Georgy Zhukov

Russian military commander and politician

• Born: December 1, 1896
• Birthplace: Strelkovka, Russia
• Died: June 18, 1974
• Place of death: Moscow, Soviet Union (now in Russia)

Zhukov was the most important Soviet staff and field commander throughout World War II and was involved in the planning or execution, or both, of all the primary battles and campaigns against the Germans. Zhukov, the first career military man to be selected as a member of the Presidium (Politburo) of the Communist Party, came to be feared as a rival by both Joseph Stalin and Nikita S. Khrushchev and was decisive in preventing Khrushchev’s ouster in 1957.

Early Life

Georgy Zhukov (gyih-AWRG-yee ZHEW-kehf) was born in the village of Strelkovka, Kaluga Oblast, Russia. Strelkovka is approximately one hundred miles southwest of Moscow. Zhukov was born to poor peasants, his father serving as the village shoemaker. At eleven years of age, since his parents could no longer afford to pay for his education, he was taken in to be reared by his grandfather. His grandfather lived in Moscow, where he was a laborer in a metallurgical plant. Zhukov worked at several menial jobs and then apprenticed himself to a furrier and leather dresser. He continued his schooling and became a master at his trade. Then, in 1915, the military was calling up those born in 1896, so he was inducted into the czarist army.

Zhukov was placed in the Tenth Novgorod Dragoon Regiment, which received a short training period before being ordered to the front lines. From 1915 to 1917, the regiment was almost constantly engaged in battle. He became known throughout the unit for his enthusiasm and bravery, and was promoted through the ranks until he attained the highest noncommissioned rank. He was presented twice with the Cross of St. George, the highest military award given to noncommissioned officers. Soon after the February Revolution in 1917, the soldiers of his unit elected him to be chair of the Squadron Soviet (council) and their representative on the regimental soviet of deputies. The Soviets exerted control over the army, allowing the officers to do only what they approved, and therefore Zhukov’s leadership role was significant.

After the October Revolution that same year brought the Bolsheviks to power, Zhukov helped in the organization of the Red Army, and, during the Russian Civil War (1918-1920) and Polish War (1920), he served in the Red Cavalry. He began as platoon commander and then advanced to squadron commander in the important First Cavalry Army, which was the shock force of the Red military. The commander of his brigade was Semyon K. Timoshenko, future marshal and defense minister, who became Zhukov’s sponsor during the interwar period. Zhukov was wounded but recovered to fight anew, and for his many contributions he received many citations in Orders of the Day, an engraved saber from the group commander, a gold watch with an inscribed commendation from the Defense Council of the Soviet Republic, and the highest army military decoration, the Order of the Red Banner.

Zhukov chose a professional military career at the end of the wars. He had joined the Communist Party in March, 1919, and was a member the rest of his life. He was graduated from an advanced training program for cavalry officers in 1925. From 1928 to 1931, he attended the Frunze Military Academy, specializing in armored operations. He also traveled to Germany in the 1920’s to study armor. In 1936 and 1937, Stalin had him and other astute observers gather information from the Spanish Civil War, including the testing of Soviet tank tactics in actual combat. He was able to survive the massive military purge in 1937, perhaps because he was out of the country. Thus, he and other junior officers were blessed subsequently with the opportunity to rise rapidly in rank and position because of the vacancies created. Zhukov already had served successively as commander of a cavalry regiment, brigade, and division, and in 1937-1938 he was commander of the Third, then the Sixth Cavalry Corps. In 1938-1939, he was designated the deputy commander of cavalry, Belorussian Military District. In 1939, he was ordered to head the Far East First Army Group with the mission of driving Japanese invaders out of the Mongolian People’s Republic. His success caused the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet to bestow on him the highest military award of his country, the Golden Star with title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In January, 1940, he was appointed chief of staff of the Soviet forces fighting the Finns. In May, 1940, Zhukov was promoted to general of the army and was assigned commander of the Kiev Military District. From February to the end of July, 1941, he was given the positions of chief of the general staff of the Soviet army and deputy people’s commissar of defense of the Soviet Union. Thereby, at age forty-four, Zhukov occupied the second-highest military offices of his country, with the top positions of marshal of the Soviet Union and minister of defense entrusted to his benefactor, Timoshenko. He also was designated an alternate member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in February, 1941.

