building an army on traditional principles: unity of command, restoration of the death penalty, mobilization, restoration of insignia, uniform uniforms and even military parades, the first of which took place on May 1, 1918 in Moscow, on Khodynskoye Field. An important step was the fight against the “military anarchism” of the first months of the existence of the Red Army. For example, executions for desertion were reinstated. By the end of 1918, the power of the military committees was reduced to nothing.

People's Commissar Trotsky, by his personal example, showed the Red commanders how to restore discipline. On August 10, 1918, he arrived in Sviyazhsk to take part in the battles for Kazan. When the 2nd Petrograd Regiment fled without permission from the battlefield, Trotsky applied the ancient Roman ritual of decimation (execution of every tenth by lot) against deserters. On August 31, Trotsky personally shot 20 people from among the unauthorized retreating units of the 5th Army.

At the instigation of Trotsky, by decree of July 29, the entire population of the country liable for military service between the ages of 18 and 40 was registered and military service was established. This made it possible to sharply increase the size of the armed forces. In September 1918, there were already about half a million people in the ranks of the Red Army - more than two times more than 5 months ago.
By 1920, the number of the Red Army was already more than 5.5 million people.

Commissioners are the key to success

The sharp increase in the number of the Red Army led to an acute shortage of competent, military-trained commanders. According to various sources, from 2 to 8 thousand former “tsarist officers” voluntarily joined the ranks of the Red Army. This was clearly not enough. Therefore, in relation to the most suspicious from the point of view of the Bolsheviks social group also had to resort to the method of mobilization. However, they could not rely entirely on “military experts,” as the officers of the Imperial Army began to be called. This is also why the institution of commissars was introduced in the troops, looking after the “former” ones.
This step played perhaps the main role in the outcome of the Civil War. It was the commissars, all of whom were members of the RCP(b), who took upon themselves political work with both the troops and the population. Relying on a powerful propaganda apparatus, they clearly explained to the fighters why it was necessary to fight for Soviet power “to the last drop of workers’ and peasants’ blood.” While explaining the goals of the “whites,” an additional burden fell on officers who mostly had a purely military education and were completely unprepared for such work. Therefore, not only ordinary White Guards, but also the officers themselves often did not have a clear idea of what they were fighting for.

The Reds defeated the Whites by numbers rather than skill. Thus, even during the most difficult period for the Bolsheviks at the end of summer - autumn of 1919, when the fate of the world's first Soviet republic hung in the balance, the strength of the Red Army exceeded the combined strength of all white armies for that period, according to various sources, from 1.5 to 3 times.

One of the outstanding phenomena in the history of military art was the legendary red cavalry. At first, the clear superiority in cavalry was with the whites, for whom, as you know, the majority of the Cossacks supported. In addition, the South and South-East of Russia (territories where horse breeding was traditionally developed) were cut off from the Bolsheviks. But gradually, from individual red cavalry regiments and horse detachments, the transition began to the formation of brigades, and then divisions. Thus, the small cavalry partisan detachment of Semyon Budyonny, created in February 1918, within a year grew into a combined cavalry division of the Tsaritsyn Front, and then into the First Cavalry Army, which played an important, and, according to some historians, a decisive role in the defeat of Denikin’s army . During the Civil War, in some operations the red cavalry accounted for up to half of the total number of Red Army troops involved. Often mounted attacks were supported by powerful machine gun fire from carts.

The success of the combat operations of the Soviet cavalry during the Civil War was facilitated by the vastness of the theaters of military operations, the extension of the opposing armies on wide fronts, and the presence of gaps that were poorly covered or not occupied by troops at all, which were used by cavalry formations to reach the enemy’s flanks and carry out deep raids in his rear. Under these conditions, the cavalry could fully realize its combat properties and capabilities: mobility, surprise attacks, speed and decisiveness of action.

Then it was celebrated annually as a national holiday - Soviet Army Day and Navy. After it collapsed, the holiday continues to be celebrated in a number of CIS countries.

Unofficially celebrated as Men's Day

Then the Moscow Soviet took the initiative to celebrate the first anniversary of the Red Army. On January 24, 1919, its presidium, which at that time was headed by Lev Kamenev, decided to coincide these celebrations with Red Gift Day. This day was organized by the relevant commission under the All-Russian Central Executive Committee with the aim of providing assistance to the fighting Red Army soldiers. Red Gift Day was scheduled for February 16, but the commission did not have time to hold it on time. Therefore, Red Gift Day and Red Army Day, dedicated to it, were decided to be celebrated on the Sunday following February 16, i.e. February 23.

