The formation of national-ethnic cavalry divisions in the Red Army: intention and implementation (1919 - 1920)

The article considers for the first time the formation of national-ethnic divisions in the Red Army in 1918-1920. The Red Army was conceived by the Bolsheviks as an international military force for exporting the revolution, without any national-ethnic divisions envisaged in it. However, in the course of the Civil War in Russia the Bolsheviks’ party had to change the initial conception. The formation of several national-ethnic divisions, as they were named, was launched, but in reality they did not become ethnic ones from the very the very start, due to a number of reasons. The focus is made on the three cavalry divisions which were formed as national-ethnic ones, namely, Kalmyk, Bashkir and German. The decisions regarding the divisions were made by the Soviet military commandment in March, April and October, correspondingly, when the demand for cavalry divisions was particularly big. By that time the Red Army commandment had realized their mistake forming cavalry divisions by recruiting Cossacks and cavalrymen of the former imperial army. Instead, it made a bet on the ethnicities from the steppe regions of Russia with developed horse-breeding where horse riding was taught from childhood. However, after the orders about the formation of national-ethnic cavalry divisions were issued, the Soviet military leadership delegated their creation to the local authorities who were indifferent to the idea, and sometimes even resisted it. As a result, none of the three national-ethnic cavalry divisions was completed, even though some of their regiments were sent to the frontline to participate in military actions with big human and horse casualties.