Marshal of the Soviet Union Grigory Kulik

Grigory Ivanovich Kulik (Russian: Григорий Иванович Кулик) (November 9, 1890 - August 24, 1950), Soviet military commander, was born into a peasant family near Poltava in Ukraine. A soldier in the army of the Russian Empire in World War I, he joined the Bolshevik Party in 1917 and the Red Army in 1918. During the Russian Civil War he become a commander of the Soviet artillery, seeing action at Kharkov and other battles. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... November 9 is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 52 days remaining. ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... August 24 is the 236th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (237th in leap years), with 129 days remaining. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) Translation: Workers of the world, unite!) Anthem: The Internationale (1922-1944) Hymn of the Soviet Union (1944-1991) Capital (and largest city) Moscow None; Russian de facto Government Federation of Soviet Republics  - Last President Mikhail Gorbachev  - Last Premier Ivan Silayev Establishment October Revolution   - Declared... Poltava (Ukrainian: Полта́ва) is a city and oblast center in Poltava Oblast in central Ukraine with some 313,400 inhabitants (2004). ... Official language Russian Official Religion Russian Orthodox Christianity Capital Saint Petersburg (Petrograd 1914-1924) Area Approx. ... {{Infobox Military Conflict |conflict = World War I |partof = |image = |caption = Clockwise from top: Trenches on the Western Front; a British Mark IV tank crossing a trench; Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the Battle of the Dardanelles; a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за = КПСС) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the Russian... Year 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (in Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya), the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... Year 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Combatants Red Army (Bolsheviks) White Army (Monarchists, SRs, Anti-Communists) Green Army (Peasants and Nationalists) Black Army (Anarchists) United States of America Commanders Leon Trotsky Mikhail Tukhachevsky Semyon Budyonny Lavr Kornilov, Alexander Kolchak, Anton Denikin, Pyotr Wrangel Alexander Antonov, Nikifor Grigoriev Nestor Makhno Strength 5,427,273 (peak) +1,000... Kharkov (rus: Ха́рьков) or Kharkiv (ukr: Ха́рків) is the second largest city in Ukraine, a center of Kharkivska oblast. It is situated in the northeast of the country and has a population of two million. ...

In 1926 Kulik became head of the Red Army's Main Artillery Directorate, and remained commander of the Soviet artillery forces until 1941. He was both a loyal Stalinist and a military conservative, opposed to the radical reforms proposed by Mikhail Tukhachevsky during the 1930s. For this reason he survived Stalin's Great Purge of the Red Army in 1937-38, and in 1939 he became Deputy People's Commissar of Defence, also taking part in the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland in September. He led the Soviet's artillery attack on Finland at the start of the Winter War. Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... This article is about the year. ... Marshal of the Soviet Union Mikhail Tukhachevsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky (Russian: Михаил Николаевич Тухачевский, Polish: Michał Tuchaczewski) (February 16, 1893 [O.S. February 4] – June 12, 1937), Soviet military commander, was one of the most prominent victims of Stalins Great Purge of the late 1930s. ... The Great Purge (Russian: , transliterated Bolshaya chistka) is the name given to campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin during the late 1930s. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

In May 1940 Kulik became a Marshal of the Soviet Union. He had a reputation as an incompetent officer and a bully, but his closeness to Stalin put him beyond criticism. He could not though protect his wife, Kira Simonich, who two days before Kulik's promotion had been arrested on Stalin's orders. She was subsequently executed. (Montefiore Stalin 293-4) Year 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union (Russian: Marshal Sovietskogo Soyuza [Маршал Советского Союза]) was in practice the highest military rank of the Soviet Union. ...

Kulik used his position to oppose Semyon Timoshenko's campaign to develop the Red Army's mechanised forces and to use minefields as a defensive measure, regarding mines as "a weapon of the weak." This resistance to reform had severe consequences for the Soviet Union. Kulik also underestimated the role of submachine guns in the contemporary warfare, dubbing them "a pure police weapon" because of their relative (compared to the rifle) inaccuracy when fired. Even in artillery which he attempted to promote at the expanse of the other services his influence was harmful. When just appointed as head of the artillery directorate he instructed Boris Vannikov, the armanent commisar, that he wanted "handsome guns" which the latter dismissed as the nonsense that it was and went about developing Soviet artillery without reference to Kulik. Soon, however, Vannikov was faced with a demand by Kulik that the order for the new 76mm anti-tank guns be rescinded. Instead Kulilk wanted to employ WWI 107mm howitzers, of all things, claiming without any proof that the Germans had greatly thickened their tanks' armour. Aghast Vannikov refused this surreal demand, describing it as "disarmanent in the face of approaching war". consequentially he was soon purged and imprisoned - war would lead to his release and reinstatement - and the "anti-tank howitzers" introduced with the predictably disastrous results. Kulik also vehemently opposed motorising the artillery arm prefering his "handsome guns" to be towed by fittingly handsome horses. Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Timoshenko Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko (Russian: Семён Константинович Тимошенко) (February 6 O.S (February 18 N.S.), 1895-March 31...

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Kulik took command of the 54th Army on the Leningrad front. Here his incompetence caught up with him, and he presided over heavy Soviet defeats that resulted in the city of Leningrad being surrounded. In March 1942 he was court-martialled and demoted to the rank of Major-General. His status as one of Stalin's cronies saved him from the firing squad that was the fate of other defeated Soviet generals. In April 1943 he became commander of the 4th Guards Army. From 1944 to 1945 he was Deputy Head of the Directory of Mobilization, and Commander of the Volga Military District. This article is about the year. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ...

After a respite during and immediately after the war, Stalin and his police chief Lavrenty Beria began a new round of military purges due to Stalin's jealousey and suspicion of the generals' public standing. Kulik was dismissed from his posts in 1946 after NKVD telephone eavesdroppers overheard him grumbling that politicians were stealing the credit from the generals. Arrested in 1947, he remained in prison until 1950, when he was condemned to death and executed for treason. He was rehabilitated by Nikita Khrushchev in 1956, and posthumously restored to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. Lavrenty Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (Georgian: ლავრენტი ბერია; Russian: Лаврентий Павлович Берия; (29 March 1899 – 23 December 1953), was a Soviet politician and chief of the Soviet security and police apparatus. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... The NKVD (Narodnyi Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del )(Russian: НКВД, Народный комиссариат внутренних дел) or Peoples Commisariat for Internal Affairs was a government department which handled a number of the Soviet Unions affairs of state. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (Russian: ; English: Nikita Sergeevič Hruŝëv; IPA: ); surname more accurately romanized as Khrushchyov; April 17, 1894 [O.S. April 5]–September 11, 1971) was the leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...