Soviet Army

The Red Army was the Soviet government’s revolutionary militia beginning in the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the USSR. Since 1946, after the Second World War, it was called the Soviet Army.

The 'Red Army' name refers to the traditional colour of the workers' movement. This represents, symbolically, the blood shed by the working class in its struggling against capitalism, and the belief that all people are equal. On 25 February 1946 (when Soviet national symbols replaced revolutionary national symbols), the Red Army was renamed the Soviet Army. The Soviet Army was among the largest armies in history, from the 1930s until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.