Marshal of the Soviet Union

Marshal of the Soviet Union (Russian: Маршал Советского Союза, romanized: Marshal sovetskogo soyuza, pronounced [ˈmarʂəl sɐˈvʲetskəvə sɐˈjuzə]) was the second-highest military rank of the Soviet Union. It was de facto the highest rank because its superior rank, Generalissimo, was only applied to Joseph Stalin, who preferred to wear the uniform and insignia of a Marshal after World War II. The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved. Forty-one people held this rank. The equivalent naval rank was until 1955 admiral of the fleet and from 1955 Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union.

History of the rank

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 22 September 1935. On 20 November, 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 Alexander Yegorov, and three senior commanders, Vasily Blyukher, Semyon Budyonny, and Mikhail Tukhachevsky. Of these, Blyukher, Tukhachevsky, and Yegorov were executed during Stalin's Great Purge of 1937–38. On 7 May 1940, three new marshals were appointed: the new People's Commissar of Defence, Semyon Timoshenko, Boris Shaposhnikov, and Grigory Kulik. During World War II, 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 Lavrentiy 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 Dmitry Ustinov, who was prominent in the arms industry and was appointed Minister of Defence 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 Akhromeyev committed suicide in 1991 during the fall of the Soviet Union. 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 out-of-step with modern warfare and were removed from commanding positions. Those who built their reputations during World War II and assumed high commands in the latter part of the war. These included Zhukov, Vasilevsky, Konev, Rokossovsky, Malinovsky, Tolbukhin, Govorov, and Meretskov. Those who assumed high command during the Cold War era. All were officers in World War II, but their higher commands were held in the Warsaw Pact or as Soviet defence ministers. These included Sokolovsky, Grechko, Yakubovsky, Kulikov, Ogarkov, Akhromeyev, and Yazov. All marshals in the third category had been officers in World War II, except Ustinov, who had been People's Commissar for Armaments. Even Yazov, who was 20 when the war ended, had been a platoon commander. Brezhnev was not a professional soldier, but was still commissioned as a political commissar in the war. Of the 35 Marshals who were career soldiers, the majority were of Russian origin. Timoshenko (Tymoshenko), Kulik (Kulyk), Grechko (Hrechko), Yeremenko (Yeryomenko), Moskalenko, Batitsky (Batytsʹkyy) and Koshevoy (Koshovyy) were of Ukrainian origin, while Sokolovsky (Sakaloŭski) and Yakubovsky (Jakuboŭski) had Belarusian origins. Rokossovsky (Rokossowski) was born in Congress Poland to a Polish family, while Malinovsky (Malinowsky) was born in Odessa (now in Ukraine) to a Polish father. Tukhachevsky also had Polish ancestry. Bagramyan (Baghramyan) was the sole marshal of Armenian origin. The rank was abolished with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. It was succeeded in modern Russia by the rank of Marshal of the Russian Federation, which has been held by only one person, Igor Sergeyev, who was Russia's defence minister from 1997 to 2001. There have been no living marshals since Yazov's death in February 2020.

List of marshals

Timeline

== See also == Marshal of the Russian Federation History of Russian military ranks Military ranks of the Soviet Union 1935–1940 and 1940–1943 1943–1955 and 1955–1991 Marshal of the branch Chief marshal of the branch Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Field marshal (Russian Empire) Marshal of the People's Republic of China Marshal (North Korea and South Korea)

Notes

References

== Bibliography == Erickson, John (2001) [1962]. The Soviet High Command: A Military-Political History, 1918–1941 (PDF). CASS Series on Soviet (Russian) Military Institutions. Frank Cass Publishers. ISBN 978-0415408608. Retrieved 12 December 2024. Gebhardt, James (1989). "The Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation: Soviet Breakthrough and Pursuit in the Arctic, October 1944" (PDF). Leavenworth Papers (17). Grachev, Pavel, ed. (1994). "Выстрел" [Vystrel]. Военная энциклопедия в 8 томах [Military Encyclopedia in 8 volumes] (in Russian). Vol. 2. Moscow: Voenizdat. ISBN 5-203-00299-1. Huskey, Eugene, ed. (1992). Executive Power and Soviet Politics: The Rise and Decline of the Soviet State. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-1563240607. Karlsson, Håkan (1988). "The Defense Council of the USSR". Cooperation and Conflict. 23 (2): 69–83. doi:10.1177/001083678802300202. JSTOR 45084370. Manninen, Ohto (2004). The Soviet Plans for the North Western Theatre of Operations in 1939–1944 (PDF). Finnish Defence Studies. National Defence College, Helsinki. p. 111. Retrieved 2 December 2024. Naab, Richard (May 1977). Victor G. Kulikov, Marshal of the Soviet Union: A Dimming Red Star? (PDF) (Thesis). Garmisch, Germany: U.S. Army Institute for Advanced Russian and East European Studies. Retrieved 12 December 2024. Pierre, André (September 1955). "The Army and the Party in the Soviet Union". Quarterly Review of Military Literature. 35 (6). Retrieved 27 September 2021 – via Google Books. Sadykiewicz, Michael (1982). "Soviet Far East High Command: A New Development Factor in the USSR Military Strategy Towards East Asia". Asian Perspectives. 6 (2). JSTOR 43737988. Sadykiewicz, Michael (August 1987). "Soviet-Warsaw Pact Western Theater of Military Operations: Organization and Missions" (PDF). RAND Corporation. Shukman, Harold (1997) [1993]. Stalin's Generals. London: Phoenix Giants. ISBN 978-0802114877. Spahr, William (4 July 1972). "The Soviet Military Decisionmaking Process". Parameters. 2 (1). USAWC Press. doi:10.55540/0031-1723.1048. Retrieved 5 December 2024. Tyushkevich, Stepan Andreevich (1978). The Soviet Armed Forces: A History of Their Organizational Development, A Soviet View (translated) (PDF). Translated by CIS Multilingual Section, Translation Bureau, Canadian Department of External Affairs. Moscow: U.S. Government Publishing Office. Warner, Edward; Bonan, Josephine; Packman, Erma (April 1987). "Key Personnel and Organizations of the Soviet Military High Command" (PDF). RAND Corporation. Ziemke, Earl Frederick; Bauer, Magna E. (1987). Moscow to Stalingrad: Decision in the East. U.S. Government Printing Office. ISBN 978-0-16-080081-8.

== External links == "Biographies of all the Marshals and Admirals of the Fleet of the USSR". Archived from the original on 31 March 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2024. Ammentorp, Steen (2000). "Soviet Generals". The Generals of WWII (database). Archived from the original on 15 May 2024. Retrieved 5 December 2024.