The M. V. Frunze Military Academy where Georgi Zhukov studied from 1929 to 1930.
Career
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1916
Non-commissioned officer Georgy Zhukov
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1945
Berlin, Germany
Soviet commander Marshal Georgy K. Zhukov, American General George Patton, and British Field Marshall Harold Alexander view the Allied victory parade on September 7, 1945.
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1945
Pariser Platz, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Deputy Supreme Commander in Chief of the Red Army, Marshal Georgy K. Zhukov, the Commander of the 21st Army Group, Field Marshall Sir Bernard Montgomery are talking with a British officer after medals have been awarded by Field Marshall Sir Bernard Montgomery to Russian generals at Brandenburg Gate on July 12, 1945.
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1945
Berlin, Germany
Marshal Zhukov, Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, General Dwight Eisenhower and General Koenig, saluting as allied flags are raised on September 4, 1945.
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1945
Berlin, Germany
Marshal Zhukov shakings hands with General Catroux after receiving the French Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor in Berlin on September 2, 1945.
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1945
Berlin, Germany
Marshal Zhukov signing the Act of German Surrender in Berlin on May 8, 1945.
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1945
Frankfurt, Germany
Marshal Zhukov talking with Admiral Harold Burrough and Lieutenant-Colonel O. Panturoff in Frankfurt in June 1945.
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1955
Geneva, Switzerland
Soviet Marshal Georgy K. Zhukov and Foreign Minister Vyacheslav M. Molotov during the Geneva Conference.
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1955
Geneva, Switzerland
Soviet Defence Minister Marshal Georgy K. Zhukov, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden and Soviet politician Nikolai A. Bulganin standing and talking during the Geneva Conference.
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1955
Geneva, Switzerland
Soviet general and Minister of Defence Georgy Zhukov and Soviet politician Nikolai Bulganin, Premier of the Soviet Union, during the Geneva Summit to discuss global security, German unification and disarmament on July 18, 1955.
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1955
Geneva, Switzerland
Minister of Defence Marshall Georgy K. Zhukov, First Secretary of the All-Union Party Nikita S. Khrushchev, Premier Marshall Nikolai A. Bulganin and Foreign Minister Vyacheslav M. Molotov during the 1955 Summit.
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1956
Moscow, Russia
Soviet Marshal Georgy K. Zhukov talking with the United States Air Force General Nathan F. Twining after the Moscow air show.
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1956
Soviet Marshal Georgy K. Zhukov
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1957
Moscow, Russia, 103132
Marshal Georgy Zhukov, Nikita Khrushchev, Nikolai Bulganin, Vyacheslav Molotov, and Andrei Gromyko during a meeting at the Kremlin on April 25, 1957.
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1944
Belgrade, Serbia
Georgy Zhukov reading a map in Belgrade in October 1944.
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1945
Berlin, Germany
Soviet commander Marshal Georgy K. Zhukov, American General George Patton, and British Field Marshall Harold Alexander view the Allied victory parade on September 7, 1945.
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1941
Yelnya, Smolensk Oblast, Russia
Georgy Zhukov during the Yelnya Offensive in September 1941.
Gallery of Georgy Zhukov
1942
Soviet army General Georgy Zhukov in April 1942.
Achievements
1944
Georgy Zhukov on the cover of Life magazine.
Membership
Awards
Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin that Georgy Zhukov received on August 16, 1936, August 29, 1939, February 21, 1945, December 1, 1956, December 1, 1966, and on December 1, 1971.
War Cross 1939–1945
The War Cross 1939–1945 that Georgy Zhukov received in 1945.
Order of Polonia Restituta, 2d class
The Order of Polonia Restituta, 2d class, that Georgy Zhukov received in 1968.
Order of the Legion of Merit
The Order of the Legion of Merit that Georgy Zhukov received in 1946.
Order of the White Lion
The Order of the White Lion that Georgy Zhukov received in 1945.
Cross of St. George
The Cross of St. George that Georgy Zhukov received in 1916.
Order of the Bath
The Order of the Bath that Georgy Zhukov received in 1945.
