The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабоче-КреÑтьÑнÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐšÑ€Ð°ÑÐ½Ð°Ñ ÐрмиÑ, Raboche-Krest'yanskaya Krasnaya Armiya; RKKA or usually simply the Red Army) were the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and that in 1922 became the army of the Soviet Union. The Red Army eventually grew to form the largest army in history from the 1940s until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, although China's People's Liberation Army may have eclipsed the Red Army in size during some periods). "Red" refers to the blood shed by the working class in its struggle against capitalism.