Life’s Work

During World War II , Zhukov personally and directly was important to the planning or the implementation, or both, of all the main battles and campaigns. Often he was in Moscow serving as a leading figure in the supreme command headquarters. At such times, his chief occupation was with overall strategy and the formulation of specific campaign plans. In several instances, he was selected by Stalin personally to represent him and supreme headquarters on field duty at the front line. When acting in such a capacity, he was endowed with virtually unlimited powers of command and decision-making. When Leningrad was threatened so quickly in 1941, Zhukov hurriedly was dispatched there in September to halt the invading forces and to organize more adequate and permanent defenses. In October, he moved quickly to Moscow to direct the frantic preparations for saving that most important city, preparations that continued on into 1942. His skillful use of reserve troops undoubtedly saved Moscow from being taken. As commander in chief of the western front during the winter of 1941-1942, he also took advantage of the Russian weather to direct offensive actions against the climatically unprepared enemy. When the Nazis resumed offensive operations from spring to fall of 1942, Zhukov was in charge of defensive actions and acted with particular significance in planning the defense of the Caucasus. In August, he was appointed first deputy people’s commissar of defense and deputy supreme commander in chief, second only to Stalin.

The struggle for Stalingrad had already begun, and Zhukov became responsible for planning its defense and coordinating the movements of the various forces. He deserves much credit for the ultimate victory that finally came in January, 1943, in this greatest battle of World War II and its turning point in the European theater. For his achievement he was named marshal of the Soviet Union, which was the country’s highest military title. He then planned and commanded the largest tank battle of the war at Kursk-Orel, was in charge of devising the strategies for the offensives of 1944 and overseeing their execution, and personally commanded the final drive on Berlin. In both 1944 and 1945, he again was designated Hero of the Soviet Union. It seemed fitting that in Berlin on May 8 of the latter year, it was Marshal Zhukov, in the name of the Soviet Union, who accepted the unconditional German surrender from Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel.

From the end of the war until January of the following year, Zhukov stayed in Germany as the commander of the Soviet occupation forces and the Soviet representative on the Allied Control Commission. Then he was recalled to the Soviet Union to serve as deputy minister of defense and commander in chief of the Soviet ground forces. Yet his great popularity as the returning war hero apparently caused Stalin to view him as a potential threat, for soon Zhukov was relieved of both positions and given assignments outside the capital city. First he was relegated to the position of commander of the Odessa Military District. Then his appointment to command the Ural Military District was even more of a demotion. From 1946 through 1952, therefore, Zhukov was removed from significant and highly visible government activities. Even historical writings on the war years made mention of his name much less frequently, and his accomplishments were described in a fashion similar to that used to describe those of many other leaders. Almost unlimited praise and credit were given to Stalin for every important decision and activity of the war.

Zhukov’s role in affairs changed immediately, however, with Stalin’s death in March, 1953. When a new government was formed three days later, he was named first deputy to Minister of Defense Nikolai Bulganin, who was a Communist Party and Soviet government politician. Zhukov was listed as the highest ranking Soviet military officer, and his position was indicative of the importance that the new leaders attributed to the military establishment. The army cooperated in July in the arrest and death of Lavrenti Beria, secret police chief, and Zhukov was given full membership in the party’s Central Committee. Military leaders, particularly Zhukov, were important political activists in the power struggle that ensued between Nikita S. Khrushchev and Georgi M. Malenkov. Zhukov backed Khrushchev because of their long friendship and the support by Malenkov of a reduction in military expenditures. In February, 1955, following his success, Khrushchev replaced Malenkov with Bulganin as chair of the council of ministers and gave to Zhukov the position of minister of defense.

Thereafter, Zhukov’s power and influence in not only the military but also the political and governmental activities of the Soviet Union were enormous. That same year he went with Khrushchev and Bulganin to the Geneva Conference and in 1957 visited Yugoslavia and Albania. At the Twentieth Party Congress in February, 1956, he was selected for alternate membership in the Presidium. That December, on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday, he became the only man to be awarded his fourth Golden Star and designated four times Hero of the Soviet Union. The apex of his political power and influence occurred the next spring and summer as a majority of the Presidium attempted to remove Khrushchev as top leader. Zhukov stated that the armed forces would “not permit anyone to bid for power” and then provided planes for Central Committee members to come quickly to Moscow to settle the crisis by reversing the decision of the Presidium. In addition, the Central Committee elected Zhukov a full member of the party Presidium, a position of leadership and an honor that no other career military person has attained.

Circumstances changed abruptly, however, and on October 26, 1957, Zhukov was removed as minister of defense. A week later he was dismissed from his Presidium and Central Committee positions “for violating Leninist principles concerning the administration of the armed forces.” He had implemented programs to enhance military professionalism that lessened control from the party’s political advisers. This brought him into fundamental disagreement with Khrushchev and most other leading party officials. Zhukov was accused of fostering a personality cult within the armed forces, and, along with his removal from all party and government positions, he was publicly disgraced for allegedly questioning party leadership of the military. He retired from active military service.

