Marshal of the Soviet Union
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| Marshal of the Soviet Union Маршал Советского Союза | |
|---|---|
 Marshal's star – big | |
 Uniform shoulder strap (1955–1990) | |
| Country |  Soviet Union |
| Service branch | Soviet Army |
| Rank | General officer |
| NATO rank code | OF-10 |
| Formation | 22 September 1935 |
| Abolished | December 1991 |
| Next higher rank | Generalissimus of the Soviet Union |
| Next lower rank | Chief marshal of the branch General of the Army |
| Equivalent ranks | Admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union |
Rank insignias of Marshal of the Soviet Union
.svg){kind=small}
Marshal of the Soviet Union (Russian: Маршал Советского Союза, pronounced [ˈmarʂəl sɐˈvʲetskəvə sɐˈjuzə]) was the highest military rank of the Soviet Union.
The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in 1991. 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. Both ranks were comparable to NATO rank codes OF-10.
While the supreme rank of Generalissimus of the Soviet Union, which would have been senior to Marshal of the Soviet Union, was proposed for Joseph Stalin after the Second World War, it was never officially approved.
History of the rank[edit]
The first five marshals of the Soviet Union from left to right: Tukhachevsky, Budyonny, Voroshilov, Blyukher, and Yegorov. Only Budyonny and Voroshilov would survive the Great Purge.
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 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 Dmitry 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 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 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, Govorov, Meretskov and Sokolovsky.
- 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 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 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.
After the death of Marshal Yazov in 2020 there were no living Marshals of the Soviet Union.
| Sequence of ranks | ||
|---|---|---|
| lower rank: Army General (Генерал армии) |
 Marshal of the Soviet Union (Маршал Советского Союза) |
Higher rank: Generalissimus of the Soviet Union (highest) |
| Chief marshal of the branch (Главный ма́ршал ро́да во́йск) | ||
List of Marshals of the Soviet Union[edit]
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 branches listed are the services they served in during their respective tenures as Marshals of the Soviet Union.
| Name and lifespan |
Portrait | Date promoted | Positions[a] | Awards | Service branch or Background |
Appointed by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kliment Voroshilov (1881–1969) |
|
20 November 1935[1] |
|
 Hero of the Soviet Union (2) Hero of Socialist Labour Order of Lenin (8) Order of the Red Banner (6)
|
.svg) Political  Red Army |
Stalin |
| Mikhail Tukhachevsky (1893–1937) |
|
20 November 1935 |
|
Order of Lenin Order of the Red Banner
|
Red Army | |
| Alexander Yegorov (1883–1939) |
|
20 November 1935 |
|
Order of the Red Banner (4)
|
Red Army | |
| Semyon Budyonny (1883–1973) |
.jpg)
|
20 November 1935 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union (3) Order of Lenin (8) Order of the Red Banner (6)
|
Red Army | |
| Vasily Blyukher (1889–1938) |
|
20 November 1935 |
|
Order of Lenin (2) Order of the Red Banner (4)
|
Red Army | |
| Semyon Timoshenko (1895–1970) |
|
7 May 1940 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union (2) Order of Victory Order of Lenin (5) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (5)
|
Red Army | |
| Grigory Kulik (1890–1950) |
|
7 May 1940 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Lenin (4) Order of the Red Banner (4)
|
Red Army | |
| Boris Shaposhnikov (1882–1945) |
|
7 May 1940 |
|
Order of Lenin (3) Order of the Red Banner (2)
|
Red Army | |
| Georgy Zhukov (1896–1974) |
|
18 January 1943 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union (4) Order of Victory (2) Order of Lenin (6) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (3)
|
Red Army | |
| Aleksandr Vasilevsky (1895–1977) |
|
16 February 1943 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union (2) Order of Victory (2) Order of Lenin (8) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (2)
|
Red Army | |
| Joseph Stalin (1878–1953)[c] |
|
6 March 1943[2] |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Victory (2) Order of Lenin (3) Order of the Red Banner (4)
|
.svg) Political | |
| Ivan Konev (1897–1973) |
|
20 February 1944[3] |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union (2) Order of Victory Order of Lenin (7) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (3)
|
Red Army | |
| Leonid Govorov (1897–1955) |
|
18 June 1944 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Victory Order of Lenin (5) Order of the Red Banner (3)
|
Red Army | |
| Konstantin Rokossovsky (1896–1968)[d] |
|
29 June 1944 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union (2) Order of Victory Order of Lenin (7) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (6)
|
Red Army | |
| Rodion Malinovsky (1898–1967) |
|
10 September 1944 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union (2) Order of Victory Order of Lenin (5) Order of the Red Banner (3)
|
Red Army | |
| Fyodor Tolbukhin (1894–1949) |
|
12 September 1944 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Victory Order of Lenin (2) Order of the Red Banner (3)
|
Red Army | |
| Kirill Meretskov (1897–1968) |
.jpg)
|
26 October 1944 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Victory Order of Lenin (7) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (4)
|
Red Army | |
| Lavrentiy Beria (1899–1953) |
|
9 July 1945[4] |
|
Hero of Socialist Labour Order of Lenin (5) Order of the Red Banner (3)
|
.svg) NKVD/MGB | |
| Vasily Sokolovsky (1897–1968) |
|