Order of the October Revolution
The Order of the October Revolution that Georgy Zhukov received on February 22, 1968.
Order of Victory
The Order of Victory that Georgy Zhukov received on April 10, 1944, March 30, 1945.
Legion of Honour
The Legion of Honour that Georgy Zhukov received in 1945.
Military Order of the White Lion For Victory
The Military Order of the White Lion For Victory that Georgy Zhukov received in 1945.
Medal "50 Years of the Mongolian People's Revolution"
The Medal "50 Years of the Mongolian People's Revolution" that Georgy Zhukov received in 1971.
Order of the Red Banner
The Order of the Red Banner that Georgy Zhukov received on August 31, 1922, November 3, 1944, June 20, 1949.
Hero of the Soviet Union
The gold star medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union that Georgy Zhukov received on August 29, 1940, July 29, 1944, June 1, 1945, December 1, 1956.
Order of the Cross of Grunwald
The Order of the Cross of Grunwald that Georgy Zhukov received in 1945.
Virtuti Militari
The Virtuti Militari that Georgy Zhukov received in 1945.
Order of Suvorov
The Order of Suvorov that Georgy Zhukov received on January 28, 1943 and on July 28, 1943.
Medal "For the Defence of Leningrad"
The Medal "For the Defence of Leningrad" that Georgy Zhukov was awarded.
Medal "For the Defence of the Caucasus"
The Medal "For the Defence of the Caucasus" that Georgy Zhukov was awarded.
Medal "For the Defence of Moscow"
The Medal "For the Defence of Moscow" that Georgy Zhukov was awarded.
Medal "For the Liberation of Warsaw"
The Medal "For the Liberation of Warsaw" that Georgy Zhukov was awarded.
Medal "For the Capture of Berlin"
The Medal "For the Capture of Berlin" that Georgy Zhukov was awarded.
Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
The Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" that Georgy Zhukov was awarded.
Medal "For the Victory over Japan"
The Medal "For the Victory over Japan" that Georgy Zhukov was awarded.
Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"
The Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" that Georgy Zhukov was awarded.
Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy"
The Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy" that Georgy Zhukov was awarded.
Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
The Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" that Georgy Zhukov was awarded.
Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
The Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" that Georgy Zhukov was awarded.
Medal "In Commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of Leningrad"
The Medal "In Commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of Leningrad" that Georgy Zhukov was awarded.
Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow"
The Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow" that Georgy Zhukov was awarded.
Soviet commander Marshal Georgy K. Zhukov, American General George Patton, and British Field Marshall Harold Alexander view the Allied victory parade on September 7, 1945.
Deputy Supreme Commander in Chief of the Red Army, Marshal Georgy K. Zhukov, the Commander of the 21st Army Group, Field Marshall Sir Bernard Montgomery are talking with a British officer after medals have been awarded by Field Marshall Sir Bernard Montgomery to Russian generals at Brandenburg Gate on July 12, 1945.
Marshal Zhukov, Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, General Dwight Eisenhower and General Koenig, saluting as allied flags are raised on September 4, 1945.
Soviet Defence Minister Marshal Georgy K. Zhukov, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden and Soviet politician Nikolai A. Bulganin standing and talking during the Geneva Conference.
Soviet general and Minister of Defence Georgy Zhukov and Soviet politician Nikolai Bulganin, Premier of the Soviet Union, during the Geneva Summit to discuss global security, German unification and disarmament on July 18, 1955.
Minister of Defence Marshall Georgy K. Zhukov, First Secretary of the All-Union Party Nikita S. Khrushchev, Premier Marshall Nikolai A. Bulganin and Foreign Minister Vyacheslav M. Molotov during the 1955 Summit.
The Order of Lenin that Georgy Zhukov received on August 16, 1936, August 29, 1939, February 21, 1945, December 1, 1956, December 1, 1966, and on December 1, 1971.
(Considered by some to be the greatest general of World Wa...)
