Marshal of the Soviet Union

For the Marshals of Troop Arms, see Chief Marshal.

Marshal of the Soviet Union (Template:Lang-ru) was the de facto highest military rank of the Soviet Union. (The highest rank de jure, Generalissimus of the Soviet Union, was created for Joseph Stalin and held by him alone).

The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in 1991. Forty-one people held the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. The equivalent naval rank was Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union.

History of the rank

See also: History of Russian military ranks

Shoulder mark of Marshal of the Soviet Union since 1943

The military rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was established by a decree of the Soviet Cabinet, the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom), on September 22, 1935. On November 20, the rank was conferred on five people: People's Commissar of Defence and veteran Bolshevik Kliment Voroshilov, Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army Aleksandr Yegorov, and three senior commanders, Vasily Blyukher, Semyon Budyonny, and Mikhail Tukhachevsky.

Of these, Blyukher, Tukhachevski and Yegorov were executed during Stalin's Great Purge of 1937–38. On May 7, 1940, three new Marshals were appointed: the new People's Commissar of Defence, Semyon Timoshenko, Boris Shaposhnikov, and Grigory Kulik.

Even though traditional personal ranks for officers were reestablished in 1935, General ranks in the Red Army were not introduced until 1940. The updated rank system seemingly lacked a Brigadier rank and a full General rank. The position in between Lieutenant General and General of the Army was occupied by the Colonel General. Thus both Marshal of the Soviet Union and General of the Army ranks can be considered equal to the foreign rank of Field Marshal or the U.S. rank of General of the Army, leaving a Soviet Marshal as a largely honorary rank.

During World War II, Timoshenko and Budyonny were dismissed, and Kulik was demoted for incompetence, and the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was given to a number of military commanders who earned it on merit. These included Georgy Zhukov, Ivan Konev and Konstantin Rokossovsky to name a few. In 1943, Stalin himself was made a Marshal of the Soviet Union, and in 1945, he was joined by his intelligence and police chief Lavrenti Beria. These non-military Marshals were joined in 1947 by politician Nikolai Bulganin.

Two Marshals were executed in postwar purges: Kulik in 1950 and Beria in 1953, following Stalin's death. Thereafter the rank was awarded only to professional soldiers, with the exception of Leonid Brezhnev, who made himself a Marshal in 1976, and Ustinov, who was prominent in the arms industry and was appointed Defence Minister in July 1976. The last Marshal of the Soviet Union was Dmitry Yazov, appointed in 1990, who was imprisoned after the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991. Marshal Sergei Akhromeev committed suicide in 1991 on the fall of the Soviet Union.

The rank was abolished with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. It was succeeded in the new Russia by the rank of Marshal of the Russian Federation, which has been held by only one person, Marshal Igor Sergeyev, who was Russian Defence Minister from 1997 to 2001.

The Marshals fell into three generational groups.

• Those who had gained their reputations during the Russian Civil War. These included both those who were purged in 1937–38 (Blyukher, Tukhachevsky and Yegorov), and those who held high commands in the early years of World War II (Budyonny, Kulik, Shaposhnikov, Timoshenko and Voroshilov). All of the latter except Shaposhnikov and Timoshenko proved incompetent and were removed from commanding positions.

• Those who made their reputations in World War II and assumed high commands in the latter part of the war. These included Zhukov, Vasilievsky, Konev, Rokossovsky, Malinovsky, Tolbukhin and Govorov.

• Those who assumed high command in the Cold War era. All of these were officers in World War II, but their higher commands were held in the Warsaw Pact or as Soviet Defence Ministers. These included Grechko, Yakubovsky, Kulikov, Ogarkov, Akhromeev, and Yazov.

All the postwar Marshals had been officers in World War II, except Brezhnev, who had been a military commissar, and Ustinov, who had been an arms factory manager. Even Yazov, who was 20 when the war ended, had been a platoon commander.

List of Marshals of the Soviet Union

File:5marshals 02.jpg

The first five marshals of the Soviet Union: Tukhachevsky, Budyonny, Voroshilov, Blyukher and Yegorov

File:Marshals.jpg

Marshal Rokossovsky (on black stallion) and Marshal Zhukov (on the pale-grey stallion) during the Moscow Victory Parade of 1945.

