Written in 1920, during the Russian Civil War, the song was meant as a combat anthem for the Red Army.
The immediate context of the song is the final Crimean offensive in the Russian Civil War by Pyotr Wrangel's troops in July 1920.
The second verse refers to the call to a final effort in the Crimea published by the Revolutionary Military Council in Pravda on 10 July.
In a letter to a school for blind students in the Vologda region, Nadezhda Krupskaya—wife of Vladimir Lenin—named it as one of her favorite songs alongside "The Internationale".
The phrase "from the taiga to the British Seas" became something of an idiomatic expression used by other authors, such as by V. A. Lugovsky in his 1926 poem "Pesni o vetre" ('Song About the Wind').
[citation needed] The march was first printed in 1925, and subsequently published under the titles of «От тайги до британских морей» ('For from the Taiga to the British Seas'), «Красная армия» and «Красноармейская» ('Red Army').
It was not until 1937 that the conventional title had settled on «Красная Армия всех сильней» ('The Red Army Is the Strongest to Be!').
[citation needed] The march was adopted by the Chapaev Battalion of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War, and it was allegedly sung in a Nazi torture chamber by Czech communist Julius Fučík.
Alternative Russian lyrics were set to the tune during World War II, e.g. «Всем нам свобода и честь дорога» by Pyotr Belyi in 1941.
Припев: 𝄆 Так пусть же Красная Сжимает властно Свой штык мозолистой рукой, И все должны мы Неудержимо Идти в последний смертный бой!
Ведь от тайги до британских морей Красная Армия всех сильней!
Ведь от тайги до британских морей Красная Армия всех сильней!
Pripév: 𝄆 Tak pustj že Krásnaja Sžimájet vlástno Svoj štyk mozólistoj rukój, I vse dolžný my Neuderžímo Idtí v poslédnij smértnyj boj!
Refrain: Let the Red Army Masterfully grip Its bayonet with its toil-hardened hand, And we must all Irrepressibly Go into a last deadly fight!
An early German version with the incipit „Weißes Gesindel und adlige Brut“ ('White Riffraff and Noble Scum') was a free translation of the original lyrics:[4]
Weißes Gesindel und adlige Brut baun am zaristischen Throne gar gut.
Doch von Sibirien zum Baltischen Meer; die Rote Armee ist das stärkere Heer.
Hayat denilen kavgaya girdik, çelik adımlarla yürüyoruz Biz bu karanlık yolun sonunda doğacak güneşi görüyoruz Dağları aşıyor, bak yakınlaşıyor, Kızılyıldız'a hep koşun Bu bir rüya değil, bu bir hülya değil, yıldızıdır kurtuluşun We walked into a fight called "life", we step with feet of steel We see the sun that'll rise at this dark way's end It's climbing over mountains, look, it's comin' closer, march towards the Red Star This ain't a dream, this ain't a reverie, this is the star of liberation