Supported by evidence released after the collapse of the Soviet Union, this book follows the career of the Red Army from its birth in 1918 as the vanguard of world revolution to its affiliation in 1941 with 'the citadel of capitalism', the USA.

Earl F. Ziemke was awarded a PhD in History in 1952 by the University of Wisconsin and was a civilian historian in the US Army staff until 1967, when he moved to the University of Georgia as a professor. He is the author of a number of books, including The German Northern Theater of Operations (1959), Battle for Berlin (1968), Stalingrad to Berlin: The German Defeat in the East (1968), The Soviet Juggernaut (1981), and Moscow to Stalingrad: Decision in the East (1986), as well as numerous chapters in edited books. He has also occasionally served as an expert witness for the US Justice Department on war crimes trials relating to the Holocaust. He retired in 1993.

1. The Military Revolutionary Committee 2. 'All Power to the Soviets' 3. An Army of New Type 4. 'In A Fiery Ring of Fronts' 5. An Armed Camp 6. The Test of Battle on Three Fronts 7. The Decisive Battles 8. Defeat and Victory
8.1 The 'Moment of Victory' 9. Class War and Military Reform 10. The New Order 11. The Red Army and the Reichswehr 12. The Tukhachevskiy Era 13. Stalin's Military Reform 14. Approaching the 'Second Imperialist War' 15. The Most Pressing and Deadly Threat 16. War Plans 17. Stalin Deceived 18. The Red Army at Bay 19. The Heartland in Peril 20. The Heartland Preserved 21. Conclusion