Background
Vasilevskii, Aleksandr was born on September 30, 1895 in the village of Novaia Golchikha near Kostroma. Son of a village priest.
Vasilevskii, Aleksandr was born on September 30, 1895 in the village of Novaia Golchikha near Kostroma. Son of a village priest.
Educated at the Alekseevskoe Military School, 1915. Graduated from the Academy of the General Staff, 1937.
Took part in World War I (captain). During the Civil War, in the Red Army. One of the best staff officers during World War II. Member of the General Staff, Deputy Chief, May 1940, Head of the Operations Department, August 1941, Chief of the General Staff, and Deputy Minister of Defence, June 1942.
Coordinated most of the large operations of the Soviet Army during World War II (including Stalingrad, Kursk and others). Commander of the Belorussian front, February 1945 (occupation of East Prussia, including Koenigsberg). Commander-in-chief of Soviet forces against the Japanese, June 1945.
After World War II, again Chief of the General Staff and Deputy Minister of Defence, 1946. Minister of the Armed Forces, 1949-1953. Deputy Minister of Defence 1953-1957.
Chairman of the War Veterans Committee, 1956-1957. Most of the strategic achievements ascribed to Stalin in World War II belonged in fact to Vasilevskii’s tactical and staff work. Member of Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1952-1961.
No religious basis is needed in order to display ethical behavior.
The emphasis on peaceful coexistence doesn’t mean that the Soviet Union accepted a static world with clear lines. Socialism is inevitable and the "correlations of forces" were moving towards socialism.