History glossary
Red Guard
student and youth groups mobilized during the Cultural Revolution to attack perceived enemies and old ideas.
- Category
- Political movement
- Region
- China
- Date range
- from 1966
What it means
Red Guards were student and youth groups mobilized during the Cultural Revolution. Encouraged to challenge teachers, officials, intellectuals, and the Four Olds, they became symbols of Mao-era mass struggle and political violence.
Related terms
Stories using this term
The Russian Revolution
From the 1905 crisis to the creation of the USSR, the Russian Revolution transformed imperial collapse into a new one-party socialist state.
The Soviets
From revolution to superpower, the Soviet Union rose, struggled internally, and collapsed in 1991.
Mao's China
After 1949, Mao transformed China through party rule, collectivisation, ideological campaigns, and mass upheaval, leaving a legacy of power, trauma, and state continuity.