3 July 1946 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Lenin (8) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (3)
|
Red Army | |
| Nikolai Bulganin (1895–1975) |
|
3 November 1947[5] |
|
Hero of Socialist Labour Order of Lenin (2) Order of the Red Banner
|
Political | |
| Ivan Bagramyan (1897–1982)[e] |
|
11 March 1955[6] |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union (2) Order of Lenin (7) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (3)
|
 Soviet Army |
Khrushchev |
| Sergey Biryuzov (1904–1964) |
|
11 March 1955 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Lenin (5) Order of the Red Banner (3)
|
Strategic Rocket Forces | |
| Andrei Grechko (1903–1976) |
|
11 March 1955 | Hero of the Soviet Union (2) Order of Lenin (6) Order of the Red Banner (3)
|
Soviet Army | ||
| Andrei Yeremenko (1892–1970) |
.jpg)
|
11 March 1955 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Lenin (5) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (4)
|
Soviet Army | |
| Kirill Moskalenko (1902–1985) |
|
11 March 1955 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union (2) Order of Lenin (7) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (5)
|
Strategic Rocket Forces | |
| Vasily Chuikov (1900–1982) |
|
11 March 1955 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union (2) Order of Lenin (9) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (4)
|
Soviet Army | |
| Matvei Zakharov (1898–1972) |
|
8 May 1959 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Lenin (5) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (4)
|
Soviet Army | |
| Filipp Golikov (1900–1980) |
|
8 May 1961 |
|
Order of Lenin (4) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (4)
|
Soviet Army | |
| Nikolay Krylov (1903–1972) |
|
28 April 1962 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union (2) Order of Lenin (4) Order of the October Revolution
|
Strategic Rocket Forces | |
| Ivan Yakubovsky (1912–1976) |
|
12 April 1967 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union (2) Order of Lenin (4) Order of the Red Banner (4)
|
Soviet Army |
Brezhnev |
| Pavel Batitsky (1910–1984) |
|
17 April 1968[7] |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union (2) Order of Lenin (4) Order of the Red Banner (4)
|
.svg) Air Defence | |
| Pyotr Koshevoy (1904–1976) |
.jpg)
|
17 April 1968 | Hero of the Soviet Union (2) Order of Lenin (5) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (3)
|
Soviet Army | ||
| Dmitry Ustinov (1908–1984) |
.jpg)
|
30 July 1976 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union Hero of Socialist Labour (2) Order of Lenin (11)
|
.svg) Defence Industry | |
| Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982) |
|
19 December 1976 | Hero of the Soviet Union (4) Hero of Socialist Labour Order of Lenin (8) Order of the October Revolution (2) Order of the Red Banner (2)
|
Political | ||
| Viktor Kulikov (1921–2013) |
|
14 January 1977 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Lenin (4) Order of the Red Banner (3)
|
Soviet Army | |
| Nikolai Ogarkov (1917–1994) |
.jpg)
|
14 January 1977 | Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Lenin (2) Order of the October Revolution (2) Order of the Red Banner (3)
|
Soviet Army | ||
| Sergey Sokolov (1911–2012) |
|
17 February 1978 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Lenin (3) Order of the Red Banner (2)
|
Soviet Army | |
| Sergey Akhromeyev (1923–1991) |
.jpg)
|
25 March 1983 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Lenin (4) Order of the October Revolution
|
Soviet Army |
Andropov |
| Semyon Kurkotkin (1917–1990) |
|
25 March 1983 |
|
Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Lenin (4) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (3)
|
Soviet Army | |
| Vasily Petrov (1917–2014) |
|
25 March 1983 | Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Lenin (4) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner (3)
|
Soviet Army | ||
| Dmitry Yazov (1924–2020) |
|
28 April 1990 |
|
Order of Lenin (2) Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner
|
Soviet Army |
Gorbachev |
Timeline[edit]
See also[edit]
- Generalissimus of the Soviet Union
- Admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union
- Marshal of the Russian Federation
- History of Russian military ranks
- Military ranks of the Soviet Union
- Marshal of the branch
- Chief marshal of the branch
- Field Marshal of Imperial Russia
- Ranks and insignia of the Red Army and Navy 1935–1940, and 1940–1943
- Ranks and rank insignia of the Soviet Armed Forces 1943–1955, and 1955–1991
Notes[edit]
- ^ Bolded indicates top-ranked political position
- ^ Retired in 1946, purged in 1950.
- ^ Joseph Stalin was Generalissimus of the Soviet Union from 1945.
- ^ Konstantin Rokossovsky was also a Marshal of Poland from 1949.
- ^ Also known as Hovhannes Baghramian.
References[edit]
- ^ "BIRTHDAY ANNIVERSARY OF KLIMENT YE. VOROSHILOV, STATESMAN AND MILITARY FIGURE, MARSHAL OF THE SOVIET UNION". Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
- ^ Stephan, Robert (1987). "Smersh: Soviet Military Counter-Intelligence during the Second World War". Journal of Contemporary History. 22 (4): 585–613. doi:10.1177/002200948702200403. JSTOR 260812. S2CID 159160922. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
- ^ "Ivan Konev - Traces of War". Retrieved 27 September 2021.
- ^ Birstein, Vadim (November 2013). SMERSH: Stalin's Secret Weapon. ISBN 9781849546898. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
- ^ "Military Review, Volume 35, Issue 6". 1955. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
- ^ "Village of war chiefs". Collective Treaty Security Organization. 15 January 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
- ^ "Professional Journal of the United States Army". Google Books. 1969.