Zhukov, Georgi Konstantinovich
Zhukov, Georgi Konstantinovich
(gēôr`gē kənstəntyē`nəvĭch zho͞o`kôf), 1896–1974, Soviet marshal. He fought in the October Revolution (1917) and in the civil war (1918–20), which brought the Bolsheviks to power, and saw action against the Japanese on the Manchurian border (1938–39) and in the Finnish-Russian War. Promoted to full general in 1940, he was briefly (1941) chief of the general staff. In Oct., 1941, he replaced Semyon TimoshenkoTimoshenko, Semyon Konstantinovich, 1895–1970, Soviet marshal. He served in the civil war of 1918–20 as a cavalry commander and subsequently rose in the Soviet army. He commanded the Soviet troops in their final victorious offensive in the Finnish-Soviet War (1940).
..... Click the link for more information. as commander of the central front and conducted the defense of Moscow. Made commander (1942) on the southwestern front, Zhukov defeated the Germans at Stalingrad (1943) and, with Marshal VoroshilovVoroshilov, Kliment Yefremovich
, 1881–1969, Soviet military leader and public official. A Bolshevik from 1903, he was an active revolutionary prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and an outstanding Red Army commander in the civil war (1918–20) that followed it.
..... Click the link for more information. , lifted the siege of Leningrad (St. Petersburg). He led the offensive of 1944 and the final assault on Germany in 1945, capturing Berlin (April) and becoming commander of the Soviet occupation zone in Germany. In 1946 Zhukov received command of the Soviet ground forces, but in 1947 he was demoted to command the Odessa military district. After StalinStalin, Joseph Vissarionovich
, 1879–1953, Soviet Communist leader and head of the USSR from the death of V. I. Lenin (1924) until his own death, b. Gori, Georgia.
..... Click the link for more information. 's death, Zhukov became deputy defense minister (1953) and defense minister (1955). He supported Nikita KhrushchevKhrushchev, Nikita Sergeyevich
, 1894–1971, Soviet Communist leader, premier of the USSR (1958–64), and first secretary of the Communist party of the Soviet Union (1953–64).
..... Click the link for more information. against the "antiparty faction" that tried to oust him in 1957, and was named (June, 1957) a full member of the central committee of the Communist party. In Oct.,1957, he was relieved of his ministry and dropped from the central committee by Khrushchev. After Khrushchev was deposed (1964) Zhukov appeared in public again.
Bibliography
See his memoirs (tr. 1971); biographies by O. P. Chaney, Jr. (1971) and G. Roberts (2012); J. Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad (1975) and The Road to Berlin (1983); D. M. Glantz, Zhukov's Greatest Defeat (1999).