In 1920-1921 Red Army Day was not celebrated.

In 1923, the resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, adopted on January 18, stated: “On February 23, 1923, the Red Army will celebrate the 5th anniversary of its existence. On this day, five years ago, the Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars of January 28 of the same year was published, which laid the foundation for the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, the stronghold of the proletarian dictatorship.” However, this statement was not true, because the mentioned decree was published in central newspapers almost immediately after its adoption.

The 10th anniversary of the Red Army in 1928, like all previous ones, was celebrated as the anniversary of the Council of People's Commissars decree on the organization of the Red Army of January 28 (15 old style) January 1918, but the very date of publication, contrary to the truth, was directly linked to February 23.

Later, in the order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR dated February 23, 1942, the wording was changed: “The young detachments of the Red Army, which entered the war for the first time, completely defeated the German invaders near Pskov and Narva on February 23, 1918. That is why February 23 was declared a day birth of the Red Army."

In 1951, the latest interpretation of the holiday appeared. The “History of the Civil War in the USSR” stated that in 1919 the first anniversary of the Red Army was celebrated “on the memorable day of the mobilization of workers for the defense of the socialist Fatherland, the mass entry of workers into the Red Army, the widespread formation of the first detachments and units of the new army.”

In the Federal Law of March 13, 1995 N32-FZ “On the Days of Military Glory of Russia,” February 23 bears the official name “Victory Day of the Red Army over the Kaiser’s troops of Germany in 1918 - Day of Defenders of the Fatherland.”

Since 2002 by decision State Duma Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation February 23 is a non-working day in Russia.

We praise those who did not cry

From my pain,

But I didn’t hide my tears

On the graves of friends

Those who were men

Not in words

I didn't celebrate the coward

Sitting in the bushes

Those best

Sons of humanity

Those who guard the Fatherland!

There is one quality in people,

Whether it is given to us or not,

When a machine gun fires in a fever,

And so in everything, and everywhere, and always,

When trouble falls on your shoulders,

When life grabs you by the throat,

One is lying down, the other is running forward.

Well, what can you do, apparently it’s like this:

Let's pour some wine into glasses.

My first toast and my last toast

For those who rose to their full height!

We wish you to love your Motherland

And be a real man

Become the best among the wonderful,

Defender and citizen!

We wish you health and joy,

Good luck, prosperity and happiness,

Good, reliable comrades,

Real friends and girlfriends!

This holiday has gone beyond borders,

It is not just a holiday for soldiers,

It is not only for people in uniform,

That they stand in the service of the Motherland.

This holiday is a man's holiday

We can rightfully name.

In honor of men today, congratulations

They will sound from their life partners.

Defender of the Fatherland Day

23 February

Historical excursion

This holiday personifies everything that women value in men: courage, strength, care and responsibility.

Defender of the Fatherland Day - a holiday primarily for the military. But at the same time, this is a holiday for all men, those who are ready at any moment to get into formation in order to defend their loved ones, their loved ones and their homeland with arms in their hands. And since protecting the weak has always been an occupation for real men, That Defender of the Fatherland Day has long been firmly associated in our minds as a men's holiday.

This holiday, from the moment it appeared in our calendar, remains unchanged in its content and the level of popular love for it, but at the same time Defender of the Fatherland Day It also has a very interesting history. Suffice it to say that during its existence it was renamed several times and arose under rather interesting circumstances.

What was the name of the holiday of all men V different years our history:

1919 -1946 Day of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army

1993 – 1994 Day Russian army

1995 – 2012 Defender of the Fatherland Day

From 2002 – Defender of the Fatherland Day public holiday

Why Defender of the Fatherland Day is celebrated February 23?

Many holidays in our country (and in other countries) are tied to historical events. As a rule, these are victories or some other good or significant achievements for everyone, such as a harvest festival among all nations, or Victory Day, or Cosmonautics Day...

But what happened February 23?

Was there some kind of victory or other great event? As it turned out, absolutely nothing happened on February 23. There was no reason for a celebration on this particular day. But there was a need!

