Marshal of the Soviet Union

Marshal of the Soviet Union
(Marshal Sovétskogo Soyuza)
Marshal of the Soviet Union; (Marshal Sovétskogo Soyuza)
	Uniform shoulder strap (1955–1990)
	Marshal's star – big
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	None
Next lower rank	Chief marshal of the branch
Equivalent ranks	Admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union

Rank insignias of Marshal of the Soviet Union

Gorget patch
1935–40

Gorget patch
1940–43

Sleeve chevron
1940–43

Shoulder board
1943–55

Marshal of the Soviet Union (Russian: Маршал Советского Союза; Russian pronunciation: [ˈmarʂəɫ sɐˈvʲɛtskəvə 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, and 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

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 Ilyich 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 Brezhnev, who had been a commissar and Ustinov, who had been People's Commissar for Armaments. Even Yazov, who was 20 when the war ended, had been a platoon commander.

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.

Sequence of ranks
lower rank: General of the army (Генерал армии)	Marshal of the Soviet Union (Маршал Советского Союза)	Higher rank: None (highest)
Chief marshal of the branch (Главный ма́ршал ро́да во́йск)	Marshal of the Soviet Union (Маршал Советского Союза)	Higher rank: None (highest)

List of Marshals of the Soviet Union

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	Photo	Lifespan	Promoted	Service Arm or Background
Voroshilov, KlimentKliment Voroshilov		1881–1969	Nov 1935	Political
Tukhachevsky, MikhailMikhail Tukhachevsky		1893–1937	Nov 1935	Army
Yegorov, AlexanderAlexander Yegorov		18831025–1939	Nov 1935	Army
Budyonny, SemyonSemyon Budyonny	File:Будённый 1943.jpg	18830425–1973	Nov 1935	Army
Blyukher, VasilyVasily Blyukher	File:Vasily Blyukher 1936.jpg	18901201–1938	Nov 1935	Army
Timoshenko, SemyonSemyon Timoshenko		18951218–1970	May 1940	Army
Kulik, GrigoryGrigory Kulik		18901109–1950	May 1940	Army
Shaposhnikov, BorisBoris Shaposhnikov		1882–1945	May 1940	Army
Zhukov, SergeiGeorgy Zhukov		18961201–1974	Jan 1943	Army
Vasilevsky, AleksandrAleksandr Vasilevsky		18950930–1977	Feb 1943	Army
Stalin, JosephJoseph Stalin^[1]	File:Stalin the communist.jpg	1879–1953	Mar 1943	Political
Konev, IvanIvan Konev		18971228–1973	Feb 1944	Army
Govorov, LeonidLeonid Govorov		18970222–1955	Jun 1944	Army
Rokossovsky, KonstantinKonstantin Rokossovsky^[2]		18961220–1968	Jun 1944	Army
Malinovsky, RodionRodion Malinovsky		18981123–1967	Sep 1944	Army
Tolbukhin, FyodorFyodor Tolbukhin		1894–1949	Sep 1944	Army
Meretskov, KirillKirill Meretskov		18970607–1968	Oct 1944	Army
Beria, LavrentiyLavrentiy Beria		1899–1953	Jul 1945	NKVD/MGB
Sokolovsky, VasilyVasily Sokolovsky		18970721–1968	Jul 1946	Army
Bulganin, NikolaiNikolai Bulganin	File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-29921-0001, Bulganin, Nikolai Alexandrowitsch.jpg	18950530–1975	Nov 1947	Political
Bagramyan, IvanIvan Bagramyan^[3]		18971202–1982	Mar 1955	Army
Biryuzov, SergeySergey Biryuzov		19040821–1964	Mar 1955	Army/Strategic Rocket Forces
Grechko, AndreiAndrei Grechko		19030117–1976	Mar 1955	Army
Yeremenko, AndreiAndrei Yeremenko		1892–1970	Mar 1955	Army
Moskalenko, KirillKirill Moskalenko		1902–1985	Mar 1955	Army/Strategic Rocket Forces
Chuikov, VasilyVasily Chuikov		19000212–1982	Mar 1955	Army
Zakharov, MatveiMatvei Zakharov		18980817–1972	May 1959	Army
Golikov, FilippFilipp Golikov		19000629–1980	May 1961	Army
Krylov, Nikolay IvanovichNikolay Krylov		19030429–1972	May 1962	Army/Strategic Rocket Forces
Yakubovsky, IvanIvan Yakubovsky		1912–1976	Apr 1967	Army
Batitsky, PavelPavel Batitsky		1910–1984	Apr 1968	Air Defence
Koshevoy, PyotrPyotr Koshevoy		19041221–1976	Apr 1968	Army
Brezhnev, LeonidLeonid Brezhnev		1906–1982	May 1976	Political
Ustinov, DmitriyDmitriy Ustinov		1908–1984	Jul 1976	Defence Industry
Kulikov, ViktorViktor Kulikov		19211921–2013	Jan 1977	Army
Ogarkov, NikolaiNikolai Ogarkov		19171030–1994	Jan 1977	Army
Sokolov, SergeiSergey Sokolov		1911 1911–2012	Feb 1978	Army
Akhromeyev, SergeiSergey Akhromeyev		19230505–1991	Mar 1983	Army
Kurkotkin, SemyonSemyon Kurkotkin		19170213–1990	Mar 1983	Army
Petrov, Vasily IvanovichVasily Petrov		19170115 1917–2014	Mar 1983	Army
Yazov, DmitryDmitry Yazov		192311081924–2020	Apr 1990	Army