v.
born Feb. 4, 1881, Verkhneye, Russia
died Dec. 2, 1969, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.
Soviet military and political leader.
A notable military commander in World War I and later in the Russian Civil War, he led the defense of Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd). A close associate of Joseph Stalin , he was appointed people's commissar for defense (1925) and a member of the Politburo (1926). Named a marshal of the Soviet Union (1935), he reorganized the Soviet general staff, mechanized the army, and developed the air force. After the initial Soviet defeats in World War II, he was removed as defense commissar but appointed to the committee for state defense (194144). He later chaired the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (195357).