How Leon Trotsky, Commissar of War, transformed the Red Army into a fighting forc

In 1918, Leon Trotsky was appointed Commissar of War to build the Red Army for the Russian Revolution. The Red Army was to be the key factor in the survival of the Revolution. Trotsky's keen intellect, insatiable writing and reading habits, and his charismatic oratory skills were indispensable for motivating the people. These attributes were key to Trotsky's success. The Russian people, tired of war, were thoroughly exhausted. Wartime propaganda had convinced the people not to fight. Trotsky needed to combine the forces of the Old Imperial troops along with the striking factory workers, rioting peasants and the army deserters into the new Red Army. Uniting these people ideologically to fight for the Revolution was no easy task. With the help of the military specialists, his handpicked staff and the use of his armored train, Trotsky built the Red Army into a fighting force.