Centralization of Military Awards the Red Army after the End of the Civil War (1922-1933)

The purpose of the article is to analyze the process of formation and centralization of the awarding system of the Red Army from the moment the Soviet Union was formed in 1922 until the abolition of republican awards in 1933. The material for the study was the research of V. A. Durov, N. N. Strekalov «Order of the Red Banner» and A. N. Kutsenko, Yu. D. Smirnov «Orders of the Union Republics». The authors used the methods of historicism, objectivity and systemicity. The need to process quantitative data led to the use of the statistical method. The authors divide this period into two stages. During the first stage, 1922-1924. The award system of the republics created during the Civil War functioned. The awarding of republican awards was made for the following reasons: the lack of an award system of the USSR and diverse opinions regarding the trends in its development; ongoing armed clashes, especially in the national outskirts, which required the awarding of distinguished soldiers; the presence in the republics of all elements of the award system (regulatory and legal base, republican authorities and orders). In 1924, the first all-Union hail was established, an allied award vertical was formed. At the same time, in the union republics formed during the administrative-territorial land survey of the USSR, their own awards are established. Thus, the Union and republican branches of the award system simultaneously functioned and carried out awarding. Union and republican awards were similar in name, meaning, compositional design, and benefits. To ensure the awarding of military personnel and military teams in peacetime, the award provisions of the orders were revised. After the formation of the union award system, in 1933 the republican awards were canceled. The highest state body, the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the USSR, was vested with the right to establish awards and award them. Republican CECs had the right only to petition for citizenship with union awards. Thus, the period under consideration is a transition from the republican award systems to the all-union.

USSR, Soviet Republic, Civil War, Red Army, award system, order