Red Army

The armed forces of the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1991. Formed at the beginning of the Russian civil war in the middle of the First World War. The initial Red Army wasn't a professional army, made up of armed citizen and white army deserters. In the 30's it saw a massive armament efforts and modernizations by getting tanks, anti tank weapons, rifles and artillery improvements over the years. Though numbers were on their side, usually it lacked in strategy and logistics which was proven many times where the poles and the Baltic states managed to repel the the Red Army in the 20's and the Finnish in the late 30's. (though eventually a Soviet victory) In 1941 it was pushed to it's limits during the Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. It lost somewhere in between 7.000.000 to 20.000.000 men. This was mostly due to encirclements and disastrous counter attacks. By 1943 the Soviets were on equal footing with the Germans in terms of strength and were planning a major offensive. It also saw the end of the Battle for Stalingrad, the most deadly battle known to history. The Red Army was the first to arrive in Berlin 1945 and continued to fight proxy wars during the cold war (1945 - 1991). It was dissolved in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union and became the Armed Forces of Russian Federation. (Know that there is also the Chinese Red Army which still is in service to this day as the CCP, Chinese Communist Party, is still in power)