Note: All Marshals of the Soviet Union, with the exception of Non-Military Marshals had at least started their military careers in the Army. The Service Arms listed are the services they served in during their respective tenures as Marshals of the Soviet Union.

Name	Lifespan	Appointed	Service Arm/Background
Voroshilov, KlimentKliment Voroshilov	1881–1969	November 1935	Army/Political
Tukhachevsky, MikhailMikhail Tukhachevsky	1893–1937	November 1935	Army
Yegorov, AlexanderAlexander Yegorov	1883–1939	November 1935	Army
Budyonny, SemyonSemyon Budyonny	1883–1973	November 1935	Army
Blyukher, VasilyVasily Blyukher	1890–1938	November 1935	Army
Timoshenko, SemyonSemyon Timoshenko	1895–1970	May 1940	Army
Kulik, GrigoryGrigory Kulik	1890–1950	May 1940	Army
Shaposhnikov, BorisBoris Shaposhnikov	1882–1945	May 1940	Army
Zhukov, SergeiGeorgy Zhukov	1896–1974	January 1943	Army
Vasilevsky, AleksandrAleksandr Vasilevsky	1895–1977	February 1943	Army
Stalin, JosephJoseph Stalin	1879–1953	March 1943	Political
Konev, IvanIvan Konev	1897–1973	February 1944	Army
Govorov, LeonidLeonid Govorov	1897–1955	June 1944	Army
Rokossovsky, KonstantinKonstantin Rokossovsky	1896–1968	June 1944	Army
Malinovsky, RodionRodion Malinovsky	1898–1967	September 1944	Army
Tolbukhin, FyodorFyodor Tolbukhin	1894–1949	September 1944	Army
Meretskov, KirillKirill Meretskov	1897–1968	October 1944	Army
Beria, LavrentiyLavrentiy Beria	1899–1953	July 1945	NKVD/MGB
Sokolovsky, VasilyVasily Sokolovsky	1897–1968	July 1946	Army
Bulganin, NikolaiNikolai Bulganin	1895–1975	November 1947	Political
Bagramyan, HovhannesHovhannes Bagramyan	1897–1982	March 1955	Army
Biriuzov, SergeiSergei Biriuzov	1904–1964	March 1955	Army/Air Defence/Strategic Rocket Forces
Grechko, AndreiAndrei Grechko	1903–1976	March 1955	Army
Yeremenko, AndreiAndrei Yeremenko	1892–1970	March 1955	Army
Moskalenko, KirillKirill Moskalenko	1902–1985	March 1955	Army/Strategic Rocket Forces
Chuikov, VasilyVasily Chuikov	1900–1982	March 1955	Army
Zakharov, MatveiMatvei Zakharov	1898–1972	May 1959	Army
Golikov, FilippFilipp Golikov	1900–1980	May 1961	Army
Krylov, Nikolay IvanovichNikolay Krylov	1903–1972	May 1962	Army/Strategic Rocket Forces
Yakubovsky, IvanIvan Yakubovsky	1912–1976	April 1967	Army
Batitsky, PavelPavel Batitsky	1910–1984	April 1968	Air Defence
Koshevoy, PyotrPyotr Koshevoy	1904–1976	April 1968	Army
Brezhnev, LeonidLeonid Brezhnev	1906–1982	May 1976	Political
Ustinov, DmitriyDmitriy Ustinov	1908–1984	July 1976	Defence Industry
Kulikov, ViktorViktor Kulikov	1921born 1921	January 1977	Army
Ogarkov, NikolaiNikolai Ogarkov	1917–1994	January 1977	Army
Sokolov, SergeiSergei Sokolov	1911born 1911	February 1978	Army
Akhromeyev, SergeiSergei Akhromeyev	1923–1991	March 1983	Army
Kurkotkin, SemyonSemyon Kurkotkin	1917–1990	March 1983	Army
Petrov, Vasily IvanovichVasily Petrov	1917 born 1917	March 1983	Army
Yazov, DmitryDmitry Yazov	1923born 1923	April 1990	Army

External links

• Biographies of all the Marshals of the USSR