Dale R. Herspring analyzes three key periods of change in civil-military relations in the Soviet Union and postcommunist Russia: the 1920s, when the Bolsheviks constructed the communist Red Army; the era of perestroika, when Mikhail Gorbachev attempted to implement a more benign military doctrine and force posture; and the Yeltsin era, when a new civilian and military leadership set out to restructure civil-military relations. Herspring reevaluates the utility of Western theories and models of Soviet civil-military relations. Analysis of the debates about military doctrine and the military high command's attempt to defend its professional territory shed light on the dynamics of the failed August 1991 coup. The book concludes with a timely discussion of the problems inherent in building a post-Soviet Russian army and the relationship of the military to the current political struggle in Russia.