Considered by some to be the greatest general of World War II, General Georgi Zhukov served as the Chief of Staff of the Soviet High Command, leading Soviet troops against Germans in key battles of the war. In his account of four major campaigns in the war - the defense of Moscow, Stalingrad, and Kursk, and the advance on Berlin - Zhukov describes his experiences preparing for German attacks, organizing counter-strikes, assessing the enemy, and issuing the orders that pushed the front west, towards Germany's capital. Zhukov also tells of his extensive arguments with Stalin during the war and the political alliances and rivalries among the U.S.S.R.'s generals throughout the conflict.
Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov was a Soviet Union general and the most prominent military leader during World War II. He served as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Armed Forces and as Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union.
Background
Georgy Zhukov was born to a peasant family on December 1, 1896, in Strelkovka, Kaluga Governorate, Russian Empire (now Strelkovka, Russia). He was the son of Konstantin Artemyevich Zhukov, a cobbler, and Ustinia Artemievna Zhukova, a peasant laborer. He also had a brother and a sister.
Education
Georgy Zhukov completed the three-year primary education course at his hometown school. Later he supplemented his education by reading on a wide range of topics, including the Russian language, German language, science, geography, and mathematics. Zhukov also enrolled in a night school, where he completed courses in 1914.
Zhukov was educated at the Frunze Military Academy, from 1929 to 1930.
Georgy Zhukov started his career as a furrier in Moscow. In 1914, he established his own business, which included three young employees under his leadership. However, in July 1915, he was enlisted in the Russian army in the 106th Reserve Cavalry Regiment to serve in World War I. During World War I, he served bravely and was subsequently promoted to the rank of non-commissioned officer for his valor. Following the 1917 October Revolution, Zhukov joined the Red Army and between 1918 and 1921, he fought in the Russian Civil War, serving with the 1st Cavalry Army.
After World War I, Georgy Zhukov was appointed commander of the 39th Cavalry Regiment in 1923. In 1924, he interrupted his service in order to receive training at the Higher School of Cavalry and, in 1925, he returned to command the same regiment. In May 1930, Zhukov took up the post of commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade of the 7th Cavalry Division. In February 1931, he was appointed as the Assistant Inspector of Cavalry for the Red Army and held this post until 1933. In 1933, he became commander of the 4th Cavalry Division. In 1937, he was appointed commander of first the 3rd Cavalry Corps and later the 6th Cavalry Corps. Zhukov became deputy commander of the Belorussian Military District in 1938 and commander of Soviet Forces in Mongolia in 1939.
After Zhukov defeated Japanese forces at Khalkhin Gol in August 1939, Stalin appointed him commander of the Kiev Special Military District in June 1940. He held his post until 1941 and later served as chief of the Red Army's General Staff from February 1, 1941 to July 30, 1941. In August 1941, Zhukov was appointed commander of the Soviet Reserve Front. He slowed the German advance at Smolensk, prompting Hitler to delay his offensive against Moscow temporarily. Zhukov directed the Leningrad Front's successful defense of Leningrad in September 1941. In October 1941, he became commander of the Soviet Western Front. In the summer of 1942, Zhukov's Western Front conducted multiple offensives to weaken the German advance toward Stalingrad. On August 2, 1942, he became deputy commander in chief of the Soviet Armed Forces and held this post until June 24, 1945. Zhukov played a decisive role in Red Army victories at Kursk and Belorussia, the advance to the Dnieper, and the liberation of Ukraine while suffering setbacks in the North Caucasus and near Kiev. In 1943, he was named marshal of the Soviet Union. He commanded the First Belorussian Front from November 1944 to June 1945.
After World War II, Georgy Zhukov was appointed commander of the Odessa Military District in 1946 and held this post until 1948. In 1953, after Stalin's death, Zhukov started his political career and was elected Deputy Defence Minister. On February 2, 1955, he became Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union. However, in 1957, he was removed from his ministry, following an argument over army policy with Nikita Khrushchev.
Zhukov spent most of his free time writing his memoirs. In 1971, after intense scrutiny by Party officials, they were published in the West. In 1967, Zhukov had a serious stroke and was hospitalized for some time. He died after another stroke on June 18, 1974, in Moscow, Russia.
Some sources claimed, that Zhukov was an Eastern Orthodox. However, he was officially atheist under the Soviets.