Archival data suggests that the Red Army - the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was created by Decree of the Council of People's Commissars on January 28, 1918. On the eve of the first anniversary of this event, the Chairman of the Higher Military Inspectorate of the Red Army N. Podvoisky sent a request to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to celebrate this date as the anniversary of the formation of the new army.

But party comrades rejected the date of January 28 due to the fact that there was not enough time to prepare the celebration (the request from N. Podvoisky was considered only on January 23, 1919) and decided to combine Army Day with Red Gift Day (it turns out there was such a holiday) , namely February 17th. But February 17, 1919, fell on a Monday, and a message about this appeared in Pravda:

The celebration of Red Gift Day throughout Russia has been postponed to February 23. On this day, celebrations of the anniversary of the creation of the Red Army, which occurred on January 28, will be organized in cities and at the front.

...a holiday celebrated in the USSR annually on February 23. On January 15 (28), 1918, V. I. Lenin signed the decree of the Council of People's Commissars on the organization of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA), and on January 29 (February 11) - the Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet (RKKF). On February 22, 1918, in the context of the offensive of the troops of German imperialism on Soviet Russia, the decree-appeal of the Council of People's Commissars of February 21, “The Socialist Fatherland is in danger!” was published. On February 23, 1918, mass rallies took place in Petrograd, Moscow and other cities of the country, at which workers were called upon to defend the socialist Fatherland. In commemoration of the massive rise of the Soviet people to defend the socialist Fatherland and the courageous resistance of the Red Army to the German invaders, February 23 is annually celebrated as the Day of the Soviet Army (until 1946 - the Red Army) and the Navy.

Further maneuvers of the party-bureaucratic apparatus, which had already been formed by 1922, were aimed at bringing some kind of heroic event to the holiday of the armed forces. This is how the far-fetched version emerged that it was on February 23, 1918 that units of the young Red Army repelled the advance of German troops near Pskov and Narva in decisive battles. But as the documents (ours and Germans) say, there was no battle or offensive on that day in the areas of Pskov or Narva; moreover, German troops captured our cities everywhere without a fight with extremely small forces, numbering up to one company, and the heroic Bolshevik power in fled in panic, not only having no combat-ready units, but not even the means to protect herself and her loved ones. In a word, it was a complete disgrace.

(For those interested, read the detailed information about the actual events of those days.)

But who could confirm or deny this? By 1922, the Bolsheviks already had a monopoly on information. But even 15 years later, in 1933, at the celebration of Red Army Day, Klim Voroshilov said (quote):

By the way, the timing of the celebration of the anniversary of the Red Army on February 23 is quite random and difficult to explain and does not coincide with historical dates.

But before the next anniversary of the Red Army in 1942, Comrade Stalin in his order formulated the essence of the events as follows:

The young detachments of the Red Army, which entered the war for the first time, completely defeated the German invaders near Pskov and Narva on February 23, 1918. That is why February 23, 1918 was declared the birthday of the Red Army.

That's all. Dot. The ultimate truth.

And who would doubt it then!

But, despite the vagueness of the source of events, the holiday of the Armed Forces took root in the consciousness of the Soviet people, because there was a need for it. And frankly, it doesn’t matter how exactly Armed Forces Day arose, it is important that we love this holiday, that this holiday is needed, that on this day all serving and serving men feel a little bit like heroes and full-fledged defenders of the Fatherland. And women, and all citizens, are pleased to feel that there is a force in the country that can protect them. Defender of the Fatherland Day As for the current name of the holiday

, then in my opinion it is the most successful of all the previous ones, because it applies not only to those who are now serving, but also to all those who served before, to those who were partisans, who forged victories in the rear, to those who worked and is working to strengthen the country's defense capability. Glory Armed forces

Russian Federation!

prepared by Viktor Kudryavtsev

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Ideal cosmetics. Makeup. Manicure. Oils. Massage. Coloring

Creation of a regular Red Army. Literary and historical notes of a young technician The first battles of the Red Army, what a holiday

February 23: what are we celebrating?

Negotiations in Brest-Litovsk

German offensive near Pskov and Narva

Birth of a myth

“The principle of voluntariness” as a factor in inciting civil war

The real birthday of the Red Army

From democracy to decimation

Commissioners are the key to success

Defender of the Fatherland Day

23 February

Historical excursion

Why Defender of the Fatherland Day is celebrated February 23?