Minister of Defence (Soviet Union)
The Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union refers to the head of the Ministry of Defence who was responsible for defence of the communist Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1917 to 1922 and the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1991.
List of ministers
People's Commissars for Military and Naval Affairs (1917–1934)
| No. | Portrait | People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Council [a] | 8 November 1917 | 15 November 1917 | 7 days | |
| 2 | Nikolai Podvoisky (1880–1948) | 15 November 1917 | 13 March 1918 | 118 days | |
| 3 | Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) | 13 March 1918 | 15 January 1925 | 6 years, 308 days | |
| 4 | Mikhail Frunze (1885–1925) | 15 January 1925 | 31 October 1925 † | 289 days | |
| 5 | Kliment Voroshilov (1881–1969) | 6 November 1925 | 20 June 1934 | 8 years, 232 days |
People's Commissars for Defence (1934–1946)
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People's Commissars for the Navy (1937–1946)
|
People's Commissar for the Armed Forces (1946)
| No. | Portrait | People's Commissar for the Armed Forces | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Generalissimus of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) | 25 February 1946 | 15 March 1946 | 18 days |
Ministers of the Armed Forces (1946–1950)
| No. | Portrait | Ministers of the Armed Forces | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Generalissimus of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) | 15 March 1946 | 3 March 1947 | 353 days | |
| 2 | Marshal of the Soviet Union Nikolai Bulganin (1895–1975) | 3 March 1947 | 24 March 1949 | 2 years, 21 days | |
| 3 | Marshal of the Soviet Union Aleksandr Vasilevsky (1895–1977) | 24 March 1949 | 25 February 1950 | 338 days |
Minister of War (1950–1953)
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Ministers of the Navy (1950–1953)
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Ministers of Defence (1953–1991)
| No. | Portrait | Minister of Defence | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marshal of the Soviet Union Nikolai Bulganin (1895–1975) | 15 March 1953 | 9 February 1955 | 1 year, 331 days | |
| 2 | Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov (1896–1974) [b] | 9 February 1955 | 26 October 1957 | 2 years, 259 days | |
| 3 | Marshal of the Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky (1898–1967) | 26 October 1957 | 31 March 1967 † | 9 years, 156 days | |
| 4 | Marshal of the Soviet Union Andrei Grechko (1903–1976) | 12 April 1967 | 26 April 1976 † | 9 years, 14 days | |
| 5 | Marshal of the Soviet Union Dmitriy Ustinov (1908–1984) | 30 July 1976 | 20 December 1984 † | 8 years, 143 days | |
| 6 | Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergey Sokolov (1911–2012) [c] | 22 December 1984 | 30 May 1987 | 2 years, 159 days | |
| 7 | Marshal of the Soviet Union Dmitry Yazov (born 1924) [d] | 30 May 1987 | 23 August 1991 | 4 years, 85 days | |
| 8 | Marshal of Aviation Yevgeny Shaposhnikov (born 1942) | 23 August 1991 | 21 December 1991 | 120 days |
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Notes
- ^ The committee of the People's Commissars for Military and Naval Affairs consisted of Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko, Pavel Dybenko, and Nikolai Krylenko. On 10 November 1917 Ovseyenko was taken hostage during the Petrograd Junker mutiny and was released next day with the help of American journalist Williams. Later Ovseyenko headed the Petrograd Military District until December when he was dispatched to Ukraine. Dybenko continued to supervise the naval affairs as the Supreme Navy College that was formed sometime in late November. He stayed in charge until 16 March 1918 when he was stripped of all posts and revoked membership in the Bolshevik Party due to desertion. On 25 November 1917 Krylenko was appointed the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army.
- ^ Dismissed by Nikita Khrushchev in the aftermath of the Anti-Party Group affair.
- ^ Dismissed by Mikhail Gorbachev as a result of the Mathias Rust affair.
- ^ Dismissed by Mikhail Gorbachev for being a member of the GKChP during the 1991 coup d'état attempt.