Politics
After Zhukov became Minister of Defence he participated in many political activities. He successfully opposed the re-establishment of the Commissar system. This was due to the fact that in his opinion the Party and political leaders were not professional militaries, and thus the highest power should fall to the army commanders. Zhukov also took part in a Summit Conference at Geneva after the USSR signed the Austrian State Treaty.
Zhukov also was also a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. He demanded that the political agencies in the Red Army report to him before the Party. Moreover, Zhukov demanded an official condemnation of Stalin's crimes during the Great Purge. As a result, his opponents accused him of being a Reformist and Bonapartist.
Views
Georgy Zhukov believed that excellent knowledge of his troops, careful preparation for combat, and early development of all possible options for action were essential during combat. He also insisted on the importance of well-defined intelligence and excellent knowledge of the enemy. Zhukov said that the main thing was an objective assessment of the enemy's forces, as well as the ability to take into account what the enemy was capable of and what not.
Quotations:
"The nature of encounter operations required of the commanders limitless initiative and constant readiness to take the responsibility for military actions."
"If we come to a minefield, our infantry attacks exactly as it were not there."
"There's no smoke without fire."
"Winning depended to a large extent on the determination of the troops and the officers. The certainty that we were going to win kept up everyone's spirits, from privates to generals."
"If the nation only knew their hands dripped with innocent blood, it would have met them not with applause but with stones."
"We will do all we can to ensure peace, but if war is imposed upon us we will be together shoulder to shoulder as in the last war to strive for the happiness of mankind."
Personality
Those who knew Georgy Zhukov said that he was a man of indomitable will and fierce determination to succeed. He was a perfectionist in all he did and expected the same from others. This created a penchant to be dismissive and intolerant of incompetence by both subordinates and peers, especially those of high rank and responsibility. As a battalion and then a regimental commander Zhukov sought to lead or inspire direct subordinates by example, but he was also ready to resort to formal command authority and fear. However, everyone acknowledged that his military feats were astounding.
Zhukov was definitely not a "people person." Unlike a great many of his peers, he never drank to excess and was not known to have any close personal friends.
Quotes from others about the person
Malcolm Mackintosh: "In spite of the biographer's best efforts, the Soviet military leader remains personally a shadowy figure. We cannot see him at home, with his wife, children, and grandchildren, nor can we learn much about his personal likes or dislikes, his family life, his moments of despair, and elation. Although Soviet secrecy plays a strong part in formulating these restrictions, they are to some extent also in the tradition of Russian letters, and any biographer of Marshal Zhukov who resits his case, as Chaney does, on the strictest accuracy of the utilization of his source material, has to make his book a study of Zhukov the soldier and relatively little of Zhukov the man."
Otto Preston Chaney: "Zhukov has thus emerged in his twilight years to take his proper place in Soviet history. The resurrection of this great soldier, first a patriot and only then a Party member, can be viewed as an attempt by Brezhnev and his fellow leaders to give credit where credit is due and to make Soviet history a more factual record of events. Zhukov still commands the loyalty of many Russians in all walks of life, especially the veterans of World War II. Zhukov is an enduring symbol of victory on the battlefield."
Connections
Georgy Zhukov married Alexandra Dievna Zuikova in 1953. The marriage produced two daughters. They divorced in 1965.
The same year, in 1965, Zhukov married Galina Alexandrovna Semyonova. The marriage produced a daughter. Zhukov also had a daughter with Maria Nikolaevna Volokhova.
Zhukov's Greatest Defeat: The Red Army's Epic Disaster in Operation Mars, 1942
David Glantz offers the first definitive account of a forgotten catastrophe - Operation Mars, revealing the key players and detailing the major events of the operation. Using neglected sources in both German and Russian archives, he reconstructs the historical context of Mars and reviews the entire operation from High Command to platoon level.
Russia at War, 1941-1945: A History
Now newly updated with a foreword by Soviet historian Nicolas Werth, the son of Alexander Werth, this new edition of Russia at War continues to be indispensable World War II journalism and the definitive historical authority on the Soviet-German war.