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Forging Stalin's Army: Marshal Tukhachevsky And The Politics Of Military Innovation
This innovative study examines the early years of the Red Army as it developed from a revolutionary partisan force into a modern, professional institution under the leadership of Mikhail Tukhachevsky, an important and controversial figure in the politics of the Stalin period. Sally Stoecker combines her institutional analysis of the formative period of the Soviet military with an astute look at the person and political maneuvers of Marshal Tukhachevsky and his complex relationship with Stalin, which eventually led to his spectacular downfall and execution in the Great Terror of the late 1930s.Based on newly available archival materials, the book will be welcomed not only by military historians but also by Russian historians for the light it sheds on a vital area of Soviet political history.
226 pages, Paperback
First published January 29, 1998
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December 28, 2023
Very interesting book about the interwar period during which Red Army was raised from mass militia to professional military organization, with developing military industry and application of new technologies.
Book gives a lot of interesting views on development of military industry and Red Army in whole. Stalin's involvement was not so thorough in the before purge period. Civilian industries were given goals to fulfill on their own tempo. Military particularly was given means to develop their own goals and push for their solutions - from purchasing and developing the latest military technology to linking it to the civilian sector to allow for quicker mobilization (like in case of civilian aviation sector). Where there departmental squabbles and infighting - of course. But as long as goal was set and reachable military officials were able to push toward their own goals.
Of course, without dedicated zealot, person living for his work progress would be slow. And here we have Marshal Tukhachevsky (I liked the parallels author made between his and US Admiral Rickover's career).
Completely dedicated to the goal of modernizing the Red Army and making it capable of fighting both the dangers from the East and West he was not above using infighting and politics to defeat his opposition (even manage to throw them out completely from party and army), use current political situation (Chinese occupation of railways and Japan's invasion of Manchuria) to push for strong military (although author here constantly says these were "scares", they nevertheless required Soviet military action to solve the issues - this again was used as test bed for new doctrine and military technology) or use others (with better political connections) to push his plans forward.
This total recklessness will cost him his life at the end, but it shows how little he was concerned with this as long as his plans were implemented. He was also behind the opening of Red Army to foreign specialists and industry. This propelled the further development - tanks, planes, chemical weaponry [domestic design bureaus were developed, domestic projects and approaches to weapon designs began, all of which will culminate with iconic WW2 weapons that destroyed the German army]- and also enabled doctrinal exchanges with Germans [during the period when Germans needed grounds for their own tests since they were forbidden to do anything in Germany at the time; of course once this limitation was lifted by international community, Germans decided to drop cooperation with Soviets].
Even at that time discussion on having certain armed units on brigade/regiment level were discussed (considering the trends at the time) but reason prevailed and decisions were made to keep divisional/corps organization for the main war-fighting formations. This resounds in our times - for high intensity warfare big forces are needed. This also brings us to the another point - Tukhachevsky and like-minded officers never saw Soviet Revolution as a blueprint for the next war. They all held that next war will likely in scale and force be very much like WW1. And they were right. And to avoid the traps of trench war, new concept was developed - deep battle, brainchild of Tukhachevsky that got further developed by other officers both in parallel (Svechin) and in coming years.
Tukhachevsky was more than aware of danger from Germany and his wargames showed the possibility of Germany aggression. It is very interesting how his views on the neighboring countries are basically still valid in our times. I guess history just repeats itself.
But politicking carries with it a price - it was not long before Tukhachevsky found himself in the crosshairs of Stalin himself.
While Tukhachevsky was killed during the purges he created the basis on which Red Army could further develop. His approaches to war enabled the Red Army to finally defeat the Germans in WW2.
Very interesting read, highly recommended to military historians and military enthusiasts in general.
Book gives a lot of interesting views on development of military industry and Red Army in whole. Stalin's involvement was not so thorough in the before purge period. Civilian industries were given goals to fulfill on their own tempo. Military particularly was given means to develop their own goals and push for their solutions - from purchasing and developing the latest military technology to linking it to the civilian sector to allow for quicker mobilization (like in case of civilian aviation sector). Where there departmental squabbles and infighting - of course. But as long as goal was set and reachable military officials were able to push toward their own goals.
Of course, without dedicated zealot, person living for his work progress would be slow. And here we have Marshal Tukhachevsky (I liked the parallels author made between his and US Admiral Rickover's career).
Completely dedicated to the goal of modernizing the Red Army and making it capable of fighting both the dangers from the East and West he was not above using infighting and politics to defeat his opposition (even manage to throw them out completely from party and army), use current political situation (Chinese occupation of railways and Japan's invasion of Manchuria) to push for strong military (although author here constantly says these were "scares", they nevertheless required Soviet military action to solve the issues - this again was used as test bed for new doctrine and military technology) or use others (with better political connections) to push his plans forward.
This total recklessness will cost him his life at the end, but it shows how little he was concerned with this as long as his plans were implemented. He was also behind the opening of Red Army to foreign specialists and industry. This propelled the further development - tanks, planes, chemical weaponry [domestic design bureaus were developed, domestic projects and approaches to weapon designs began, all of which will culminate with iconic WW2 weapons that destroyed the German army]- and also enabled doctrinal exchanges with Germans [during the period when Germans needed grounds for their own tests since they were forbidden to do anything in Germany at the time; of course once this limitation was lifted by international community, Germans decided to drop cooperation with Soviets].
Even at that time discussion on having certain armed units on brigade/regiment level were discussed (considering the trends at the time) but reason prevailed and decisions were made to keep divisional/corps organization for the main war-fighting formations. This resounds in our times - for high intensity warfare big forces are needed. This also brings us to the another point - Tukhachevsky and like-minded officers never saw Soviet Revolution as a blueprint for the next war. They all held that next war will likely in scale and force be very much like WW1. And they were right. And to avoid the traps of trench war, new concept was developed - deep battle, brainchild of Tukhachevsky that got further developed by other officers both in parallel (Svechin) and in coming years.
Tukhachevsky was more than aware of danger from Germany and his wargames showed the possibility of Germany aggression. It is very interesting how his views on the neighboring countries are basically still valid in our times. I guess history just repeats itself.
But politicking carries with it a price - it was not long before Tukhachevsky found himself in the crosshairs of Stalin himself.
While Tukhachevsky was killed during the purges he created the basis on which Red Army could further develop. His approaches to war enabled the Red Army to finally defeat the Germans in WW2.
Very interesting read, highly recommended to military historians and military enthusiasts in general.
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