The warm deformation behavior of as-quenched and as-annealed ASTM 1045 steel was studied by isothermal compression testing on a Gleeble3500 machine. The temperature range was 550-700°C and the strain rate range 0.001-0.1s-1. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to study the microstructures associated with the observed deformation phenomenons. The results show that the flow stress of quenched specimens is higher than that of annealed ones at 550°C when strain rates are greater than 0.001s-1. However, at 600-700°C and strain rate of 0.001s-1, the whole flow curves of quenched specimens are below that of annealed ones. Under the rest conditions, the flow stress of quenched specimens is higher at the beginning of compression and then the opposite is true after the strain is greater than a critical value. The microstructure examination proves that the dynamic recrystallization easily occurs in quenched specimens during warm compression, which results in the above phenomenons. Keywords: warm deformation, flow stress, steel, quenching, annealing