ABSTRACT
The Soviet Union emerged from the Civil War united under V. I. Lenin Bolshevik Party, but faced serious problems associated with reconstructing national institutions. In the early 1920s, while the Soviet Union began to repair the ravages of civil war and consolidate its political power domestically, it also began a thorough program of military reform to construct a military establishment compatible with the new Soviet state. Evolving Soviet military strategic concepts of the 1920s closely reflected Soviet assessments of the nature of future war, their appreciation of potential threats, and the newly articulated Soviet doctrinal stance. The focal point of Soviet study of the nature of future war and the centerpiece of their subsequently articulated military strategy was their understanding of the nature and content of what they termed the initial period of war. Soviet war planning during the 1920s reflected contradictions between economic and political realities as well as Soviet theorists' strategic concerns.
