Chinese in the Russian Revolution and in the Russian Civil War
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There are a number of reports about the involvement of Chinese detachments in the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War. Chinese served as bodyguards of Bolshevik functionaries,[1][2] served in the Cheka,[3] and even formed complete regiments of the Red Army.[4] It has been estimated that there were tens of thousands of Chinese troops in the Red Army,[5] and they were among the few groups of foreigners fighting for the Red Army.[6]
Other notable examples of foreigners serving in the Red Army include Koreans in the Russian Far East,[7][8] Czech and Slovak nationals, Hungarian communists under Béla Kun, Red Latvian Riflemen as well as a number of other national detachments.[9] By the summer of 1919, the Red Army comprised over a million men. By November 1920, it comprised over 1.8 million men.[10] Foreign soldiers did not make up a significant bulk of the Red Army, and the majority of the soldiers of the Red Army fighting in the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War were Russians.[6]