At the zenith of his military and political power, Napoleon Bonaparte uttered his famous phrase that each of his soldiers carries a marshal's baton in his knapsack. Marshals of the USSR did not have any baton, but this did not make their title less significant and attractive.
In pre-revolutionary Russia, the line of senior army positions was quite confusing, however, starting with Peter the Great, the highest military leader, commander in chief in a particular theater of operations usually bore the rank of field marshal. Historians disagree on the number of persons awarded this high rank, noting at the same time that such military leaders as Suvorov, Kutuzov, Dibich, Paskevich earned their batons throughout their careers.
In the Red Army formed after the events of 1917, ranks as such initially did not exist, and servicemen were usually addressed by the position they occupied. Marshals of the USSR - the first ranks introduced by a special resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in September 1935. At the same time, the matter was not limited to a simple renaming, but personal decrees were issued, according to whichspecific people began to occupy the highest rung in the military hierarchy.
The first marshals of the USSR - Voroshilov, Yegorov, Tukhachevsky, Blucher, Budyonny - enjoyed well-deserved authority both in the country and in the army, so then no one had any doubts about the legitimacy of conferring these high ranks on them. However, very little time will pass, and three of them - Tukhachevsky, Yegorov and Blucher - will move into the category of "repressed marshals of the USSR", while the first two will be returned to the marshal rank only after several decades.
Before the Great Patriotic War, three more commanders became marshals of the USSR - Timoshenko, Shaposhnikov and Kulik. It is worth noting that until 1955, the assignment of this title was carried out only individually and only by special decrees. Marshals of the USSR wore special epaulettes with one big star. Later, in 1945, a beautiful marshal's star was established, which was bordered by several diamonds.
Several people at once received the highest military rank of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. Among them, Marshal Zhukov occupies a special place. This is due not only to the fact that he was the first to receive this title, but also to the huge contribution that he made to the victory over Nazi Germany. Also in these terrible years, Vasilevsky, Konev, Stalin, Rokossovsky, Govorov, Malinovsky, Meretskov and Tolbukhin received marshal epaulettes. Immediately after the war, in connection with the reassignment, he received this titleBeria, but shortly after Stalin's death he was deprived of it.
In total, the list of "Marshals of the USSR" includes 41 people. Of those not yet named, one should single out such remarkable commanders as Bagramyan, Grechko, Chuikov, Eremenko. In 1976, L. Brezhnev received this title with great fanfare.
The last marshal of the USSR was D. Yazov, who received it shortly before the collapse of the great country. The only one to date who has been awarded the title of Marshal of the Russian Federation is the former Minister of Defense I. Sergeev.
