_Red Guards._ The armed factory workers of Russia. The _Red Guards_
were first formed during the Revolution of 1905, and sprang into
existence again in the days of March, 1917, when a force was needed
to keep order in the city. At that time they were armed, and all
efforts of the Provisional Government to disarm them were more or
less unsuccessful. At every great crisis in the Revolution the _Red
Guards_ appeared on the streets, untrained and undisciplined, but
full of Revolutionary zeal.

_White Guards._ Bourgeois volunteers, who emerged in the last
stages of the Revolution, to defend private property from the
Bolshevik attempt to abolish it. A great many of them were University
students.

_Tekhintsi._ The so-called "Savage Division" in the army, made up
of Mohametan tribesmen from Central Asia, and personally devoted to
General Kornilov. The _Tekhintsi_ were noted for their blind
obedience and their savage cruelty in warfare.

_Death Battalions._ Or _Shock Battalions._ The Women's Battalion is
known to the world as the _Death Battalion,_ but there were many
_Death Battalions_ composed of men. These were formed in the summer
of 1917 by Kerensky, for the purpose of strengthening the discipline
and combative fire of the army by heroic example. The _Death
Battalions_ were composed mostly of intense young patriots. These
came for the most part from among the sons of the propertied classes.

_Union of Officers._ An organisation formed among the reactionary
officers in the army to combat politically the growing power of the