Zhukov completely disappeared from Soviet public affairs until after Khrushchev’s tenure as top party and government leader ended in the fall of 1964. In addition, few saw him in a private capacity. Official publications stated little in a positive sense about him during this time. In 1965, however, at the twentieth anniversary celebration of the victory over Germany, he made his first major public appearance. He was seen by thousands with other noted Soviet figures atop Vladimir Ilich Lenin’s tomb in Red Square. On December 1 of the following year, he was awarded for the sixth time the Order of Lenin in recognition of “services to the armed forces.” Three years later, his youth and military memoirs, Vospominaniia I razmyshleniia (1969; The Memoirs of Marshal Zhukov, 1971), were published in the official magazine of the ministry of defense, five years before his death.

Significance

Zhukov’s greatest achievements were in the realm of military leadership. In this area, his plans, decisions, and influence directly affected the lives of millions of combatants and the survivability of his country during its period of crisis. They impacted as well the power levels and relationships between nations. The full significance of his impact can be appreciated even more by the fact that a leading Soviet officer wrote later that Zhukov at times even corrected Stalin, something no one else dared even to try to do. It was during the mammoth struggle of World War II that Zhukov made such a major difference. His strategic and tactical plans were often very bold and innovative. Thus, it can readily be assumed that, in his absence, other actions, even very different ones at times, would have been undertaken. He was the top military figure throughout the conflict, second in power to only Stalin himself, was involved with all the great battle areas, and was the dominant general in both defensive and offensive actions against the Nazis. As such, his achievements are difficult to overestimate.

Second only to his military contributions were those Zhukov made in the area of politics and government. After the death of Stalin, in a time of great uncertainty, the military leaders became a powerful political force. Certain of them, most especially Zhukov, were key players in the triumph of Khrushchev over Malenkov in their struggle for power. The height of Zhukov’s political power and influence came in 1957, when he worked successfully with others to prevent a majority of the Presidium from ousting Khrushchev as top party leader. He became the first professional military man to become an alternate member, then a full member, of the Presidium of the Communist Party.

In addition to the awards and honors previously mentioned, a host of others were bestowed on Zhukov in his lifetime. He became the most decorated military person in Soviet history. After his death in 1974, he was accorded the final great honor of being buried beside the Kremlin Wall in Red Square with his country’s other leading heroes.

Bibliography

Axell, Albert. Marshal Zhukov: The Man Who Beat Hitler. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2003. An informative biography that discusses Zhukov’s successful and memorable military career.

Bialer, Seweryn, ed. Stalin and His Generals: Soviet Military Memoirs of World War II. New York: Pegasus, 1969. This book is authored by military officers, from the top ones to the regimental level. Zhukov is the author of three articles and is the subject of much comment by his contemporaries. Contains maps, notes, and a biographical index.

Chaney, Otto Preston, Jr. Zhukov. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971. This is probably the best and most useful of all books on Zhukov. It is fair and judicious, researched thoroughly, and comprehensive. Contains maps, illustrations, notes, a bibliography, appendixes, and an index.

Clark, Alan. Barbarossa: The Russian-German Conflict, 1941-1945. New York: William Morrow, 1965. This work is a detailed and balanced account done in a scholarly manner after much research. There is much about Zhukov. It is a good source to begin with to get the overall picture. Contains maps, illustrations, charts, notes, a bibliography, and an index.

Colvin, John. Zhukov: The Conqueror of Berlin. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2004. A biography focusing on Zhukov’s military career. Good study in conjunction with Albert Axell’s book.

Erickson, John. The Soviet High Command: A Military-Political History, 1918-1941. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1962. Zhukov appears repeatedly in this exhaustive narrative. It is well researched and is a good source for Zhukov in the years between 1918 amd 1941. Contains maps, notes, appendixes, a bibliography, and an index.

Kerr, Walter. The Russian Army: Its Men, Its Leaders, and Its Battles. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1944. Kerr was a correspondent in the Soviet Union during World War II and observed much and interviewed many. He writes in a down-to-earth fashion. Zhukov appears often. Contains maps and an index.

Shtemenko, Sergei M. The Soviet General Staff at War, 1941-1945. Translated by Robert Daglish. Moscow: Progress, 1970. Shtemenko served on the general staff, but he was also knowledgeable about front-line activities. His book is written from the perspective of a devoted nationalist and Communist, but it contains much good inside information. Zhukov is mentioned often. Contains maps and illustrations.

Werth, Alexander. Russia at War, 1941-1945. New York: Dutton, 1964. Extensive treatment is given to Zhukov in this balanced account of Soviet events from 1939 to 1945. Werth experienced many of the matters he writes about, presented in an easy, flowing style. He allows the reader to see Zhukov’s role within the full perspective of Soviet affairs. Contains maps, a chronological table, a bibliography, and an index.

Zhukov, Georgy. The Memoirs of Marshal Zhukov. New York: Delacorte Press, 1971. Zhukov writes of his childhood and youth and of his military life to April, 1946. It is a detailed account that contains much not found elsewhere. Contains maps and illustrations.