I have been listening to the Proles Pod on the Stalin eras recently. They mentioned how Trotsky's indecision during the conference for the treaty of Brest-Litovsk (indecision they attributed to Trotsky's firm belief in world revolution which made him refuse to initially engage with imperialist powers) cost the Soviet government additional parts of Ukraine, Finland and Poland.

Because of that I was left with the impression that he was a bit ineffective lol but I actually don't know that much about Trotsky's military accomplishments truth be told

[–] Keld@hexbear.net 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Honestly i dont want to over praise him. But he did oversee the reorganisation of the red army, turning it from a looser structure with elected officers into a professional force, reincorporated the tsarist elements and introduced the political officers to keep the former whites in the armed force under communist control. You basically can't read anything about the red army or the Russian civil war without running into that part.

[–] CommieTurtle@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago

Thank you for the concise answer!

Without over praising him either, I can see how such organizational changes could prove very beneficial during the first period of the Soviet government when facing threats from multiple sides

[–] purpleworm@hexbear.net 3 points 1 week ago

The critical distinction here I think is that Trotsky did a very good job of organizing the army, but his ideas for things like diplomacy were always garbage.